Kudnu
Extinct genus of reptiles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kudnu is an extinct genus of neodiapsid reptile from the Early Triassic Arcadia Formation of Australia.[1] The type species is K. mackinlayi.[2]
| Kudnu Temporal range: Early Triassic, ~ | |
|---|---|
| |
| Holotype skull QM F9181 (top) and referred skull QM F9182 (bottom) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Neodiapsida |
| Genus: | †Kudnu Bartholomai, 1979 |
| Species: | †K. mackinlayi |
| Binomial name | |
| †Kudnu mackinlayi Bartholomai, 1979 | |
Discovery and naming
The holotype is QM F9181, an anterior section of a cranium with articulated dentary rami, and it was discovered in the Crater, southwest of Rolleston, Queensland.[3] The referred skull QM F9182 is also known.[4]
Kudnu mackinlayi was named and described by Alan Bartholomai in 1979.[2]
Classification
Kudnu was initially classified within Paliguanidae by Bartholomai (1979). Benton (1985) classified Kudnu within Lepidosauromorpha,[5] while Evans (2003) classified Kudnu within Prolacertiformes,[6] and Evans & Jones (2010) later assigned Kudnu to the Procolophonidae.[7] More recent authors, such as Poropat et al. (2023), consider Kudnu to be a basal member of Neodiapsida.[4]
Paleoecology
The world Kudnu inhabited was still recovering from the recent Permian–Triassic extinction event, and as a result global biodiversity had remained low throughout much of the Early Triassic.[8] The world at this time was generally a hot and arid environment, reaching a temperature of 50 °C or even 60 °C at times.[9]
Currently a high diversity of fauna has so far been recorded from the Arcadia Formation that lived alongside Kudnu. This includes a high diversity of amphibians including 14 genera,[10] the archosauriform Kalisuchus rewanensis,[11] the archosauromorph Kadimakara australiensis,[1] the procolophonid Eomurruna yurrgensis[12] as well as an indeterminate dicynodont.[13]
There is also evidence of a diversity of different ichnotaxa based on coprolites.[14]