Embolomeri

Embolomeri is an order of tetrapods or stem-tetrapods that were traditionally interpreted as members of Reptiliomorpha. Embolomeres first evolved in the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) Period and were the largest and most successful predatory tetrapods of the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) Period. They were specialized semiaquatic predators with long bodies for eel-like undulatory swimming. Embolomeres are characterized by their vertebral centra, which are formed by two cylindrical segments, the pleurocentrum at the rear and intercentrum at the front. These segments are equal in size. Most other tetrapods have pleurocentra and intercentra which are drastically different in size and shape.

Embolomeri

Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TetrapodaPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
brackish,freshwater,terrestrialPBDB, for Tetrapoda

Time the record covers

At least 86 million years on record.

The record covers at least 346.7 Mya to 259.857 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 254.14 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 53 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 37 of 53 occurrencesCarboniferousPermian — about 16 of 53 occurrencesPermian361–357 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences357–354 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences354–350 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences350–346 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences343–339 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences339–336 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences336–332 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences332–328 Mya — about 1 occurrence328–325 Mya — about 3 occurrences325–321 Mya — about 2 occurrences321–317 Mya — about 5 occurrences317–314 Mya — about 7 occurrences314–310 Mya — about 4 occurrences310–307 Mya — about 6 occurrences307–303 Mya — about 5 occurrences303–299 Mya — about 2 occurrences299–296 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences296–292 Mya — about 2 occurrences292–288 Mya — about 4 occurrences288–285 Mya — about 4 occurrences285–281 Mya — about 2 occurrences281–277 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences277–274 Mya — about 1 occurrence274–270 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences270–267 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences267–263 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences263–259 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences259–256 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences256–252 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences346.7 Mya259.857 Mya361 Mya252 Mya

53 occurrences of Embolomeri on record, most of them in the Carboniferous. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

53 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

23 formations

Middle Coal Measures — 55.87°N, 3.96°WMiddle Coal Measures — 55.11°N, 1.52°WMiddle Coal Measures — 55.81°N, 3.94°WAdmiral — 33.62°N, 98.86°WAdmiral — 33.60°N, 98.63°WAdmiral — 33.82°N, 98.69°WPutnam — 33.60°N, 98.63°WLower Coal Measures — 53.76°N, 1.71°WLower Coal Measures — 54.91°N, 1.53°WLower Coal Measures — 55.74°N, 3.84°WPoint Edward — 46.17°N, 60.27°WBond — 40.10°N, 87.83°WAbo — 35.73°N, 106.72°WAbo — 34.64°N, 107.18°WBluefield — 39.57°N, 79.85°WKladno — 49.81°N, 13.39°EKladno — 49.71°N, 13.21°EAbo/Cutler — 35.72°N, 106.78°WBelle Plains — 33.74°N, 98.90°WJoggins — 45.70°N, 64.45°WSt. Louis — 41.32°N, 92.33°WGarber — 34.30°N, 98.60°WBloyd — 35.89°N, 94.31°WCarbondale — 41.27°N, 88.14°WSummerfield limestone — 40.36°N, 80.74°WCutler — 36.31°N, 106.35°WInta — 66.03°N, 60.05°EClyde — 33.77°N, 99.10°WSunjiagou — 37.84°N, 113.53°EHorton Bluff — 45.11°N, 64.22°WEast Kirkton Limestone — 55.95°N, 3.20°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Embolomeri has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 12 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Embolomeri and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Embolomeri and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

285 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 36 sites for Embolomeri, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

33 references

Each of the 53 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 21 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Embolomeri

Credit
Creator:Dmitry Bogdanov
Licence
CC BY 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Embolomeri was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTetrapoda through timeFormations of the CarboniferousThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0.