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Re: Cranial osteology of Arctognathus, gorgonopsian from Permian of South Africa.



Ben Creisler
bcreisler@gmail.com


Note that this paper is now in open access:


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1002/pdf


On Thu, Oct 9, 2014 at 2:04 PM, Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
> Ben Creisler
> bcreisler@gmail.com
>
> A new online paper:
>
> Christian F. Kammerer (2014)
> Cranial osteology of Arctognathus curvimola, a short-snouted
> gorgonopsian from the Late Permian of South Africa.
> Papers in Palaeontology (advance online publication)
> DOI: 10.1002/spp2.1002
> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1002/abstract
>
>
>
> Gorgonopsia is one of the major clades of nonmammalian therapsids and
> includes the dominant vertebrate predators of the Late Permian.
> Unfortunately, gorgonopsian taxonomy is extremely problematic, due in
> large part to the lack of thorough descriptions and clear differential
> diagnoses for most nominal species. Here, the South African
> gorgonopsian species Arctognathus curvimola is redescribed based on a
> well-preserved skull. Autapomorphies identified for A. curvimola
> include a characteristic curvature to the alveolar margin of the
> snout, extremely reduced lacrimal, lengthy upper postcanine tooth row
> and a unique vomerine morphology. The nominal gorgonopsian species
> Arctognathoides breviceps and Lycaenodontoides bathyrhinus are
> considered junior synonyms of A. curvimola. Other referred species of
> Arctognathus (A. whaitsi, A.? cookei and A.? nasuta) share no unique
> characters with A. curvimola and are removed from the genus; their
> generic placement is uncertain at present. Previous reports of
> Arctognathus from Tanzania and the Middle Permian of South Africa are
> not referable to this taxon. At present, definitive specimens of A.
> curvimola are restricted to the Upper Permian Cistecephalus and
> Dicynodon assemblage zones of South Africa.