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 specimen on which the species is based is composed of the greater
portion of a small skull preserved in the hard shale from Cannelton,
Pennsylvania, and was collected by Mr. R. D. Lacoe, of Pittston,
Pennsylvania. The characters of the specimen had not previously been
determined, since the museum label and number had partially obscured the
snout of the skull. The skull is very small, but has the form assumed by
other members of the genus. The specimen may belong to a young individual,
but even though it does, it is, nevertheless, quite distinct from the
other species of _Erpetosaurus_. At first sight the specimen looks like a
broken scute of some larger form. Close inspection, however, revealed the
two impressions representing the orbits, and a Zeiss binocular revealed
the characters. The large size and anterior position of the orbits,
the character of the sculpturing, the presence of the posterior table
of the skull, as in _Erpetosaurus_ (_Tuditanus_) _tabulatus_ Cope, are
the characters on which a specific diagnosis is possible. The specific
characters which distinguish this form from _E. tabulatus_ Cope, its
nearest ally, are the slight development of the posterior table, the more
delicate form of the sculpturing, the more posterior position of the
orbits, and the varying shape assumed by the parietals in the two species.
Any one of these characters would be valid as a specific character.
The pineal eye is indistinct, but is observed to lie in the broken tract
in the median line of the skull, in the middle of the portion posterior to
the orbits. The interorbital space is equal to the width of the orbit. The
orbits themselves are slightly oval and not round, as in the case of _E.
tabulatus_ Cope.
The skull elements are sculptured with radiating grooves and ridges, and
on the postparietals and tabulare the grooves take the form of pits in a
row, which undoubtedly represent the occipital cross-commissure of the
lateral-line system first observed in a microsaurian by Andrews (8) in
the skull of _Ceraterpeton galvani_ Huxley. The supraorbital canal is
represented by a slight elongate depression observable over each orbit
and extending, in one case, for about 5 mm. The presence of the circular
arrangement of the lateral-line canals in the jugal region is suggested by
a depression on the posterior edge of the squamosal.
The portion of the skull anterior to the orbits is wanting, curiously
enough, just as in _Erpetosaurus tabulatus_ Cope. In the remainder of the
skull, the post-parietals, the tabulare, the parietals, the supratemporal,
and a portion of the right frontal can be detected, although the
boundaries of but three can be accurately defined. The depression bounding
the anterior outline of the skull is taken to be the impress of the
mandible, in which case this structure would be of some depth, as in the
case of the mandible associated with _E. tabulatus_ Cope, described below.
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