Pamelaria

Pamelaria
Temporal range: Middle Triassic, 247–242 Ma
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Life restoration of Pamelaria dolichotrachela
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Clade: †Allokotosauria
Family: †Azendohsauridae
Genus: †Pamelaria
Sen, 2003
Type species
†Pamelaria dolichotrachela
Sen, 2003[1]

Pamelaria is an extinct genus of allokotosaurian[2] archosauromorph reptile known from a single species, Pamelaria dolichotrachela, from the Middle Triassic of India.[1] Pamelaria has sprawling legs, a long neck, and a pointed skull with nostrils positioned at the very tip of the snout. Among early archosauromorphs, Pamelaria is most similar to Prolacerta from the Early Triassic of South Africa and Antarctica. Both have been placed in the family Prolacertidae. Pamelaria, Prolacerta, and various other Permo-Triassic reptiles such as Protorosaurus and Tanystropheus have often been placed in a group of archosauromorphs called Protorosauria (alternatively called Prolacertiformes), which was regarded as one of the most basal group of archosauromorphs. However, more recent phylogenetic analyses indicate that Pamelaria and Prolacerta are more closely related to Archosauriformes than are Protorosaurus, Tanystropheus, and other protorosaurs, making Protorosauria a polyphyletic grouping.[3]

A 2015 analysis by Nesbitt et al. found that Pamelaria was the basalmost member of a newly formulated archosauromorph group also containing the Trilophosauridae and the newly redescribed genus Azendohsaurus, which had previously been mistaken for a sauropodomorph dinosaur. This new group was called the Allokotosauria.[2] Later studies generally agreed with Nesbitt et al.'s findings,[4] but some additionally postulated that Pamelaria was more closely related to Azendohsaurus than to trilophosaurids.[5][6]

  1. ^ a b Sen, K. (2003). "Pamelaria dolichotrachela, a new prolacertid reptile from the Middle Triassic of India". Journal of Asian Earth Sciences. 21 (6): 663–681. Bibcode:2003JAESc..21..663S. doi:10.1016/S1367-9120(02)00110-4.
  2. ^ a b Nesbitt, Sterling J.; Flynn, John J.; Pritchard, Adam C.; Parrish, J. Michael; Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa; Wyss, André R. (2015-12-07). "Postcranial Osteology of Azendohsaurus madagaskarensis (?Middle to Upper Triassic, Isalo Group, Madagascar) and its Systematic Position Among Stem Archosaur Reptiles" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 398: 1–126. doi:10.5531/sd.sp.15. hdl:2246/6624. ISSN 0003-0090.
  3. ^ Gottmann-Quesada, A.; Sander, P.M. (2009). "A redescription of the early archosauromorph Protorosaurus speneri Meyer, 1832, and its phylogenetic relationships". Palaeontographica Abteilung A. 287 (4–6): 123–200. doi:10.1127/pala/287/2009/123.
  4. ^ Ezcurra, Martín D. (2016-04-28). "The phylogenetic relationships of basal archosauromorphs, with an emphasis on the systematics of proterosuchian archosauriforms". PeerJ. 4: e1778. doi:10.7717/peerj.1778. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC 4860341. PMID 27162705.
  5. ^ Sengupta, S.; Ezcurra, M.D.; Bandyopadhyay, S. (2017-08-21). "A new horned and long-necked herbivorous stem-archosaur from the Middle Triassic of India". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 8366. Bibcode:2017NatSR...7.8366S. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-08658-8. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5567049. PMID 28827583.
  6. ^ Pritchard, Adam C.; Nesbitt, Sterling J. (2017-10-01). "A bird-like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida". Royal Society Open Science. 4 (10): 170499. Bibcode:2017RSOS....470499P. doi:10.1098/rsos.170499. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC 5666248. PMID 29134065.