Eucritta

Taxobox
name = "Eucritta"
status = fossil
fossil_range = Early Carboniferous

---

regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
superclassis = Tetrapoda
familia = Loxommatidae
genus = "Eucritta"
species = "E. melanolimnetes"
binomial = "Eucritta melanolimnetes"
binomial_authority = Clack, 1998

"Eucritta melanolimnetes" ('creature from the black lagoon') is an extinct tetrapod from the Carboniferous period. It was about 25 cm (10 in) long. Its name is a homage to the 1954 sci-fi/horror movie "Creature from the Black Lagoon".

"Eucritta" displayed mixed tetrapod characteristics, such as an amphibian-like skull and a reptilian palate. Its eye sockets were shaped like keyholes, with pointy openings at the front that may have contained a sort of gland. This characteristic is also seen in the "Loxommatidae" family (Baphetidae), in which "Eucritta" has been placed. However its exact phylogenetic position is not known with much certainty due to its mixture of primitive and derived tetrapod characters. The possession of characters seen in baphetids, anthracosaurs and temnospondyls suggests that these three groups diverged in the Carboniferous rather than earlier, in the Devonian [Clack, J. A., 1998. Nature 394: 66-69] .

References