A new genus and species of sauropterygian reptile that lived during the Triassic period, about 245 million years ago, has been identified from a nearly complete skeleton discovered in China.
holotype of Spatulidentatus breviceps. Image credit: Jan others., doi: 10.16509/j.georeview.2025.11.052.
sauroptera They were a highly successful lineage of paddling marine reptiles that developed from terrestrial ancestors shortly after the end-Permian extinction.
These organisms dominated shallow coastal waters during the Triassic period and were spread along the margins of the ancient Tethyan Sea.
“Sauroptera (Sauroptera) are a group of diapsid marine reptiles that were widely distributed in the Mesozoic oceans.” mayanPhD students and their colleagues at Hefei University of Technology.
“Sauropterygians flourished most during the Triassic period, inhabiting shallow water environments primarily along the east and west coasts of Tethys.”
“Traditionally, sauroptera consisted of four major groups: placodonts, pterosaurs, pistosaurs, and plesiosaurs.”
“In recent years, new fossil materials have been continuously discovered in southwestern China. AtopodentatusThe different genera of sauropterygians, with their hammer-shaped jaws and varying types of dorsal armor, have challenged traditional views about the origin, migration, and evolution of sauropterygians. ”
The newly described sauropterygian species lived about 245 million years ago during the Anisian period of the Triassic period, when marine ecosystems were still recovering from the devastating mass extinction at the end of the Permian period.
named Spaturidentatus brevicepsthis marine reptile had a total length of about 2.7 meters (9 feet).
Its jaws were lined with small spoon-shaped teeth, but its skull was unusually compact, occupying only about 5% of its body length.
The animal’s almost complete, articulated skeleton was recovered from the upper part of the museum. Kanrei layera rock formation that straddles the border between China’s Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.
This fossil is cataloged as GMG10 and is housed in the Guizhou Geological Museum.
“The specimen is preserved in lateral view, with the torso exposed on the ventral surface,” the paleontologists said.
“The forelimbs and hindlimbs are well preserved except for the distal parts.”
“The rostrum is short, the atlas is not discernible, and at least 12 cervical vertebrae are preserved with well-developed cervical ribs.”
Based on preliminary comparisons, the researchers suggest that: Spatulidentatus breviceps It may be closely related to some of the most primitive members of the sauropterygian family, the shell-crushing placodonts and the taxonomically uncertain hammer jaws. Atopodentatus.
“Anisian Spatulidentatus breviceps “This species, from the Yunnan-Guizhou border region of southwestern China, provides new material for phylogenetic studies on the basic evolution of sauropterygians,” the researchers concluded.
team’s paper Published in a magazine geological review.
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mayan others. 2026. New sauroptera (reptiles: sauropterosaurs) Spaturidentatus breviceps generation. etc. From the border area of Yunnan and Guizhou in the Middle Triassic in November. geological review 72 (4): 1280-1285;doi: 10.16509/j.georeview.2025.11.052
Source: www.sci.news
