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
"Six species of reptiles have left their bones in the repositories
containing these remnants of cuticle. Of these, _Dendrerpeton
acadianum_, was an animal of too great size to have been clothed
with integument of this character and of such dimensions. Hylonomus
aciedentatus and _Hylerpeton dawsoni_ are each represented by only a
single specimen, and these did not occur in proximity to any of the
portions of cuticle, except that the appendages were found near a
specimen of the former. Of the three remaining species, _Dendrerpeton
oweni_, from its size, the number of specimens found, and the
juxtaposition of their bones to the fragments of cuticle, appears to
have the best claim to the integument included under Nos. 1, 2, and
3; and in this case, while the creature had its throat, and perhaps
its abdomen, armed with bony scales, its upper parts and tail, as well
as its limbs, had a uniform covering of small, thin imbricated horny
scales, in the manner of many modern reptiles.
"If the remaining portions of integument, Nos. 4 and 5, as would
seem likely, belonged to two species, both of smaller dimensions,
there would seem little reason to doubt that these were _Hylonomus
lyelli_ and _H. wymani_. In this case, both of these species must have
possessed a highly ornate covering of horny scales and appendages,
comparable with that of many of the modern lizards, while there
seems good reason to believe, as stated in a previous paper, that
they were in part protected by bony scales somewhat like those of
_Dendrerpeton_. These points, however, we shall consider more in
detail under the sections which refer to the species of _Hylonomus_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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