Marco Romano, Paolo Citton, Simone Maganuco, Eva Sacchi Martina, Caratelli Ausonio & Ronchi Umberto Nicosia (2018)
New basal synapsid discovery at the Permian outcrop of Torre del Porticciolo (Alghero, Italy).
Geological Journal (advance online publication)
The Torre del Porticciolo fossil locality is notable for producing the first osteological material of a basal (i.e., nonâmammalian) synapsid in Italy, the giant herbivore Alierasaurus ronchii, which although known from fragmentary remains, likely represents the largest known late early to early middle Permian synapsid (6â7 m total length). Recently, a new productive site was discovered about 100 m from the Alierasaurus type locality, but roughly at the same stratigraphic level. The fragmentary nature of most of the recovered bones prompted a taphonomical analysis in order to define the type of find, the kind of burial, and the mode of preservation. The vertebrate remains allowed us to infer a complex taphonomical process involving a multiphase entombment. The recovered bones were subjected to both reâexhumation and reworking. The last short and violent transportation phase before final entombment occurred as a highâenergy flow, probably caused by a river flood that carried sediment and bones together to be emplaced in a semiâperennial pond in a crevasse splay deposit. Preliminary analysis of recovered material indicates the presence of a large carnivorous basal synapsid referable to the family Sphenacodontidae. This discovery represents the first carnivorous nonâtherapsid synapsid from the Permian of Italy and one of only very few known from Europe.
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