Eocaecilia is an extinct genus of gymnophionan amphibian from the early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona, United States. One species is described, Eocaecilia micropodia.
Life restoration
Eocaecilia shared some characteristics with salamanders and the now extinct microsaur amphibians. It was of small size, about 15 cm in length. Unlike modern caecilians, which are legless, Eocaecilia possessed small legs, and while modern caecilians have poorly developed eyes and spend a lot of time under ground, Eocaecilia's eyes were somewhat better developed. Although the precise ancestry of Eocaecilia is debated (and other caecilians by extension), it likely resided among the ancestral lepospondyl[1][2][3] or temnospondyl[4][5] amphibians of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic.
^Jenkins, F.A. & Walsh, D.M. (1993) An Early Jurassic caecilian with limbs. Nature 365: 246-250.
^Huttenlocker, A. K.; Pardo, J. D.; Small, B. J.; Anderson, J. S. (2013). "Cranial morphology of recumbirostrans (Lepospondyli) from the Permian of Kansas and Nebraska, and early morphological evolution inferred by micro-computed tomography". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33 (3): 540. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.728998
^Anderson, J. S.; Reisz, R. R.; Scott, D.; Fröbisch, N. B.; Sumida, S. S. (2008). "A stem batrachian from the Early Permian of Texas and the origin of frogs and salamanders". Nature 453 (7194): 515–518. doi:10.1038/nature06865
^Jenkins, F.A. et al. (2007) Anatomy of Eocaecilia micropodia, A Limbed Caecilian of the Early Jurassic. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 158(6):285-365.
^Maddin H.C., Jenkins F.A. Jr. & Anderson J.S. (2012) The Braincase of Eocaecilia micropodia (Lissamphibia, Gymnophiona) and the Origin of Caecilians. PLoS ONE 7(12):e50743.
Eocaecilia is an extinct genus of gymnophionan amphibian from the early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona, United States. One species is described...
monophyly (common ancestry). Rare fossils of early gymnophionans such as Eocaecilia and Funcusvermis have helped to test the various conflicting hypotheses...
period (over 440 million years ago). Other notable early burrowers include Eocaecilia and possibly Dinilysia. The oldest example of burrowing in synapsids,...
known caecilians are Funcusvermis gilmorei (from the Late Triassic) and Eocaecilia micropodia (from the Early Jurassic), both from Arizona. The earliest...
fossils referred to the group. Previously, both records were held by Eocaecilia micropodia, an amphibian from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of...
Iridotriton, found in the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation. The stem-caecilian Eocaecilia is known from the Early Jurassic of Arizona. The fourth group of lissamphibians...
similarities with Eocaecilia, an early caecilian from the Early Jurassic of Arizona. Similarities between Rhynchonkos and Eocaecilia have been taken as...
bony fish, lungfish, salamanders, the frog Prosalirus, the caecilian Eocaecilia, the turtle Kayentachelys, a sphenodontian reptile, lizards, and several...
Farish A. Jenkins Jr and Jason S. Anderson (2012). "The braincase of Eocaecilia micropodia (Lissamphibia, Gymnophiona) and the origin of caecilians"....
ancestry of frogs and salamanders. A 2012 study of the stem-caecilian Eocaecilia found Gerobatrachus to group within Lissamphibia. In this phylogeny, Gerobatrachus...
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