# Batropetes

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***Batropetes*** is an extinct [genus](/source/Genus) of [brachystelechid](/source/Brachystelechidae) [recumbirostran](/source/Recumbirostran) "[microsaur](/source/Microsauria)". *Batropetes* lived during the [Sakmarian](/source/Sakmarian) stage of the [Early Permian](/source/Early_Permian). Fossils attributable to the [type species](/source/Type_species) *B. fritschi* have been collected from the town of [Freital](/source/Freital) in [Saxony](/source/Saxony), [Germany](/source/Germany), near the city of [Dresden](/source/Dresden). Additional material has been found from the [Saar-Nahe Basin](/source/Saar-Nahe_Basin) in southwestern Germany and has been assigned to three additional species: *B. niederkirchensis*, *B. palatinus*, and *B. appelensis*.

## Description

*Batropetes* is small and short-bodied for a microsaur. Its average total body length was about 8 centimetres (3.1 in).[1] The [orbits](/source/Orbit_(anatomy)) are large and the skull is short. *Batropetes* possesses scales on its underside that are similar to those of reptiles.[2]

*Batropetes* is distinguished from *[Carrolla](/source/Carrolla)*, another brachystelechid microsaur, by the presence of three cusps on the premaxillary and anterior dentary teeth. In *Carrolla*, there are only two cusps. Additional diagnostic features seen in *Batropetes* include a supraoccipital bone that is not fused to the [otic capsule](/source/Otic_capsule), the presence of a [retroarticular process](/source/Retroarticular_process) (a projection at the back of the lower jaw), and two proximal bones in the [tarsus](/source/Tarsus_(skeleton)).[2]

## Classification

The first known material now attributed to the genus *Batropetes* was originally referred to the genus *[Hyloplesion](/source/Hyloplesion)* in 1882.[3] Several specimens from Freital were described under the name *Hyloplesion Fritschi* as small non-[labyrinthodonts](/source/Labyrinthodontia). Three years later, the specimens originally referred to as *Hyloplesion Fritschi* were reassigned by [Carl Hermann Credner](/source/Carl_Hermann_Credner) to the genus *[Hylonomus](/source/Hylonomus)* under the name *Hylonomus fritschia*.[4] Newly discovered specimens of other forms from the same locality led Credner to believe that two taxa existed. He named one, an amphibian, *Hylonomus geinitzi*, and the other, a reptile, *Petrobates truncatus*.[5]

Later preparation of the material examined by Credner through a technique of removing the soft bone from the surrounding matrix mechanically and casting the cavities in liquid latex has revealed more anatomical detail suggesting that three taxa were present in Freital, not two. A specimen previously referred to *Petrobates truncatus* was first considered by [Robert L. Carroll](/source/Robert_L._Carroll) and [Pamela Gaskill](/source/Pamela_Gaskill) in 1978 to be a microsaur rather than a reptile.[6] It was considered distinct from *Petrobates*, then considered a [captorhinomorph](/source/Captorhinomorpha), based only on the structure of the [atlas](/source/Atlas_(anatomy)).

Of the three species represented in Frietal, *Hylonomus geinitzi*, as described by Credner, has since been reassigned to the microsaur genus *[Saxonerpeton](/source/Saxonerpeton)*, and *Petrobates truncatus* was designated as *Batropetes truncatus* by Carroll and Gaskill in 1971.[6][7] Carroll and Gaskill still referred to *B. truncatus* as a captorhinomorph reptile.

Carroll and Gaskill described a new microsaur in 1978 from Frietal, which they called *Brachystelechus fritschi*.[6] It was noted that the skull of *Brachystelechus* bore a striking resemblance to that of *Batropetes*, which was considered to be unrelated. It differed from *Batropetes* in that it possessed an internarial bone which was not seen in known specimens of *Batropetes*.

A newly discovered specimen of microsaur from the Saar-Nahe district in southwestern Germany has confirmed that *Brachystelechus* and *Batropetes* represent the same species.[2] The characters that previously distinguished the two genera from one another are all found in one specimen, known as SMNS 55884, housed in the [Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart](/source/Staatliches_Museum_f%C3%BCr_Naturkunde_Stuttgart). This a complete specimen preserved in ventral view and consisting of a part and counterpart. The skull roof was examined by excavating the matrix from the top of the block and exposing more anatomical features. The [occipital condyle](/source/Occipital_condyle) in SMNS 55884, not noticeable in the specimen of *Brachystelechus*, clearly indicates that it is a microsaur rather than a captorhinomorph reptile. An interfrontal bone is seen in material once referred to *Brachystelechus* but not in any material known from specimens previously attributed to *Batropetes*. This may be a result of poor preservation, or perhaps intraspecific variation. The [parietals](/source/Parietal_bone) of the specimen are wide and the skull is short, both of which are features that associate it with the North American genera *[Carrolla](/source/Carrolla)* and *[Quasicaecilia](/source/Quasicaecilia)*.[8][9] On the basis of these and other similarities, Carroll, who described the new material in 1991, constructed a new microbrachomorph family called the Brachystelechidae to include *Batropetes*, *Carrolla*, and *Quasicaecilia*.[2]

A 2013 study of *Batropetes* erected a new species, *Batropetes niederkirchensis*, for specimen SMNS 55884. SMNS 55884 was noted to differ from the [type specimen](/source/Type_specimen) of *B. fritschi* in the number of presacral vertebrae, the width between the eye sockets, the shape of the [prefrontal](/source/Prefrontal_bone), [postorbital](/source/Postorbital_bone), and [scapulocoracoid](/source/Scapulocoracoid) bones, and the position of the [obturator foramen](/source/Obturator_foramen) in the hips.[10] Two additional species, *B. appelensis* and *B. palatinus*, were named in 2015 on the basis of new material found from the Saar-Nahe Basin.[1]

During the 2010s, [recumbirostran](/source/Recumbirostra) microsaurs, including [brachystelechids](/source/Brachystelechidae), were increasingly considered to be early diverging [sauropsids](/source/Sauropsida), rather than [reptiliomorphs](/source/Reptiliomorpha).[11]

## Notes

1. In European [lithostratigraphy](/source/Lithostratigraphy) this is known as the [Rotliegend](/source/Rotliegend).
1. *Hylonomus* is now known to be a genus of early reptile within the family [Protorothyrididae](/source/Protorothyrididae).

## References

1. Glienke, S. (2015). "Two new species of the genus *Batropetes*(Tetrapoda, Lepospondyli) from the Central European Rotliegend (basal Permian) in Germany". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology*. **35** (2). [Bibcode:2015JVPal..35E8041G](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015JVPal..35E8041G). [doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.918041](https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2014.918041). [S2CID 83855041](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:83855041)

1. Carroll, R. L. (1991). "*Batropetes* from the Lower Permian of Europe- a microsaur, not a reptile". *Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology*. **11** (2): 229–242. [Bibcode:1991JVPal..11..229C](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1991JVPal..11..229C). [doi:10.1080/02724634.1991.10011390](https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.1991.10011390)

1. Geinitz, H. B. & Deichmüller, J. V. (1882). "Die fossilen Saurier in dem Kalke des Rothliegenden von Niederhässlich im Plauenschen Grunde bei Dresden". *Mineral.-Geol. Praehist. Mus. Dresden*

1. Credner, H. (1885). "Die Stegocephalen aus dem Rothliegenden des Plauen'schen Grundes bei Dresden. V. Theil.". *Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft*. **37**: 694–736.

1. Credner, H. (1890). "Die Stegocephalen und Saurier aus dem Rothliegenden des Plauen'schen Grundes bei Dresden. IX. Theil. *Hylonomus geinitzi* Cred. *Petrobates truncatus* Cred. *Discosaurus permianus* Cred.". *Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft*. **42**: 240–277.

1. Carroll, R. L. & Gaskill, P. (1978). [*The Order Microsauria*](https://books.google.com/books?id=mjcyaQw78X4C&q=The+Order+Microsauria). Vol. 126. Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society. DIANE Publishing. pp. 1–211. ISBN 978-0-87169-126-2.

1. Carroll, R. L. & Gaskill, P. (1971). "A captorhinomorph reptile from the Lower Permian of Europe". *Journal of Paleontology*. **45** (3): 450–463.

1. Langston, W. Jr. & Olson, E. C. (1986). "*Carrolla craddocki*, a new genus and species of microsaur from the Lower Permian of Texas". *Pearce-Sellards Series, Texas Memorial Museum*. **43**: 1–20.

1. Carroll, R. L. (1990). "A tiny microsaur: size constraints in Palaeozoic tetrapods". *Palaeontology*. **33**: 1–17.

1. Glienke, S. (2013). "A taxonomic revision of Batropetes (Amphibia, Microsauria) from the Rotliegend (basal Permian) of Germany". *Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen*. **269** (1): 73–96. [doi:10.1127/0077-7749/2013/0336](https://doi.org/10.1127/0077-7749/2013/0336)

1. Mann, Arjan; Pardo, Jason D; Sues, Hans-Dieter (2022-07-19). ["Osteology and phylogenetic position of the diminutive 'microsaur' Odonterpeton triangulare from the Pennsylvanian of Linton, Ohio, and major features of recumbirostran phylogeny"](https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/advance-article/doi/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac043/6646571). *Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society*. **197** (3): 641–655. [doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac043](https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac043). [ISSN 0024-4082](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0024-4082)

## External links

- [*Batropetes*](https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=37513) in the [Paleobiology Database](/source/Paleobiology_Database)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Batropetes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batropetes) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batropetes?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.