Whatcheeriidae

Whatcheeriidae is an extinct family of stem-tetrapods which lived in the Mississippian sub-period, a subdivision of the Carboniferous period. It contains the genera Pederpes, Whatcheeria, and possibly Ossinodus. Fossils of a possible whatcheeriid have been found from the Red Hill locality of Pennsylvania. If these remains are from a whatcheeriid, they extend the range of the family into the Late Devonian and suggest that advanced tetrapods may have lived alongside primitive tetrapod ancestors like Hynerpeton and Densignathus. They also imply that a very long ghost lineage of whatcheeriids lived through Romer's gap, a period during the Early Carboniferous conspicuously lacking in tetrapod remains.

Whatcheeriidae

ДиБгд · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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 6.8 million years on record.

The record covers at least 346.7 Mya to 339.9 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 358.86 Mya to 330.3 Mya.

Devonian — about 0 of 5 occurrencesCarboniferous — about 5 of 5 occurrencesCarboniferous359–358 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences358–357 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences357–356 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences356–355 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences355–354 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences354–353 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences353–353 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences353–352 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences352–351 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences351–350 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences350–349 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences349–348 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences348–347 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences347–346 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences346–345 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences345–344 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences344–343 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences343–342 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences342–341 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences341–340 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences340–339 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences339–338 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences338–337 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences337–336 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences336–335 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences335–334 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences334–333 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences333–332 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences332–331 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences331–330 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences346.7 Mya339.9 Mya359.4 Mya329.7 Mya

5 occurrences of Whatcheeriidae 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

5 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

4 formations

St. Louis — 41.32°N, 92.33°WBallagan — 55.97°N, 4.54°WDucabrook — 23.93°S, 147.38°EHorton Bluff — 45.11°N, 64.22°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Whatcheeriidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 1 occurrence has no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Whatcheeriidae and its relatives

Carboniferous

Where Whatcheeriidae and its relatives were recorded in the Carboniferous.

Found in the same rock

20 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 3 sites for Whatcheeriidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.

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

5 references

Each of the 5 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. 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 Whatcheeriidae

Credit
ДиБгд
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Whatcheeriidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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. Clack 2002