Vladlenosaurus

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Vladlenosaurus
Temporal range: Early Triassic
Scientific classification
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Vladlenosaurus

Morkovin and Novikov, 2000
Species
  • V. alexeyeviMorkovin and Novikov, 2000 (type)

Vladlenosaurus is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyl from Russia. It lived during the late Vetlugian (Early Triassic). Based on the type of deposits it was found in, Vladlenosaurus probably inhabited lacustrine, or lake, habitats. The type species is V. alexeyevi, named in 2000.

Contents

Description

Unlike the flatter, more rounded snouts of other capitosaurs, Vladlenosaurus had a wedge-shaped snout. This characteristic is also seen in trematosaurians, although it was independently acquired in both cases as a result of convergent evolution. [1]

Classification

Vladlenosaurus is similar in appearance to the benthosuchids, a group of trematosauroid temnospondyls, but is more closely related to mastodonsauroids. Among capitosaurs, it shares many features with the basal form Wetlugasaurus , also from the Early Triassic of Russia. Vladlenosaurus alexeyevi was even considered to be a species of Wetlugasaurus in a 2006 study. [2] In a 2011 phylogenetic analysis, the first to incorporate Vladlenosaurus, the genus was found to be most closely related to Odenwaldia . [1] It and Odenwaldia formed a basal clade of capitosaurs more derived than Wetlugasaurus, the most basal capitosaur. Below is a modified cladogram from Fortuny et al (in press) showing the relationship of Vladlenosaurus to other stereospondyls: [1]

Stereospondyli  

Lydekkerina

Rhinesuchidae

  Capitosauria  

Wetlugasaurus

Odenwaldia

Vladlenosaurus

Edingerella

Watsonisuchus

Xenotosuchus

Cherninia

Paracyclotosaurus

Stenotosauridae

Heylerosauridae

Mastodonsauridae

Trematosauria

Related Research Articles

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<i>Wetlugasaurus</i> Extinct genus of temnospondyls

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<i>Eryosuchus</i> Extinct genus of temnospondyls

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydekkerinidae</span> Extinct family of temnospondyls

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capitosauria</span> Extinct clade of amphibians

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<i>Calmasuchus</i> Extinct genus of temnospondyls

Calmasuchus is a genus of capitosaurian temnospondyl which lived during the middle Triassic. Fossils of Calmasuchus have been recovered from the La Mora site of the Catalan basin in Barcelona of Spain. Identified from a partial skull roof and palate, skull fragments and complete hemi-mandible, it was named by Josep Fortuny, Àngel Galobart and Carles De Santisteban in 2011. The type species is Calmasuchus acri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stenotosauridae</span> Extinct family of temnospondyls

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heylerosauridae</span> Extinct family of temnospondyls

Heylerosauridae is a family of mastodonsauroid temnospondyls. It was first named in 1980 to include the genera Odenwaldia and Quasicyclotosaurus. In addition to these genera, the family now includes Eocyclotosaurus and Yuanansuchus. Recent phylogenetic analyses have not found a close relationship between Odenwaldia and other heylerosaurids and place it outside the family. Heylerosaurids are generally regarded as the sister taxon of the stenotosaurids.

<i>Edingerella</i> Extinct genus of temnospondyls

Edingerella is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Triassic of Madagascar. It is a basal capitosaur closely related to Watsonisuchus.

Tatrasuchus is an extinct genus of temnospondyl from the Middle Triassic of Poland. It is classified as a member of the family Cyclotosauridae or Mastodonsauridae. It is closely related to the genus Cyclotosaurus. The type species, Tatrasuchus kulczyckii, was named in 1996. Damiani (2001) considered genus Kupferzellia Schoch (1997) from Middle Triassic of Germany to be a junior synonym of Tatrasuchus, and recombined its type species, K. wildi as the second species of Tatrasuchus. This classification was followed by some authors, e.g. Fortuny et al. (2011); other authors, e.g. Schoch (2008), maintain Tatrasuchus and Kupferzellia as distinct genera.

Selenocara is an extinct genus of mastodonsauroid temnospondyl. The type species is Selenocara groenlandica, described by Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh in 1935 on the basis of skull bones from the Lower Triassic Wordie Creek Formation of Greenland. Säve-Söderbergh originally described it as a new species of Wetlugasaurus.

Boreopricea is an extinct genus of archosauromorph reptile from the Early Triassic of arctic Russia. It is known from a fairly complete skeleton discovered in a borehole on Kolguyev Island, though damage to the specimen and loss of certain bones has complicated study of the genus. Boreopricea shared many similarities with various other archosauromorphs, making its classification controversial. Various studies have considered it a close relative of Prolacerta, tanystropheids, both, or neither. Boreopricea is unique among early archosauromorphs due to possessing contact between the jugal and squamosal bones at the rear half of the skull.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Fortuny, Josep; Galobart, À; De Santisteban, C. (2011). "A new capitosaur from the Middle Triassic of Spain and the relationships within the Capitosauria" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (3): 553–566. doi: 10.4202/app.2010.0025 .
  2. Shishkin, M.A.; Sennikov, A.G; Novikov, I.V.; Ilyina, N.V. (2006). "Differentiation of tetrapod communities and some aspects of biotic events in the early triassic of Eastern Europe". Paleontological Journal. 40 (1): 1–10. doi:10.1134/S0031030106010011. S2CID   129895753.