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Earliest Carboniferous tetrapod and arthropod faunas from Scotland populate Romer's Gap

Earliest Carboniferous tetrapod and arthropod faunas from Scotland populate Romer's Gap
Earliest Carboniferous tetrapod and arthropod faunas from Scotland populate Romer's Gap
Devonian tetrapods (limbed vertebrates), known from an increasingly large number of localities, have been shown to be mainly aquatic with many primitive features. In contrast, the post-Devonian record is marked by an Early Mississippian temporal gap ranging from the earliest Carboniferous (Tournaisian and early Viséan) to the mid-Viséan. By the mid-Viséan, tetrapods had become effectively terrestrial as attested by the presence of stem amniotes, developed an essentially modern aspect, and given rise to the crown group. Up to now, only two localities have yielded tetrapod specimens from the Tournaisian stage: one in Scotland with a single articulated skeleton and one in Nova Scotia with isolated bones, many of uncertain identity. We announce a series of discoveries of Tournaisian-age localities in Scotland that have yielded a wealth of new tetrapod and arthropod fossils. These include both terrestrial and aquatic forms and new taxa. We conclude that the gap in the fossil record has been an artifact of collection failure
Ballagan Formation, end-Devonian mass extinction, terrestriality, rhizodonts, lungfish
0027-8424
4532-4537
Smithson, T.R.
5cfedd7d-7887-4be5-bddb-ce4954857e55
Wood, S.P.
430faabf-7f5c-4cf6-9bcc-5955f5e09566
Marshall, J.E.A.
cba178e3-91aa-49a2-b2ce-4b8d9d870b06
Clack, J.A.
b45b0c78-0618-4a0f-8d1f-57c84e48c968
Smithson, T.R.
5cfedd7d-7887-4be5-bddb-ce4954857e55
Wood, S.P.
430faabf-7f5c-4cf6-9bcc-5955f5e09566
Marshall, J.E.A.
cba178e3-91aa-49a2-b2ce-4b8d9d870b06
Clack, J.A.
b45b0c78-0618-4a0f-8d1f-57c84e48c968

Smithson, T.R., Wood, S.P., Marshall, J.E.A. and Clack, J.A. (2012) Earliest Carboniferous tetrapod and arthropod faunas from Scotland populate Romer's Gap. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109 (12), 4532-4537. (doi:10.1073/pnas.1117332109).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Devonian tetrapods (limbed vertebrates), known from an increasingly large number of localities, have been shown to be mainly aquatic with many primitive features. In contrast, the post-Devonian record is marked by an Early Mississippian temporal gap ranging from the earliest Carboniferous (Tournaisian and early Viséan) to the mid-Viséan. By the mid-Viséan, tetrapods had become effectively terrestrial as attested by the presence of stem amniotes, developed an essentially modern aspect, and given rise to the crown group. Up to now, only two localities have yielded tetrapod specimens from the Tournaisian stage: one in Scotland with a single articulated skeleton and one in Nova Scotia with isolated bones, many of uncertain identity. We announce a series of discoveries of Tournaisian-age localities in Scotland that have yielded a wealth of new tetrapod and arthropod fossils. These include both terrestrial and aquatic forms and new taxa. We conclude that the gap in the fossil record has been an artifact of collection failure

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More information

Published date: 2012
Keywords: Ballagan Formation, end-Devonian mass extinction, terrestriality, rhizodonts, lungfish
Organisations: Paleooceanography & Palaeoclimate

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 337043
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/337043
ISSN: 0027-8424
PURE UUID: 37d05c32-2e90-46bf-8a3a-1cf64aad0bd7
ORCID for J.E.A. Marshall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9242-3646

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 16 Apr 2012 13:27
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:35

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Contributors

Author: T.R. Smithson
Author: S.P. Wood
Author: J.E.A. Marshall ORCID iD
Author: J.A. Clack

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