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23 September 2020 A New Archosauriform Reptile with Distinctive Teeth from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) of Germany
Hans-Dieter Sues, Rainer R. Schoch, Gabriela Sobral, Randall B. Irmis
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Abstract

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-Württemberg, 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.

Hans-Dieter Sues, Rainer R. Schoch, Gabriela Sobral, and Randall B. Irmis "A New Archosauriform Reptile with Distinctive Teeth from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) of Germany," Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 40(1), (23 September 2020). https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2020.1764968
Received: 25 November 2019; Accepted: 2 March 2020; Published: 23 September 2020
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