scholarly journals Osteology of the Late Triassic aetosaurScutarx deltatylus(Archosauria: Pseudosuchia)

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2411 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Parker
Keyword(s):  
Morphological Feature ◽  
National Park ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Dorsal Surface ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Naming Convention ◽  
Holotype Specimen ◽  
Posteromedial Corner ◽  
Chinle Formation

Aetosaurians are some of the most common fossils collected from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona, especially at the Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO). Aetosaurians collected from lower levels of the park includeDesmatosuchus spurensis,Paratypothorax,Adamanasuchus eisenhardtae,Calyptosuchus wellesi, andScutarx deltatylus. Four partial skeletons collected from the park between 2002 and 2009 represent the holotype and referred specimens ofScutarx deltatylus. These specimens include much of the carapace, as well as the vertebral column, and shoulder and pelvic girdles, and a new naming convention proposed for osteoderms descriptions better differentiates portions of the carapace and ventral armor. A partial skull from the holotype specimen represents the first aetosaur skull recovered and described from Arizona since the 1930s. The key morphological feature distinguishingScutarx deltatylusis the presence of a prominent, triangular boss located in the posteromedial corner of the dorsal surface of the dorsal paramedian osteoderms.Scutarx deltatyluscan be distinguished from closely related formsCalyptosuchus wellesiandAdamanasuchus eisenhardtaenot only morphologically, but also stratigraphically. Thus,Scutarx deltatylusis potentially an index taxon for the upper part of the Adamanian biozone.

scholarly journals Osteology of the Late Triassic aetosaur Scutarx deltatylus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G Parker
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
Petrified Forest National Park ◽  
Petrified Forest

Aetosaurs are some of the most common fossils collected from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona, especially at the Petrified Forest National Park. Four partial skeletons collected from the park from 2002 through 2009 represent the holotype and referred specimens of Scutarx deltatylus. These specimens include much of the carapace, as well as the vertebral column, and shoulder and pelvic girldles. A partial skull represents the first aetosaur skull recovered from Arizona since the 1930s. Scutarx deltatylus can be distinguished from closely related forms Calyptosuchus wellesi and Adamanasuchus eisenhardtae not only morphologically, but also stratigraphically. Thus, Scutarx deltatylus is potentially an index taxon for the upper part of the Adamanian biozone.

scholarly journals Osteology of the Late Triassic aetosaur Scutarx deltatylus (Archosauria: Pseudosuchia)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G Parker
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
Petrified Forest National Park ◽  
Petrified Forest

Aetosaurs are some of the most common fossils collected from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Arizona, especially at the Petrified Forest National Park. Four partial skeletons collected from the park from 2002 through 2009 represent the holotype and referred specimens of Scutarx deltatylus. These specimens include much of the carapace, as well as the vertebral column, and shoulder and pelvic girldles. A partial skull represents the first aetosaur skull recovered from Arizona since the 1930s. Scutarx deltatylus can be distinguished from closely related forms Calyptosuchus wellesi and Adamanasuchus eisenhardtae not only morphologically, but also stratigraphically. Thus, Scutarx deltatylus is potentially an index taxon for the upper part of the Adamanian biozone.

The Late Triassic (Norian) Adamanian–Revueltian tetrapod faunal transition in the Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

2010 ◽  
Vol 101 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 231-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Parker ◽  
Jeffrey W. Martz
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Faunal Turnover ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
Petrified Forest National Park ◽  
Land Vertebrate ◽  
Age Constraints ◽  
Petrified Forest

ABSTRACTRecent stratigraphic revisions of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Petrified Forest National Park, in conjunction with precise and accurate documentation of fossil tetrapod occurrences, clarified the local biostratigraphy, with regional and global implications. A significant overlap between Adamanian and Revueltian faunas is rejected, as is the validity of the Lamyan sub-land vertebrate faunachron. The Adamanian–Revueltian boundary can be precisely placed within the lower Jim Camp Wash beds of the Sonsela Member and thus does not occur at the hypothesised Tr-4 unconformity. This mid-Norian faunal turnover, may coincide with a floral turnover, based on palynology studies and also on sedimentological evidence of increasing aridity. Available age constraints bracketing the turnover horizon are consistent with the age of the Manicouagan impact event. The rise of dinosaurs in western North America did not correspond to the Adamanian–Revueltian transition, and overall dinosauromorph diversity seems to have remained at a constant level across it. The paucity of detailed Late Triassic vertebrate biostratigraphic data and radioisotopic dates makes it currently impossible to either support or reject the existence of globally synchronous Late Triassic extinctions for tetrapods.

Upper Triassic lithostratigraphy, depositional systems, and vertebrate paleontology across southern Utah

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 99-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Martz ◽  
James I. Kirkland ◽  
Andrew R.C. Milner ◽  
William G. Parker ◽  
Vincent L. Santucci
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Zion National Park ◽  
Chinle Formation ◽  
Depositional Systems ◽  
Wingate Sandstone ◽  
San Rafael ◽  
San Rafael Swell ◽  
Petrified Forest ◽  
Moenave Formation

The Chinle Formation and the lower part of the overlying Wingate Sandstone and Moenave Formation were deposited in fluvial, lacustrine, paludal, and eolian environments during the Norian and Rhaetian stages of the Late Triassic (~230 to 201.3 Ma), during which time the climate shifted from subtropical to increasingly arid. In southern Utah, the Shinarump Member was largely confined to pre-Chinle paleovalleys and usually overprinted by mottled strata. From southeastern to southwestern Utah, the lower members of the Chinle Formation (Cameron Member and correlative Monitor Butte Member) thicken dramatically whereas the upper members of the Chinle Formation (the Moss Back, Petrified Forest, Owl Rock, and Church Rock Members) become erosionally truncated; south of Moab, the Kane Springs beds are laterally correlative with the Owl Rock Member and uppermost Petrified Forest Member. Prior to the erosional truncation of the upper members, the Chinle Formation was probably thickest in a southeast to northwest trend between Petrified Forest National Park and the Zion National Park, and thinned to the northeast due to the lower Chinle Formation lensing out against the flanks of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains, where the thickness of the Chinle is largely controlled by syndepositional salt tectonism. The Gartra and Stanaker Members of the Ankareh Formation are poorly understood Chinle Formation correlatives north of the San Rafael Swell. Osteichthyan fish, metoposaurid temnospondyls, phytosaurids, and crocodylomorphs are known throughout the Chinle Formation, although most remains are fragmentary. In the Cameron and Monitor Butte Members, metoposaurids are abundant and non-pseudopalatine phytosaurs are known, as is excellent material of the paracrocodylomorph Poposaurus; fragmentary specimens of the aetosaurs Calyptosuchus, Desmatosuchus, and indeterminate paratypothoracisins were probably also recovered from these beds. Osteichthyans, pseudopalatine phytosaurs, and the aetosaur Typothorax are especially abundant in the Kane Springs beds and Church Rock Member of Lisbon Valley, and Typothorax is also known from the Petrified Forest Member in Capitol Reef National Park. Procolophonids, doswelliids, and dinosaurs are known but extremely rare in the Chinle Formation of Utah. Body fossils and tracks of osteichthyans, therapsids, crocodylomorphs, and theropods are well known from the lowermost Wingate Sandstone and Moenave Formation, especially from the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm.

Ichthyosaurs from the Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) of the New Siberian Islands, Russian Arctic, and their implications for the evolution of the ichthyosaurian basicranium and vertebral column

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Nikolay G. ZVERKOV ◽  
Dmitry V. GRIGORIEV ◽  
Andrzej S. WOLNIEWICZ ◽  
Alexey G. KONSTANTINOV ◽  
Evgeny S. SOBOLEV
Keyword(s):  
Vertebral Column ◽  
Cervical Vertebrae ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Phylogenetic Position ◽  
New Taxon ◽  
Russian Arctic ◽  
Micro Computed Tomography ◽  
New Siberian Islands ◽  
Group Relationships

ABSTRACT The first ichthyosaurian specimens discovered from the Upper Triassic of the Russian Arctic (Kotelny Island, New Siberian Islands) are described herein. They include the remains of large- to small-bodied ichthyosaurians originating from six stratigraphic levels spanning the lower Carnian to middle Norian. The material is mostly represented by isolated vertebrae and ribs, which are not possible to accurately diagnose, but also includes specimens comprising associated vertebrae and a fragmentary skeleton that preserves cranial remains (parabasisphenoid, fragmentary quadrate, partial mandible and hyoids). Based on vertebral and rib morphology, we identify the specimens as representatives of the following taxonomic groups: large-bodied shastasaurids, medium-sized indeterminate ichthyosaurians with a single rib facet in the presacral centra, and small euichthyosaurians with double rib facets present throughout the presacral vertebrae that likely represent toretocnemids and/or basal parvipelvians. In addition, the cranial and mandibular remains preserved in one of the specimens, ZIN PH 5/250, were studied using micro-computed tomography. Its mandible is highly similar to that of toretocnemids, whereas the parabasisphenoid demonstrates a peculiar combination of both plesiomorphic and derived character states, providing the first detailed data on this cranial element in a Late Triassic ichthyosaurian. Furthermore, the specimen also demonstrates a distinctive condition of rib articulation in the anteriormost presacral (cervical) vertebrae, which together with other features allows for the erection of a new taxon – Auroroborealia incognita gen. et sp. nov. Although the phylogenetic position of this taxon is uncertain due to its fragmentary nature, its anatomy, indicating toretocnemid or parvipelvian affinities, further supports the previously hypothesised sister-group relationships between these two clades. The morphology of the parabasisphenoid and vertebral column of the new taxon is discussed in broader contexts of the patterns of evolution of these skeletal regions in ichthyosaurs.

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