Early archosauromorph remains from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of north-eastern Uruguay

Martín D. Ezcurra, Pablo Velozo, Melitta Meneghel, Graciela Piñeiro

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13 Citations (Scopus)
391 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is crucial to understand the impact of the Permo-Triassic mass extinction on the early evolution of the group and its subsequent dominance in Mesozoic terrestrial ecosystems. However, the Permo-Triassic archosauromorph record is still very poor in most continents and hampers the identification of global macroevolutionary patterns. Here we describe cranial and postcranial bones from the Permo-Triassic Buena Vista Formation of northeastern Uruguay that contribute to increase the meagre early archosauromorph record from South America. A basioccipital fused to both partial exoccipitals and three cervical vertebrae are assigned to Archosauromorpha based on apomorphies or a unique combination of characters. The archosauromorph remains of the Buena Vista Formation probably represent a multi-taxonomic assemblage composed of non-archosauriform archosauromorphs and a ‘proterosuchid-grade’ animal. This assemblage does not contribute in the discussion of a Late Permian or Early Triassic age for the Buena Vista Formation, but reinforces the broad palaeobiogeographic distribution of ‘proterosuchid grade’ diapsids in Permo-Triassic beds worldwide.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere776
JournalPeerJ
Volume3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Feb 2015

Keywords

  • Diapsida
  • Archosauromorpha
  • Permian
  • Proterosuchidae
  • Extinction
  • South America
  • Palaeobiogeography

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