| Kudnu Temporal range: Early Triassic, ~ | |
|---|---|
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| Holotype skull QM F9181 (top) and referred skull QM F9182 (bottom) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Neodiapsida |
| Genus: | † Kudnu Bartholomai, 1979 |
| Species: | †K. mackinlayi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kudnu mackinlayi Bartholomai, 1979 | |
Kudnu is an extinct genus of neodiapsid reptile from the Early Triassic Arcadia Formation of Australia. [1] The type species is K. mackinlayi. [2]
The holotype is QM F9181, an anterior section of a cranium with articulated dentary rami, and it was discovered in the Crater, southwest of Rolleston, Queensland. [3] The referred skull QM F9182 is also known. [4]
Kudnu mackinlayi was named and described by Alan Bartholomai in 1979. [2]
Kudnu was initially classified within Paliguanidae by Bartholomai (1979). Benton (1985) classified Kudnu within Lepidosauromorpha, [5] while Evans (2003) classified Kudnu within Prolacertiformes, [6] and Evans & Jones (2010) later assigned Kudnu to the Procolophonidae. [7] More recent authors, such as Poropat et al. (2023), consider Kudnu to be a basal member of Neodiapsida. [4]
The world Kudnu inhabited was still recovering from the recent Permian–Triassic extinction event, and as a result global biodiversity had remained low throughout much of the Early Triassic. [8] The world at this time was generally a hot and arid environment, reaching a temperature of 50 °C or even 60 °C at times. [9]
Currently a high diversity of fauna has so far been recorded from the Arcadia Formation that lived alongside Kudnu. This includes a high diversity of amphibians including 14 genera, [10] the archosauriform Kalisuchus rewanensis , [11] the archosauromorph Kadimakara australiensis , [1] the procolophonid Eomurruna yurrgensis [12] as well as an indeterminate dicynodont. [13]
There is also evidence of a diversity of indermitae ichnotaxa based on coprolites. [14]
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