Micropholis (amphibian)

{{Short description|Extinct genus of amphibian from the early Triassic of South Africa}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early Triassic | image = Micropholis stowi.jpg | taxon = Micropholis (amphibian) | authority = Huxley, 1859 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''M. stowi'' Huxley, 1859 (type) | synonyms = *''Petrophryne'' Owen, 1876 }}

For the extant genus of tree, see Micropholis

'''''Micropholis''''' (Greek '''mikros''<nowiki/>' = small and '<nowiki/>''pholis''<nowiki/>' = scale) is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl. Fossils have been found from the ''Lystrosaurus'' Assemblage Zone of the Karoo Basin in South Africa and are dated to the Induan (Early Triassic). Fossils have also been found from the lower Fremouw of Antarctica.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gee|first1=Bryan M.|last2=Sidor|first2=Christian A.|date=2021-05-21|title=First record of the amphibamiform Micropholis stowi from the lower Fremouw Formation (Lower Triassic) of Antarctica|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=41|article-number=e1904251|doi=10.1080/02724634.2021.1904251|issn=0272-4634|doi-access=free}}</ref> ''Micropholis'' is the only post-Permian dissorophoid and the only dissorophoid in what is presently the southern hemisphere and what would have been termed Gondwana during the amalgamation of Pangea.

==History of study== [[Image:Micropholis stowi skull.jpg|thumb|left|150px|FMNH PR 5105, cast of skull of ''M. stowi'' in the Field Museum of Natural History.]] ''Micropholis'' was one of the first dissorophoids to be named by English paleontologist Thomas Huxley in 1859 based on a partial skull.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Huxley|first=T. H.|date=1859-01-01|title=On some Amphibian and Reptilian Remains from South Africa and Australia|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society|volume=15|issue=1–2|pages=642–658|doi=10.1144/gsl.jgs.1859.015.01-02.71|s2cid=129159449|issn=0370-291X|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2179085}}</ref> ''Micropholis stowii'' (properly ''Micropholis stowi'')'','' the type species, is named for George William Stow, the South African geologist and ethnologist who discovered the specimen and who proposed that it represented some extinct amphibian. English paleontologist Richard Owen later named a new genus and species, ''Petrophryne granulata'', for a better-known skull, also from the Karoo Basin, that he suggested might be the same animal as ''M. stowi'';<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Owen|first=Richard|date=1876|title=On Petrophryne granulata Ow., a labyrinthodont reptile from the Trias of South Africa, with special comparison of the skull with that of Rhinosaurus jasikovii|journal=Bulletin Société Sciences Naturelles Moscou|volume=50|pages=147–153}}</ref> this synonymy was eventually accepted by other workers. Additional description was furnished by German paleontologists Ferdinand Broili and Joachim Schröder in 1937.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Broili|first1=Ferdinand|last2=Schröder|first2=Joachim|date=1937|title=Beobachtungen an Wirbeltieren der Karrooformation. XXV. Uber Micropholis Huxley|journal=Sitzungsberichte der Bayrischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Abteilung|volume=1937|pages=19–38}}</ref> The taxon was most recently revised by German paleontologist Jürgen Boy in 1985<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Boy|first=Jürgen A.|date=1985-01-29|title=Micropholis the last surviving dissorophoid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli; Lower Triassic)|url=http://www.schweizerbart.de/papers/njgpm/detail/1985/93439/Uber_Micropholis_den_letzten_Uberlebenden_der_Diss?af=crossref|journal=Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte|language=en|volume=1985|issue=1|pages=29–45|doi=10.1127/njgpm/1985/1985/29|issn=0028-3630|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and again in 2005 by German paleontologist Rainer Schoch and South African paleontologist Bruce Rubidge.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Schoch|first1=Rainer R.|last2=Rubidge|first2=Bruce S.|date=2005-09-30|title=The amphibamid Micropholis from the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of South africa|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|language=en|volume=25|issue=3|pages=502–522|doi=10.1671/0272-4634(2005)025[0502:TAMFTL]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=85979872 |issn=0272-4634}}</ref> ''Micropholis'' has been repeatedly incorporated in phylogenetic analyses of temnospondyls and dissorophoids. In 2015, American paleontologist Julia McHugh published a description of histological patterns in ''Micropholis''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mchugh|first=Julia B.|date=2015-01-02|title=Paleohistology of Micropholis stowi (Dissorophoidea) and Lydekkerina huxleyi (Lydekkerinidae) humeri from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, and implications for bone microstructure evolution in temnospondyl amphibians|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=35|issue=1|article-number=e902845|doi=10.1080/02724634.2014.902845|s2cid=86106336|issn=0272-4634}}</ref>

== Description == Practically the entire skeleton of ''Micropholis'' is now known. Many specimens have been found, a number of which are on blocks preserving partial to complete skeletons of multiple individuals in close association,<ref name=":0"/> and two distinct morphotypes are evident, differing in skull width and palatal dentition.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>

The "slender-headed" morph is defined by corresponding narrowing of many features and cranial elements, differences in dentition on the vomer, and possibly by smaller and more numerous maxillary teeth when compared with the "broad-headed" morph. Additionally, a wide size range of individuals are known, ranging from skull lengths around 20 mm to over 40 mm. There remains some uncertainty about whether the slender-headed morph is an advanced ontogenetic stage, as the largest individuals all exhibit this skull morphology. Schoch & Milner (2014){{full citation|date=May 2021}} identified 10 features in the diagnosis of ''Micropholis'': : (1) dermal ornament, with irregularly spaced pustules; : (2) accessory fangs on the vomer; : (3) unpaired anterior palatal fenestra (sometimes 'fontanelle'); : (4) palatine and ectopterygoid reduces to struts along medial maxillary margin; : (5) short basipterygoid ramus of pterygoid; : (6) basal plate with prominent posterolateral horns; : (7) hyobranchial skeleton well ossified; : (8) short tail; : (9) elongate skull table (plesiomorphy); and :(10) postparietal much longer than tabular (plesiomorphy).

== Phylogenetic relationships == When it was first described, ''Micropholis'' was recognized as a 'labyrinthodont,' an outdated term used to refer to extinct 'amphibians' in a broad sense. However, Huxley remarked that it did not show close affinities with any of the known Triassic labyrinthodonts of the time. Its uncertain affinities continued to plague paleontologists who remarked that "no types really closely allied to it have been found".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=D.M.S. |date=August 1913 |title=II. — ''Micropholis stowi'', {{small|Huxley}}, a temnospondylous amphibian from South Africa |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/geological-magazine/article/iimicropholis-stowi-huxley-a-temnospondylous-amphibian-from-south-africa/2E041B4C0EC6A60BC933C817CE362260 |journal=Geological Magazine |language=en |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=340–346 |doi=10.1017/S0016756800127001 |bibcode=1913GeoM...10..340W |issn=1469-5081}}</ref> As a result, it was placed within its own family, Micropholidae,<ref>{{cite journal |date=January 1920 |title=I. The structure, evolution and origin of the amphibia. - The "orders' rachitomi and stereospondyli |journal= Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Containing Papers of a Biological Character|volume=209 |issue=360–371 |pages=1–73 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1920.0001 |doi-access=free |issn=0264-3960}}</ref> and sometimes within its own superfamily, Micropholoidea.<ref name=":3">{{cite book |last=Romer |first=Alfred Sherwood |title=Review of the Labyrinthodontia |date=1947 |publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology |oclc=12898383}}</ref> Although it was suggested in the 1930s that ''Micropholis'' might be allied with dissorophoids by comparison with the dissorophid ''Broiliellus'',<ref>{{cite journal |first=G. |last=Säve-Söderbergh |title=[{{small|Presumed Danish title not cited}}] |trans-title=On the dermal bones of the head in labyrinthodont stegocephalians and primitive reptilia, with special reference to eo-triassic stegocephalians from east Greenland |journal=Meddelelser om Grønland [Communications on Greenland] |volume=98 |issue=3 |pages=1–211, plates 1–15 |place=Copenhagen, DK |lang=da |year=1935 |postscript=;}}{{full citation|date=May 2021}} {{cite journal |author=[reviewer not cited] |date=April 1935 |title=Reviews – Stegocephalians and primitive reptiles |lang=en |journal=Geological Magazine |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=190–191 |doi=10.1017/s001675680009261x |bibcode=1935GeoM...72..190. |issn=0016-7568 |postscript=;}} {{small|Double-citation needs to be checked: The first ref., to ''Meddelelser om Grønland'' is embedded inside the second citation, to ''Geological Magazine'', where the first article is reviewed. It is displayed that way in the original text in the front-page of the review article in ''Geological Magazine''.}}</ref> this idea was not widely adopted<ref name=":3"/> until the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Romer |first=Alfred Sherwood |title=Vertebrate Paleontology |isbn=0-226-72488-3 |edition=Third |place=Chicago, IL |oclc=174202}}</ref> Subsequent discovery of amphibamiforms, either referred to monotaxic families such as Doleserpetontidae<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bolt |first=J.R. |date=1969-11-14 |title=Lissamphibian origins: Possible protolissamphibian from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma |journal=Science |volume=166 |issue=3907 |pages=888–891 |doi=10.1126/science.166.3907.888 |pmid=17815754 |bibcode=1969Sci...166..888B |s2cid=10813454 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> or to Dissorophidae, has further strengthened the placement of ''Micropholis'' among dissorophoids, which has since been maintained by computer-assisted phylogenetic analyses.<ref>{{cite book |last=Boy |first=Jürgen A. |date=1972 |title=Die Branchiosaurier <Amphibia> des saarpfälzischen Rotliegenden <Perm, SW-Deutschland> |oclc=163720370}}</ref> ''Micropholis'' now belongs to the recently resurrected family Micropholidae,<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last=Schoch |first=Rainer R. |date=2018-11-05 |title=The putative lissamphibian stem-group: Phylogeny and evolution of the dissorophoid temnospondyls |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=93 |issue=1 |pages=137–156 |doi=10.1017/jpa.2018.67 |doi-access=free |issn=0022-3360}}</ref> which is included in what was historically termed Amphibamidae (now Amphibamiformes). However, its placement has long been perplexing because it retains numerous plesiomorphies and is usually recovered as one of the earlier diverging amphibamiforms despite being tens of millions of years younger than all other dissorophoids.

Below is a phylogeny from Schoch (2018)<ref name=":4"/> showing the position of ''Micropholis''.

{{Clade|{{clade |1=Olsoniformes |label2=Amphibamiformes |2={{clade |1=''Eoscopus'' |2={{clade |1=''Platyrhinops'' |2={{clade |label1=Micropholidae |1={{clade |1=''Tersomius'' |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Pasawioops'' |2='''''Micropholis'''''}} }} }} |2={{clade |label1=Amphibamidae |1={{clade |1=''Doleserpeton'' |2=''Amphibamus'' }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Gerobatrachus'' |2=''Georgenthalia'' }} |2={{clade |label1=Lissamphibia |1={{clade |1=''Eocaecilia'' |2={{clade |1=''Karaurus'' |2=''Triadobatrachus'' }} }} }} }} |label2=Branchiosauridae |2={{clade |1=''Branchiosaurus'' |2=''Apateon'' |3={{clade |1=''Leptorophus'' |2=''Schoenfelderpeton'' }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }}}}

==References== {{reflist|25em}}

==External links== *[https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=37033 ''Micropholis''] in the Paleobiology Database

Category:Amphibamids Category:Triassic temnospondyls of Africa Category:Early Triassic amphibians of Africa Category:Taxa named by Thomas Henry Huxley Category:Fossil taxa described in 1859 Category:Prehistoric amphibian genera