Deltasaurus pustulatus
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| Deltasaurus pustulatus Temporal range: Triassic | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Tetrapoda |
| Order: | †Temnospondyli |
| Suborder: | †Stereospondyli |
| Family: | †Rhytidosteidae |
| Genus: | †Deltasaurus |
| Species: | †D. pustulatus |
| Binomial name | |
| †Deltasaurus pustulatus | |
Deltasaurus pustulatus is an amphibian fossil species of the family Rhytidosteidae. The temnospondyl hunted invertebrates and fish during the late stage Triassic epoch, and somewhat resembles the only other species of the eastern Gondwanan genus Deltasaurus. The only known evidence of the species was discovered in a drill core in Southwest Australia, near Geraldton, a seemingly improbable event that produced the only known example of Triassic vertebrate fauna in the ecologically exceptional region's Kockatea Formation.
The description of Deltasaurus pustulatus was published in 1965 by John W. Cosgriff, recognised as a second species of a new genus.[2] The type species, described in the same study, was found at Blina Shale in the northwest of Australia, whereas this species described fossil material obtained from the Kockatea Formation in the southwest of the continent, near Geraldton, Western Australia.[1][3] The type locality of D. pustulatus is named Beagle Ridge Bore, where the partial remains of a skull with its impression were extracted in a 86 mm core sample of grey-green shale.[1]