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Westlothiana lizziae from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland, and the amniote stem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

T. R. Smithson ,
R. L. Carroll ,
A. L. Panchen  and
S. M. Andrews
T. R. Smithson
Affiliation:
Cambridge Regional College, Newmarket Road, Cambridge CB5 8EG, U.K.
R. L. Carroll
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada H3A 2T5
A. L. Panchen
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU
S. M. Andrews
Affiliation:
National Museums of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh EH1 1JF
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Abstract

Westlothiana lizziae is known from the Brigantian of East Kirkton, Scotland. The skull resembles that of later amniotes in the large size of the parietal, the apparent loss of the intertemporal, and the absence of a squamosal notch, palatal fangs and labyrinthine infolding of the marginal teeth, but is primitive in the absence of a transverse flange of the pterygoid. The individual trunk vertebrae resemble those of amniotes; large intercentra are retained, but the neural arch is fused to the centrum. A surprising feature is the presence of 36 presacral vertebrae, as is the relative size of the very small but highly ossified limbs. The humerus is much shorter than the femur, but similar in configuration to that of early amniotes. There are three proximal tarsals as in primitive tetrapods, but an amniote phalangeal count. The presence of massive dorsal as well as ventral scales is a more primitive feature than that of most anthracosaurs.

Westlothiana is ‘reptiliomorph’, and is judged to be a stem-group amniote on features of the skull roof, the absence of an otic notch, the gastrocentrous vertebrae and the pedal phalangeal formula. It has not, however, reached the amniote condition in the structure of the tarsus, and the palate is more primitive than that of both early amniotes and the ‘diadectomorphs’.

Keywords

PalaeozoicCarboniferousScotlandtetrapodsamniotesEast Kirkton
Type
Research Article
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 84 , Issue 3-4: Volcanism and early terrestrial biotas , 1993 , pp. 383 - 412
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1993

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