Phlegethontia

Phlegethontia
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous to Early Permian
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Aïstopoda
Family: Phlegethontiidae
Genus: Phlegethontia
Cope, 1871
Species
  • P. linearis Cope, 1871 (type)
  • P. longissima (Fritsch, 1875)

Phlegethontia is an extinct genus of lepospondyl amphibian from the Carboniferous and Permian periods of Europe and North America.

Phlegethontia was an aïstopod, a group of legless, burrowing, snake-like amphibians. It was about 1 metre (3.3 ft) long, and possessed a lightly built skull with many openings, unlike some earlier relatives.[1]

"Dolichosoma" longissima, named by Antonin Fritsch in 1875, has been reassigned to the genus Phlegethontia and is now considered to be P. longissima.[2][3] "Dolichosoma" has been considered to be a nomen nudum because the holotype was inadequately described through a layer of matrix by Thomas Henry Huxley in 1867.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Palmer, D., ed (1999). The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals. London: Marshall Editions. p. 54. ISBN 1-84028-152-9. 
  2. ^ Fritsch, A. (1875). "Über die Fauna der Gaskohle des Pilsner und Rakonitzer Beckens". Sitzungsberichtde er Böhemischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften. Prague. pp. 70–79. 
  3. ^ Anderson, J. S. (2002). "Revision of the aïstopod genus Phlegethontia (Tetrapoda: Lepospondyli)". Journal of Paleontology 76 (6): 1029–1046. 
  4. ^ Huxley, T. H.; and Wright, E. P. (1867). "On a collection of fossil vertebrates, from the Jarrow Colliery, County of Kilkenny, Ireland.". Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 24: 351–369. 
  5. ^ Baird, D. (1964). "The aistopod amphibians surveyed". Brevoria: Museum of Comparative Zoology 206: 1–17. 

External links
Lethiscidae
Oestocephalidae
Ophiderpetontidae
Phlegethontioidea
  • Phlegethontiidae
Related categories
  • Carboniferous amphibians
  • Permian amphibians