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1 October 2015 Archosauromorph Remains from the Tarjados Formation (Early—Middle Triassic, NW Argentina)
Martín D. Ezcurra, Agustín G. Martinelli, Lucas E. Fiorelli, Atila A. S. Da-Rosa, Julia B. Desojo
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Abstract

The Agua de la Peña Group of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin (northwestern Argentina) documents the evolution of archosauromorph assemblages in western Gondwana during the late Middle and Late Triassic. However, the South American archosauromorph record in the aftermath of the Permo/Triassic mass extinction (Early—early Middle Triassic) is remarkably scarce and restricted to isolated bones. Here, we describe a recently collected isolated second sacral vertebra and rib that represents one of the few fossils known from the Lower—Middle Triassic Tarjados Formation, the unit that underlies the Agua de la Peña Group. This specimen is identified as an archosauromorph because of the presence of a non-notochordal vertebra and a bifurcated distal end of the second sacral rib. A quantitative phylogenetic analysis places the new specimen as an archosauromorph more derived than protorosaurs. In particular, this specimen resembles Pamelaria, Prolacerta and early rhynchosaurs in the presence of a squared posterior projection of the bifurcated second sacral rib. The new specimen represents the first body fossil of a diapsid formally described in the Tarjados Formation and the oldest member of the group in the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin. As a result, this specimen increases the high-level taxonomic richness of Archosauromorpha in South America in the aftermath of the Permo/ Triassic mass extinction.

Martín D. Ezcurra, Agustín G. Martinelli, Lucas E. Fiorelli, Atila A. S. Da-Rosa, and Julia B. Desojo "Archosauromorph Remains from the Tarjados Formation (Early—Middle Triassic, NW Argentina)," Ameghiniana 52(5), 475-486, (1 October 2015). https://doi.org/10.5710/AMGH.12.05.2015.2907
Received: 20 March 2015; Accepted: 1 May 2015; Published: 1 October 2015
KEYWORDS
América del Sur
Archosauromorpha
Diapsida
filogenia
Mesozoic
Mesozoico
phylogeny
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