Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:15:28.541Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The basal reptile Thuringothyris mahlendorffae (Amniota: Eureptilia) from the Lower Permian of Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Johannes Müller ,
David S. Berman ,
Amy C. Henrici ,
Thomas Martens  and
Stuart S. Sumida
Johannes Müller
Affiliation:
Humboldt-Universität, Museum für Naturkunde, 10099 Berlin, Germany,
David S. Berman
Affiliation:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, ,
Amy C. Henrici
Affiliation:
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, ,
Thomas Martens
Affiliation:
Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha, Museum der Natur, PF 100319, D-99853 Gotha, Germany,
Stuart S. Sumida
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, California State University, San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino 92407-2397,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The skeletal anatomy of the Early Permian eureptile Thuringothyris mahlendorffae from the Bromacker Quarry, Germany, is redescribed on the basis of several new specimens. The taxon retains some plesiomorphic characters, such as an ectopterygoid and a tabular, but it also possesses low neural spines and nonswollen neural arches, a combination that is unique for early eureptiles. A phylogenetic analysis places Thuringothyris as the sister taxon of Captorhinidae, excluding any potential “protorothyridid” affinities. Implications of this study are that the swollen neural arches of captorhinids and araeosceloids might have evolved independently, that a downturned rostrum occurred only later in captorhinid evolution, and that the European Permian is important to the understanding of the origin of eureptiles.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , July 2006 , pp. 726 - 739
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berman, D. S., and Martens, T. 1993. First occurrence of Seymouria (Amphibia: Batrachosauria) in the Lower Permian Rotliegend of central Germany. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 62:63–79.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., and Reisz, R. R. 1986. Captorhinid reptiles from the Early Permian of New Mexico, with description of a new genus and species. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 55:1–28.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 1998. Diadectes (Diadectomorpha: Diadectidae) from the Early Permian of central Germany, with description of a new species. Annals of Carnegie Museum, 64: 315–336.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Henrici, A. S., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 2000a. Redescription of Seymouria sanjuanensis (Seymouriamorpha) from the Lower Permian of Germany based on complete, mature specimens with a discussion of the paleoecology of the Bromacker locality assemblage. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 20:253–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, D. S., Reisz, R. R., Scott, D., Henrici, A. C., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 2000b. Early Permian bipedal reptile. Science, 290: 969–972.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Reisz, R. R., Martens, T., and Henrici, A. C. 2001. A new species of Dimetrodon (Synapsida: Sphenacodontidae) from the Lower Permian of Germany records first occurrence of genus outside North America. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 38:803–812.Google Scholar
Berman, D. S., Henrici, A. C., Kissel, R. A., Sumida, S. S., and Martens, T. 2004. A new diadectid (Diadectomorpha), Orobates pabsti, from the Early Permian of central Germany. Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 35:1–36.Google Scholar
Boy, J. A., and Martens, T. 1991. Ein neues captorhinomorphes Reptil aus dem thüringischen Rotliegend (Unter-Perm; Ost-Deutschland). Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 65:363–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1964. The earliest reptiles. Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology, 45:61–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, R. L. 1969. A Middle Pennsylvanian captorhinomorph, and the interrelationships of primitive reptiles. Journal of Paleontology, 43: 151–170.Google Scholar
Carroll, R. L., and Baird, D. 1972. Carboniferous stem-reptiles of the family Romeriidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 143:321–363.Google Scholar
Clark, J., and Carroll, R. L. 1973. Romeriid reptiles from the Lower Permian. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 144:353–407.Google Scholar
Cope, E. D. 1896. The reptilian order Cotylosauria. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 34:1–443.Google Scholar
Credner, H. 1889. Die Stegocephalen und Saurier aus dem Rothliegenden des Plauen'schen Grundes bei Dresden. VIII. Kadaliosaurus. Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft, 41:319–342.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. W. 1860. On a terrestrial mollusk, a chilognathous myriapod, and some new species of reptiles, from the coal-formation of Nova Scotia. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 16:268–277.Google Scholar
Dilkes, D. W., and Reisz, R. R. 1986. The axial skeleton of the Early Permian reptile Eocaptorhinus laticeps (Williston). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 23:1288–1296.Google Scholar
Dodick, J. T., and Modesto, S. P. 1995. The cranial anatomy of the captorhinid reptile Labidosaurikos meachami from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma. Palaeontology, 38:687–711.Google Scholar
Eberth, D. A., Berman, D. S., Sumida, S. S., and Hopf, H. 2000. Lower Permian terrestrial paleoenvironments and vertebrate paleoecology of the Tambach basin (Thuringia, Central Germany): The Upland Holy Grail. Palaios, 15:293–313.Google Scholar
Haeckel, E. 1866. Generelle Morphologie der Organismen. II. Allgemeine Entwicklungsgeschichte der Organismen. Georg Reimer, Berlin, 462 p.Google Scholar
Heaton, M. J. 1979. Cranial anatomy of primitive captorhinid reptiles from the Late Pennsylvanian and Early Permian, Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma Geological Survey Bulletin, 127:1–84.Google Scholar
Holmes, R. 1977. The osteology and musculature of the pectoral limb of small captorhinids. Journal of Morphology, 152:101–140.Google Scholar
Kissel, R. A., Dilkes, D. W., and Reisz, R. R. 2002. Captorhinus magnus, a new captorhinid (Amniota: Eureptilia) from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma, with new evidence on the homology of the astragalus. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 39:1363–1372.Google Scholar
Lane, H. H. 1945. New Mid-Pennsylvanian reptiles from Kansas. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Sciences, 47:381–390.Google Scholar
Laurin, M., and Reisz, R. R. 1995. A reevaluation of early amniote phylogeny. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 113:165–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Modesto, S. P. 1998. New information on the skull of the Early Permian reptile Captorhinus aguti . PaleoBios, 18:21–35.Google Scholar
Modesto, S. P., and Smith, R. M. H. 2001. A new Late Permian captorhinid reptile: A first record from the South African Karoo. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 21:405–409.Google Scholar
Müller, J., and Reisz, R. R. 2005. An early captorhinid reptile (Amniota, Eureptilia) from the Upper Carboniferous of Hamilton, Kansas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25:561–568.Google Scholar
Olson, E. C. 1947. The family Diadectidae and its bearing on the classification of reptiles. Fieldiana (Geol.), 11:1–53.Google Scholar
Price, L. I. 1937. Two new cotylosaurs from the Permian of Texas. Proceedings of the New England Zoological Club, 16:97–102.Google Scholar
Reisz, R. R. 1986. Pelycosauria. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology, Teil 17A. Gustav Fischer-Verlag, Stuttgart, 102 p.Google Scholar
Reisz, R. R., and Sues, H.-D. 2000. Herbivory in late Palaeozoic and Triassic terrestrial vertebrates, p. 9–41. In Sues, H.-D. (ed.), Evolution of Herbivory in Terrestrial Vertebrates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Sumida, S. S. 1989. The appendicular skeleton of the Early Permian genus Labidosaurus (Reptilia, Captorhinomorpha, Captorhinidae) and the hind limb musculature of captorhinid reptiles. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 9:295–313.Google Scholar
Sumida, S. S., and Modesto, S. P. 2001. A phylogenetic perspective on locomotory strategies in early amniotes. American Zoologist, 41: 586–597.Google Scholar
Sumida, S. S., Berman, D. S., and Martens, T. 1996. Biostratigraphic correlations between the Lower Permian of North America and central Europe using the first record of terrestrial tetrapods from Germany. PaleoBios, 17:1–12.Google Scholar
Swofford, D. L. 2002. PAUP∗ 4.0b10. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Warren, J. W. 1961. The basicranial articulation of the Early Permian cotylosaur, Captorhinus . Journal of Paleontology, 35:561–563.Google Scholar