Utaherpeton fossil map
Where fossils of Utaherpeton have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 330 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 330 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early tetrapods & amphibians |
|---|---|
| Lived | 323.4–315.2 million years ago (Bashkirian) |
| Periods | Carboniferous |
| Named by | Carroll et al. 1991 |
| Fossil records | 1 occurrences at 1 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | United States |
| Rock formations | Manning Canyon |
About Utaherpeton
Utaherpeton is an extinct genus of tetrapod from the Carboniferous of Utah. It is possibly one of the oldest and basalmost known "lepospondyls", or it instead may be a stem-tetrapod. The genus is monotypic, including only the type species Utaherpeton franklini. Utaherpeton was named in 1991 from the Manning Canyon Shale Formation, which dates to the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary. It was originally classified within Microsauria, a group of superficially lizard- and salamander-like lepospondyls that is now no longer considered to be a valid clade or evolutionary grouping, but rather an evolutionary grade consisting of the most basal lepospondyls. Utaherpeton has been proposed as both the most basal "lepospondyl" and the oldest "microsaur", although more derived lepospondyls are known from earlier in the Carboniferous. However, its position within Lepospondyli remains uncertain due to the incomplete preservation of the only known specimen. The inclusion of Utaherpeton in various phylogenetic analyses has resulted in multiple phylogenies (hypotheses of evolutionary relationships) that are very different from one another, making it a significant taxon in terms of understanding the interrelationships of "lepospondyls" and tetrapods more broadly.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Utaherpeton (revision 1380521268), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q3764833.
