Ophiderpeton

Name: Ophiderpeton (Snake creeper).
Phonetic: O-phid-erp-e-ton.
Named By: Huxley - 1865.
Classification: Chordata, Amphibia, Lepospondyli, A�stopoda, Ophiderpetontidae.
Species: O. granulosum, O. vicinum, O. pectinatum, O.zieglerianum.
Type: Insectivore.
Size: 70 centimetres long.
Known locations: U.S.A., Ohio, - Czech Republic.
Time period: Early Carboniferous to Early Permian.
Fossil representation: Many examples have been preserved.

       A limbless amphibian (aistopod), Ophiderpeton is believed to have lived in burrows from where it would hunt invertebrates. Ophiderpeton is well represented with specimens having up to 230 vertebrae. The skull has a reduced number of bones and the eyes face forward.

Further reading
- On a Collection of Fossil Vertebrata, from the Jarrow Colliery, County of Kilkenny, Ireland. - Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy 24:351-370. - E. P. Wright & T. H. Huxley - 1871.
- The a�stopod amphibian from the Vis�an of East Kirkton, West Lothian, Scotland. - Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 84:363-368. - A. C. Milner - 1994.

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