Silvanerpeton

Silvanerpeton is an extinct genus of early reptiliomorph found by Stan Wood in the East Kirkton Quarry of West Lothian, Scotland, in a sequence from the Brigantian substage of the Viséan (Lower Carboniferous).[1] The find is important, as the quarry represents terrestrial deposits from Romer's gap, a period poor in fossils where the higher groups "labyrinthodonts" evolved.

Silvanerpeton
Temporal range: Early Carboniferous
Life restoration of Silvanerpeton miripedes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Reptiliomorpha
Genus: †Silvanerpeton
Clack, 1994
Type species
†Silvanerpeton miripedes
Clack, 1994

The type species Silvanerpeton miripedes was named by Jennifer A. Clack in 1993/1994. The generic name is derived from Silvanus, the Roman god of woods. The specific name means "wondrous feet" in Latin. The holotype is specimen UMZC T1317, a skeleton with skull and skin impressions.[2]

Based on a remarkably well preserved humerus and other traits, the animal is believed to have been a relatively advanced reptiliomorph, close to the origin of amniotes.[3]

In life Silvanerpeton was about 40 cm (1 ft) long. Some paleontologists think it was semi-aquatic as an adult, others believe only young individuals of Silvanerpeton were aquatic and the adults were fully terrestrial.

References
  1. "East Kirkton, Bathgate" (PDF). Geological Conservation Review. pp. 1–12. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  2. Clack, J.A. 1994. "Silvanerpeton miripedes, a new anthracosauroid from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland". Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 84 (for 1993): 369–376
  3. Ruta, M. and Clack, J.A (2006): A review of Silvanerpeton miripedes, a stem amniote from the Lower Carboniferous of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, no 97, pp 31-63 doi:10.1017/S0263593300001395 Abstract
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