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
Both scapulæ are preserved in their entire form. They are quite different
from those of any other genus, being broadly crescentic with a posterior
concavity and an anterior protuberance. The anterior surface of both
scapulæ is obscured. Vascular foramina occur near the base of both
scapulæ; there being three of them in the right scapula, arranged in
the form of an isosceles triangle. The morphology of these foramina is
uncertain. They have never been observed among the Carboniferous Amphibia,
and, so far as I am aware, they are entirely unknown among higher
vertebrates.
The temnospondylous Amphibia of the Carboniferous and Permian possess, in
the coössified scapula-coracoid, three foramina, very similar to the ones
in the present form, but they are confined to the coracoidal region and,
in the Branchiosauria, as identified by Credner, the coracoid is a free
element, although I have never been sure of its identity among American
forms. Williston has called these foramina the glenoid, the supraglenoid,
and the supracoracoid foramina (Journal Geology, XVII, No. 7). They are
not, however, to be correlated with the three foramina above mentioned,
since in the Temnospondylia the foramina belong with the coracoid and not
with the scapula. The condition of the Temnospondylia occurs in the bony
fish _Xiphactinus audax_ Leidy, and an analogous condition obtains in the
reptiles, as in the Mosasaurs and Dinosaurs.
[Illustration: Fig. 14_a_. Skeleton of _Mazonerpeton longicaudatum_
Moodie. _c_, carpus; _cl_, clavicle; _cr_, caudal ribs; _cv_, caudal
vertebræ; _h_, humerus; _f_, femur; _or_, orbit; _r_, radius; _sp_,
sclerotic plates; _sc_, scapula; _u_, ulna: _vs_, ventral scutellæ. From
Mazon Creek. Original in Yale University Museum.]
Near the outer edge of the right scapula there is a large fragment
preserved, which, I think, must be the misplaced clavicle. It is obscurely
triangular or, more exactly, spatulate. The interclavicle is represented
by fragments only, and seems to have had a narrow form.
The humeri recall those of _Micrerpeton_. They are somewhat elongate
and apparently cylindrical in their normal condition, although somewhat
flattened in the fossil. The shaft is considerably constricted at the
middle and the ends are expanded, in which expansion the lower end
exceeds. The ends are abruptly truncate, indicating a small amount of
endochondral ossification or its entire absence.
The mesopodial elements, unlike what is described for _Cephalerpeton_,
are quite dissimilar in form, recalling the condition in _Mesosaurus
brasiliensis_ McGregor. The larger element is, apparently, the ulna.
It has the lower end greatly expanded and the shaft is curved outward,
resembling very much a reptilian ulna. The radius is much smaller than the
ulna, lacks the lower expansion, and is shorter by 1 mm.
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