CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE TEMNOSPONDYLOUS AMPHIBIA OF THE COAL MEASURES 

 OF NORTH AMERICA. 



DEFINITION OF THE ORDER TEMNOSPONDYLIA, ZITTEL, 1887. 



ZiTTEL, Handbuch dcr Paleontologie, Abth. i, Bd. 3, p. 384, 1887. 



Terrestrial or semi-aquatic vertebrata ; skull bones pitted and grooved ; latercil- 

 line canals present in well-developed form; pineal foramen sometimes absent; 

 sclerotic plates present; verteVira; rachitomous or embolomerous; notochord partly 

 persistent; one or two sacral vertebra?; tail present, long or short; limbs and 

 girdles well developed; limb bones well ossified and bones of arm and leg sepa- 

 rate ; pectoral and pelvic girdles composed of the usual stegocephalian elements ; 

 an osseous pubis present; a cleithrum present on the scapula; carpus and tarsus 

 ossified, carpals 11 and tarsals 12 in one form; phalangeal formula, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2 

 for the hand and 2, 3, 3, 3, 2 for the foot; fore and hind limbs pentadactyl in a 

 few forms; venter covered with an armature of osseous scutes, sometimes over- 

 lapping; skin of back bare or armored with heavy plates; ribs heavy, double- 

 headed, CTirved and moderately long, or short ; body short and heavy, as compared 

 to skull about 2 to i . 



Range: Coal Measures to upper Permian. 



Distribution: North America: Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and Penn- 

 sylvania; Evu"ope: Germany, Bohemia; France; Asia: India. 



Family CRICOTED.^ Cope, 1884. 

 Cope, Am. Nat., xviii, p. 38, 1884. 



General form of the body elongate, with triangular skull and short, stout 

 limbs. Snout narrow, orbits large, elongated oval, situated near the middle of 

 the skull. External bones faintly sculptured, sensor}' canals conspicuous, parietal 

 foramen large. Teeth conical, of unequal size. Presacral vertebrae composed of 

 horseshoe-shaped pleurocentra and hypocentra, the former alone supporting the 

 neural arch. In the caudals the pleurocentra and hypocentra form complete 

 rings, and both elements take part in the support of the neural arch, but the 

 ha-inal arch is borne exclusively by the hypocentra. A close abdominal armor of 

 imbricate scales, arranged in a chevron pattern. Caudal vertebrae numerous. 

 Chevrons coossified with the intercentra. 



Genus SPONDYLERPETON Moodie. 

 MooDiE, Kans. Univ. Sci. Bull., vi, No. 2, p. 355, 1912. 



Type: Spondylerpelon spina turn Moodie. 



The genus is based on a specimen consisting of 9 imperfect vertebrae, from the 

 caudal region of a relatively large amphibian. The present genus exceeds Diplo- 

 spondylus from the Gaskohle of Bohemia (251) by twice its size and is about two- 

 thirds the size of Cricotus heteroclitus Cope (98) from the Permian of Kansas. The 

 vertebrae are twice as high as wide, differing thus from Cricotus, in which the ver- 

 tebrae are nearly circular. A character which is of great importance is the large size 

 of the intercentrum, which almost equals the pleurocentrum in size. It is similar 

 to the pleurocentrum in shape, except for the attached neurocentrum and chevron on 

 the latter. The present genus differs from Diplospondylus in the greater length of 



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