A new Triassic marine reptile from southwestern China

ABSTRACT

A new genus and species of marine reptile is described from the Pelsonian (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of Luoping County, Yunnan Province, southwestern China. This diapsid reptile with a secondarily closed upper temporal fossa is the sister taxon to Saurosphargis from the lower Muschelkalk (Anisian, Middle Triassic) of central Europe. It further emphasizes the close faunal affinities between the Eastern and Western Tethyan realm. The new taxon is convergent on cyamodontoid placodonts in having developed a dorsal body armor composed of small osteoderms. The underlying ribs are transversely broadened so as to establish contact along their length, thus forming a closed dorsal ‘rib basket,’ a unique morphology shared with Saurosphargis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are deeply grateful to Mr. Z. Li (IVPP) for his help in collecting the specimens. Mr. J. Ding and Y. Chen (IVPP) prepared the specimens and Mr. W. Gao (IVPP) took the photos. C. L. and L.-T.W. were supported by the Major Basic Research Projects (2006CB806400) of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Natural Science Foundation (40772015, 40121202) of China (NNSFC), and the special grant for fossil excavation and preparation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; X.-c.W. by grants from Canadian Museum of Nature (RS 34), NNSFC 40772015, and the CAS/SAFEA International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams. We thank N. C. Fraser and J. J. Head for comments on an earlier draft of this paper. M. Donnelly, The Field Museum, helped with the preparation of the figures.

Handling editor: Christian A. Sidor.