Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

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

2020; PeerJ, Inc.; Volume: 8; Linguagem: Inglês

10.7717/peerj.8719

ISSN

2167-8359

Autores

Juan Carlos Cisneros, Kenneth D. Angielczyk, Christian F. Kammerer, Roger M. H. Smith, Jörg Fröbisch, Claudia A. Marsicano, Martha Richter,

Tópico(s)

Amphibian and Reptile Biology

Resumo

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 Captorhinus , are here referred to Captorhinikos 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.

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