What is Whatcheeria?
{{Italictitle}} {{Taxobox | color = | name = ''Whatcheeria'' | image = Whatcheeria NT.jpg | image width = | image_caption = Life restoration | fossil_range = lower [[Mississippian]], 340 mya | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Chordata]] | superclassis = [[Tetrapoda]] | classis = | familia = †Whatcheeriidae | genus = †'''''Whatcheeria''''' | genus_authority = Lombard and Bolt, 1995 | subdivision_ranks = [[species]] | subdivision = * †'''''W. deltae''''' <small>Lombard and Bolt, 1995 ([[Type species|type]])</small> }} '''''Whatcheeria''''' is an extinct [[genus]] of early [[tetrapod]] from the early [[Mississippian]] of [[Iowa]]. Fossils have been found in an old [[limestone]] [[quarry]] in the town of [[Delta, Iowa|Delta]]. They date to 340 million year ago (mya). The [[type species]] ''W. deltae'' was named in 1995. It is classified with the closely related ''[[Pederpes]]'' in the [[Family (biology)|family]] Whatcheeriidae.<ref name=LB95/> ==Description== ''Whatcheeria'' possesses a mixture of [[basal]] and [[derived]] (advanced) [[Trait (biology)|traits]]. Like other [[stem tetrapod]]s it has a series of [[lateral line]]s across the skull, and rows of teeth on the [[palate]] These are basal traits derived from its [[lobe-finned fish]] ancestors. It has a [[cleithrum]], a bone in the [[pectoral girdle]] that extends from the [[scapula]]. The cleithrum once attached to the skull in lobe-finned fish, the ancestors of tetrapods, but detached to allow the neck to move freely.<ref name=LB95>{{cite journal |last1=Lombard |first1=R.E. |last2= Bolt|first2= J.R. |year=1995 |title=A new primitive tetrapod, ''Whatcheeria deltae'', from the Lower Carboniferous of Iowa |journal=Palaeontology |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=471–495 |url=http://palaeontology.palass-pubs.org/pdf/Vol%2038/Pages%20471-494.pdf |access-date=2012-05-25 |archive-date=2012-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324051328/http://palaeontology.palass-pubs.org/pdf/Vol%2038/Pages%20471-494.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''Whatcheeria'' gr