New Archosauriform Remains from the Lower Keuper of Germany

Schoch, R. R. New archosauriform remains from the German Lower Keuper.: Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 260:87-100. DOI: 10.1127/0077-7749/2011/0133

Abstract - Isolated bones of archosauriforms form regular finds in deposits of the Lower Keuper (Erfurt Formation: upper Middle Triassic) of southwestern Germany. In addition to the fairly well known 3-5 m long rauisuchian Batrachotomus kupferzellensis and the very fragmentary Zanclodon laevis, remains of further, 1-2 m long archosauriforms have been identified. Although the number of taxa represented by this incomplete material is unknown, the distinctness of these finds from Batrachotomus and Zanclodon is indicated by the following features: (1) a "rauisuchian" type maxilla with well-developed interdental plates, which forms a long suture with a posterodorsal process of the premaxilla, (2) relatively long cervical and anterior dorsal vertebrae, (3) a gracile humerus with a narrow proximal head and a weak deltopectoral crest, (4) a slender and markedly curved tibia, and (5) tear-drop shaped, keeled armour plates. These findings highlight the diversity of large predators in Middle Triassic land vertebrate faunas of Central Europe.

Induan Dinosauromorphs?

A very cryptic news report and a somewhat clearer blog entry are announcing the discovery of presumably dinosauromorph fossils from the earliest Triassic (Induan) of Germany. Not too many details are given in the reports, but the fossils consist of bone fragments found in a quarry near Bernburg. Although the Early Triassic fauna is characterized mainly by temnospondyl amphibians and therapsids, crocodile-line archosaurs are present (Proterosuchus), but rare (Lucas, 1998). If these fossils are indeed referable to dinosauromorphs it would push the earliest appearance of bird-line archosaurs back from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the Early Triassic. This is not a completely unexpected, yet still surprising, find that will fill in some ghost lineages.

REFERENCE

Lucas, S. G. 1998. Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology. Palaeogeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 143: 347-384.