A New Lizard (Lepidosauria: Squamata) from the Upper Cretaceous of Henan, China

Abstract

AbstractFuniusaurus luanchuanensis gen. et sp. nov. was described on the basis of an incomplete skull from the Upper Cretaceous Qiupa Formation of the Tantou Basin in Luanchuan County, Henan Province. It is the second representative of lizards known from Luanchuan and adds a new member to the Luanchuan Fauna. F. luanchuanensis is a small‐sized lizard and systematically assigned to the Polyglyphanodontidae of the Teiioidea because of the presence of a caniniform tooth and an elongate posterior process of the postorbital. It is distinctive in that the heterodont dentition bears 19 teeth in both the upper and lower jaws, the 3rd maxillary tooth is large and caniniform, the post‐caniniform teeth in maxilla and those posterior to the 3rd dentary tooth are chisel‐like in lateral view, the prefrontal possesses a fossa on its lateral surface, the postorbital with an extremely elongate posterior process and the well‐developed retroarticular process has a deep fossa on its dorsal surface. In phylogeny, our analysis suggests a close relationship of Funiusaurus to the large‐sized Tianyusaurus from the same basin within the Tuberocephalosaurinae. The discovery of Funiusaurus is significant in confirming the status of the Tuberocephalosaurinae, which includes a group of the Asian members of the Polyglyphanodontidae only.