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The oldest microsaur (Amphibia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Robert L. Carroll ,
Paul Bybee  and
William D. Tidwell
Robert L. Carroll
Affiliation:
Redpath Museum, McGill University, Montreal H3A 2K6, Canada
Paul Bybee
Affiliation:
Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
William D. Tidwell
Affiliation:
Department of Botany and Range Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 84602
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Abstract

Utaherpeton franklini n. gen. and sp., from the Manning Canyon Shale Formation of Utah, is the oldest known microsaur. The horizon is dated as equivalent to the lowermost Namurian B of Europe (transitional from Upper Mississippian into lowermost Pennsylvanian in North American terminology) on the basis of a rich assemblage of fossil plants. The specimen may be tentatively placed within the suborder Microbrachomorpha. It exhibits the primitive character state for many microsaur features, but no synapomorphies are recognized that support a specific sister-group relationship between microsaurs and any other group of Paleozoic tetrapods.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , March 1991 , pp. 314 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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