Eucritta
| Eucritta Temporal range: Early Carboniferous |
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|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
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Fossil
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Superclass: | Tetrapoda |
| Family: | Loxommatidae |
| Genus: | Eucritta |
| Species: | E. melanolimnetes |
| Binomial name | |
| Eucritta melanolimnetes Clack, 1998 |
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Eucritta melanolimnetes ('creature from the black lagoon') is an extinct tetrapod from the Carboniferous period of Scotland. Its name is a homage to the 1954 sci-fi/horror movie Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Eucritta was about 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long, and displayed mixed tetrapod characteristics, such as an amphibian-like skull and a reptilian palate.[1] Its eye sockets were shaped like keyholes, with pointed openings at the front that may have contained a gland of unknown function. This characteristic is also seen in the Loxommatidae family, in which Eucritta has been placed. However, its exact phylogenetic position is not known with much certainty due to its mixture of primitive and derived tetrapod characters. The possession of characters seen in baphetids, anthracosaurs, and temnospondyls suggests that these three groups diverged in the Carboniferous rather than earlier, in the Devonian.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Palmer, D., ed (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 51. ISBN 1-84028-152-9.
- ^ Clack, J. A., 1998. Nature 394: 66-69
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