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[dinosaur] Polymorphodon, new archosauriform from Middle Triassic (Ladinian) of Germany




Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com

A new paper:


Polymorphodon adorfi gen. et sp. nov.

Hans-Dieter Sues, Rainer R. Schoch, Gabriela Sobral & Randall B. Irmis (2020)
A new archosauriform reptile with distinctive teeth from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) of Germany.
Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Article: e1764968 (advance online publication)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2020.1764968
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2020.1764968Â



Skeletal remains of a small reptile with a distinctive dentition from the Lower Keuper (Erfurt Formation; Middle Triassic, Ladinian) of the Schumann quarry near Eschenau, in the municipality of Vellberg in Baden-WÃrttemberg, Germany, represent a new taxon of non-archosaurian archosauriforms, Polymorphodon adorfi. It is diagnosed by various craniodental autapomorphies, including mesial and distal carinae of labiolingually flattened maxillary and dentary tooth crowns with large, somewhat hook-shaped denticles aligned at distinct angle to apicobasal axis of tooth crown; premaxilla with long, leaf-shaped posterodorsal process that is slightly longer than body of element; presence of prominent lateral fossa on premaxilla anteroventral to external narial fenestra; premaxilla with five gently recurved, conical teeth; medial surface of maxilla with distinct ledge above the interdental plates; and maxilla and dentary with distinctly heterodont dentition. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Polymorphodon adorfi in a position crownward of Erythrosuchus africanus but in an unresolved polytomy with derived non-archosaurian archosauriforms such as Proterochampsidae and Euparkeria capensis and with Archosauria. The maxillary and dentary teeth of Polymorphodon adorfi differ from those of other non-archosaurian archosauriforms and indicate a different, possibly omnivorous diet, suggesting that these reptiles were more diverse in terms of feeding habits than previously assumed.


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