Joermungandr bolti, an exceptionally preserved 'microsaur' from the Mazon Creek Lagerstatte reveals patterns of integumentary evolution in Recumbirostra.

ABSTRACT: The Carboniferous Pennsylvanian-aged (309-307 Ma) Mazon Creek Lagerstätte produces some of the earliest fossils of major Palaeozoic tetrapod lineages. Recently, several new tetrapod specimens collected from Mazon Creek have come to light, including the earliest fossorially adapted recumbirostrans. Here, we describe a new long-bodied recumbirostran, Joermungandr bolti gen. et sp. nov., known from a single part and counterpart concretion bearing a virtually complete skeleton. Uniquely, Joermungandr preserves a full suite of dorsal, flank and ventral dermal scales, together with a series of thinned and reduced gastralia. Investigation of these scales using scanning electron microscopy reveals ultrastructural ridge and pit morphologies, revealing complexities comparable to the sc

SUBMITTER: Mann A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8292758 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature