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Pholidogaster pisciformes
Pholidogaster pisciformes (after Huxley 1862).
Pholidogaster pisciformes was an early Tetrapod discovered in coal deposits in Scotland, dating from the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) period. The name means "scaly stomach [with a] fish form." It belongs to the superclass Tetrapoda, and the family Colosteidae.
The Colosteids were lizard-like aquatic predators, partly covered with scales. One of the first discoveries of a colosteid was Pholidogaster pisciformes, identified by Thomas H. Huxley in 1862 from a nearly complete skeleton found in a coal deposit in Gilmerton, Scotland. These deposits date from the Visean and early Serpukhovian stages of of the Middle Carboniferous (ca. 338-320 mya).
The Philodigaster fossil
had been originally grouped with fish fossils. Huxley (1862) identified
it as a thin, elongated aquatic amphibian about 44 cm. long, with
weak, undeveloped limbs. It also had hard stomach scales, which allowed
it to crawl on land, and fang-like canines (of labyrinthodont
composition), indicating it was a carnivore. P. pisciformes provided an early illustration of the tetrapod features shown in amphibians, representing the transition to terrestial habits.
Reference:
Huxley, T. H., 1862. On new Labyrinthodonts from the Edinburgh Coalfield. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 18, p. 291-296.
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