A new basal sphenacodontid synapsid from the Late Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany

作者：Froebisch Joerg; Schoch Rainer R; Mueller Johannes; Schindler Thomas; Schweiss Dieter

来源：Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 2011, 56(1): 113-120.

DOI：10.4202/app.2010.0039

• Synapsida
• Sphenacodontidae
• Carboniferous
• Saar-Nahe Basin
• Germany

A new basal sphenacodontid synapsid, represented by an anterior portion of a mandible, demonstrates for the first time the presence of amniotes in the largest European Permo-Carboniferous basin, the Saar-Nahe Basin. The new taxon. Cryptovenator hirschbergeri gen. et sp. nov., is autapomorphic in the extreme shortness and robustness of the lower jaw, with moderate heterodonty, including the absence of a greatly reduced first tooth and only a slight caniniform development of the second and third teeth. Cryptovenator shares with Dimetrodon, Sphenacodon, and Ctenospondylus, but notably not with Secodontosaurus, enlarged canines and a characteristic teardrop outline of the marginal teeth in lateral view, possession of a deep symphyseal region, and a strongly concave dorsal margin of the dentary. The new find shows that sphenacodontids were present in the Saar-Nahe Basin by the latest Carboniferous, predating the record of sphenacodontid tracks from slightly younger sediments in this region.

• 出版日期2011-3