Cyclotosaurus naraserluki, sp. nov., a new Late Triassic cyclotosaurid (Amphibia, Temnospondyli) from the Fleming Fjord Formation of the Jameson Land Basin (East Greenland)

• Published in: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
• Main Authors: Marzola, Marco, Mateus, Octávio, Shubin, Neil H., Clemmensen, Lars B.
• Other Authors: GeoBioTec - Geobiociências, Geoengenharias e Geotecnologias, DCT - Departamento de Ciências da Terra
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: STEREOSPONDYLI; STRATIGRAPHY; PALEOCLIMATE; CAPITOSAURIA; CONSTRAINTS; MORPHOLOGY; BOUNDARY; PORTUGAL; Fleming Fjord; Greenland; Jameson Land; East Greenland; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/33003; https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2017.1303501

Sem PDF. Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (SFRH/BD/99580/2014) European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists Research Grant (EAVP-ERG) Stan Wood Award of The Palaeontological Association (PA-SW201502) Carlsberg Foundation Cyclotosaurus naraserluki, sp. nov., is a new Late Triassic capitosaurid amphibian from lacustrine deposits in the Fleming Fjord Formation of the Jameson Land Basin in Greenland. It is based on a fairly complete and well-preserved skull associated with two vertebral intercentra. Previously reported as Cyclotosaurus cf. posthumus, C. naraserluki is unique among cyclotosaurs for having the postorbitals embaying the supratemporals posteromedially. The anterior palatal vacuity presents an autapomorphic complete subdivision by a wide medial premaxillary-vomerine bony connection. The parasphenoid projects between the pterygoids and the exoccipitals, preventing a suture between the two, a primitive condition shared with Rhinesuchidae, Eryosuchus, and Kupferzellia. Within Cyclotosaurus, the Greenlandic skull has a distinctive combination of circular choanae (shared with C. ebrachensis, C. posthumus, and C. robustus) and a convex posteromedial margin of the tabulars (also present in C. ebrachensis and C. intermedius). A phylogenetic analysis indicates that C. naraserluki is the sister taxon of the middle Norian C. mordax from southern Germany, with which it shares a pair of premaxillary foramina. Cyclotosaurus is one of the most successful and diverse genera of Late Triassic temnospondyls, with at least eight species reported from middle Carnian to late Norian. Cyclotosaurus naraserluki is the largest amphibian ever reported from Greenland and one of the Late Triassic vertebrates with the highest northern paleolatitude currently known. published