Telerpeton
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Leptopleuron Temporal range: Late Triassic, 237–201 Ma |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | †Parareptilia |
| Order: | †Procolophonomorpha |
| Family: | †Procolophonidae |
| Tribe: | †Leptopleuronini |
| Genus: |
†Leptopleuron Owen, 1851 |
| Type species | |
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†Leptopleuron lacertinum Owen, 1851 |
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| Synonyms | |
Telerpeton elginense Mantell, 1854
Leptopleuron is an extinct genus of procolophonid that lived in the dry lands during the late Triassic in Elgin of northern Scotland and was the first to be included in the clade of Procolophonidae. First described by English paleontologist and biologist Sir Richard Owen, Leptopleuron is derived from two Greek bases, leptos for "slender" and pleuron for "rib," describing it as having slender ribs. The fossil is also known by a second name, Telerpeton, which is derived from the Greek bases tele for "far off" and herpeton for "reptile." In Scotland, Leptopleuron was found specifically in the Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation. The yellow sandstone it was located in was poorly lithified with wind coming from the southwest. The environment is also described to consist of barchan dunes due to the winds, ranging up to 20 m tall that spread during dry phases into flood plains. Procolophonoids such as Leptopleuron were considered an essential addition to the terrestrial ecosystem during the Triassic.
Discovered near Elgin, northern Scotland, from the Lossiemouth Formation in 1851, the fossil was examined and named Leptopleuron by Richard Owen. The reptilian fossil was initially evidence against progressionism, supporting the words of Charles Lyell, but with discussion was later accepted from the Triassic and for progressionism in 1860 after he became a progressionist. Controversy arose later when news broke out that the discoverer asked English paleontologist Gideon Mantell to make a lengthier description of the fossil, calling it Telerpeton. The general consensus that Owen produced a description of the fossil with hostility toward both Lyell and Mantell was also an issue. However, later analysis found that Mantell only produced a description as requested by Lyell, knowing that Owen was composing his own at the same time. Leptopleuron is the most accepted term for the reptile as Owen published before Mantell and made the most accurate interpretations.
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