Microbrachis
{{Short description|Extinct genus of tetrapods}}
{{Confused|Microbrachius}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Microbrachis in Vienna.jpg
| image_caption = Fossil of Microbrachis pelikani
| image_upright = 1.2
| display_parents = 5
| fossil_range = Late Carboniferous
{{fossil range|307.1|302}}
| parent_authority = Fritsch, 1883
| taxon = Microbrachis
| authority = Fric, 1875
| type_species = {{extinct}}Microbrachis pelikani
| type_species_authority = Fric, 1875
}}
Microbrachis is an extinct genus of microsaurian tetrapod from the Carboniferous Kladno Formation of the Czech Republic.
Description
File:Microbrachis pelikani.png
Microbrachis was an elongated, salamander-like creature, about {{convert|15|cm|in|sigfig=1}} long, with over 40 vertebrae instead of the average 15–26 in its living relatives. It had minute limbs, and probably swam using fish-like lateral body movements. Microbrachis probably fed on fresh water plankton such as shrimp. Microbrachis was pedomorphic, retaining its larval gills in adulthood. Similar traits are found in the extant axolotl.{{cite book |editor=Palmer, D.|year=1999 |title= The Marshall Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Animals|publisher= Marshall Editions|location=London|page= 55|isbn= 1-84028-152-9}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- Andrew R. Milner, "The Tetrapod Assemblage from Nýrany, Czechoslovakia", in Systematics Association Special Volume No.15, "The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates", ed. by A. L. Panchen, 1980, pp. 439–496, Academic Press, London and New York
External links
- [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1967RSPTB.252..131B Microbrachis, The Type Microsaur (abstract)]
- {{Wikispecies-inline}}
{{Microsauria|L.}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2675629}}
Category:Pennsylvanian tetrapods of Europe
Category:Kasimovian genus first appearances
Category:Gzhelian genus extinctions
Category:Fossils of the Czech Republic
Category:Fossil taxa described in 1875
{{Paleo-tetrapod-stub}}