Callistomordax
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Callistomordax Temporal range: Middle Triassic, | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Fossil | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Superfamily: | †Metoposauroidea |
| Genus: | †Callistomordax Schoch, 2008 |
| Type species | |
| †Callistomordax kugleri Schoch, 2008 | |
Callistomordax is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Middle Triassic of Germany. The type and only species, Callistomordax kugleri, was named in 2008. It is known from several well-preserved skeletons found in the Erfurt Formation, part of the Lower Keuper, which dates back to the late Ladinian stage.[1]
The first specimen of Callistomordax kugleri, which is currently reposited at the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde (SMNS) in Stuttgart, Germany, was collected from the Middle Triassic (Upper Ladinian-aged) Erfurt Formation of Baden-Württemberg by Werner Kugler, for whom the species is named. Various authors speculated on the taxonomic affinities of the specimen, but it was not formally resolved until 2008.[1] The specimen was subsequently donated to the SMNS and additional excavation at the original locality in 2000 led to the discovery of two nearly complete skeletons by private collectors Hans Michael Salomon and Traugott Haubold.
Anatomy
Callistomordax was distinguished from other temnospondyls by characters such as a single co-ossified frontal (normally paired in tetrapods), a pterygoid with both a broad and flat quadrate ramus and a slender and narrow palatine ramus, and lateral compression of the palatal and symphyseal fangs.[1] It shares a number of metoposaurid synapomorphies such as deeply sloping postparietals and tabulars but also retains more primitive features found in earlier diverging temnospondyls and a number of probable homoplasies.
