Macromerion

Macromerion
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous, 304.2–299 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Synapsida
Order:
Pelycosauria
Family:
†Sphenacodontidae
Genus:
†Macromerion

Fritsch, 1879
Binomial name
†Macromerion schwartzenbergii
Fritsch, 1885? (Romer, 1945)
Synonyms

Macromerion (Macro- is Greek/Latin for “large”) is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids, specifically Pelycosaurs, in the family Sphenacodontidae from Late Carboniferous deposits in the Czech Republic.[1][2][3] It was named as a species of Labyrinthodon in 1875 and as its own genus in 1879.[4]

Macromerion was one of the moderate to large-sized Spenacodontids and represented the most dominant terrestrial predators from the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian, which means they lived about 300 million years ago.[5] It is a "sail-backed" synapsid, exhibiting sizable parallel-fibered and fibrolamellar bone, along with lamellar bone.[6] The family of Macromerion, Sphenacodontids, is a sister taxon of Therapsids. The understanding of this relationship plays an important part in understanding the mammalian features of Pelycosaurs and all synapsids.[5] Fossils of this species and other Pelycosaurs were mostly found in regions of North America and Western Europe.[7]

  1. ^ Paton, R. L. 1974. Lower Permian pelycosaurs from the English midlands. Palaeontology 17 (3): 541–552.
  2. ^ A. S. Romer. 1945. The Late Carboniferous Vertebrate Fauna of Kounova (Bohemia) compared with that of the Texas Redbeds. American Journal of Science 243:417-442
  3. ^ R. R. Reisz. 1986. Pelycosauria. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie / Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology 17A:1-102
  4. ^ Fritsch (1875) - pp. 75-76 (non pp. 71-71)
  5. ^ a b Frobisch, J. (2001). "A new basal sphenacodontid synapsid from the Late Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (1).
  6. ^ Huttenlocker, Adam K.; Rega, Elizabeth; Sumida, Stuart S. (December 2010). "Comparative anatomy and osteohistology of hyperelongate neural spines in the sphenacodontids Sphenacodon and Dimetrodon (Amniota: Synapsida)". Journal of Morphology. 271 (12): 1407–1421. doi:10.1002/jmor.10876. PMID 20886514. S2CID 40899700.
  7. ^ Paton, Roberta L. (1974). "A new basal sphenacodontid synapsid from the Late Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany". Palaeontology. 17 (3): 541–552.