Silvanerpeton
Extinct genus of amphibians
title: "Silvanerpeton" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["carboniferous-tetrapods-of-europe", "fossil-taxa-described-in-1994", "viséan-genera"] description: "Extinct genus of amphibians" topic_path: "general/carboniferous-tetrapods-of-europe" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvanerpeton" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Extinct genus of amphibians ::
| fossil_range = Early Carboniferous | image = Silvanerpeton1DB.jpg | image_caption = Life restoration of Silvanerpeton miripedes | taxon = Silvanerpeton | authority = Clack, 1994 | type_species = Silvanerpeton miripedes | type_species_authority = Clack, 1994
Silvanerpeton is an extinct genus of early reptiliomorph found by Stan Wood in the 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 terrestrial deposits from Romer's gap, a period poor in fossils where the higher groups "labyrinthodonts" evolved.
The type species Silvanerpeton miripedes was named by Jennifer A. Clack in 1993/1994. The generic name is derived from Silvanus, the Roman god of woods. The specific name means "wondrous feet" in Latin. The holotype is specimen UMZC T1317, a skeleton with skull and skin impressions.
Description
In life Silvanerpeton was about 40 cm (1 ft) long. Some paleontologists think it was semi-aquatic as an adult, others believe only young individuals of Silvanerpeton were aquatic and the adults were fully terrestrial.
Classification
Based on a remarkably well preserved humerus and other traits, the animal is believed to have been a relatively advanced reptiliomorph, close to the origin of amniotes.
References
References
- "East Kirkton, Bathgate". Geological Conservation Review.
- Clack, J.A. 1994. "''Silvanerpeton miripedes'', a new anthracosauroid from the Viséan of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland". ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences'' '''84''' (for 1993): 369–376
- "Abstract".
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