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Introduction
Publications
Publications (124)
The Middle Triassic capitosaur Mastodonsaurus giganteus was the largest temnospondyl and the dominating aquatic predator in many European freshwater to brackish ecosystems. It is represented by numerous size classes, which are described and analysed for the first time. The documented size range encompasses specimens between 12–15 mm and 1200 mm in...
The three Permian (Cisuralian) temnospondyls Syndyodosuchus tetricus , Clamorosaurus nocturnus and C. borealis from the Pechora Coal Basin in Russia, are redescribed. The assignment of Clamorosaurus to the Eryopidae is confirmed, and several new characters are presented in detail. Syndyodosuchus tetricus is identified as an eryopid for the first ti...
The three Permian (Cisuralian) temnospondyls Syndyodosuchus tetricus, Clamorosaurus nocturnus and C. borealis from the Pechora Coal Basin in Russia, are redescribed. The assignment of Clamorosaurus to the Eryopidae is confirmed, and several new characters are presented in detail. Syndyodosuchus tetricus is identified as an eryopid for the first tim...
Paleopathology, the study of diseases and injuries from the fossil record, allows for a unique view into the life of prehistoric animals. Pathologies have nowadays been described in nearly all groups of fossil vertebrates, especially dinosaurs. Despite the large number of skeletons, pathologies had never been reported in the sauropodomorph Plateosa...
The 100 x 300 km Saar-Nahe Basin in SW Germany is one of the largest intramontane basins of the Variscan Belt. For more than 250 years, the cumulatively over 8,000-m-thick, volcano-sedimentary basin fill has been known for Pennsylvanian-Permian continental biota. A more recently recognized fossil site with abundant and diverse aquatic, semiaquatic...
The question of what the ancient life cycle of tetrapods was like forms a key component in understanding the origin of land vertebrates. The existence of distinct larval forms, as exemplified by many lissamphibians, and their transformation into adults is an important aspect in this field. The temnospondyls, the largest clade of Palaeozoic–Mesozoic...
The skull and postcranium of the Late Triassic plagiosaurid temnospondyl Plagiosaurus depressus from Halberstadt (Germany) are redescribed in detail. Plagiosaurus possesses two autapomorphies, the abbreviated tabular and the broad contact between the postorbital and parietal. A comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Plagiosauridae finds a clade Pla...
A new eryopid temnospondyl, Stenokranio boldi n. gen. n. sp. is described based on well-preserved cranial and postcranial material from fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Permo-Carboniferous (Gzhelian/Asselian) Remigiusberg Formation at the Remigiusberg quarry near Kusel, Saar–Nahe Basin, southwest Germany. The new taxon is characterized by three au...
Skeletal development is well known in temnospondyls, the most diverse group of Paleozoic and Mesozoic amphibians. However, the elements of carpus and tarsus ( i.e ., the mesopodium) were always the last bones to ossify relative to the other limb bones and with regard to the rest of the skeleton, and are preserved only in rare cases. Thus, in contra...
Reexamination of Mastodonsaurus (Heptasaurus) cappelensis, a three-metre long capito-saur temnospondyl from the Upper Buntsandstein (Anisian, Middle Triassic), reveals formerly poorly known or unrecognized features of this earliest mastodonsaurid temnospondyl. M. cappelensis differs from the stratigraphically younger type species M. giganteus in th...
Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) is an imaging technique that combines nondestructive morphological cross-sectional imaging of objects and the quantification of their chemical composition. However, its potential to assist investigations in paleontology has not yet been explored. This study investigates quantitative DECT for the nondestructive...
The small, immature brachyopid stereospondyl Platycepsion wilkinsoni from the Early or Middle Triassic of Gosford, New South Wales, is redescribed from a developmental point of view. Whereas the sutural contact between postorbital and parietal suggested by earlier authors cannot be confirmed, a new autapomorphy, the posterior process of the intercl...
A new zatracheid temnospondyl adds to the fossil-rich T0
assemblage of the Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte (Chemnitz Basin,
Sakmarian–Artinskian transition). The skeleton was found in basal air-fall tuffs of the Zeisigwald Tuff (Leukersdorf Formation)
and consists of the almost complete skull roof in dorsal view, parts of the occiput, fore and hind lim...
A new zatracheid temnospondyl adds to the fossil-rich T0 assemblage of the Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte (Chemnitz Basin, Sakmarian–Artinskian transition). The skeleton was found in basal air-fall tuffs of the Zeisigwald Tuff (Leukersdorf Formation) and consists of the almost complete skull roof in dorsal view, parts of the occiput, fore and hind lim...
Objective
A malformed pectoral joint of the middle Devonian antiarch fish Asterolepis ornata is described, and a survey of congenital malformations in the fossil record is provided.
Materials
The specimen of A. ornata (MB.f.73) from Ehrman in Latvia, stored at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany.
Methods
A. ornata was macroscopically and ra...
Lacunae and canaliculi spaces of osteocytes are remarkably well preserved in fossilized bone and serve as an established proxy for bone cells. The earliest bone in the fossil record is acellular (anosteocytic), followed by cellular (osteocytic) bone in the jawless relatives of jawed vertebrates, the osteostracans, about 400 million years ago. Virtu...
The majority of reported pathologies in lissamphibians (salamanders, caecilians and frogs) include limb deformities such as missing limbs, multiple extra limbs and digits, or incomplete limb formation. However, comparatively little is known about congenital vertebral malformations or posttraumatic pathologies (e.g. injuries, infections) in the vert...
An isolated dorsal osteoderm of a chroniosuchian from a late Permian fissure filling in the lower Zechstein (Z1) of central Germany represents the first Permian-age record of this enigmatic tetrapod clade outside Russia and China. Based on a number of features, the specimen is designated the holotype of a new taxon, Hassiacoscutum munki, and referr...
Fossil finds that can provide clues about how aquatic vertebrates evolved into land dwellers are elusive. But the ancient bones of a newly discovered species of tetrapod now provide some crucial missing evidence. Fossils shed light on how aquatic vertebrates evolved into land dwellers.
Teeth are often thought of as structures that line the margins of the mouth; however, tooth-like structures called odontodes are commonly found on the dermal bones of many Palaeozoic vertebrates including early jawless fishes. 'Odontode' is a generalized term for all tooth-like dentine structures that have homologous tissues and development. This d...
Bone remodeling is an essential physiological process in growth and healing. In modern systems deviations from normal bone physiology in the form of pathologies aid in the understanding of normal bone metabolism. Here we use external morphology and X-ray microtomography to diagnose and describe a metabolic bone disease in an amniote from the early...
A unique skull roof fragment of a relatively large-sized tetrapod of Viséan age from Chemnitz-Glösa, Saxony, is described. The specimen consists of three bones, an elongated supratemporal with a radially arranged dermal sculpture and the sulcus of the otical part of the infraorbital line, the medial portion of the squamosal which is sutured with th...
Open palates with large interpterygoid vacuities are a diagnostic characteristic of temnospondyl amphibians, the most species-rich group of early tetrapods. Aside from their functional roles, several other aspects of such vacuities, such as their variation and spatial relationships relative to the orbits, have received only scarce attention. The pr...
Paleopathology, the study of ancient disease, is a vital way by which we understand the evolution of pathogens, immune systems, healing physiology, and ultimately the environment. Cancer research has focused on its prevalence in various organisms and has found that although some animals have a high propensity for cancer,¹ others seem to be resistan...
The Pennsylvanian tetrapod Limnogyrinus elegans from the gas coal of Nyrany (Czech Republic) is revised. This small dissorophoid temnospondyl bears closer resemblance to the Permian genus Branchierpeton than hitherto known, highlighted by the abbreviated postparietal and tabular and the shallow squamosal embayment. It has a wide open squamosal emba...
The palaeontological collections of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin contain more than 2.5 million specimens and are divided into three main sections: fossil invertebrates, fossil vertebrates, and palaeobotany. The collections have their origin in the Royal Mineral Cabinet of the eighteenth century that was transferred to the Mineralogical Museum o...
Among extant tetrapods, salamanders are the only group capable of full limb and tail regeneration, the latter including the re-establishment of a fully functional tail with the axial skeleton and associated musculature. Tail regeneration is associated with autotomy (self-amputation) in some salamander taxa but is also possible in salamander taxa th...
Among the famous Middle Pennsylvanian tetrapod fauna from Linton, Ohio, embolomeres are extremely rare and known only from three snout fragments which are referred to as the eogyrinid Leptophractus obsoletus. We describe herein a skull roof fragment from Linton that consists of the left orbital and cheek region and parts of the palate preserved in...
Chroniosuchians form a mainly terrestrial or semi-terrestrial clade of Permian and Triassic crocodile- or varanid-like tetrapods, usually considered stem amniotes, but with disputed affinities within that grade. Two groups can be distinguished, the chroniosuchids and bystrowianids. Whereas the chroniosuchid skull and postcranium are well known, our...
A variety of vertebral centrum morphologies have evolved within early tetrapods which range from multipartite centra consisting of intercentra and pleurocentra in stem-tetrapods, temnospondyls, seymouriamorphs, and anthracosaurs up to monospondylous centra in lepospondyls. With the present study, we aim to determine the formation of both intercentr...
Physiological aspects like heat balance, gas exchange, osmoregulation, and digestion of the early Permian aquatic temnospondyl Archegosaurus decheni, which lived in a tropical freshwater lake, are assessed based on osteological correlates of physiologically relevant soft-tissue organs and by physiological estimations analogous to air-breathing fish...
A diagnostic feature of temnospondyls is the presence of an open palate with large interpterygoid vacuities, unlike the closed palate of most other early tetrapods, in which the vacuities are either slit-like or completely absent. Attachment sites on neurocranium and palatal bones in temnospondyls allow the reconstruction of a powerful m. retractor...
Fossil fishes from the Polish Triassic in the 19th century collection of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin Piotr SKRZYCKI1, Florian WITZMANN2, Roksana SKRZYCKA3, Bronisław W. WOŁOSZYN3 1Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland, e-mail: pskrzycki@twarda.pan.pl 2Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Instit...
Mehrere Meter große, entfernt an Krokodile erinnernde Lurche, die sogenannten
Capitosaurier, beherrschten in der Trias die limnischen Ökosysteme in weiten
Teilen der Welt. Ein Vertreter der Capitosaurier, der aufgrund seiner rundum
geschlossenen Ohröffnung zu den Rundohrlurchen (Cyclotosaurier) gezählt
werden kann, wurde vor über 40 Jahren im Schil...
Temnospondyls were the morphologically and taxonomically most diverse group of early tetrapods with a near-global distribution during the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. Members of this group occupied a range of different habitats (aquatic, amphibious, terrestrial), reflected by large morphological disparity of the cranium throughout their evolutionary hi...
With respect to its large size and abundance, Eryops is an important representative of Permo-Carboniferous basal tetrapods and one of the best-known large temnospondyl amphibians of this period. This taxon forms a significant component of the Early Permian tetrapod fauna of Texas and New Mexico and here we described a new record of skull remains, t...
Basal tetrapods display a wide spectrum of vertebral centrum morphologies that can be used to distinguish different tetrapod groups. The vertebral types range from multipartite centra in stem-tetrapods, temnospondyls, and seymouriamorphs up to monospondylous centra in lepospondyls and have been drawn upon for reconstructing major evolutionary trend...
A nearly complete dermal skull roof of a capitosaur stereospondyl with
closed otic fenestrae from the middle Carnian Stuttgart Formation (Late
Triassic) of Bielefeld-Sieker (NW Germany) is described. The specimen is
assigned to the genus Cyclotosaurus based on the limited contribution of the frontal to
the orbital margin via narrow lateral processe...
Several abnormal caudal vertebrae are described in an indeterminate sauropod specimen from ?Middle–Late Jurassic strata of Niger. The anterior and posterior articular surfaces of caudal vertebrae 7–11 exhibit erosive perforations (‘holes’) of the subchondral compact bone into the trabecular bone of the vertebral centrum. Additionally, the vertebral...
With respect to its large size and abundance, Eryops is an important representative of Permo-Carboniferous basal tetrapods and one of the best-known large temnospondyl amphibians of this period. This taxon forms a significant component of the Early Permian tetrapod fauna of Texas and New Mexico and here we describe a new record of skull remains, th...
One of the most important physiological changes during the conquest of land by vertebrates was the increasing reliance on lung breathing, with the concomitant decrease in importance of gill breathing. The main problem involved here was to cope with the excessive accumulation of CO2 in the body and to avoid respiratory acidosis. In the past, several...
Among extant tetrapods, salamanders are unique in showing a reversed preaxial polarity in patterning of the skeletal elements of the limbs, and in displaying the highest capacity for regeneration, including full limb and tail regeneration. These features are particularly striking as tetrapod limb development has otherwise been shown to be a highly...
![Fig 1. Phylogenetic tree of Salamandridae from Fig 2 of [1], reduced...](profile/David-Marjanovic-2/publication/282345463/figure/fig15/AS:341339788070926@1458393155599/Phylogenetic-tree-of-Salamandridae-from-Fig-2-of-1-reduced-to-the-taxa-it-shares-with_Q320.jpg)
We describe an Oligocene newt specimen from western Germany that has gone practically unnoticed in the literature despite having been housed in the Museum für Naturkunde (Berlin) for a century. It is referable to the coeval Chelotriton, but is unusually peramorphic; for many characters it is more peramorphic than all other caudates or even all othe...
Diese Habilitationsschrift konzentriert sich auf die Evolution osteologischer Korrelate, anhand derer Rückschlüsse auf die Struktur der Haut sowie die Art der Atmung und der Nahrungsaufnahme früher Tetrapoden gezogen werden können. Die äußere Skulptur der Hautknochen früher Tetrapoden trug zur Konsolidierung der darüber liegenden Dermis bei; dies u...
Salamanders are the only tetrapods capable of fully regenerating their limbs throughout their entire lives. Much data on the underlying molecular mechanisms of limb regeneration have been gathered in recent years allowing for new comparative studies between salamanders and other tetrapods that lack this unique regenerative potential. By contrast, t...
A partial skull from the Lower Keuper (Middle Triassic) of Germany is recognized as belonging to a new genus and species of plagiosaurid temnospondyls. It is readily identified by the following autapomorphies: (1) extremely large orbits medially extended to give very thin interorbital region and cheek; (2) posterior skull table abbreviated, with sp...
A large, isolated temnospondyl interclavicle from Rockenhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate, is described that is derived from the Early Permian Meisenheim Formation of the Saar-Nahe Basin, south-western Germany. The element resembles closely the interclavicle of the North American genus Eryops in the following characters that justify its assignment to an...
Hampe, O., Witzmann, F. & Asbach, P., 2014. A benign bone-forming tumour (osteoma) on the skull of a fossil balaenopterid whale from the Pliocene of Chile. Alcheringa 38, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311–5518.A pathology of the fossil baleen whale ‘Megaptera’ hubachi from the early Pliocene of Chile is described. It is a bony outgrowth on the left side of the su...
Pathologies in the skeleton of phytosaurs, extinct archosauriform reptiles restricted to the Late Triassic, have only been rarely described. The only known postcranial pathologies of a phytosaur are two pairs of fused vertebrae of "Angistorhinopsis ruetimeyeri" from Halberstadt, Germany, as initially described by the paleontologist Friedrich von Hu...
The morphologies of the hyobranchial apparatus in early tetrapods are reviewed, based primarily on first-hand examination and supplemented by published descriptions. The basic arrangement of the “aquatic” hyobranchium, with four pairs of branchial arches and internal gills, was conserved to a remarkable degree across the fish–to–tetrapod transition...
The cranial and hyobranchial muscles of the Triassic temnospondyl Gerrothorax have been reconstructed based on direct evidence (spatial limitations, ossified muscle insertion sites on skull, mandible, and hyobranchium) and on phylogenetic reasoning (with extant basal actinopterygians and caudates as bracketing taxa). The skeletal and soft-anatomica...
We report the discovery of an early tetrapod skull from the St. Louis Limestone of Missouri, USA. It was found among a collection of coelacanths in the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany, part of a larger collection donated to that institution by Jaekel containing other fish fossils from the same locality. The exact locality remains uncertain...
The basal tetrapod Solenodonsaurus janenschi Broili, 1924, from Nýřany (Westphalian D, Late Carboniferous), Czech Republic, is redescribed and its phylogenetic position reevaluated. A distinct groove at the base of the maxillary teeth is regarded as an autapomorphic character, which is present in both the large and small specimens. Other characteri...
The basal tetrapod Solenodonsaurus janenschi Broili, 1924, from Nýřany (Westphalian D, Late Carboniferous), Czech Republic, is redescribed and its phylogenetic position reevaluated. A distinct groove at the base of the maxillary teeth is regarded as an autapomorphic character, which is present in both the large and small specimens. Other characteri...
The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.
The microstructure of dorsal osteoderms referred to the chroniosuchid taxa Chroniosuchus, Chroniosaurus, Madygenerpeton and cf. Uralerpeton is compared to existing data on the bystrowianid chroniosuchian Bystrowiella and further tetrapods. Chroniosuchid osteoderms are marked by thin...
An isolated mandible of a large temnospondyl from Theisbergstegen, Rhineland-Palatinate, is described that is derived from the Late Carboniferous Remigiusberg Formation of the Saar-Nahe Basin, southwestern Germany. The mandible is well preserved and exposed in lingual view, showing typical characteristics of basal eryopoids (i.e., eryopids plus ste...
The dermal bone sculpture of early, basal tetrapods of the Permo-Carboniferous is unlike the bone surface of any living vertebrate, and its function has long been obscure. Drawing from physiological studies of extant tetrapods, where dermal bone or other calcified tissues aid in regulating acid-base balance relating to hypercapnia (excess blood car...
A nearly complete specimen of a sarcopterygian fish from the Lower Permian (Autunian) of the Saar-Nahe Basin, southwest Germany, is described as a new genus and species of megalichthyids, Palatinichthys laticeps. It is characterized by the following unique list of characters: (1) lacrimal forms lateral margin of external naris, (2) postparietal sho...
The complete neurocranium plus palatoquadrate of the plagiosaurid temnospondyl Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Middle Triassic of Germany is described for the first time, based on outer morphological observations and micro-CT scanning. The exoccipitals are strong elements
with paroccipital processes and well-separated occipital condyles. Anterola...
Schoch, R.R. & Witzmann, F. 2011: Cranial morphology of the plagiosaurid Gerrothorax pulcherrimus as an extreme example of evolutionary stasis. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 371–385.
The plagiosaurid Gerrothorax pulcherrimus from the Triassic of Greenland and Germany is represented by skulls ranging from 4 to 12 cm in length and sheds light on ontogeny, in...
Paget disease of bone - initially described by Sir James Paget in 1876 - is a benign bone disorder well known in human pathology. It leads to the enlargement and deformity of bones due to a combination of abnormal bone resorption and abundant new bone formation [1-3]. There is strong evidence that viruses are involved in the disease, coupled with a...
Sculpture of dermal bones and their vascularization in basal tetrapods are closely connected. Ontogenetic data suggest that the large vessels that coursed to the superficial bone surface induced the formation of sculptural ridges and tubercles around their openings. Imprints show that the vessels continued on the bone surface and coursed within fur...
A dermal bone from the late Famennian of Ketleri in Latvia, identified as a probable tetrapod postorbital by Oleg Lebedev and stored in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, is described in detail. Its tetrapod status is confirmed based on the dermal sculpture consisting of polygonal pits and radially aligned ridges and furrows. The sculpture resembles...
Witzmann F. (2011). Morphological and histological changes of dermal scales during the fish-to-tetrapod transition. —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92: 281–302.
The gastral scales of limbed tetrapodomorphs evolved from the ‘elpistostegid’-type of scale by an enlargement and differentiation of the articulation facets and a shortening and broadening of t...
Schoch, R.R. and Witzmann, F. 2011. Bystrow’s Paradox – gills, fossils, and the fish-to-tetrapod transition. —Acta Zoologica (Stockholm) 92: 251–265.
The issue of which breathing mechanism was used by the earliest tetrapods is still unsolved. Recent discoveries of stem tetrapods suggest the presence of internal gills and fish-like underwater breath...
Ontogenetic series of extinct taxa are extremely rare and when preserved often incomplete and difficult to interpret. However, the fossil record of amphibians includes a number of well-preserved ontogenetic sequences for temnospondyl and lepospondyl taxa, which have provided valuable information about the development of these extinct groups. Here w...
A morphometric analysis based on 16 landmarks (specific geometric points) identified on the skull roof of different growth stages of various temnospondyls revealed patterns of shape change during ontogeny. Data from 50 individuals from 12 taxa, encompassing euskelians (dissorophoids, eryopids and zatracheids) and stereospondylomorphs were plotted i...
The temnospondyl Sclerocephalus from the Permo-Carboniferous of Germany is one of the most completely preserved and most abundant Palaeozoic tetrapods. Here, we review the complete osteology of the genus, based on a range of fully grown specimens housed in public collections. Among the four valid species, Sclerocephalus haeuseri and Sclerocephalus...
