Stahleckeria

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Stahleckeria
Temporal range: Mid Triassic
~240  Ma
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Stahleckeria1DB.jpg
Stahleckeria potens
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Clade: Synapsida
Clade: Therapsida
Suborder: Anomodontia
Clade: Dicynodontia
Family: Stahleckeriidae
Subfamily: Stahleckeriinae
Genus: Stahleckeria
von Huene, 1935
Species:
S. potens
Binomial name
Stahleckeria potens
von Huene, 1935

Stahleckeria is an extinct genus of Middle Triassic (Ladinian) dicynodonts. [1] It lived about 240 million years ago in what is now Brazil and Namibia. As a member of the group Kannemeyeriiformes, it was similar to the genus Kannemeyeria . The genus is known from the type species Stahleckeria potens, which was first collected from the Ladinian-age Santa Maria Formation in the Paleorrota fossil site of Brazil. Stahleckeria was named in honor of Rudolf Stahlecker, who discovered the first specimens during a 1935 expedition led by paleontologist Friedrich von Huene to the Chiniquá fossil site.

Contents

Description

Size of Stahleckeria potens relative to a human Stahleckeria potens scale.svg
Size of Stahleckeria potens relative to a human
Paleogeography before the opening of the South Atlantic Cratons West Gondwana.svg
Paleogeography before the opening of the South Atlantic
Friedrich von Huene (left) with a skeleton of Stahleckeria at University of Tubingen Stahleckeria potens.png
Friedrich von Huene (left) with a skeleton of Stahleckeria at University of Tübingen

Skull of Stahleckeria measured 60 centimetres (2 ft) in length. [2] It was a contemporary of the more common Dinodontosaurus . The differences between Stahleckeria and Dinodontosaurus may reflect adaptations to feeding on different plant species.[ citation needed ]

In 2012, fossils of Stahleckeria potens were described from the Omingonde Formation in Namibia, which like the Santa Maria Formation is Ladinian in age. The Omingonde Formation is part of the Karoo Supergroup, which preserves many Triassic tetrapod fossils in southern Africa but notably lacks fossils in a hiatus called the "Ladinian gap". In addition to the remains of Stahleckeria potens, fossils of the cynodont Chiniquodon and an unidentified rauisuchian have also been found in the Omingonde deposits. The presence of these animals in South America and in Africa at the same time is strong evidence that the two continents were once one uninterrupted landmass with a uniform climate and habitat that land animals such as Stahleckeria could travel freely between. [3]

The fossils of Stahleckeria potens discovered in Brazil are currently in Germany in the museum of the University of Tübingen.

Related Research Articles

<i>Chiniquodon</i> Extinct genus of cynodonts

Chiniquodon is an extinct genus of carnivorous cynodonts, which lived during the Late Triassic (Carnian) in South America and Africa. Chiniquodon was closely related to the genus Aleodon, and close to the ancestry of mammals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dicynodontia</span> Extinct clade of therapsids

Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, typically toothless beak, unique amongst all synapsids. Dicynodonts first appeared in Southern Pangaea during the mid-Permian, ca. 270–260 million years ago, and became globally distributed and the dominant herbivorous animals in the Late Permian, ca. 260–252 Mya. They were devastated by the end-Permian Extinction that wiped out most other therapsids ca. 252 Mya. They rebounded during the Triassic but died out towards the end of that period. They were the most successful and diverse of the non-mammalian therapsids, with over 70 genera known, varying from rat-sized burrowers to elephant-sized browsers.

<i>Kannemeyeria</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Kannemeyeria is a genus of dicynodont that lived during the Anisian age of Middle Triassic period in what is now Africa and South America. The generic name is given in honor of Daniel Rossouw Kannemeyer, the South African fossil collector who discovered the original specimen. It is one of the first representatives of the family, and hence one of the first large herbivores of the Triassic.

Spondylosoma is a genus of avemetatarsalian archosaur belonging to the clade Aphanosauria from the late Ladinian-age Middle Triassic Lower Santa Maria Formation in Paleorrota Geopark, Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stahleckeriidae</span> Extinct family of dicynodonts

Stahleckeriidae is a family of dicynodont therapsids whose fossils are known from the Triassic of North America, South America, Asia and Africa.

<i>Dinodontosaurus</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Dinodontosaurus is a genus of dicynodont therapsid. It was medium to large dicynodont of the Triassic and had a beak corneum. It lived in the Middle Triassic but disappeared in the Upper Triassic.

<i>Jachaleria</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Jachaleria was a dicynodont herbivore that lived from the Ladinian to Norian stages of the Middle to Late Triassic, from approximately 240 to 220 million years ago. Jachaleria was one of the last representatives of the dicynodonts, occurring in Argentina and Brazil. It lacked teeth, much like Stahleckeria, but was closer in size to Dinodontosaurus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleontological Site Chiniquá</span>

The Palaeontological Site Chiniquá is located in the Brazilian municipality of São Pedro do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, along highway BR-287, about 70 kilometers west of the city of Santa Maria. The site occupies an area of about 250 hectares and is part of the geopark of paleorrota. It yielded fossils of Middle Triassic (Ladinian) age.

The Chañares Formation is a Carnian-age geologic formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin, located in La Rioja Province, Argentina. It is characterized by drab-colored fine-grained volcaniclastic claystones, siltstones, and sandstones which were deposited in a fluvial to lacustrine environment. The formation is most prominently exposed within Talampaya National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site within La Rioja Province.

Elephantosaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) Bukobay Formation. The holotype and only known specimen, catalogued as PIN 525/25, is a fragment of the skull that includes portions of the left interorbital region and nasal bones, and suggests a very large animal with a skull at least 30 centimetres (12 in) wide. The bones of the skull roof are also unusually thick. While usually considered a member of the Stahleckeriidae, generally due to its size, it probably falls just outside the group due to its frontal bone contributing substantially to the margin of the eye socket.

Sangusaurus is an extinct genus of large dicynodont synapsid with two recognized species: S. edentatus and S. parringtonii. Sangusaurus is named after the Sangu stream in eastern Zambia near to where it was first discovered + ‘saur’ which is the Greek root for lizard. Sangusaurus fossils have been recovered from the upper parts of the Ntawere Formation in Zambia and of the Lifua Member of the Manda Beds in Tanzania. The earliest study considered Sangusaurus a kannemeyeriid dicynodont, but more recent phylogenetic analyses place Sangusaurus within the stahleckeriid clade of Dicynodontia. Until recently, little work had been done to describe Sangusaurus, likely due to the fact that only four incomplete fossil specimens have been discovered.

Rechnisaurus is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) Yerrapalli Formation of India. It contains a single species, Rechnisaurus cristarhynchus.

<i>Tetragonias</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Tetragonias is an extinct genus of dicynodont from the Anisian Manda Beds of Tanzania. With tetra meaning “four,” and goni meaning “angle,” the name references the square shape of the Tetragonias skull when viewed dorsally. Not to be confused with the plant Tetragonia,Tetragonias were dicynodont anomodonts discovered in the late 1960s by paleontologist A. R. I. Cruickshank in the Manda Formation. Only the type species, T. njalilus, has been recognized.

Vinceria is an extinct genus of kannemeyeriiform dicynodont in the family Shansiodontidae. Fossils of the genus have been found in the Anisian Cerro de las Cabras Formation and Carnian Río Seco de la Quebrada Formation of Argentina. One species, V. argentinensis, named in 1966, was moved to its own genus, Acratophorus, in 2021. Another species, V. vieja, was merged with Acratophorus argentinensis in 2021, leaving V. andina as the only species in the genus.

Hoplitosuchus is an extinct genus of aetosaur. Fossils have been found from the Santa Maria Formation in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil that date back to the Late Triassic. At first the genus was named Hoplitosaurus, but this name had previously been assigned to a polacanthine ankylosaurian dinosaur in 1902, thirty-six years before it had been referred to the aetosaur. Thus Hoplitosuchus was constructed as a replacement name for Hoplitosaurus. Because the holotype specimen consists of unidentifiable osteoderms and any other material attributed to the genus may actually be considered a composite of rauisuchian and dinosaurian remains, Hoplitosuchus is now considered to be a nomen dubium. The saurischian dinosaur Teyuwasu was named in 1999 on the basis of material originally attributed to Hoplitosuchus.

Rauisuchus is a genus of extinct archosaurs which lived in what is now the Geopark of Paleorrota, Brazil, during the Late Triassic period. It contains one species, R. tiradentes.

Procerosuchus is an extinct genus of loricatan archosaur. Fossils have been collected from the Late Triassic Santa Maria Formation in Geopark of Paleorrota, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, which is Carnian in age. The genus was first described by the German paleontologist Friedrich von Huene in 1942.

Brasinorhynchus is an extinct genus of derived stenaulorhynchine known from the late Middle Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It contains a single species, Brasinorhynchus mariantensis.

<i>Rastodon</i> Extinct genus of dicynodonts

Rastodon is an extinct genus of dicynodont. Uniquely among dicynodonts, its tusks curve forward. The type and only species is R. procurvidens.

Gamatavus is a genus of silesaurid dinosauriform from the Middle Triassic Santa Maria Formation of Dilermando de Aguiar Municipality, Brazil. The genus contains a single species, G. antiquus, known from a partial ilium. Gamatavus represents the oldest silesaurid known from South America.

References

  1. Stahleckeria at Fossilworks.org
  2. Kammerer, Christian F.; Ordoñez, Maria de los Angeles (2021-06-01). "Dicynodonts (Therapsida: Anomodontia) of South America". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 108: 103171. Bibcode:2021JSAES.10803171K. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103171. ISSN   0895-9811. S2CID   233565963.
  3. Fernando Abdala; Claudia A. Marsicano; Roger M.H. Smith & Roger Swart (2013). "Strengthening Western Gondwanan correlations: a Brazilian dicynodont (Synapsida, Anomodontia) in the Middle Triassic of Namibia". Gondwana Research. 23 (3): 1151–1162. Bibcode:2013GondR..23.1151A. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2012.07.011. hdl: 11336/11481 .

Bibliography