West Lothiana
| West Lothiana | ||||||||
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West Lothiana |
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| Temporal occurrence | ||||||||
| Lower carbon | ||||||||
| 355 to 350 million years | ||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||
| West Lothiana | ||||||||
| Wood , 1988 | ||||||||
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Westlothiana is a primeval, extinct terrestrial vertebrate (Tetrapoda). It was found in Scottish and North American strata, which are assigned to the Lower Carboniferous (355 to 350 million years ago) and named after the location of the site in the Scottish county of West Lothian .
Locations
The private paleontologist Stan Wood found Westlothiana in 1988 in the East Kirkton quarry near the city of Bathgate in Scotland , where the animal was nestled among fossil spiders , scorpions and other arthropods . More fossils were discovered in North America .
properties
The paleontologist TR Smithson examined the fossil in 1994. He found that it had characteristics of both an amphibian and a reptile. Thus the skull and some vertebrae resemble those of early amniotes . Westlothiana had small but definitely bony limbs. The humerus ( humerus ) is also reminiscent of early amniotes. Although it only has 3 tarsal attachments near the middle of the body, as in more primitive tetrapods , it already has the same number of fingers as in early amniotes. The long belly and dorsal scales are more primitive than that of anthracosauria , but more modern than that of the later in Perm living seymouriamorpha .
The animal measured approx. 30 cm, had a reptile-like shape with skin scales and had webbed feet that were completely adapted to life on land. Westlothiana had sharp, needle-like teeth in its mouth that were probably best suited for hunting insects . It could have inhabited a humid habitat on the banks of lakes.
classification
After the first find in Scotland , Westlothiana was quickly recognized as the first "real reptile". English researchers jokingly called her "Lizzy the lizard" ( German = "Lizzy the lizard"). In later investigations, however, it only turned out to be reptile-like, so Westlothiana belonged at most to the lineage of amniotes (which includes reptiles , birds and mammals ), but was not the first amniot itself. After a re-examination of the kinship relationships of the early terrestrial vertebrates, a Team of scientists concluded that Westlothiana is basal to the lepospondyli . The clade formed by both is the sister group of a taxon from Diadectomorpha and the Amniota.
swell
- David Lambert: Lexicon of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. Dorling Kindersley Verlag, ISBN 3-8310-0342-4 , page 67
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marcello Ruta, Michael I. Coates & Donald LJ Quickie (2003): Early tetrapod relationships revisited. Biological Reviews, 78, pp 251-345 doi : 10.1017 / S1464793102006103
Web links
- Information about Westlothiana ( Memento from June 18, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- In English; Under the heading "Tetrapods" ( Memento from June 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )