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
16. South Joggins, Nova Scotia, source of the _Eosaurus acadianus_
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(_g_) Dr. J. A. Udden, in 1907, discovered a fragment of a phalanx of some
amphibian (plate 22, fig. 3) on the dump of the Cooperative Coal Company,
a mile east of Breeze, Illinois. It was obtained from below the Shoal
Creek limestone and somewhere above the (Illinois) Coal No. 6, according
to Dr. Udden's notes. The maximum width of the phalanx is 10 mm. and it
probably had a length of 16 mm.
(_h_) Mr. N. H. Brown, in 1914, discovered in the Carboniferous rocks
to the east of the Wind River Mountains, near Lander, Wyoming, a single
fragment of an amphibian. The writer was accompanying Mr. Brown at the
time of the discovery and there can be no doubt that the fragment was
amphibian; the location of the beds was such that no later age than the
Coal Measures can be assigned to them.
(_i_) Dr. J. A. Udden (577), in 1912, announced the discovery of an
amphibian in the Des Moines formation of Iowa. These remains were
identified by Dr. Charles Eastman as _Pleuroptyx clavatus_ Cope. Since the
Des Moines is probably nearly contemporaneous with the Mazon Creek shales
of Illinois, the discovery does not extend the geological range to any
extent, but is of interest as it adds another note to our knowledge of the
geographical distribution of the Amphibia in the Coal Measures.
(_j_) The Gurley collection of the University of Chicago possesses a
single cervical vertebra of some amphibian (?). The vertebra is unlike
anything previously described and represents a new form (plate 22, fig. 2)
which may be designated _Proterpeton gurleyi_, new genus and species. The
material was collected near Danville, Illinois.
(_k_) Deposits have been discovered in Pennsylvania in which are found the
remains of amphibians and reptiles, very similar to those from Vermilion
County, Illinois, Cowley County, Kansas, and the Texas Permian. The
remains (plate 18, fig. 2) were found in a thin stratum below the "Ames"
limestone, and are therefore in the Coal Measures, fairly well below the
top. The fossils, as described by Case (94), consist of fragments which
he ascribes to pelycosaurian reptiles and to temnospondylous amphibians.
The genus _Eryops_ (94) is recognized in several fragments and a nearly
complete dorsal vertebral centrum. Other types of Amphibia are likewise
represented.
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