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
This specimen is of interest in respect to the presence of the
lateral-line canals, its small size, and its generic identity with forms
from Ohio. There is still another form known from the Cannelton slates,
described below as _Erpetosaurus (Tuditanus) sculptilis_ Moodie.
Measurements of the Type of Erpetosaurus minutus Moodie.
mm.
Length of skull 18
Posterior width of skull 17
Width of skull across orbits 14
Length of orbit 4.5
Width of orbit 3.5
Interorbital width 3.5
=Erpetosaurus sculptilis Moodie.=
Moodie, Jour. Geol., 17, No. 1, p. 61, figs. 11, 12, 1909 (_Tuditanus
sculptilis_).
Moodie, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., XXVI, p. 347, 1909 (_Erpetosaurus
sculptilis_).
Moodie, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 37, p. 22, 1909 (describes pectoral
girdle).
Type: Specimen No. 12,315, University of Chicago, Walker Museum.
Horizon and locality: Cannelton slates, Pennsylvania (Upper Freeport).
(Plate 18.)
There is preserved in the collections of Walker Museum of the University
of Chicago a small amphibian skull pressed flat on a slab of slate from
Cannelton, Pennsylvania. It formed part of the Hall collection acquired by
the University of Chicago in 1908.
The specimen presents only a portion of the skull and fragmentary pectoral
plates. The skull is wider than long and the muzzle is broadly rounded.
The orbits are narrow ovals and their posterior border falls on the
transverse line dividing the skull equally. The interorbital width is
slightly greater than the width of the orbits and about equal to their
length. The posterior outline of the skull is somewhat truncate, as in _E.
tabulatus_ Cope and other species of the genus. The distal extremities of
the quadrates do not project as far backward as do the supraoccipitals.
The skull roof is formed of the regular elements, except that a quadrate
seems to be indicated by a scale of bone on the posterior angle. The
nostrils are oval and the pineal opening is small.
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