''Eldeceeon'' is an extinct

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

reptiliomorph Reptiliomorpha (meaning reptile-shaped; in PhyloCode known as ''Pan-Amniota'') is a clade containing the amniotes and those tetrapods that share a more recent common ancestor with amniotes than with living amphibians (lissamphibians). It was defi ...

from the Mississippian (early Carboniferous) of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is known from two fossil specimens found within the

Viséan The Visean, Viséan or Visian is an age in the ICS geologic timescale or a stage in the stratigraphic column. It is the second stage of the Mississippian, the lower subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Visean lasted from to Ma. It follow ...

-age

East Kirkton Quarry East Kirkton Quarry is a former limestone quarry in West Lothian, Scotland (East Kirkton Limestone), now better known as a fossil site known for terrestrial fossils from the fossil-poor Romer's gap, a 15 million year period at the beginning of th ...

in West Lothian. The type and only species, ''E. rolfei'', was named in 1994. ''Eldeceeon'' is thought to be closely related to embolomeres, but it has several distinguishing features including long limbs and a short trunk. Initially known from two crushed partial skeletons, additional specimens have been reported by Ruta & Clack (2006).

Description

In the East Kirkton Quarry, fossils of ''Eldeceeon'' were found alongside another reptiliomorph called ''

Silvanerpeton ''Silvanerpeton'' is an extinct genus of early reptiliomorph found in East Kirkton Quarry of West Lothian, Scotland, in a sequence from the Brigantian substage of the Viséan (Lower Carboniferous). The find is important, as the quarry represents ...

''. These genera are closely related to each other but represent an unusual group of reptiliomorphs that cannot be placed in any of the major reptiliomorph clades, but may be related to the earliest embolomeres. The shapes of some bones in their skulls Unlike most embolomeres, which could grow over a meter long, ''Eldeceeon'' has a much smaller body length of . Compared to embolomeres, it has fewer dorsal vertebrae and much larger limbs relative to its body. The shortened spine and robust limbs of ''Eldeceeon'' suggest it had a terrestrial lifestyle, distinguishing it from the primarily aquatic embolomeres which have relatively long bodies and short limbs. These adaptations also distinguish it from ''Silvanerpeton'', which is presumed to have been aquatic. The ribs of ''Eldeceeon'' are restricted to the front half of the spine, a characteristic that is not present in any

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids ( pelycosaurs, extinct t ...

s (four-limbed vertebrates) except mammals and their relatives. Each vertebra is divided into a U-shaped pleurocentrum and a smaller intercentrum, like the vertebrae of the embolomere ''

Eoherpeton ''Eoherpeton'' is the only genus of the family Eoherpetontidae in the extinct suborder Embolomeri. It is known from the Visean and Namurian (now Serpukhovian and lower Bashkirian) stages of the Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geol ...

''. The

pectoral Pectoral may refer to: * The chest region and anything relating to it. * Pectoral cross, a cross worn on the chest * a decorative, usually jeweled version of a gorget * Pectoral (Ancient Egypt), a type of jewelry worn in ancient Egypt * Pectorali ...

and

pelvic girdles The pelvis (plural pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of the trunk, between the abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also called bony pelvis, or pelvic skeleton). The p ...

resemble those of the embolomere ''

Proterogyrinus ''Proterogyrinus'' is an extinct genus of early tetrapods from the order Embolomeri. Fossil remains of ''Proterogyrinus'' have been found in Scotland, UK, and West Virginia, United States, and date back to the Serpukhovian (mid-Carboniferous pe ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5353913 Basal tetrapods of Europe Carboniferous reptiliomorphs