Gueragama

Last updated

Gueragama
Temporal range: Aptian-Albian or Turonian-Campanian
125–100.5  Ma
Gueragama sulamericana holotype.webp
Holotype
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Iguania
Clade: Acrodonta
Genus: Gueragama
Simões et al., 2015 [3]
Type species
Gueragama sulamericana
Simões et al., 2015 [3]

Gueragama is an extinct genus of iguanian lizard from the Cretaceous of Brazil. It belongs to a group of iguanians called Acrodonta, whose living members include chameleons and agamids and are currently restricted to the Old World. Gueragama is the only acrodont known from South America, providing evidence that the group once ranged across much of Gondwana and only became restricted to the Old World after the supercontinent broke apart. The type species, Gueragama sulamericana, was named in 2015 on the basis of an isolated lower jaw from Goio-Erê Formation in the Bauru Basin, which was deposited in a desert environment. Although description shows age of Formation at Turonian to Campanian, later study proposes age around Aptian to Albian instead. [1] [2] Unlike modern acrodontans, whose teeth implant on the margins of the jaws, Gueragama has teeth that implant along the inner surface of the lower jaw, a feature common in most non-acrodontan lizards and characteristic of the second major group of iguanians, Pleurodonta. The non-acrodont dentition of Gueragama is evidence of its basal position within Acrodonta, and is shared with the taxon of Late Cretaceous acrodontan relatives, the family Priscagamidae. [3] In 2022, it is considered that is unlikely to be acrodontan, more likely to be scincoids or teiids instead. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 Pêgas, R. V.; Zhoi, X.; Jin, X.; Wang, K.; Ma, W. (2023). "A taxonomic revision of the Sinopterus complex (Pterosauria, Tapejaridae) from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota, with the new genus Huaxiadraco". PeerJ. 11. e14829. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14829 . PMC   9922500 . PMID   36788812.
  2. 1 2 de Souza, Geovane Alves; Soares, Marina Bento; Weinschütz, Luiz Carlos; Wilner, Everton; Lopes, Ricardo Tadeu; de Araújo, Olga Maria Oliveira; Kellner, Alexander Wilhelm Armin (2021-11-18). "The first edentulous ceratosaur from South America". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 22281. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1122281D. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-01312-4. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   8602317 . PMID   34795306.
  3. 1 2 3 Simões, Tiago R.; Wilner, Everton; Caldwell, Michael W.; Weinschütz, Luiz C.; Kellner, Alexander W. A. (26 August 2015). "A stem acrodontan lizard in the Cretaceous of Brazil revises early lizard evolution in Gondwana". Nature Communications . 6: 8149. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6.8149S. doi:10.1038/ncomms9149. PMC   4560825 . PMID   26306778.
  4. "The Squamate and Snake Fossil Record" . The Origin and Early Evolutionary History of Snakes: 5–110. 2022-08-11. doi:10.1017/9781108938891.003. ISBN   978-1-108-93889-1.