Captorhinid reptiles from the lower Permian Pedra de Fogo Formation, Piauí, Brazil: the earliest herbivorous tetrapods in Gondwana

The Pedra de Fogo Formation in the Parnaíba Basin of northeastern Brazil hosts a recently discovered lacustrine fauna and provides the only known record of the Captorhinidae in South America. Here, new captorhinid remains from this unit are described. Two partial mandibles, including one formerly as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PeerJ (San Francisco, CA) CA), 2020-03, Vol.8, p.e8719, Article e8719
Main Authors: Cisneros, Juan C, Angielczyk, Kenneth, Kammerer, Christian F, Smith, Roger M H, Fröbisch, Jörg, Marsicano, Claudia A, Richter, Martha
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biogeography
Captorhinidae
Cisuralian
Evolutionary Studies
Floods
Gondwana
Herbivores
Mandible
Paleontology
Parnaíba basin
Quarries
Reptiles & amphibians
Reptilia
South America
Vertebrates
Zoology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Pedra de Fogo Formation in the Parnaíba Basin of northeastern Brazil hosts a recently discovered lacustrine fauna and provides the only known record of the Captorhinidae in South America. Here, new captorhinid remains from this unit are described. Two partial mandibles, including one formerly ascribed to the genus , are here referred to sp. a genus previously described from North America. The natural mould of a large mandible probably represents a new taxon within the captorhinid subclade Moradisaurinae, and a small skull roof is regarded as Captorhinidae indet. Captorhinids are generally considered to have been herbivores or omnivores. The Pedra de Fogo captorhinids likely played an important ecological role as primary consumers in the palaeoenvironment of this geological unit, which is also known for its extensive record of petrified forests. The new finds reinforce the close relationships between the continental faunas of palaeotropical western Gondwana and palaeoequatorial North America during the Cisuralian.
ISSN:2167-8359
2167-8359
DOI:10.7717/peerj.8719