The Coal Measures Amphibia of North AmericaMoodie, Roy Lee
Science
The Coal Measures Amphibia of North America
Moodie, Roy Lee
Amphibians, Fossil -- North America; Paleontology -- Carboniferous; Paleontology -- North America
The premaxillæ are small and lie in the usual relations to the other
elements. Minute conical teeth are present as impressions. They are quite
similar to the teeth found in other Microsauria. The nasals are nearly
square and form the inner boundary of the somewhat oval nostril, which is
represented by a depression in the coal. The frontal is elongate. It is
about twice as long as wide. It forms a portion of the inner border of the
orbit, the remainder being made up by the prefrontals and the postfrontal.
The parietals are the largest elements of the skull, but they do not
greatly exceed the jugals. Together the parietals form a somewhat obtuse
oval in the median region of the skull and they contain between them, in
their posterior third, the small circular pineal foramen. The postparietal
forms the posterior boundary of the skull. The pref rental forms the
anterior border of the orbit and is triangular in shape. The lacrimal
is not identified. The maxilla is an elongate element the boundaries of
which are uncertain, though probably somewhat as given. The postfrontal
and the postorbital form the posterior boundary of the orbit, inclosing
between them the anterior projection of the squamosal. The squamosal is
an elongate element and is acuminate at each end. The tabulare is a large
element lying lateral to the postparietal. The jugal is a very elongate
element, apparently acuminate anteriorly. The quadratojugal is small and
elongate. The supratemporal is definitely bounded and its limits are as
indicated (fig. 22, B), being a large element which forms the quadrate angle.
There are two other specimens of this species in the collections and a
fragment of a fourth which it is difficult to make out. Cope identified
and figured one of these as _E. radiatus_ (Geol. Surv. Ohio, II, pt. II,
pl. 34, fig. 3), but the identification is doubtful and the figure shows
structures which I am unable to identify in the specimen. Nothing of
importance is to be learned from the other two specimens, except that they
show a diversity of size. They consist of incomplete skulls, concerning
which Cope (123) remarks:
"There are no mucous canals. The sculpture consists of strong ridges
radiating and inosculating. Radiation is more uninterrupted on both
jugal, supratemporal, and anterior part of the tabulare; on the first
they originate in front of the middle exteriorly; on the supratemporal
near the anterior part. The inosculation is honeycomb-like on the
parietal, postfrontal, and posterior parts of the tabulare."
Measurement of the Type Specimen.
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