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Silvanerpeton miripedes, a new anthracosauroid from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

J. A. Clack
J. A. Clack
Affiliation:
University Museum of Zoology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 2EJ, U.K.
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Abstract

Silvanerpeton miripedes gen. et sp. nov. is a small gracile anthracosauroid. The holotype is an almost complete articulated specimen in black shale. Its anthracosaur characters include tabular-parietial contact, with a tabular horn and a moderate surangular crest indicating relationship with the embolomeres. It has gastrocentrous vertebrae with poorly ossified centra and neural arches, and the presacral vertebral count is estimated to be over 30. There are a number of apparently primitive characters as found in other anthracosauroids include a closed palate, mobile basal articulation, and an intertemporal. It differs from the other recognised species of anthracosaur at East Kirkton, Eldeceeon rolfei, in vertebral count, number of ribs, interclavicle shape, relative limb length, and in having an unossified tarsus, and a pedal phalangeal count of 23455.

Disarticulated bones from East Kirkton including large limb and vertebral elements may belong to this taxon, to Eldeceeon rolfei or to as yet unidentified taxa.

Keywords

AnthracosaurreptiliomorphmorphologyViséanScotlandEast Kirkton
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 84 , Issue 3-4: Volcanism and early terrestrial biotas , 1993 , pp. 369 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1993

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