Whatcheeriidae
- North America (Iowa)
- Scotland
The Whatcheeriidae are a group of extinct, before land vertebrates from the Lower Carboniferous. It includes only two genera, Pederpes whose fossil remains have been found in Scotland and Whatcheeria from Iowa in the United States. Both were about a meter long. They were the first land vertebrates, which were more adapted to walking on land to swimming in the water.
Features
The animals had a strong lower jaw. The mouth was filled with sharp, strong and slightly curved back teeth. On the maxilla each sat a large fang. Probably the animals were carnivorous, feeding on fish and other tetrapods.
Primitive features of the Whatcheeriidae are running in the skull lateral line canals and the primeval Illium, which was similar to that of Acanthostega. More fishy features are the teeth on the palate bone and on the coronoid of the mandible.
Is seen as progressive, the foot only had five toes. In the hand, but still a sixth, greatly reduced toe seems to have been present. The skull of Whatcheeriidae was narrow and higher than that of the Sarcopterygii and the more primitive land vertebrates. The skull surface was finely sculpted.