Scapherpeton tectum Cope, 1876b

Sahni, Ashok, 1972, The vertebrate Fauna of the Judith River formation, Montana, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 147 (6), pp. 319-416 : 348-349

Scapherpeton tectum Cope, 1876b

Scapherpeton tectum COPE, 1876b , p. 355.

Scapherpeton laticolle COPE, 1876b, p. 356.

Scapherpeton excisum COPE, 1876b, p. 357.

Scapherpetonfavosum COPE, 1876b, p. 357.

Hemitrypus jordanianus COPE, 1876b , p. 358.

Hedronchus sternbergi COPE, 1876b , p. 359.

Cope originally described this species and others now regarded as synonyms from materials collected near the mouth of the Judith River in the Judith River Formation. The present collection contains many specimens of Scapherpeton tectum . The morphology and description of this form have been adequately discussed by Auffenberg and Goin (1959) and by Estes (1964); further discussion would be repetitive. The collection includes isolated dentaries, maxillae, and vertebrae of which the atlas is the most common element recovered and the most readily identifiable.

Two genera, Scapherpeton and Hemitrypus , were described by Cope (1876b) from the Judith River Formation of Montana. Originally four species of Scapherpeton were distinguished: S. laticolle , founded on an atlas and dorsal vertebrae; S. excisum , on a cervical vertebra; and S. favosum and S. tectum , on single vertebrae. Auffenberg and Goin (1959) placed the other three species of Scapherpeton in synonymy with S. tectum and erected a new family Scapherpetonidae for its inclusion. Estes (1964) also put Hemitrypus jordanianus Cope (1876b) and Hedronchus sternbergi Cope (1876b) in synonymy with the single species of Scapherpeton .