Spathicephalus

Spathicephalus
Temporal range: Early - Late Carboniferous, 326–313 Ma
Life restoration of Spathicephalus mirus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Tetrapodomorpha
Clade: Elpistostegalia
Clade: Stegocephali
Superfamily: †Baphetoidea
Family: †Spathicephalidae
Beaumont, 1977
Genus: †Spathicephalus
Watson, 1929
Species
  • †S. marsdeni Smithson et al., 2017[1]
  • †S. mirus Watson, 1929 (type)
  • †S. pereger Baird, 1962

Spathicephalus is an extinct genus of stem tetrapods (early four-limbed vertebrates) that lived during the middle of the Carboniferous Period. The genus includes two species: the type species S. mirus from Scotland, which is known from two mostly complete skulls and other cranial material, and the species S. pereger from Nova Scotia, which is known from a single fragment of the skull table. Based on the S. mirus material, the appearance of Spathicephalus is unlike that of any other early tetrapod, with a flattened, square-shaped skull and jaws lined with hundreds of very small chisel-like teeth. However, Spathicephalus shares several anatomical features with a family of stem tetrapods called Baphetidae, leading most paleontologists who have studied the genus to place it within a larger group called Baphetoidea, often as part of its own monotypic family Spathicephalidae. Spathicephalus is thought to have fed on aquatic invertebrates through a combination of suction feeding and filter feeding.

  1. ^ Timothy R. Smithson; Michael A. E. Browne; Sarah J Davies; John E. A. Marshall; David Millward; Stig A. Walsh; Jennifer A. Clack (2017). "A new Mississippian tetrapod from Fife, Scotland, and its environmental context". Papers in Palaeontology. 3 (4): 547–557. doi:10.1002/spp2.1086. hdl:2381/40472.