Westlothiana

Westlothiana

• Europe
• North America

• Westlothiana lizziae

Westlothiana is a primordial, extinct land vertebrate ( Tetrapoda ). It has been demonstrated in Scottish and North American strata, which are assigned to the Lower Carboniferous ( million years ago, 355-350 ) and named after the location of the discovery site in the Scottish county of West Lothian.

Locations

The private paleontologist Stanwood found Westlothiana 1988 at the quarry of East Kirkton, near the town of Bathgate in Scotland, where the animal was embedded between fossil spiders, scorpions and other arthropods. Other fossils have been discovered in North America.

Properties

Paleontologist TR Smithson examined the fossil in 1994. He noted that it has both features of an amphibian, as well as characteristics of a reptile. So the same skull and some vertebrae to those of early amniotes. Although Westlothiana had small but definitely bony limbs. The upper arm bone (humerus ) is also reminiscent of early amniotes. It has only 3 Fußwurzelansätze near the middle of the body, as in primitive tetrapods, but have the same number of fingers as in early amniotes. The long abdominal and dorsal scales are more primitive than those of the Anthracosauria, but more modern than the later of the living in the Permian Seymouriamorpha.

The animal measured about 30 cm, had a reptilian shape with dander and had fully adapted to life on land without webbed feet. In his mouth had Westlothiana lace, needle-like teeth that were probably best suited to hunt insects. It could have inhabited a humid habitat on the shores of lakes.

Classification

After the first discovery in Scotland Westlothiana was viewed quickly as the first "real reptile ." Researchers in England therefore they called jokingly " Lizzy the lizard " (engl. = " Lizzy the lizard" ). In later studies, they proved to be just as reptiles similar, so Westlothiana belonged to a maximum in the stem lineage of amniotes (which include reptiles, birds and mammals belong ), but was not the first Amniot itself comes after a re-examination of the kinship of the early land vertebrates a team of scientists to the conclusion that Westlothiana is basal to the Lepospondyli. The clade formed by two is the sister group of a taxon from Diadectomorpha and Amniota.

Swell

• David Lambert: Encyclopedia of dinosaurs and other animals of prehistoric times. Dorling Kindersley Publishing, ISBN 3-8310-0342-4, page 67