A procolophonoid reptile with temporal fenestration from the Middle Triassic of Brazil

Abstract

The small tetrapod Candelaria barbouri, from the Middle Triassic of southern Brazil, is the first example of an owenettid procolophonoid outside Africa and Madagascar. Candelaria barbouri was originally described as a primitive procolophonid; however, a re-examination of the holotype, as well as new material, reveals that C. barbouri is in fact the youngest member of the Owenettidae, extending the chronological range of the group by more than 10 million years. The recognition of C. barbouri as an owenettid points to a broader diversity and distribution for owenettids than hitherto thought. In addition, C. barbouri is the first member of the Owenettidae to exhibit temporal fenestrae, a discovery that draws attention to the significance of this feature in 'anapsid' reptiles.

Commentary: A Reassessment of the Taxonomic Position of Mesosaurs, and a Surprising Phylogeny of Early Amniotes

“…Temporal fenestration is quite prevalent within Parareptilia, with lower temporal fenestrae now known in numerous taxa (Cisneros et al, 2004;Tsuji et al, 2010;MacDougall and Reisz, 2014). With Mesosaurus potentially showing the presence of a lower temporal fenestra (von Huene, 1941;Piñeiro et al, 2012;Laurin and Piñeiro, 2017), it could represent yet another parareptile with temporal fenestration.…”

Assembling the history of the Parareptilia: phylogeny, diversification, and a new definition of the clade

“…Carroll 1988;Modesto 1999Modesto , 2000, it is a term not favoured by current workers (Cisneros et al 2004;Tsuji 2006). Considering the current phylogeny, this nomen implies a morphology (lack of temporal fenestration) not possessed by a number of its membersincluding bolosaurids (Reisz et al 2007), some nycteroleterids (Tsuji 2006), millerettids (Gow 1972), some procolophonoids (Cisneros et al 2004), Acleistorhinus Daly, 1969 andthe lanthanosuchids (deBraga &Reisz 1996). Anapsida has also long been associated with the phylogenetic position of turtles, further complicating the meaning and definition of the term.…”

“…Since that time, new pareiasaurs have been named from Niger (Sidor et al 2003) and Morocco (Jalil & Janvier 2005), greatly increasing the knowledge about this highly recognizable but previously rather muddled clade. Procolophonoids have also been the subject of renewed studies and revision in recent years, with the naming of new taxa in addition to detailed redescriptions of others, along with the inclusion of many in phylogenetic analyses for the first time (Modesto et al 2001(Modesto et al , 2002(Modesto et al , 2003deBraga 2003;Cisneros 2008aCisneros , 2008bCisneros et al 2004;Såilå in press;Reisz & Scott 2002, among others). In addition, a recent reexamination of the taxon Sclerosaurus, considered by Lee (1995Lee ( , 1997a to be a basal member of the 'Pareiasauroidea', placed the taxon well within the Procolophonidae (Sues & Reisz in press), confirming the suspicions of other researchers (deBraga 2003; Cisneros et al 2005).…”

Owenettids and procolophonids from the lower Keuper shed new light on the diversity of parareptiles in the German Middle Triassic

“…They also add support to the survival and diversification of this family of procolophonians during the Triassic, as stated by other authors (Modesto et al, 2001Reisz and Scott, 2002;Cisneros et al, 2004), since the oldest representatives are known from the late Permian.…”