Gephyrostegus
Gephyrostegus Temporal range:
Late Carboniferous | |
---|---|
Life restoration of Gephyrostegus bohemicus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Order: | †Gephyrostegida |
Family: | †Gephyrostegidae |
Genus: | †Gephyrostegus Jaekel, 1902 |
Type species | |
†Gephyrostegus bohemicus Jaekel, 1902
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Gephyrostegus is a
Originally thought to have been a seymouriamorph,[2] the phylogenetic position is uncertain, and now it is placed in the family Gephyrostegidae, together with the genus Bruktererpeton.[3] Several phylogenetic studies indicate that Gephyrostegus is only distantly related to amniotes, more distantly than diadectomorphs, lepospondyls and seymouriamorphs were.[3][4][5][6][7]
At 22 cm snout-vent length, Gephyrostegus is one of the smallest (if not the smallest) advanced reptiliomorphs found. The type species is Gephyrostegus bohemicus, the type of which is the specimen with its skull and scattered elements of the anterior postcranial skeleton preserved; another known specimen is an articulated postcranial skeleton, lacking only the tail and a few phalanges.
Brough and Brough (1967) considered Solenodonsaurus to be a junior synonym of Gephyrostegus,[2] but other authors consider them to be a separate genus. Some specimens classified by Brough and Brough (1967) as individuals of Gephyrostegus bohemicus were subsequently recognized as basal eureptilians; their "specimen I" became a holotype of Brouffia orientalis, while "specimen II" became a holotype of Coelostegus prothales.[10]
References
- ^ Jaekel, O. (1902): Gephyrostegus bohemicus, n.g. n.sp. Zeitschrift der Deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft 54: (Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft): 127–132
- ^ JSTOR 2416682.
- ^ S2CID 31298396.
- ISBN 0-12-676460-3.
- doi:10.1139/e99-036.
- S2CID 26700362.
- S2CID 86479890.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 978-3-89937-022-5
- ^ Carroll, R.L.; Baird, D. (1972). "Carboniferous Stem-Reptiles of the Family Romeriidae". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 143 (5): 321–363.