Apateon
| Apateon Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Reconstructed skeletal mount at the Baoding Natural History Museum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Family: | †Branchiosauridae |
| Subfamily: | †Branchiosaurinae |
| Genus: | †Apateon von Meyer, 1844 |
Apateon is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian within the family Branchiosauridae.
Species
[edit]- †Apateon caducus
- †Apateon dracyi
- †Apateon flagrifer
- †Apateon kontheri
- †Apateon pedestris von Meyer 1840
- †Apateon umbrosus
Fossil record
[edit]Fossils of Apateon are found in freshwaters strata of Latest Carboniferous (Gzhelian) to Early Permian (Asselian) of Germany.[1][2]
Description
[edit]
These amphibians could reach a length of about 5–12 centimetres (2.0–4.7 in), while the length of the skull could reach 8–24 millimetres (0.31–0.94 in). They resembled a salamander and had a laterally flattened tail with a long fin. The body was completely covered with rounded scales. The portion of the skull behind the eyes was quite short. On opposite sides of the head there are three pairs of long, spiral-shaped external gills. They had a weakly ossified skeleton and a wide, short skull, with huge eye holes. The teeth were small and peaked. On the hands are present four fingers.[3]
Palaeobiology
[edit]Life history
[edit]Like some modern salamanders, Apateon caducus had two different trajectories of life history. One was metamorphosis, which involved ossification of the braincase, palatoquadrate, and intercentra, and the other being neoteny. Apateon were sexually mature in the neotenous state in which adults retained traits seen in the young, such as larval-type sculpting of the dermal portion of the skull roof and ossified branchial denticles. Neotenous Apateon were fully aquatic animals that lived in semi-permanent lakes and ponds, while metamorphosed individuals had the ability to engage in terrestrial locomotion.[4]
Diet
[edit]Apateon fed on microorganisms. However, in exceptionally harsh environmental conditions, the species Apateon gracilis engaged in cannibalism.[5]
Bibliography
[edit]- Cyril Walker & David Ward (1993) - Fossielen: Sesam Natuur Handboeken, Bosch & Keuning, Baarn. ISBN 90-246-4924-2
- Gaining Ground: The Origin and Early Evolution of Tetrapods
- Hermann von Meyer, 1844: Briefliche Mittheilung an Prof. Bronn gerichtet. Neues Jahrbuch für Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakten-Kunde 1844: 329–340.
- Hermann von Meyer, 1848: Apateon pedestris aus der Steinkohlenformation von Münsterappel. – Palaeontographica 1: 153–154.
- Jürgen Boy, 1972: Die Branchiosaurier (Amphibia) des saarpfalzischen Rotliegenden (Perm, SW-Deutschland). Abhandlungen des hessischen Landes-Amtes für Bodenforschung 65: 1–137.
- Jürgen Boy, 1987: Studien uber die Branchiosauridae (Amphibia: Temnospondyli; Ober-Karbon-Unter-Perm) 2. Systematische Übersicht. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen 174: 75-104.
- Rainer Schoch und Andrew Milner, 2014: Temnospondyli. In: Sues, H.D. (Hrg): Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Band 3A2. Pfeil: München.
- Rainer Schoch, 1992: Comparative ontogeny of Early Permian branchiosaurid amphibians from Southwestern Germany. Developmental stages. Palaeontographica A 222: 43–83.
- Ralf Werneburg, 1991: Die Branchiosaurier aus dem Unterrotliegend des Döhlener Beckens bei Dresden. Veröffentlichungen des Naturhistorischen Museums Schleusingen 6: 75–99.
References
[edit]- ↑ Paleobiology Database
- ↑ Schoch, Rainer R.; Milner, Andrew R. (2008). "The intrarelationships and evolutionary history of the temnospondyl family branchiosauridae". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 6 (4): 409–431. doi:10.1017/S1477201908002460. ISSN 1477-2019.
- ↑ Boy, J.A. (1972): Die Branchiosaurier (Amphibia) des saarpfalzischen Rotliegenden (Perm, SW-Deutschland). Abhandlungen des hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 65: 1-137.
- ↑ Fröbisch, Nadia B.; Schoch, Rainer R. (20 February 2009). "The largest specimen of Apateon and the life history pathway of neoteny in the Paleozoic temnospondyl family Branchiosauridae". Fossil Record. 12 (1): 83–90. doi:10.1002/mmng.200800012. Retrieved 15 September 2026 – via Wiley Online Library.
- ↑ Witzmann, Florian (20 February 2009). "Cannibalism in a small growth stage of the Early Permian branchiosaurid Apateon gracilis (Credner, 1881) from Saxony". Fossil Record. 12 (1): 7–11. doi:10.1002/mmng.200800006. Retrieved 27 May 2024 – via Wiley Online Library.
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