![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Casineria_kiddi.jpg/640px-Casineria_kiddi.jpg&w=640&q=50)
Casineria
Species of tetrapodomorph (fossil) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Casineria is an extinct genus of tetrapodomorph which lived about 340–334 million years ago in the Mississippian epoch of the Carboniferous period. Its generic name, Casineria, is a latinization of Cheese Bay, the site near Edinburgh, Scotland, where the holotype fossil was found.[1] When originally described in 1999, it was identified as a transitional fossil noted for its mix of basal (amphibian-like) and advanced (reptile-like) characteristics, putting it at or very near the origin of the amniotes, the group containing all mammals, birds, modern reptiles, and other descendants of their reptile-like common ancestor. However, the sole known fossil is lacking key elements such as a skull, making exact analysis difficult.[2] As a result, the classification of Casineria has been more controversial in analyses conducted since 1999. Other proposed affinities include a placement among the lepospondyls,[3] seymouriamorphs,[4] "gephyrostegids",[5] or as a synonym of Caerorhachis, another controversial tetrapod which may have been an early temnospondyl.[6]
Casineria | |
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The counterslab of the holotype fossil | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Clade: | Sarcopterygii |
Clade: | Tetrapodomorpha |
Clade: | Eotetrapodiformes |
Clade: | Elpistostegalia |
Clade: | Stegocephali |
Genus: | †Casineria Paton, Smithson & Clack, 1999 |
Type species | |
†Casineria kiddi Paton, Smithson & Clack, 1999 |