Named By: | Jennifer A.Clack in 2002 |
Time Period: | Tournasian, Early Carboniferous 348-347.6 Ma |
Location: | Scotland, Ballagan Formation |
Size: | 1 meter long |
Diet: | unavailable |
Fossil(s): | Articulated skeleton with tail, some parts of the skull and limbs missing |
Classification: | | Chordata | Tetrapoda | Amphibia | Whatcheeridae | |
Pederpes ('Peter's Foot') is an extinct genus of early Carboniferous tetrapod, dating from 348 - 347.6 Ma in the Tournaisian age (lower Mississippian). Pederpes contains one species, P. finneyae, 1 m long.
This most basal Carboniferous tetrapod had a large, somewhat triangular head, similar to that of later American sister-genus Whatcheeria, from which it is distinguished by various skeletal features, such as a spike-like latissimus dorsi (an arm muscle) attachment on the humerus and several minor skull features. The feet had characteristics that distinguished it from the paddle-like feet of the Devonian Ichthyostegalia and resembled the feet of later, more terrestrially adapted Carboniferous forms. Pederpes is the earliest-known tetrapod to show the beginnings of terrestrial locomotion and despite the probable presence of a sixth digit on the forelimbs it was at least functionally pentadactyl.