Cope, Geol. Surv. Ohio, II, pt. II, pp. 369, 370, pl. xlv, fig. 1, 1875.
Cope, Trans Am. Phil. Soc., XV, p. 263, 1874.
Type: Specimen No. 1101 G, American Museum of Natural History.
Horizon and locality: Linton, Ohio, Coal Measures.
A critical study of the type specimen of this species does not reveal anything essentially different from the description of Cope. The following is taken from his report ([123]):
"Established on a specimen which exhibits about twenty-five vertebræ with ribs, and the posterior portion of the cranium. No traces of abdominal scales or rods, thoracic shields, or limbs are visible. By such negative characters it is referable to the genus Molgophis, although the definition of this genus is incomplete. The present batrachian may, indeed, be ultimately found to be an Ophiderpeton, to which it also bears some resemblance.
"The specimen is that of an animal of very much smaller size than the M. macrurus. The vertebræ are of moderate length, with a low neural spine, and centrum angular at the sides and truncate at the articular extremities when in place. The ribs are rather short, slightly curved, apparently hollow and intercentral in position. Although the vertebral centra are ossified, the elements of the cranium have a larval appearance. These consist of two parallel bony plates, which resemble the fronto-parietal bones of the frog; they are slightly separated from each other, but do not inclose a fontanelle. A wedge-shaped bone extends from the outside of the front of each of these, acuminate behind, and widening anteriorly in the position of a postfrontal bone. In front of the posterior border of each parietal, on its outer side, a bony enlargement arises which contracts outward and forward into a narrow element which curves forward beneath the postfrontal. These look like an anteriorly directed quadrate with articular bone, such as seen in the larvæ and some adults of existing batrachians. These determinations will require confirmation from additional material. In the meantime it is evident that the present specimen can not be referred to any of the other species herein described. The elements of the cranium are entirely smooth with no sign of sculpture, and in this respect the present species is unlike any of the other known from the Carboniferous."
The vertebræ are not so clearly marked as one is led to believe from Cope's figure.
| Measurements of the Type of Molgophis wheatleyi Cope. | |
| mm. | |
| Length of entire specimen | 63 |
| Length of portion of skull preserved | 9 |
| Posterior width of same | 8.5 |
| Length of a vertebra | 1.5 |
| Width of a vertebra | 1.5 |
| Length of a posterior rib | 5 |
| Width of rib | 5 |
The species is dedicated to Charles M. Wheatley, of Phœnixville, Pennsylvania, one of the original investigators of the Linton deposits. It is a part of the Newberry Collection.