Archeria
Temporal range: Early Permian
Life restoration by Dmitry Bogdanov
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Sarcopterygii
Clade: Tetrapodomorpha
Order: †Embolomeri
Family: †Archeriidae
Genus: †Archeria
Case, 1918
Type species
†Archeria crassidica
Case, 1918
Species
  • A. crassidisca
  • A. robinsoni
  • A. victori Stovall, 1948

Archeria is a genus of embolomere which lived in the Early Permian of Texas and Oklahoma. It was a medium-sized aquatic predator, with an elongated body and tail. The limbs were proportionally small but well-developed, connected to robust limb girdles. The skull was moderately long and low, up to 30 cm (12 inches) in length. Unlike most embolomeres, Archeria had many small chisel-shaped teeth instead of large fangs.

The anatomy of Archeria is well known compared to most embolomeres, as it is known from multiple complete skeletons discovered in 1939 by A.S. Romer. These specimens hail from the Geraldine bonebed, a deposit of the coastal Nocona Formation[1] (formerly Admiral Formation) in Archer County, Texas. Other remains of the genus were previously referred to Cricotus, a North American embolomere of dubious validity.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b Holmes, Robert (1989). "The skull and axial skeleton of the Lower Permian anthracosauroid amphibian Archeria crassidisca Cope". Palaeontographica, Abteilung A. 207: 161–206.
  2. ^ Romer, Alfred Sherwood (11 January 1957). "The Appendicular Skeleton of the Permian Embolomerous Amphibian Archeria" (PDF). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology. 13 (5): 105–159.


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