Amphibian Cast
| Group: |
Amphibia |
| Original Specimen Location: |
AMNH |
| Specimen Number: |
AMNH 4657 |
| Age: |
Early Permian |
| Where Found: |
Texas |
| Date Found: |
1906 |
| Size: |
6.5ft |
| Original Material: |
90% |
| Source: |
RCI |
| Type: |
skeleton |
| 3d Scan: |
no |
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Temnospondyli
Family: Eryopidae
Genus: Eryops
Species: E. megacephalus
Eryops was a heavy-set, semi-aquatic amphibian that lived during the early Permian (approximately 295 million years ago). It may represent a 'transitional' species adapted to both land and water - ideally suited for swampland or intertidal habitation. Placement of the eyes and nostrils at the top of the low, broad skull may signify ambush predation, similar to that of modern crocodilians. On land, it was a sluggish tetrapod with a slow amphibian gait. But at a length of 2m and an estimated weight of 100kg, it was surely a formidable opponent for any aggressive contemporaries.
Type Species:
Eryops megacephalus
Cope, ED. (1877). Descriptions of extinct vertebrata from the Permian and Triassic formations of the United States. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 17, pp. 182–195.
Additional Scientific Resources:
Pawley, K, and Warren, A. (2006). The Appendicular Skeleton of
Eryops Megacephalus Cope, 1877 (Temnospondyli: Eryopoidea) from the Lower Permian of North America. Journal of Paleontology, Vol. 80, No. 3, pp. 561-580.
Miner, RW. (1925). The pectoral limb of
Eryops and other primitive tetrapods. Bulletin of the AMNH, Vol. 51, Article 7.
Gregory, WK. (1923). The carpus of
Eryops and the structure of the primitive chiropterygium. Bulletin of the AMNH, Vol. 48, Article 10.
