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A relict trematosauroid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin (NW China)

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Abstract

A temnospondyl ilium from the uppermost Toutunhe Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of the southern Junggar Basin is described. Among the known temnospondyls it is very unusual in morphology because of its very long and slender shaft. It compares closely only to the ilium of one of the latest known trematosaurids from the Ladinian of southern Germany. The Toutunhe Formation has also yielded vertebrae and skull fragments of temnospondyls which belong to the brachyopid Gobiops from the Upper Jurassic of Mongolia. Brachyopoid ilia do not, however, display a morphology similar to that of the new specimen. It is therefore concluded that this specimen represents a second taxon of temnospondyl from the Toutunhe Formation, which probably represents the latest surviving trematosauroid. The Trematosauroidea, which was hitherto exclusively known from the Lower to early Upper Triassic, therefore joins the Brachyopoidea – and possibly the Capitosauroidea – as another group of temnospondyls which survived the end-Triassic mass extinction.

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Acknowledgements

Our sincere thanks go to the team of the Geological Survey No. 1 and our Chinese co-workers from the Nanjing Institute and Jilin University, for their hospitality, friendship and logistic help. H. Stöhr (Tübingen, who also skilfully prepared the fossil), F. Lörcher (Dotternhausen) and F. Grossmann (Tübingen) assisted in the excavations. Dr. R.R. Schoch (Stuttgart) is particularly thanked for interesting discussions and suggestions and for providing unpublished data on the Lettenkeuper trematosaurid. This project was financed by the DFG, Max Planck Society and NSFC, whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged. W. Gerber (Tübingen) took the photographs, which are of his usual high quality.

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Correspondence to Michael W. Maisch.

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Maisch, M.W., Matzke, A.T. & Sun, G. A relict trematosauroid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin (NW China). Naturwissenschaften 91, 589–593 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0569-x

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