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Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida pp 69–86Cite as

First European Record of a Varanodontine (Synapsida: Varanopidae): Member of a Unique Early Permian Upland Paleoecosystem, Tambach Basin, Central Germany

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Abstract

A new genus and species of varanodontine varanopid, Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus, is described on the basis of the greater portion of the postcranium and a closely associated partial left dentary from the Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) Tambach Formation, the lowermost unit of the Upper Rotliegend, of the Bromacker locality in the midregion of the Thuringian Forest near Gotha, central Germany. Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus can be distinguished from all other varanopids on the basis of unique features of its vertebrae and unguals. A cladistic analysis of Varanopidae resolves T. unguifalcatus as nested within the varanodontines as the sister taxon of Varanops in a terminal dichotomy, which in turn forms the sister clade of the terminal dichotomy Varanodon+Watongia. The position of Aerosaurus is unaltered from previous analyses as the basal taxon of Varanodontinae. Elliotsmithia, which has been assigned alternately to both the varanodontines and the mycterosaurines, is resolved as a member of the latter. Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus is, therefore, the only varanodontine known from outside of North America. Within the Mycterosaurinae clade Mycterosaurus and Mesenosaurus resolve as a terminal dichotomy with Elliotsmithia and Heleosaurus related as successive sister taxa. As in previous analyses, Archaeovenator retains its position as the basal taxon of Varanopidae. Tambacarnifex unguifalcatus was an apex predator in a unique, heretofore undocumented Early Permian paleoecosystem in which the vertebrates were highly terrestrial inhabitants of an upland terrestrial setting, and constituted an early stage in the evolution of the modern terrestrial vertebrate trophic system, with herbivores greatly outnumbering apex predators in diversity, abundance, and biomass.

This chapter includes one or more new nomenclatural-taxonomic actions, registered in Zoobank, and for such purposes the official publication date is Sep 2013.

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Acknowledgments

Research for this project was supported in part by a grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (to TM), and the National Geographic Society (to DSB, ACH, & SSS). Sincere thanks are also due the Rotary Club of Gotha, Germany, for continued financial support for the Bromacker project. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Mark Klinger of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History for his expertise in producing the figures. We acknowledge the invaluable contributions of the numerous, dedicated volunteer field assistants, whose tedious backbreaking labors since 1993 have been responsible for the discovery and recovery of many of the specimens from the Bromacker quarry. Special thanks are extended to the reviewers S. P. Modesto and R. A. Kissel, whose constructive comments and criticisms had considerable impact on the improvement of this paper. Finally, we are especially grateful to David A. Eberth, who initially brought our attention the uniqueness of the Bromacker locality paleoecosystem, which was first described in his seminal publication Eberth et al. (2000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA

    David S Berman & Amy C. Henrici

  2. Department of Biology, California State University San Bernardino, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA, 92407, USA

    Stuart S. Sumida & Valerie Pelletier

  3. Abteilung Paleontology, Museum der Natur, PSF 217, 99853, Gotha, Germany

    Thomas Martens

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  1. David S Berman
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Correspondence to David S Berman .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Paleontology and Richard Gilder, Graduate School American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA

    Christian F. Kammerer

  2. Department of Geology, Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, USA

    Kenneth D. Angielczyk

  3. Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Jörg Fröbisch

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Berman, D.S., Henrici, A.C., Sumida, S.S., Martens, T., Pelletier, V. (2014). First European Record of a Varanodontine (Synapsida: Varanopidae): Member of a Unique Early Permian Upland Paleoecosystem, Tambach Basin, Central Germany . In: Kammerer, C., Angielczyk, K., Fröbisch, J. (eds) Early Evolutionary History of the Synapsida. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6841-3_5

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