Raibliania

Raibliania
Temporal range: Late Triassic,
Carnian
Photograph of the holotype (top) and line drawing (bottom)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Archosauromorpha
Family: Tanystropheidae
Genus: Raibliania
Dalla Vecchia, 2020
Type species
Raibliania calligarisi
Dalla Vecchia, 2020

Raibliania is an extinct genus of tanystropheid archosauromorph discovered in the Calcare del Predil Formation in Italy.[1] It lived during the Carnian stage of the Late Triassic and it was related to Tanystropheus. Raibliania is distinct from Tanystropheus due to some distinct features of the cervical vertebrae and teeth.[1] The type species is Raibliania calligarisi, named in 2020. The holotype (MFSN 27532) consists of a partial post-cranial skeleton, with the known elements including vertebrae (sacral, cervical and dorsal; sans caudal), a single tooth, several ribs, gastralia and parts of the pelvis (ilium and pubis).

In their 2024 description of Dinocephalosaurus material, Spiekman et al. suggested that the Raibliania fossil material may actually be referrable to Tanystropheus, due to notable similarities between skeletons of the two taxa. The results of their phylogenetic analysis, which included both Raibliania and Tanystropheus spp., are shown in the cladogram below:[2]

Archosauromorpha

Jesairosaurus

Protorosaurus

Prolacerta

Crocopoda

Dinocephalosauridae

Fuyuansaurus

Tanystropheidae

Macrocnemus bassanii

Macrocnemus fuyuanensis

Macrocnemus obristi

Elessaurus

Sclerostropheus

Langobardisaurus

AMNH FARB 7206 (an unnamed Tanytrachelos-like tanystropheid from New Jersey)

Tanytrachelos

Gracilicollum

Tanystropheus hydroides

GMPKU P 1527 (T. cf. hydroides)

Tanystropheus longobardicus

Raibliania

  1. ^ a b Fabio Marco Dalla Vecchia (2020). "Raibliania calligarisi gen. n., sp. n., a new tanystropheid (Diapsida, Tanystropheidae) from the Upper Triassic (Carnian) of northeastern Italy". Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia e Stratigrafia. 126 (1): 197–222. doi:10.13130/2039-4942/13041.
  2. ^ Spiekman, Stephan N. F.; Wang, Wei; Zhao, Lijun; Rieppel, Olivier; Fraser, Nicholas C.; Li, Chun (2024-02-23). "Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, 2003: a remarkable marine archosauromorph from the Middle Triassic of southwestern China". Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: 1–33. doi:10.1017/S175569102400001X. ISSN 1755-6910.