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 character on which this genus rests is the shelf-like extension (plate
23, fig. 2) of the abdominal plates. This is of a very unusual character
and entirely unknown in any other species of Carboniferous Amphibia.
The term Ctenerpeton has reference to the fact that the ends of these
shelf-like plates project in a pectination along the side of the abdomen.
=Ctenerpeton alveolatum Cope.=
Cope, Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., XXXVI, p. 83, pl. iii, fig. 1, 1897.
Moodie, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 37, p. 24, pl. 10, 1909.
Type: Specimen No. 4475, U. S. National Museum, Lacoe Collection.
Horizon and locality: Linton, Ohio, Coal Measures.
The species rests on a single specimen (plate 19) from Linton, Ohio, and
is preserved on a block of bituminous coal. It is in a very good state
of preservation. There are present on the block of coal a part of the
right fore limb, the greater part of the dorsal portion of the animal,
and the anterior part of the tail. There are no evidences of hind limbs,
although this may not be taken as evidence that they were not present on
the animal. No thoracic plates have been observed. The chevron armature
is present beyond the cloacal region, but there are no evidences of the
specialized clasping organs which are apparently developed from the
abdominal armature in some forms (251).
Each dermosseous rod of the abdominal scutellation consists of three
pieces a median angulated portion and the two lateral parts which form
the shelf-like projection along the side of the abdomen (plate 23, fig.
2). The marginal chevron differs in form from the other plate, aside
from the fact that it is not angulated. The lateral shelf is composed of
flattened plates which articulate with the median piece, and at the place
of articulation there is a ridge present in the specimen. The exterior
plates are curved backwards and are somewhat attenuated distally. They
are broader than the median piece and differ also in the absence of the
characteristic alveoli. The median plate is angulated and is of more
slender proportions than the lateral pieces. Its ventral surface is
ornamented with a single row of closely placed alveoli which resemble in
a great degree the alveoli of the jaw of some small animal. The ventral
scutellation is broad anteriorly, but becomes more slender posteriorly and
shortly posterior to the cloacal region disappears.
[Illustration: MOODIE PLATE 23
1. Left leg and pelvis of _Ichthycanthus platypus_ Cope, from the
Coal Measures of Ohio. × 1.7. Original the property of the
Department of Geology of Columbia University. _c_=centrale;
_F_=fibula; _fi_=fibulare; _Fe_=femur; _i_=intermedium;
_Il_=ilium; _T_=tibia; _t, 1-5_=distal tarsalia; _ti_=tibiale;
_V_=caudal vertebræ; _I-V_=digits.
2. Ventral scutellæ of _Ctenerpeton alveolatum_ Cope, from the Coal
Measures of Ohio. × 3.5. Original in U. S. National Museum.
]
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