Wesserpeton Temporal range: Early Cretaceous,
The holotype of W. evansae - an isolated azygous frontal, in dorsal (left) and ventral (right) view, from the Lower Cretaceous of the Isle of Wight, southern England.
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Amphibia
Order:	†Allocaudata
Family:	†Albanerpetontidae
Genus:	†Wesserpeton Sweetman & Gardner, 2012
Species:	†W. evansae
Binomial name
†Wesserpeton evansae Sweetman & Gardner, 2012

Wesserpeton is an extinct genus of albanerpetontid amphibian known from the Isle of Wight, southern England.^[1]

Description

Wesserpeton is known from the holotype NHMUK PV R36521, nearly complete fused frontals and from the referred materials NHMUK PV R36522–36568 and R36595–36611. All specimens were collected from seven localities of the Wessex Formation on the southeastern coast of the Isle of Wight of southern England. The type locality (Bed 38) is exposed at Yaverland while the rest (Bed L2) are exposed high in the cliff at Sudmoor Point but have yielded only NHMUK PV R36539, R36522 and R36553–36558. All specimens are dating to the Barremian stage of the Early Cretaceous.^[1]

Etymology

Wesserpeton was first named by Steven C. Sweetman and James D. Gardner in 2013 and the type species is Wesserpeton evansae. The generic name is derived from Wess, from Wessex, an ancient British kingdom which included the Isle of Wight, and ἑρπετόν, erpeton, Greek for "creeping animal" which used in the construction of the name of Albanerpeton. The specific name honors Professor Susan E. Evans from the University College London for contributing the research of microvertebrate palaeontology and the understanding of Albanerpetontidae.^[1]

References