A very cryptic news report and a somewhat clearer blog entry are announcing the discovery of presumably dinosauromorph fossils from the earliest Triassic (Induan) of Germany. Not too many details are given in the reports, but the fossils consist of bone fragments found in a quarry near Bernburg. Although the Early Triassic fauna is characterized mainly by temnospondyl amphibians and therapsids, crocodile-line archosaurs are present (Proterosuchus), but rare (Lucas, 1998). If these fossils are indeed referable to dinosauromorphs it would push the earliest appearance of bird-line archosaurs back from the Middle Triassic (Anisian) to the Early Triassic. This is not a completely unexpected, yet still surprising, find that will fill in some ghost lineages.
REFERENCE
Lucas, S. G. 1998. Global Triassic tetrapod biostratigraphy and biochronology. Palaeogeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 143: 347-384.
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Congratulations on the blog! Proterosuchus is outside the archosaur crown though, right? Not part of Crurotarsi/Crocodylotarsi.
ReplyDeleteOf course. Lapsus calami. Thanks for catching that.
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