Aspidosaurus

Aspidosaurus
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous - Early Permian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Temnospondyli
Family: Dissorophidae
Genus: Aspidosaurus
Species
  • A. apicalis
  • A. crucifer
  • A. glascocki
  • A. binasser Berman and Lucas, 2003

Aspidosaurus is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Dissorophidae. Like other dissorophids, Aspidosaurus species had a single row of plates formed by expansions of the neural spines.[1]

In 1911, Paul Miller discovered the remains of various dissorophid bones in New Mexico that were attributed to a new species, Aspidosaurus novomexicanus. The skull closely resembled that of a specimen of Cacops aspidephorus found in Texas but the arrangement of ridges in the otic region was different. The teeth found were slender and conical and all of an approximately equal size. The vertebral column, pelvis and limb bones were also similar but the new specimen was distinguished from Cacops by the armour, the single row of vertical plates that were originally attached to the neural spines of the vertebrae.[1] A. novomexicanus was later attributed to the genus Broiliellus. More recently, "A." novomexicanus has been removed from Broiliellus and classified as a closer relative of Cacops. The original specimen is now housed in the University of California Museum of Paleontology and is referred to as the "Rio Arriba taxon" because of its uncertain phylogenetic placement.[2]

Phylogeny

Below is a cladogram from Schoch (2012) in which valid Aspidosaurus species are found to be basal dissorophids and "Aspidosaurus" novomexicanus -the Rio Arriba taxon- nests within the subfamily Cacopinae:[2]

[2]

Dissorophoidea
Micromelerpetontidae

Micromelerpeton




Amphibamidae

Platyrhinops



Doleserpeton



Olsoniformes
Trematopidae

Ecolsonia



Fedexia




Tambachia



Anconastes




Phonerpeton



Acheloma





Dissorophidae

Platyhystrix



Aspidosaurus




Conjunctio


Dissorophinae

Dissorophus



Broiliellus texensis



Broiliellus brevis



Broiliellus olsoni



Cacopinae

Brevidorsum




Admiral taxon



Rio Arriba taxon




Cacops morrisi



Cacops aspidephorus




Kamacops



Zygosaurus











References

  1. 1 2 A Description of Aspidosaurus novomexicanus Williston Permo-Carboniferous Vertebrates from New Mexico, p7-11. Retrieved 2011-09-11.
  2. 1 2 3 Schoch, R. R. (2012). "Character distribution and phylogeny of the dissorophid temnospondyls". Fossil Record 15 (2): 121–137. doi:10.1002/mmng.201200010.



This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, December 08, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.