Xyrospondylus

Xyrospondylus
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous, Pennsylvanian (Missourian)
~302 Ma
↓
Holotype cervical vertebra at the University of California Museum of Paleontology
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Family: †Edaphosauridae
Genus: †Xyrospondylus
Reisz, Heaton & Pynn, 1982
Type species
†Edaphosaurus ecordi
Peabody, 1957

Xyrospondylus is an extinct genus of non-mammalian synapsids belonging to the Edaphosauridae.[1][2] The type species, X. ecordi,[3] was named in 1982;[4] it was originally named as a species of Edaphosaurus in 1957.[5]

It lived during the Pennsylvanian (Missourian) in Kansas and possibly also Colorado[6] and the holotype is known from a single cervical vertebra found in the Stanton Formation. A second specimen, consisting of a fragmentary pelvis, is also known. A third specimen, known from Colorado, is known, but it probably does not pertain to Xyrospondylus.

  1. ^ R. R. Reisz. 1986. Pelycosauria. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie / Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology 17A:1-102 [J. Mueller/J. Dummasch/T. Liebrecht]
  2. ^ The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive
  3. ^ "Xyrospondylus". Paleofile. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
  4. ^ R. R. Reisz, M. J. Heaton, and B. R. Pynn. 1982. Vertebrate Fauna of Late Pennsylvanian Rock Lake Shale near Garnett, Kansas: Pelycosauria. Journal of Paleontology 56(3):741-750
  5. ^ F. E. Peabody. 1957. Pennsylvanian Reptiles of Garnett, Kansas: Edaphosaurs. Journal of Paleontology 31(5):947-949 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
  6. ^ R. L. Carroll. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution 1-698 [A. Behrensmeyer/A. Behrensmeyer/M. Uhen]