Pederpes Temporal range: Lower Mississippian | |
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Scientific classification | |
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Family: | Whatcheeriidae |
Genus: | Pederpes Clack, 2002 |
Species | |
P. finneyae Clack, 2002 (type) |
Pederpes is an extinct genus of early Carboniferous tetrapod, dating from the lower Mississippian, 348-347.6 million years ago (mya). Pederpes contains one species, P. finneyae, 1 m long. A single fossil was found in East Kirton quarry, West Lothian, Scotland, in early Carboniferous rocks. It is the first (and only) known near-complete skeleton of a tetrapod from the earliest Carboniferous. It lacks only the tail and some digits.
Pederpes had a large, somewhat triangular head, similar to that of later American Whatcheeria. This specimen shows the earliest example of a foot adapted for walking on land. The feet look like the feet of later, more terrestrially adapted Carboniferous forms. Pederpes is therefore the earliest known tetrapod that walked on land.