Rainer Schoch੠Rainer Schoch. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Citation:
Schoch R (2021) Osteology of the Permian temnospondyl amphibian Glanochthon lellbachae and its relationships. Fossil Record 24(1): 49-64. https://doi.org/10.5194/fr-24-49-2021 |  |
The early Permian Meisenheim Formation of the Saar–Nahe Basin(Germany) is famous for its richness in vertebrate fossils, among which thetemnospondyls were present with microvores and fish-eating apex predators.The latter trophic guild was occupied exclusively by the genusSclerocephalus in that basin within a long time interval up to M8, whereas in M9, a newtaxon, Glanochthon lellbachae, appeared. This taxon is defined by (1) a preorbital region 1.8–2.0 times as long as the postorbital skull table, (2) dermal ornament with tallradial ridges, (3) a prefrontal anteriorly wider with straight lateral margin,(4) a squamosal posteriorly only half as wide as the quadratojugal, (5) phalangesof manus and pes long and gracile, (6) carpals unossified in adults, and (7) tail substantially longer than skull and trunk combined. Phylogeneticanalysis finds that G. lellbachae forms the basal sister taxon of the stratigraphicallyyounger G. angusta and G. latirostre and that this clade nests within the paraphyletic taxonSclerocephalus, with S. nobilis forming the sister taxon of the genus Glanochthon (urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:3038F794-17B9-4FCA-B241-CCC3F4423651; registration date: 15 March 2021).