Ben Creisler
Two new papers in open access:
Nochnitsa geminidens gen. et sp. nov.Â
Christian F. Kammererâ & Vladimir Masyutin (2018)
Gorgonopsian therapsids (Nochnitsa gen. nov. and Viatkogorgon) from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia.Â
PeerJ 6:e4954
The early evolution of gorgonopsians is poorly understood. New material from the Kotelnich locality in Russia expands our knowledge of middle/earliest late Permian gorgonopsians from Laurasia. Two gorgonopsian taxa are recognized from Kotelnich: Viatkogorgon ivakhnenkoi Tatarinov, 1999 and Nochnitsa geminidens gen. et sp. nov. Nochnitsa can be distinguished from all known gorgonopsians by its unique upper postcanine tooth row, composed of pairs of teeth (a small anterior and larger posterior) separated by diastemata. Both Viatkogorgon and Nochnitsa are relatively small gorgonopsians, comparable in size to the South African middle Permian taxon Eriphostoma. Inclusion of Viatkogorgon and Nochnitsa in a phylogenetic analysis of gorgonopsians recovers them in basal positions, with Nochnitsa representing the earliest-diverging gorgonopsian genus. All other sampled gorgonopsians fall into two major subclades: one made up entirely of Russian taxa (Inostrancevia, Pravoslavlevia, Sauroctonus, and Suchogorgon) and the other containing only African gorgonopsians. The high degree of endemism indicated in this analysis for gorgonopsians is remarkable, especially given the extensive intercontinental dispersal inferred for coeval therapsid groups.
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Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.Â
Christian F. Kammererâ & Vladimir Masyutin (2018)
A new therocephalian (Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.) from the Permian Kotelnich locality, Kirov Region, Russia.Â
PeerJ 6:e4933
A new therocephalian taxon (Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.) is described based on a nearly complete skull and partial postcranium from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia. Gorynychus displays an unusual mixture of primitive (âpristerosaurianâ) and derived (eutherocephalian) characters. Primitive features of Gorynychus include extensive dentition on the palatal boss and transverse process of the pterygoid, paired vomers, and a prominent dentary angle; derived features include the absence of the postfrontal. Gorynychus can be distinguished from all other therocephalians by its autapomorphic dental morphology, with roughly denticulated incisors and postcanines. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gorynychus as a non-lycosuchid, non-scylacosaurid therocephalian situated as sister-taxon to Eutherocephalia. The identification of Gorynychus as the largest predator from Kotelnich indicates that therocephalians acted as apex predators in middleâlate Permian transition ecosystems in Russia, corroborating a pattern observed in South African faunas. However, other aspects of the Kotelnich fauna, and Permian Russian tetrapod faunas in general, differ markedly from those of South Africa and suggest that Karoo faunas are not necessarily representative of global patterns.