Ymeria
Name: Ymeria
(From Ymer).
Phonetic: E-mer-re-ah.
Named By: J. A. Clack, P. E. Ahlberg,
H. Blom & S. M. Finney - 2012.
Classification: Chordata, Amphibia.
Species: Y. denticulata
(type).
Diet: Insectivore/Piscivore.
Size: Skull estimated to have been about 10
centimetres long, total body size unknown.
Known locations: Greenland, Ymer Island.
Time period: Famennian of the Devonian.
Fossil representation: Partial skull and lower jaws.
Initially
found in 1947 in an expedition by Swedish and Danish
palaeontologists, the partial skull and lower jaws did not get named
as their own genus until 2012. Ymeria has been
speculated to have
been similar to the much more famous Ichthyostega,
though with
noticeably smaller teeth that are also not as curved as those of
Ichthyostega. This might indicate that Ymeria
was more of a hunter of
smaller prey items.
Ymeria
is only known by a partial skull and jaws, though since these have
been described as being similar to Ichthyostega it
might also mean that
the body was similar to Ichthyostega as well.
Reconstructions of
Ichthyostega can usually be measured out as the
length of the skull
being about one fifth of the total body length, which means that
multiplying the length of the skull by five times its length would give
you a close, but rough estimate of the total length. IF
Ymeria
had
similar body proportions to Ichthyostega, then
multiplying the
estimated length of the skull, ten centimetres, by five times would
result in a total length estimate of the animal of about fifty
centimetres for the holotype individual. Please remember though,
that this is a rough estimate, only the discovery of far more
complete remains could prove this.
Further reading
- A new genus of Devonian tetrapod from North-East Greenland, with
new information on the lower jaw of Ichthyostega
- Palaeontology
55 (1): 73–86 - J. A. Clack, P. E. Ahlberg,
H. Blom & S. M. Finney - 2012.
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