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
(_d_) The teeth of the Coal Measures Amphibia (194) are remarkably similar
in the various forms. They are always slender, pleurodont denticles
arranged in a single row on the jaws or as tubercular eruptions on the
palate bones, with a large pulp-cavity and the enamel often striated. The
food of the creatures must have been small Crustacea, worms, insects, and
succulent vegetation, such as is the food of the modern Amphibia.
(_e_) The _occiput_ is formed of partially ossified (465) ex- and
basi-occipitals, though these elements are never firmly united by ossific
union. Often a pair of condyles occur, one on either exoccipital. The
occiput was usually, however, cartilaginous and no trace of its structure
is preserved.
(_f_) The _mandible_ is usually as long as the skull and is slender. It
is composed of 6 elements so far as known (465); these are the articular,
the surangular, the angular, the coronoid, the dentary, and the splenial.
Other elements may be present, but the anatomy of this portion of the
animals is not very completely known. The bones are sculptured and cut by
lateral-line canals (458) in a few forms. Whether the articular operated
on an osseous or cartilaginous quadrate is unknown, though certain
specimens seem to indicate an osseous condition for that element. The
anterior symphysis was doubtless ligamentous, the halves always separating
before fossilization. The dentary always bears a single row of pleurodont
teeth, which may vary greatly in size and number.
(_g_) The _hyoid apparatus_ is well preserved in a few forms (123).
Doubtless it was present in all of them, though it has seldom been
preserved. The condition of the hyobranchial apparatus in _Cocytinus
gyrinoides_ (text-fig. 16) from the Coal Measures of Linton, Ohio,
seems to indicate that the species was a perennibranchiate salamander
(123). It is well known from the studies of Credner that the European
Branchiosauria, in the young, possessed external branchiæ (187) supported
by lateral basibranchials. The gill-arches seem to have been slightly
calcified or ossified in a few cases, and they supported denticle-like
projections which bore the gill-filaments. When the Branchiosauria had
attained a length of 100 mm. or more they lost their gills (187). This
change was accompanied by the reduction of the tail, expansion of the
pelvis, and increase in ossification of the skull and skeletal elements.
Gills have not yet been detected among the American Branchiosauria.
(_h_) The _eye_ in a few species had a large amount of black pigment,
as indicated by the blackening of the stone in the Mazon Creek nodules.
Professor Cope (107) thought that this would indicate a nocturnal and
crepuscular habit for these vertebrates, since the _pigmentum nigrum_ of
the choroid is largely developed. Other than this suggestion nothing is
known of the soft parts of the head.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account