Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Nature and Quality of the Fossil Evidence for Otic Evolution in Early Tetrapods

  • Chapter
The Evolutionary Biology of Hearing

Abstract

A frequent, and frequently appropriate, role of paleontologists at a conference on the evolutionary biology of anything, is to provide temporal perspective via an overview of morphology and function based on fossils. The recipients of such paleontological benediction can then incorporate this testimony of the rocks into their own morphological and functional investigations. We have presented such papers on the otic region (e.g., Lombard and Bolt 1988), and remain convinced of their value, in fact of their necessity in evolutionary biology. However, the usefulness of a scientific paper is heavily dependent on the reader’s ability to assess the quality of both the data and interpretations presented. In the present context, factors affecting “quality” include accuracy of observation, state of preservation of fossils, techniques used to estimate relationships among species and higher taxa, and evidence and assumptions employed in inferences of function. Paleontologists often, and nonpaleontologists nearly inevitably, overlook these points when considering otic evolution.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Baird D, Carroll RL (1967) Romeriscus, the oldest known reptile. Science 157:56–59.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barbarena MC, Araújo DC, Lavina EL (1985) Late Permian and Triassic tetrapods of southern Brazil. Natl Geogr Res l(l):5–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaumont EH (1977) Cranial morphology of the Loxommatidae (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia). Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 280:29–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolt JR, Lombard RE (1985) Evolution of the amphibian tympanic ear and the origin of frogs. Biol J Linnean Soc 24:83–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolt JR, McKay RM, Witzke BJ, McAdams MP (1988) A new Lower Carboniferous tetrapod locality in Iowa. Nature 333:768–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boy JA (1988) Über einige Vertreter der Eryopoidea (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) aus dem europäischen Rotliegend (?höchtes Karbon-Perm) 1. Sclerocephalus. Paläontologisch Zeits 62:107–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boy JA, Bandel K (1973) Brukterpeton fiebigi n. gen. n. sp. (Amphibia: Gephyrostegoidea) der erste Tetrapode aus dem rheinischwestfälischen Karbon (Namur B; W-Deutschland) Palaeontographica (A) 145:39–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd MJ (1984) The Upper Carboniferous tetrapod assemblage from Newsham, Northumberland. Palaeontology 27:367–392.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bystrow AP (1944) Kotlassia prima Amalitzky. Bull Geol Soc Am 55:379–416.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell KSW, Bell MW (1977) A primitive amphibian from the late Devonian of New South Wales. Alcheringa 1:369–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL (1984) Problems in the use of terrestrial vertebrates for zoning of the Carboniferous. Ninth International Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology, Compte Rendu, V. 2, Biostratigraphy, pp. 135–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL (1988) Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York: W. H. Freeman and Co., 698 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL, Baird D (1968) The Carboniferous amphibian Tuditanus (Eosauravus) and the distinction between microsaurs and reptiles. Am Mus Novit 2337:1–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL, Baird D (1972) Carboniferous stem-reptiles of the Family Romeriidae. Bull Mus Comp Zool 143: 321–364.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL, Gaskill P (1978) The Order Microsauria. Memoirs of the Am Philos Soc 126:1–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carroll RL, Winer L (1977) Classification of amphibians and list of genera and species known as fossils. Appendix to accompany Ch. 13 in Patterns of Evolution as illustrated by the Fossil Record, A. Hallam, ed.; ch. 13, pp. 403–437. (Self-published and distributed. Compiled 1975–1976.).

    Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee S, Hotton N (III) (1986) The Paleoposition of India. J SE Asian Earth Sei 1:145–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clack JA (1983) The stapes of the Coal Measure embolomere Pholiderpeton scutigerum Huxley (Amphibia: Anthracosauria) and otic evolution in early tetrapods. Zool J Linnean Soc 79:121–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clack JA (1987) Pholiderpeton scutigerum Huxley, an amphibian from the Yorkshire coal measures. Philos Trans R Soc London 318B: 1–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clack JA (1989) Discovery of the earliest-known tetrapod stapes. Nature 342:425–427.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eberth DA (1985) The skull of Sphenacodon ferocior, and comparisons with other sphenacodontines (Reptilia: Pelycosauria). New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Circular 190:1–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritzsch B (1990) Evolution of tetrapod hearing. Nature 344:116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaffney ES (1979) Tetrapod monophyly: a phylogenetic analysis. Bull Carnegie Mus Nat Hist 13:92–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauthier JA, Kluge AG, Rowe T (1988a) The early evolution of the Amniota. Syst Assoc Spec Vol 35A: 103–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauthier JA, Kluge AG, Rowe T (1988b) Amniote phylogeny and the importance of fossils. Cladistics 4:105–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gauthier J, Cannatella D, de Queiroz K, Kluge AG, Rowe T (1989) Tetrapod phylogeny. In: Fernholm B, Bremer K, Jörnvall H (eds) The Hierarchy of Life. Chapter 25, pp. 337–353. Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey SJ (1989) Ontogenetic changes in the skull of the Carboniferous tetrapod Greererpeton burkemorani Romer, 1969. Philosophical Trans Roy Soc Lond B 323:135–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Godfrey SJ, Fiorillo AR, Carroll RL (1987) A newly discovered skull of the temnospondyl amphibian Dendrerpeton acadianum Owen. Can J Earth Sei 24:796–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottfried MD, Foreman B (1990) Nature 344:116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haq BU, Van Eysinga FWB (1987) Geological Time Table. Elsevier Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harland WB, Cox AV, Llewellyn PG, Pickton CAG, et al. (1982) A geologic time scale. Cambridge Earth Science Series, Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaton MJ (1979) Cranial morphology of primitive captorhinid reptiles from the late Pennsylvanian and early Permian, Oklahoma and Texas. Bull Oklahoma Geol Surv 127:1–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hook RW, Baird D (1986) The diamond coal mine of Linton, Ohio, and its Pennsylvanian-age vertebrates. J Vert Paleontol 6:174–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hook RW, Baird D (1988) An overview of the Upper Carboniferous fossil deposit at Linton, Ohio. Ohio J Sei 88:55–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hopson JA, Barghusen HR (1986) An analysis of therapsid relationships. In: Hotton N III, MacLean PD, Roth JJ, Roth EC (eds) The Ecology and Biology of Mammal-like Reptiles. Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 83–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivakhnenko MF (1979) (The Permian and Triassic procolophonians from the Russian Platform). In Russian. Trudi, Paleontological Institute, Academy of Sciences of the USSR 164:1–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitching JW (1977) The distribution of the Karroo vertebrate fauna. University of Witwatersrand, Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research. Memoir 1:1–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lombard RE, Bolt JR (1988) Evolution of the stapes in Paleozoic tetrapods: conservative and radical hypotheses. In: Fritzsch B, Ryan MJ, Wilczynski W, Walkoviak W (eds) The Evolution of the Amphibian Auditory System, pp. 37–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGinnis HJ (1967) The osteology of Phlegethontia, a Carboniferous and Permian aïstopod amphibian. U Calif Pub Geol Sei 71:1–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mapes G, Mapes RH (eds) (1989) Regional Geology and Paleontology of Upper Paleozoic Hamilton Quarry Area in Southeastern Kansas. Kansas Geological Survey Guidebook 6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR (1980a) The temnospondyl amphibian Dendrerpeton from the Upper Carboniferous of Ireland. Palaeontology 23:125–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR (1980b) The tetrapod assemblage from Nyrany, Czechoslovakia. In: Panchen AL (ed) The Terrestrial Environment and the Origin of Land Vertebrates, pp. 439–496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR (1987) The Westphalian tetrapod fauna; some aspects of its geography and ecology. J Geol Soc Lond 144:495–506.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR (1988) The relationships and origin of living amphibians. System Assoc Spec Vol 35A:59–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR, Panchen AL (1973) Geographical variation in the tetrapod faunas of the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian. In: Tading DH, Runcorn SK (eds) Implications of Continental Drift to the Earth Sciences, 1:353–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milner AR, Smithson TR, Milner AC, Coates MI, Rolfe WDI (1986) The search for early tetrapods. Mod Geol 10:1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson EC (1957) Catalogue of localities of Permian and Triassic terrestrial vertebrates of the territories of the USSR. J Geol 65:196–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Olson EC (1962) Late Permian terrestrial vertebrates, U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (n.s.) 52(2): 1–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson EC (1965) Relationships of Seymouria, Diadectes, and Chelonia. Am Zool 5:295–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson EC (1989) Problems of Permo-Triassic terrestrial vertebrate extinctions. Hist Biol 2:17–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panchen AL (1977) Geographical and ecological distribution of the earliest tetrapods. In: Hecht MK, Goody PC, Hecht BM (eds) Major Patterns in Vertebrate Evolution, pp. 723–238, New York: Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Panchen AL (1985) On the amphibian Crassigyrinus scoticus Watson from the Carboniferous of Scotland. Philos Trans R Soc Lond (B) 309:505–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Panchen AL, Smithson TR (1988) The relationships of the earliest tetrapods. System Assoc Spec Vol 35A: 1–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reisz RR (1986) Teil 17A. Pelycosauria. Handbuch der Paläoherpetologie Teil 17A: 1–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ricqles A de, Taquet P (1982) La faune de vertébrés du Permien supérieur du Niger. I. Le Captorhinomorphe Moradisaurus grandis (Reptilia, Cotylosauria)-Le Crane. Ann Paléontol 68:33–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer AS (1969) The cranial anatomy of the Permian amphibian Pantylus. Breviora 314:1–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer AS, Edinger T (1942) Endocranial casts and brains of living and fossil Amphibia. J Comp Neurol 77:355–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romer AS, Price LI (1940) Review of the Pelycosauria. Spec Papers Geol Soc Am 28:1–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Romer AS, Witter RV (1942) Edops, a primitive rhachitomous amphibian from the Texas red beds. J Geol 50:925–959.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sawin HJ (1941) The cranial anatomy of Eryops megalocephalus. Bull Mus Comp Zool 88:407–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sigogneau-Russell D, Russell DE (1974) Etude du premier Caseide (Reptilia, Pelycosauria) d’Europe occidentale. Bulletin du Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Ser. 3, Sciences de la Terre 38:145–215.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith AG, Hurley AM, Briden JC (1981) Phanerozoic Paleocontinental World Maps. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smithson TR (1982) The cranial morphology of Greererpeton burkemorani Romer (Amphibia: Temnospondyli). Zool J Linnean Soc 76:29–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smithson TR (1985) The morphology and relationships of the Carboniferous amphibian Eoherpeton watsoni Panchen. Zool J Linnean Soc 85:317–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spjeldnaes N (1982) Palaeoecology of Ichtyostega [sic] and the origin of terrestrial vertebrates. In: Proceedings of the First International Meeting on “Palaeontology, Essential of Historical Geology”, pp. 323–343.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thommasen H, Carroll RL (1981) Broomia, the oldest known millerettid reptile Palaeontology 24:379–390.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson DMS (1954) On Bolosaurus and the origin and classification of the reptiles. Bull Mus Comp Zool 111:299–449.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wellstead CF (1982) A lower Carboniferous aïstopod amphibian from Scotland. Palaeontology 25:193–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • White TE (1939) Osteology of Seymouria baylorensis Broili. Bull Mus Comp Zool 85:325–409.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. John R. Bolt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. Eric Lombard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, USA

    Douglas B. Webster

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

  3. Parmly Hearing Institute and Loyola University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60626, USA

    Richard R. Fay

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Bolt, J.R., Lombard, R.E. (1992). Nature and Quality of the Fossil Evidence for Otic Evolution in Early Tetrapods. In: Webster, D.B., Popper, A.N., Fay, R.R. (eds) The Evolutionary Biology of Hearing. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2784-7_23

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2784-7_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-7668-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-2784-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation