Cephalerpeton

{{Short description|Extinct genus of tetrapods}}

{{Speciesbox

| fossil_range = Late Carboniferous, {{fossil_range|307.1|305}}

| image = Cephalerpeton fossil.jpg

| image_caption = Original fossil (a) and resin cast (b) of YPM 796

| genus = Cephalerpeton

| parent_authority = Moodie, 1912

| authority = Moodie, 1912

| species = ventriarmatum

}}

Cephalerpeton is an extinct genus of "protorothyridid" tetrapods known from the Late Carboniferous (late Westphalian stage) of Illinois.{{Cite journal|last1=Mann|first1=Arjan|last2=McDaniel|first2=Emily J.|last3=McColville|first3=Emily R.|last4=Maddin|first4=Hillary C.|title=Carbonodraco lundi gen et sp. nov., the oldest parareptile, from Linton, Ohio, and new insights into the early radiation of reptiles|url= |journal=Royal Society Open Science|year=2019|volume=6|issue=11|pages=191191|doi=10.1098/rsos.191191|pmc=6894558|pmid=31827854|bibcode=2019RSOS....691191M}}

File:Cephalerpeton fossil diagram.jpg

It is known from the holotype YPM 796, a partial skeleton. It was collected in the Mazon Creek site, from the Francis Creek Shale Member of the Carbondale Formation. It was first named by R. L. Moodie in 1912 as an amphibamid amphibian and the type species is Cephalerpeton ventriarmatum.{{cite journal |author=R. L. Moodie |year=1912 |title=The Pennsylvanic Amphibia of the Mazon Creek, Illinois, Shales |journal=Kansas University Science Bulletin |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=232–259 }} It was first assigned to Protorothyrididae by Robert L. Carroll and Donald Baird in 1972 and this placement has been widely accepted.{{cite journal |author=Robert L. Carroll |author2=Donald Baird |year=1972 |title=Carboniferous Stem-Reptiles of the Family Romeriidae |journal=Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology |volume=143 |issue=5 |pages=321–363 }}{{cite journal |last=Müller |first=J. |author2=Reisz, R. R. |year=2006 |title=The phylogeny of early eureptiles: comparing parsimony and Bayesian approaches in the investigation of a basal fossil clade |journal=Systematic Biology |pmid=16861212 |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=503–511 |doi=10.1080/10635150600755396|doi-access=free }}