Linton: Westphalian D, Ohio
collected by J. S. Newberry, T. Stock, S. Houston, D. Baird, D. Mullenaux, among others

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Myriapoda - Xyloiulidae
Baird 1958 4 specimens
MCZ 5268, 5320, 5321; PU 84787
Hoffman 1963
Myriapoda - Plagiascetidae
Hoffman 1963 1 specimen
PU 84788
Palaeoniscoidea
McGinnis 1967
PU 16536 (pars)
Ophiderpetontidae
Zidek and Baird 1978
MCZ 2165, caudal series
Zidek and Baird 1978 2 specimens
AMNH 2560 (holotype); AMNH 8683G
Oestocephalidae
Sauropleura pectinata n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1868
Cope 1868
AMNH 6868 (Lectotype, skull in lateral and partial palatal view, dermal pectoral girdle and much of trunk. Figured by Cope 1875c, pl XLI, fig. 1)
Oestocephalus amphiuminum n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1868
Cope 1868
AMNH 6857 (Holotype; skull and anterior trunk)
Phlegethontiidae
Anderson 2002 19 specimens
AMNH 2564 (referred to "Cocytinus gyrinoides Cope" by Moodie, 1916), 6884*, 6913 (neither mentioned by McGinnis, 1967 nor Lund, 1978); MCZ 2038, 2134*, 2135 (part and counterpart)*, 2300*, 2301*, 2334 (part and counterpart); CM 23053*, 23056*, 44759. 68307, 68336, 68338 (all CM specimens without asterisk are neither mentioned by McGinnis, 1967 nor Lund, 1978); USNM 4484 (listed as "Phlegethontia n. sp." by McGinnis, 1967); PU 16536 (pars)*, 16537*, 18737*; asterisks mark specimens reported from Linton by either McGinnis (1967; as P. cf. P. longissima) or Lund (1978; as P. linearis) but not at all mentioned by Anderson (2002); see also comments on taxonomic list
Anderson 2002 1 individual
AMNH 6899 (type)
Anderson 2002 1 individual
AMNH 6966 (type; part and counterpart; counterpart originally catalogued as AMNH 6886)
Colosteidae
Clack and Milner 2015
AMNH 6916 (holotype; formerly Columbia University 8584G & 8666G, incomplete skull and anterior portion of trunk)
Moodie 1909
Baphetidae
Beaumont 1977
AMNH 6944 (holotype; part and counterpart of juvenile skull)
Leptophractus lineolatus n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1877
Cope 1877
AMNH 6828 (formerly Newberry 1086/1087G) (holotype; fragment of skull and left mandibular ramus prepared as acid-etched mold)
Gephyrostegidae
Carroll 1970 2 individuals
AMNH 6865 (formerly 8004 G, type), AMNH 6960
Carroll 1970 1 individual
PU 16815
Reptilia - Protorothyrididae
1 individual
AMNH 6940 (type)
Reptilia - Acleistorhinidae
Mann et al. 2019 3 individuals
=Cephalerpeton cf. C. ventriarmatum Reisz and Baird 1983. Holotype: CM 23055, a disarticulated skull that includes maxillae, left premaxilla, right lacrimal, left prefrontal, left parietal, left frontal, dentaries and, splenials, left surangular, and vomers; collected by Richard Lund, 1972. Referred Material: NHMUK R. 2667, right mandible in lingual perspective; probably collected by John S. Newberry, circa 1870, later given to James W. Davis (‘Davies’ of Reisz & Baird, 1983), and eventually purchased by the British Museum [Natural History] in 1895. CM 81536, a pair of dentaries preserved in lingual perspective; collected by Scott McKenzie, 2004.
Molgophidae
Cope 1868
No holotype was designated but attributed specimens from Linton include: AMNH 6840, AMNH 6913, AMNH 6963, AMNH 6968 (all articulated vertebral and rib material). Specimens from others localities can be found at MCZ.
Cope 1868
AMNH 6941 (Holotype designated by Hook (1983); a nearly complete right mandible, left dentary, two premaxillae and a right maxilla)
Pleuroptyx clavatus n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1875
Cope 1875
AMNH 6838 (Holotype; a series of five vertebrae and associated ribs), AMNH 6863, BM(NH) R.2676, MB 47, MCZ 2303, and USNM 4509 (all attributed specimens)
Pardo and Anderson 2016
AMNH 6925 (holotype)
Pardo and Anderson 2016
AMNH 6897 (holotype)
Edaphosauridae
Mann et al. 2023
Holotype: CM 93778, a natural mould of cranial remains comprising a partial right mandibular ramus, a right pterygoid, the posterior part of a right maxilla, and the right jugal. Referred material: CM 93779, a natural mold of partial skeleton comprising a right maxilla, a right pterygoid, a left parietal, a left frontal, a parabasisphenoid, and postcranial bones.
Ophiacodontidae
Reisz 1975 2 individuals
MB-R57/59; AMNH 2567 (assigned to S. digitata by Moodie, 1916)
Pelycosauria
Reisz 1975 1 individual
PU 19840
Eogyrinidae
Leptophractus obsoletus n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1873
Cope 1873
AMNH 6831 and Columbia Univ. specimen (syntypes; both upper and lower jaws of skulls)
Anthracosauridae
Newberry 1856
Ohio State Univ. Mus 4500 (holotype, a palatal tusk)
Amphibia - Diplocaulidae
Cope 1875
AMNH 6933 (Holotype; acid-etched mould of skull and articulated skeleton in counterpart, complete as far as 7th caudal vertebra. Dorsal skull roof lacking except for right tabular horn.)
Amphibia - Urocordylidae
Cope 1869
AMNH 6862 (Holotype; partial skull, ventral scales, and disarticulated postcranial elements. Figured by Cope 1875c pl. XXVII, fig. 6)
Sauropleura remex n. sp. Cope 1868
Cope 1868
AMNH 6907 (Holotype; well-preserved portion of tail, consisting of 23 caudal vertebrae, maximum height 19.7mm; counterpart YPM (PU) 1769). At least nine specimens known in collections at AMNH, USNM, and YPM (PU).
Amphibia - Tuditanidae
Cope 1875
AMNH 6926 (Holotype, skull and much of postcranial skeleton in counterpart blocks)
Amphibia - Odonterpetontidae
Moodie 1909
USNM 4465 (Holotype, skull and anterior postcranial skeleton)
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Cochleosauridae
Milner and Sequeira 1998
AMNH 2933 (holotype; skull in partial counterpart on two slabs of coal)
Amphibia - Temnospondyli
Cope 1874
AMNH 6922 (Holotype, acid-etched mold of skull in dorsal aspect)
Moodie 1909 1 individual
AMNH 8611 G
Moodie 1909 1 individual
AMNH 102
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Eobrachyopidae
Cope 1868 1 individual
AMNH 6928 (type)
Tuditanus tabulatus n. sp. Cope 1877
Moodie 1909
"Single well-preserved skull and its obverse in the collection of the Colombia University of New York City"
Cope 1897 1 individual
USNM 4471 (type)
Cope 1869
AMNH 6919
Amphibia - Temnospondyli
Tuditanus huxleyi n. sp. Cope 1875
Gubin 1980
AMNH 6834 (Newberry 9022) (Holotype: nearly complete skill (length 11.5cm) now represented by acid-etched molds of part and counterpart)
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Dissorophidae
Erpetosaurus tuberculatus n. sp. Moodie 1909
Schoch and Milner 2014
AMNH 6952
Schoch and Milner 2014
AMNH 2559/FMNH UR16 (Holotype: counterparts)
Steen 1938
Amphibia - Temnospondyli - Amphibamidae
Raniceps lyelli n. sp. Wyman 1858
Schoch and Milner 2014
AMNH 6841 (Holotype: almost complete skeleton in dorsal aspect and skull in ventral aspect as acid-etched counterpart mould)
Tuditanus mordex n. sp. Cope 1874
Schoch and Milner 2014
AMNH 2566
Ichthycanthus platypus n. gen., n. sp. Cope 1877
Schoch and Milner 2014
AMNH 2002
Coelacanthimorpha - Coelacanthiformes - Rhabdodermatidae
Newberry 1856
Haplolepidae
Newberry 1856
NHMUK P.7779
Newberry 1856
A type specimen of this species has not been found in either the Orton Geological Museum or the American Museum of Natural History (Lowney 1980); MNH 702, 975G, 980, 986G, 1136G, 1944; CM 21507, 21580, 23035, 23039, 23051, 23052, 23617, 23618, 23619, 23621, 23625, 23626, 24906, 24925, 24929, 25260, 25261, 25262, 25264, 25266, 26228, 26234, 26240, 26241, 26466; USNM 4439, 4440, 4441, 4445, 4446, 4448, 4450, 4485, 4486, 4494, 4497, 4498, 4500, 4503, 4504, 4506, 4516, 4531, 7144, 16428, 16432, 16435, 16485; NHMUK P.1005b, 1007a; NMS
Microhaplolepis ovoidea (Newberry 1856)
Lowney 1980
OSU 4563 (holotype); AMNH 445G, 449G, 450G, 943, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1979, 1980, 1983, 2228; CM 21594, 23044, 23045, 23088, 23089, 23608, 23609, 23620, 23624, 24916, 27294, 30656; USNM 4502, 4518, 4523.
Microhaplolepis serrata (Newberry 1856)
Newberry 1856
-AMNH 2015, 2102, 9153, 9158; CM 21474, 21476,.21567, 21573, 21577, 21586, 21595, 23034, 23037, 23038, 23040, 23042, 23043, 23047, 23048, 23050, 23069, 23071, 23075, 23076, 23077, 23078, 23079, 23080, 23081, 23082, 23083, 23084, 23086, 23087, 23090, 23601, 23602, 23603, 23604, 23605, 23606, 23607, 23610, 23611, 23612, 23614, 23615, 23616, 23627, 24900, 24909, 24921, 24926, 24927, 25257, 25259, 26226, 26227, 26229, 26230, 26235, 26255, 26256, 26257, 26467, 26468; USNM 4452, 4455, 4491, 4492, 4493, 4499, 4512, 4521, 4524, 4525, 4527, 4528, 4535
Haplolepis sp. Miller 1892
Schultze and Bardack 1987
Haplolepis corrugata (Newberry 1856)
Newberry 1856
OSU 4478 (holotpye); AMNH 452G, 1012G; USNM 4496
see common names

Geography
Country:United States State/province:Ohio County:Jefferson
Coordinates: 40.6° North, 80.7° West (view map)
Paleocoordinates:8.1° South, 18.5° West (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:estimated from map
Geographic resolution:outcrop
Time
Period: Carboniferous Epoch: Pennsylvanian
Stage: Moscovian 10 m.y. bin: Carboniferous 4
Key time interval: Westphalian D
Age range of interval: 309.8 - 307.4 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Allegheny Member:Upper Freeport Coal
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "immediately [... below ...] a locally thick bituminous seam, known as the Upper Freeport coal, at the top of the Allegheny Group. The Upper Freeport is the No. 6 coal of Newberry (1871, 1874, 1878) or the No. 7 coal of subsequent Ohio Geological Survey reports, and is taken to be correlative to the top of the Westphalian D Series of Europe" (Hook & Baird, 1988)
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: coal
Lithology description: "Linton fossils are preserved in a thin deposit of cannel coal [...]. The cannel is composed primarily of miospores and other resistant plant parts dispersed within a very fine-grained, pyrite-rich matrix of organic detritus" which are enclosed in an "erosive-based, fining-upward, sandstone-dominated sediment body" (Hook & Baird, 1988)
Environment:mire/swamp Tectonic setting:foreland basin
Geology comments: "the cannel [...] originated as a subaqueous sapropelic peat that formed under neutral to moderately alkaline, anoxic conditions [...] at the bottom of an approximately 15-m-deep abandoned river meander [...] the Linton meander was closed rapidly by neck cutoff . In the absence of significant clastic influx, plant debris derived from the surrounding levees formed a peaty muck in the bottom of the oxbow and, after a brief period of aerobic decomposition, degenerated into an anoxic, scavenger-free sapropelic peat.
The oxbow was situated in the meander belt on a large, contemporaneously active river. As sediment supply within this system diminished, peat-forming mires expanded over floodplain deposits, and where no clastic sediments intervened, humic peat accumulated directly above sapropel-filled abandoned channel segments." (Hook & Baird, 1988)
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Abundance in sediment:common
Articulated whole bodies:many
Temporal resolution:snapshot
Spatial resolution:autochthonous
Collection methods and comments
Collection excludes:all microfossils
Collection methods:selective quarrying,survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Museum repositories:AMNH,CM,MCZ,USNM
Collectors:J. S. Newberry, T. Stock, S. Houston, D. Baird, D. Mullenaux, among others
Collection method comments: "thousands of fossils [...] obtained within the mine, from the mine dump, and from local collectors" (Hook & Baird, 1988)
PU = Princeton University Fossil Vertebrate Collection (should now be reposited in the Yale Peabody Museum)
Taxonomic list comments:Anderson (2002) states that AMNH 6966 (incl. 6886) is the "only known specimen" of Phlegethontia linearis. Hence, all other specimens referred to P. linearis by earlier authors (i.e. Lund, 1978) are listed as P. longissima in the taxonomic list. However, since some of this material is neither listed as Phlegethontia nor even mentioned at all by Anderson (2002), there is no information on the current whereabouts and taxonomic status of these specimens (marked by an asterisk in the taxonomic list).
Metadata
Also known as:Diamond Coal Mine
Database number:85292
Authorizer:J. Mueller, J. Flannery-Sutherland, B. Gee, E. Dunne, M. Carrano, R. Butler, M. Clapham, A. Dunhill Enterer:T. Liebrecht, J. Flannery-Sutherland, B. Gee, B. Allen, M. Carrano, E. Dunne, M. Clapham
Modifier:E. Dunne Research group:vertebrate
Created:2008-12-10 16:51:04 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2008-12-10 16:51:04
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
28831. E. D. Cope. 1875. Supplement to the Extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America I. Catalogue of the Air Breathing Vertebrata from the Coal Measures of Linton, Ohio. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 15(2):261-278 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]

Secondary references:

31059 J. S. Anderson. 2002. Revision of the Aïstopod Genus Phlegethontia (Tetrapoda: Lepospondyli). Journal of Paleontology 76(6):1029-1046 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
66417 D. Baird. 1958. New records of Paleozoic diplopod Myriapoda. Journal of Paleontology 32:239-241 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
57129 E. H. Beaumont. 1977. Cranial morphology of the Loxommatidae (Amphibia: Labyrinthodontia). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 280:29-101 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
28959 R. L. Carroll. 1970. The Ancestry of Reptiles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B 257:267-308 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
57666 J. A. Clack and A. R. Milner. 2015. Handbook of Paleoherpetology, Part 3A1: Basal Tetrapoda. [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
28717 E. D. Cope. 1868. Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia of North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1868:208-221 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]
58984 E. D. Cope. 1869. Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia, Reptilia and Aves of North America. Part I. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series 14:1-104 [R. Butler/E. Dunne/M. Carrano]
59179 E. D. Cope. 1873. On some new Batrachia and fishes from the Coal Measures of Linton, Ohio. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia 340-343 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
58130 E. D. Cope. 1874. Supplement to the extinct Batrachia and Reptilia of North America. I. Catalogue of the air-breathing Vertebrata from the Coal-measures of Linton, Ohio. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 15:261-278 [R. Butler/E. Dunne/M. Uhen]
28747 E. D. Cope. 1875. Synopsis of the Extinct Batrachia from the Coal Measures. Report of the Geological Survey of Ohio 2:349-411 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
58586 E. D. Cope. 1875. The extinct Batrachia of Ohio. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 16 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
57922 E. D. Cope. 1877. A continuation of researches among the Batrachia of the Coal Measures of Ohio. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 22:573-578 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
28740 E. D. Cope. 1897. On New Paleozoic Vertebrata from Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 36:71-91 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/E. Dunne]
59938 Y. M. Gubin. 1980. [New Permian dissorophids of the Ural forelands]. In Russian. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 3:82-90 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
50660 R. L. Hoffman. 1963. New genera and species of upper Paleozoic Diplopoda. Journal of Paleontology 37:167-174 [M. Clapham/M. Clapham]
28748 R. W. Hook and D. Baird. 1988. An Overview of the Upper Carboniferous Fossil Deposit at Linton, Ohio. The Ohio Journal of Science 88(1):55-60 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
82299 K. A. Lowney. 1980. A Revision of the Family Haplolepidae (Actinopterygii, Paleonisciformes) from Linton, Ohio (Westphalian D, Pennsylvanian). Journal of Paleontology 54(5):942-953 [E. Dunne/S. Fasey]
31052 R. Lund. 1978. Anatomy and Relationships of the Family Phlegethontiidae (Amphibia, Aïstopoda). Annals of Carnegie Museum 47(4):53-79 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
88640 A. Mann, A. C. Henrici, H. D. Sues and S. E. Pierce. 2023. A new Carboniferous edaphosaurid and the origin of herbivory in mammal forerunners. Scientific Reports 13(4459) [E. Dunne/E. Dunne]
73853 A. Mann, E. J. McDaniel, E. R. McColville and H. C. Maddin. 2019. Carbonodraco lundi gen et sp. nov., the oldest parareptile, from Linton, Ohio, and new insights into the early radiation of reptiles. Royal Society Open Science 6(11) [E. Dunne/E. Dunne]
31050 H. J. McGinnis. 1967. The Osteology of Phlegethontia, a Carboniferous and Permian Aïstopod Amphibian. University of California Publications in Geological Sciences 71:1-46 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]
57805 A. R. Milner and S. E. K. Sequeira. 1998. A cochleosaurid temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Linton, Ohio, U.S.A. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 122:261-290 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
28743 R. L. Moodie. 1909. A contribution to a monograph of the extinct Amphibia of North America. New forms from the Carboniferous. Journal of Geology 17(1):38-82 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/M. Carrano]
58526 R. L. Moodie. 1909. Carboniferous air-breathing vertebrates of the United States National Museum. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 37:11-28 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
28960 R. L. Moodie. 1916. The Coal Measures Amphibia of North America. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 238:1-222 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]
57799 J. S. Newberry. 1856. Description of several new genera and species of fossil fishes from the Carboniferous strata of Ohio. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8:96-100 [R. Butler/E. Dunne/E. Dunne]
75589 J. D. Pardo and J. S. Anderson. 2016. Cranial Morphology of the Carboniferous- Permian Tetrapod Brachydectes newberryi (Lepospondyli, Lysorophia): New Data from μCT. PLoS ONE 11(8):e0161823 [B. Gee/B. Gee]
5939 R. R. Reisz. 1975. Pennsylvanian Pelycosaurs from Linton, Ohio and Nýřany, Czechoslovakia. Journal of Paleontology 49(3):522-527 [A. Behrensmeyer/A. Behrensmeyer/T. Liebrecht]
57795 R. R. Schoch and A. R. Milner. 2014. Handbook of Paleoherpetology Part 3A2 Temnospondyli I. [R. Butler/E. Dunne/E. Dunne]
86586 H.P. Schultze and D. Bardack. 1987. Diversity and size changes in palaeonisciform fishes (Actinopterygii, Pisces) from the Pennsylvanian Mazon Creek fauna, Illinois, USA. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 7:1-23 [J. Flannery-Sutherland/J. Flannery-Sutherland]
58385 M. C. Steen. 1938. On the fossil Amphibia from the Gas Coal of Nyrany and other deposits of Czechoslovakia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 108:205-283 [R. Butler/E. Dunne]
67490 J. Zidek and D. Baird. 1978. Cercariomorphus Cope, 1885, identified as the aïstopod amphibian Ophiderpeton. Journal of Paleontology 52(3):561-564 [A. Dunhill/B. Allen]