This is the “Fossil Friday” post #318. Expect this to be a regular feature of the website. We will post fossil pictures you send in to esconi.info@gmail.com. Please include a short description or story. Check the #FossilFriday Bluesky/Twitter hash tag for contributions from around the world!

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We have something very interesting this week… The specimen’s label says “Rex, the Wonder Amphibian”. It’s early tetrapod from the Mississippian of Iowa, some 340 million years ago. Whatcheeria deltae was described in the paper “A new primitive tetrapod,  Whatcheeria deltae, from the Lower Carboniferous of Iowa” by R. Eric Lombard and John R. Bolt in 1985.

This animal was named for Watch Cheer, Iowa, which is the home town of Pat McAdams, a geologist who found the first specimens. The species name comes from Delta, Iowa, the town where the holotype was found.

This particular specimen (PR 1634) was found in old fissure fill deposits in the St. Louis Limestone in 1986. These deposits were in the Hiemstra Quarry in Keokuk County, Iowa. Here is the Field Museum’s label for this fossil.

This amazing fossil was on display at the Field Museum’s recent Members Nights event. Here it is held by Cal So of the Mann Lab at the Field Museum.