A large temnospondyl humerus from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Bonenburg (Westphalia, Germany) and its implications for temnospondyl extinction

Konietzko-Meier, Dorota; Werner, Jennifer D.; Sander, P. Martin

doi:10.1007/s41513-018-0092-0

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The Malagasy metoposaurids, the geographically closest to the Zimbabwe occurrence, are of uncertain stratigraphic placement (Fortuny et al, 2019), but the upper Isalo II interval (Norian) does not contain any metoposaurid material (Burmeister et al, 2006), and the material is probably from the lower Isalo II and thus Carnian in age. The only metoposaurid records from the Rhaetian (208.5–201.3 Ma) are from North America (Hunt, 1993; Spielmann et al, 2007; Spielmann and Lucas, 2012), and there are practically no other post-Norian occurrences of temnospondyls other than brachyopoids (see Konietzko-Meier et al, 2019, for summary, and Maisch et al, 2004, for a possible Jurassic trematosauroid). Therefore, the occurrence of a metoposaurid from Zimbabwe should be considered unreliable until more diagnostic material is both collected and described.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Description of the metoposauridAnaschisma brownifrom the New Oxford Formation of Pennsylvania

Gee

Jasinski²

2021

J. Paleontol.

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Metoposaurids are a widespread and ubiquitous constituent of Late Triassic non-marine paleoenvironments. In North America, this group is practically the only large-bodied temnospondyl clade, and is particularly well documented from the American southwest and south-central regions (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas). However, metoposaurids are poorly documented from eastern North America, with fragmentary, doubtfully diagnostic historical material such as “Dictyocephalus elegans” Leidy, 1856 and “Eupelor durus” Cope, 1866. The Zions View (early Norian?) locality in Pennsylvania preserves more-complete material, which previous workers noted as belonging to “Buettneria perfecta” Case, 1922 (=Anaschisma browni Branson, 1905). However, the material has never been described in a fashion that characterizes the anatomy or that justifies the taxonomic assignment, yet it would represent the most complete material in eastern North America and a substantial expansion of this taxon's geographic range. Here we redescribe the Zions View metoposaurid material in detail, differentiating it from Calamops paludosus Sinclair, 1917, the only other Late Triassic temnospondyl from the eastern seaboard, and demonstrating confident affinities with A. browni. Our study is the first to properly justify the taxonomic referral, underscoring the broader importance of proper documentation of voucher specimens, especially for potential geographic outliers. Anaschisma browni is thus the most widely dispersed metoposaurid. Its easternmost documentation underscores the importance of the undersampled and understudied metoposaurid record on the eastern seaboard for understanding the development of a metoposaurid zone of exclusivity in North America and demonstrates the need for further exploration to refine conceptualizations of Late Triassic tetrapod evolution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%