A new lapillopsid from Antarctica and a reappraisal of the phylogenetic relationships of early diverging stereospondyls ...

• Main Authors: Gee, Bryan M., Beightol, Charles V., Sidor, Christian A.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2023
• Subjects: Evolutionary Biology; FOS Biological sciences; Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; Ecology; Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.23591802; https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/dataset/A_new_lapillopsid_from_Antarctica_and_a_reappraisal_of_the_phylogenetic_relationships_of_early_diverging_stereospondyls/23591802

Stereospondyls underwent a global radiation in the Early Triassic, including an abundance of small-bodied taxa, which are otherwise rare throughout the Mesozoic. Lapillopsidae is one such clade and is presently known only from Australia and India. This clade’s phylogenetic position, initially interpreted as micropholid dissorophoids and later as early diverging stereospondyls, remains uncertain. Although the latter interpretation is now widely accepted, lapillopsids’ specific relationship to other Early Triassic clades remains unresolved; in particular, recent work suggested that Lapillopsidae nests within Lydekkerinidae. Here we describe Rhigerpeton isbelli , gen. et sp. nov., based on a partial skull from the lower Fremouw Formation of Antarctica that is diagnosed by a combination of features shared with at least some lapillopsids, such as a longitudinal ridge on the dorsal surface of the tabular, and features not found in lapillopsids but shared with some lydekkerinids, such as the retention of pterygoid ...