Page 83 - Prehistoric Animals

My-Crow-Brak-Is

Microbrachis

Microbrachis (Little arm) is an extinct genus
of lepospondyl* amphibian that lived in the late Carbonif-
erous era, about 300 million years ago. It was about 15 cm
or 6in long. Fossils were first found in the Carboniferous
Kladno Formation of the Czech Republic, and subse-
quently named by, Antonin Fritsch in 1875.

Microbrachis was a water dwelling amphibian. It
had a long spine and like many amphibians its four limbs
were very short. How Microbrachis moved through the
water seems to be unclear as there is uncertainty as to
how long, big or short its tail was. If it had no other means
of propulsion then it must have used its body in a weaving
or lateral movement, similar to that of a fish. The study of
the fossil remains of Microbrachis indicate, in adulthood
is still using its childhood Laval gills. It’s also thought it
was a freshwater amphibian and lived on plankton.

*Lepospondyl (Wikipedia)
lepospondyls lived from the Early Carbonifer-
ous (Mississippian) to the Early Permian and were geo-
graphically restricted to what is now Europe and North
America. Five major groups of lepospondyls are
known: Adelospondyli; Aïstopoda; Lysorophia; Microsaur
ia; and Nectridea. Lepospondyls have a diverse range of
body forms and include species with newt-like, eel- or
snake-like, and lizard-like forms. Various species were
aquatic, semiaquatic, or terrestrial. None were large (the
biggest genus, the diplocaulid Diplocaulus, reached a me-
ter in length, but most were much smaller), and they are
assumed to have lived in specialized ecological niches not
taken by the more numerous temnospondyl amphibians
that coexisted with them in the Paleozoic. Lepospondyli
was named in 1888 by Karl Alfred von Zittel, who coined
the name.