Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 31() 1988
An articulated gymnarthrid microsaur (Amphibia) from the Upper Carboniferous of Czechoslovakia
Abstract:
A newly discovered skeleton of the Upper Carboniferous gymnarthrid microsaur Sparodus demonstrates that the presacral vertebral column is much shorther than that of the Lower Permian genus Cardiocephalus and that the skull is both relatively and absolutely larger. The proportions of Sparodus are somewhat closer to the pattern of early labyrinthodonts, but the anatomy of the skull and vertebral column are already typical of the pattern in later microsaurs. Trunk intercentra may be derived with in the Gymnarthridae, rather than being a primitive feature of that group.
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