A new small baurioid therocephalian from the Lower Triassic Jiucaiyuan Formation, Xinjiang, China
Received date: 2024-04-04
Online published: 2024-07-26
Several therocephalian species, mainly represented by cranial material from the late Permian, have been reported from China in recent years. Here we describe a tiny new baurioid therocephalian, Jiucaiyuangnathus confusus gen. et sp. nov., from the Jiucaiyuan Formation, Xinjiang, China. The new taxon is represented by a partial snout with occluded partial lower jaw and two postcranial skeletons. Although juvenile in stage, the new species is diagnosed by the following features: round pit in middle of lateral surface of maxilla; lacrimal contact nasal; fossa for dentary tooth on the posterior end of the premaxilla, lateral to the anterior choana; two small vertical triangular ridges extending dorsally and ventrally on the vomerine anterior portion, and bordering a thin vomerine foramen laterally; anterior projection of the lateral part of the frontal on the nasal; symphyseal region of the dentary projected anteriorly; 5 upper premaxillary teeth, upper and lower canines absent, diastema between the last premaxillary upper incisor and first maxillary tooth present, no diastema separating anterior from posterior dentition in the mandible, 10 maxillary teeth and 12 dentary teeth, posterior postcanine expands mesiodistally, having a main large cusps and tiny anterior and posterior accessory cusps in line; neural arches of the atlas fused by the neural spine, neural spine of the axis projected posteriorly, procoracoid foramen lies between procoracoid and scapula. Features of the dentition resembles those of the small baurioid Ericiolacerta parva from South Africa and Silphedosuchus orenburgensis from Russia. The specimens provide the rare opportunity to know in detail the postcranial skeleton of baurioids.
LIU Jun , Fernando ABDALA . A new small baurioid therocephalian from the Lower Triassic Jiucaiyuan Formation, Xinjiang, China[J]. Vertebrata Palasiatica, 2024 , 62(3) : 201 -224 . DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.240726
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