The osteology and affinities of Anomoiodon liliensterni, a procolophonid reptile from the Lower Triassic Bundsandstein of Germany

Abstract

The procolophonid reptile Anomoiodon liliensterni was found in the Triassic Bundsandstein of Thuringia, Germany, from the lower layers of the Chirotherium sandstone horizon in the sum mer of 1937 by a local bricklayer (Huene, 1939). Anomoiodon is represented by a specimen that consists of two closely associated skeletons that are preserved as natural molds in a block of me dium-grained sandstone (Fig. 1A). These skeletons were de scribed in 1939 from plaster casts, which revealed little detail (Huene 1939) and subsequently the original specimen was mis placed. This was unfortunate because interest in Anomoiodon has been renewed after suggestions that it might be the senior synonym of Kapes (Spencer and Storrs, 2002). The latter genus is known from several specimens from the Triassic of both Russia and the United Kingdom, where it has been used as an informal stratigraphic index taxon (Spencer and Benton, 2000; Spencer and Storrs, 2002). Fortunately, the natural molds of the Anomoi odon skeletons recently resurfaced in the Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin, and high-fidelity silicone rubber casts of the specimen were produced (Fig. 1B). These reveal the anatomy of Anomoiodon in considerably more detail than was available in 1939, allowing a comprehensive comparison with Kapes and the inclusion of Anomoiodon into a phylogenetic analysis of Procol ophonoidea. A formal diagnosis for Anomoiodon liliensterni is also provided for the first time. Institutional Abbreviations-BP, Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research, University of the Witwaterstrand, Jo