Embolomeri

Embolomeri
	Proterogyrinus
Temporal occurrence
	Carbon to lower perm
	339.4 to 279.5 million years
Locations
	Europe (England, Russia); North America;
Systematics
	Chordates (chordata)
	Vertebrates (vertebrata)
	Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
	Reptiliomorpha
	"Anthracosauria"
	Embolomeri
Scientific name
	Embolomeri
	Cope , 1884

The embolomeri are an extinct group of aquatic terrestrial vertebrates whose fossil remains are mainly known from deposits of the Carboniferous in England. Fossils from the Unterperm have been found in southwest North America. At the end of the lower perm, the embolomeri died out. In the Carboniferous they apparently lived in deeper marine waters, while the lower Permian fossils come from deposits of river deltas. They were fish eaters.

Etymology and history of research

The taxon was proposed by Edward Drinker Cope as early as 1880 and finally described scientifically valid in 1884. The name chosen by Cope is derived from the ancient Greek terms έμβολος (" embolos ": " insert ", "wedge") and μέρος (" meros ": "row", "part") and refers to the special shape of the vertebrae .

features

Embolomeric vertebra

(Abbreviations in brackets refer to the illustration on the left.)

The embolomeres were slender, the trunk was elongated to about 40 owing to an increase in the number of vertebrae .

The pleurocentrum (“P”) and intercentrum (“I”) (parts of the vertebrae) each formed two cylindrically shaped vertebral bodies that were connected to one another via a common vertebral arch (“N”). Chevron bones ("CH") were each connected to the intercentrum. This structure resulted in a great flexibility of the spine and enabled a snaking swim.

Some forms of embolomeri secondary developed a caudal fin on top of the tail. Their limbs resembled those of their land-based ancestors.

They had only a very loose connection between the os quadratum and the pterygoid .

Genera

literature

Robert L. Carroll : Paleontology and Evolution of the Vertebrates. Thieme, Stuttgart et al. 1993, ISBN 3-13-774401-6 .

Individual evidence

^ ED Cope: Extinct Batrachia. In: The American Naturalist , Volume 14, 1880, pp. 609-610, ( digitized ).
^ ^A ^b ^c ED Cope: The Batrachia of the Permian Period of North America. In: The American Naturalist , Volume 18, 1884, pp. 26-39, ( digitized ).
↑ ^a ^b U. Lehmann: Paleontological dictionary. 4th edition, Springer Spectrum, Berlin / Heidelberg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-662-45605-7 , p. 75, ( preview ).

Web links

Commons : Embolomeri - collection of images, videos and audio files

Palæos Embolomeri
Garcia, William J .: An Examination of the phylogenetic Position of the Embolomeri. on-line

[Cope,_1880-1] ED Cope: Extinct Batrachia. In: The American Naturalist , Volume 14, 1880, pp. 609-610, ( digitized ).

[Cope,_1884-2] A ^b ^c ED Cope: The Batrachia of the Permian Period of North America. In: The American Naturalist , Volume 18, 1884, pp. 26-39, ( digitized ).

[Lehmann,_2014-3] U. Lehmann: Paleontological dictionary. 4th edition, Springer Spectrum, Berlin / Heidelberg, 2014, ISBN 978-3-662-45605-7 , p. 75, ( preview ).