Spathicephalus

rdf:langString Spathicephalus

rdf:langString right

rdf:langString Watson, 1929

rdf:langString vertical

rdf:langString Bones of the skull of Spathicephalus mirus

rdf:langString Early - Late Carboniferous,

rdf:langString Spathicephalus skull dorsal.svg

rdf:langString Spathicephalus skull lateral.svg

rdf:langString Spathicephalus skull occipital.svg

rdf:langString Spathicephalus skull ventral.svg

rdf:langString Life restoration of Spathicephalus mirus

rdf:langString Beaumont, 1977

rdf:langString *S. marsdeni (Smithson et al., 2017) *S. mirus (Watson, 1929 ) *S. pereger (Baird, 1962)

rdf:langString Species

rdf:langString Spathicephalus

rdf:langString Spathicephalus is an extinct genus of stem tetrapods (early four-limbed vertebrates) that lived during the middle of the Carboniferous Period. The genus includes two species: the type species S. mirus from Scotland, which is known from two mostly complete skulls and other cranial material, and the species S. pereger from Nova Scotia, which is known from a single fragment of the skull table. Based on the S. mirus material, the appearance of Spathicephalus is unlike that of any other early tetrapod, with a flattened, square-shaped skull and jaws lined with hundreds of very small chisel-like teeth. However, Spathicephalus shares several anatomical features with a family of stem tetrapods called Baphetidae, leading most paleontologists who have studied the genus to place it within a larger group called Baphetoidea, often as part of its own monotypic family Spathicephalidae. Spathicephalus is thought to have fed on aquatic invertebrates through a combination of suction feeding and filter feeding.