Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T21:24:13.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Order Adelospondyli: Carboniferous lepospondyl amphibians

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

S. M. Andrews  and
R. L. Carroll
S. M. Andrews
Affiliation:
S. M. Andrews, Royal Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF
R. L. Carroll
Affiliation:
P. J. Brand, British Geological Survey, Murchison House, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3LA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Order Adelospondyli, an isolated group of amphibians from the Carboniferous of the Edinburgh area, is redescribed and distinguished from other early tetrapods. Although systematics of genera and species is unsatisfactory, the group seems monophyletic, since as far as they are known, all conform to a single overall structural plan. There is an entire skull roof with a reduced complement of bones in an unique pattern, a highly characteristic marginal dentition, a massive hyoid apparatus, at least 70 holospondylous trunk vertebrae, and (like some other Lower Carboniferous tetrapods) a shoulder region with a heavy dermal girdle but no trace of ossified limbs or endochondral girdle. Adelogyrinids show no special affinity with other Palaeozoic amphibians: the vertebral characters in which they resemble microsaurs, lysorophids, aïstopods, and nectrideans may have evolved more than once among early tetrapods, and the shoulder girdle and neural arch characters shared with labyrinthodonts are probably primitive. The adelogyrinids thus illustrate the more general problems of establishing interrelationships among early tetrapods. Their way of life is discussed.

Keywords

Palaeozoic tetrapodsanatomymode of life
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 82 , Issue 3 , 1991 , pp. 239 - 275
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, S. M., Browne, M. A. E., Panchen, A. L. & Wood, S. P. 1977. Discovery of amphibians in the Namurian (Upper Carboniferous) of Fife. NAT, LONDON 265, 529–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brough, M. C. & Brough, J. 1967. Studies on early tetrapods. 1. The Lower Carboniferous microsaurs. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 252, 107–29.Google Scholar
Bolt, J. R., McKay, R. M., Witzke, B. J. & McAdams, M. P. 1988. A new Lower Carboniferous tetrapod locality in Iowa. NAT, LONDON 333, 768–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, M. J. 1980. A lysorophid amphibian from the Coal Measures of northern England. PALAEONTOL 23, 925–9.Google Scholar
Bystrow, A. P. 1935. Morphologische Untersuchungen der Deckknochen des Schaedels der Wirbeltiere. 1. Mitteilung. Schaedel der Stegocephalen. ACTA ZOOL (STOCKHOLM) 16, 65–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bystrow, A. P. 1939. Blutgefässystem der Labyrinthodonten (Gefässe des Kopfes). ACTA ZOOL 20, 125–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, K. S. W. & Bell, M. W. 1977. A primitive amphibian from the late Devonian of New South Wales. ALCHERINGA 1, 369–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1967. An adelogyrinid lepospondyl amphibian from the Upper Carboniferous. CAN J ZOOL 46, 1175–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1977. Patterns of amphibian evolution: an extended example of the incompleteness of the fossil record. In Hallam, H. (ed.) Patterns of Evolution, 405–37. Amsterdam: Elsevier Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1989a. A juvenile adelogyrinid (Amphibia: Lepospondyli) from the Namurian of Scotland. J VERTEBR PALEONTOL 9, 191–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1989b. Developmental aspects of lepospondyl vertebrae in Paleozoic tetrapods. HIST BIOL 3, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L., Belt, E. S., Dineley, D. L., Baird, D. & McGregor, D. C. 1972. Excursion A59, Vertebrate paleontology of eastern Canada. 24TH INT. GEOL. CONGR., MONTREAL, 1972, 1–113.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. & Gaskill, P. 1978. The Order Microsauria. MEM AM PHILOS SOC 126, 1–211.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L. & Gaskill, P. 1985. The nothosaur Pachypleurosaurus and the origin of plesiosaurs. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 309, 343–93.Google Scholar
Clack, J. A. 1988. New material of the early tetrapod Acanthostega from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland. PALAEONTOL 31, 699–724.Google Scholar
Davies, L. M. 1936. The Geology of Inchkeith. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 58 III, 753–86.Google Scholar
Edgeworth, F. H. 1935. The Cranial Muscles of Vertebrates. London: The Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Gaffney, E. S. 1979. Tetrapod monophyly: a phylogenetic analysis. BULL CARNEGIE MUSEUM NATURAL HISTORY 13, 92–105.Google Scholar
Gardiner, B. G. 1983. Gnathostome vertebrae and the classification of the Amphibia. ZOOL J LINN SOC 79, 1–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gauthier, J. A., Kluge, A. G. & Rowe, T. 1988. The early evolution of the Amniota. In Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phytogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, 103–55. Oxford: The Systematics Association special volume no. 35A. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J. 1989. Postcranial skeleton of the Carboniferous temnospondyl Greererpeton burkmorani Romer 1969. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B 323, 75–133.Google Scholar
Godfrey, S. J., Fiorillo, A. R. & Carroll, R. L. 1987. A newly discovered skull of the temnospondyl amphibian Dendrerpeton acadianum Owen. CAN J EARTH SCI 24, 796–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greensmith, J. T. 1989 Petrology of the Sedimentary Rocks. Revised 7th Edn. London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Henrichsen, I. G. C. 1970. A catalogue of fossil vertebrates in the Royal Scottish Museum. Part One, Actinopterygii. R SCOTT MUS INF SER Geology 1, 1–102.Google Scholar
Henrichsen, I. G. C. 1972. A catalogue of fossil vertebrates in the Royal Scottish Museum. Part Three, Actinistia and Dipnoi. R SCOTT MUS INF SER Geology 3, 1–26.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. 1984. The Carboniferous amphibian Proterogyrinus scheelei Romer, and the early evolution of tetrapods. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B306, 431–527.Google Scholar
Jarvik, E. 1963. The composition of the intermandibular division of the head in fish and tetrapods and the diphyletic origin of the tetrapod tongue. KUNGLIGA SVENSKA VETENSKAPSAKADEMIENS HANDLINGAR 9, 1–74.Google Scholar
Learm, J. 1976. The development, function, and design of amphicoelous vertebrae in teleost fishes. ZOOL J LINN SOC 58, 237–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebedev, O. A. 1984. Pervaya nachodka devonskogo chetveronogogo pozvonochnogo v SSSR. DOKLADY AKADEMII NAUK USSR 278, 1470–3.Google Scholar
Lebedev, O. A. 1990. Tulerpeton, l'animal à six doigts. LA RECHERCHE 21, 1274–5.Google Scholar
Miles, R. S. 1977. Dipnoan (lungfish) skulls and the relationships of the group: a study based on new species from the Devonian of Australia. ZOOL J LINN SOC 61, 1–328.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milner, A. C. 1980. A review of the Nectridea (Amphibia). In Panchen, A. L. (ed) The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates, 377–405. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Milner, A. R., Smithson, T. R., Milner, A. C., Coates, M. I. & Rolfe, W. D. I. 1986. The search for early tetrapods. MOD GEOL 10, 1–28.Google Scholar
Osborn, J. W. 1970. New approach to Zahnreihen. NAT, LONDON 225, 343–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Panchen, A. L. 1970. Part 5A. Anthracosauria. In Kuhn, O. (ed.) Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie, 1–84. Stuttgart: Fischer.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. 1985. On the amphibian Crassigyrinus scoticus Watson from the Carboniferous of Scotland. PHILOS TRANS R SOC LONDON B309, 505–68.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. & Smithson, T. R. 1987. Character diagnosis, fossils and the origin of tetrapods. BIOL REV 62, 341–438.Google Scholar
Panchen, A. L. & Smithson, T. R. 1988. The relationships of the earliest tetrapods. In Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phytogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, 1–32. Oxford: The Systematics Association special volume no. 35A. Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1950. The nature and relationships of the Paleozoic microsaurs. AM J SCI 248, 628–54.Google Scholar
Romer, A. S. 1966. Vertebrate Paleontology (3rd edn). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1980. An early tetrapod fauna from the Namurian of Scotland. In Panchen, A. L. (ed.) The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates, 407–38. London: The Systematics Association special volume no. 15. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1982. The cranial morphology of Greererpeton burkemorani Romer (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). ZOOL J LINN SOC 76, 29–90.Google Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1985a. Scottish Carboniferous amphibian localities. SCOTT J GEOL 21, 123–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, T. R. 1985b. The morphology and relationships of the Carboniferous amphibian Eoherpeton watsoni Panchen. ZOOL J LINN SOC 85, 317–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steen, M. C. 1931. The British Museum collection of Amphibia from the Middle Coal Measures of Linton, Ohio. PROC ZOOL SOC LONDON 1930, 849–91.Google Scholar
Tesch, F.-W. 1977. The Eel. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, K. S. & Bossy, K. H. 1970. Adaptive trends and relationships in early Amphibia. FORMA ET FUNCTIO 3, 7–31.Google Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1903. On the distribution of fossil fish-remains in the Carboniferous rocks of the Edinburgh district. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 40, 687–707.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trewin, N. H. 1986. Palaeoecology and sedimentology of the Achanarras fish bed of the Middle Old Red Sandstone, Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 77, 21–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tulloch, W. & Walton, H. S. 1958. The Geology of the Midlothian coalfield. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND.Google Scholar
Watson, D. M. S. 1929. The Carboniferous Amphibia of Scotland. PALAEONTOL HUNGARICA 1, 219–52.Google Scholar
Wellstead, C. F. 1982. A Lower Carboniferous aïstopod amphibian from Scotland. PALAEONTOL 25, 193–208.Google Scholar
Wellstead, C. F. 1985. Taxonomic revision of the Permo-Carboniferous lepospondyl amphibian families Lyrosophidae and Molgophidae. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, McGill University, Montreal.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. 1989. A study of the Dinantian marine macrofossils of central Scotland. TRANS R SOC EDINBURGH 80, 91–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macgregor, M., Lee, G. W. & Wilson, G. V. 1920. The Iron Ores of Scotland. MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND, SPECIAL REPORTS MINERAL RESOURCES G.B. 11. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar
Peach, B. N., Clough, C. T., Hinxman, L. W., Grant-Wilson, J. S., Crampton, C. B., Maufe, H. B. & Bailey, E. B. 1910. The geology of the neighbourhood of Edinburgh (2nd Edn). MEM GEOL SURV SCOTLAND. Edinburgh: HMSO.Google Scholar