Abstract
The enigmatic temnospondyl amphibian Tungussogyrinus bergi Efremov, 1939 shares clear synapomorphies with other branchiosaurids indicated by an anteriorly elongated infratemporal fossa and small branchial denticles. Therefore Tungussogyrinus clearly belongs to the dissorophoid family Branchiosauridae. This species is characterized by a number of derived features among temnospondyls: (1) an unusually elongated anterodorsal process of the ilium; (2) the character complex concerning the tricuspid dentition. Tungussogyrinus differs from all other branchiosaurids in these two autapomorphic characters. Herein, Tungussogyrinus is thought to represent the closest relative of a clade including all other branchiosaurids with its placement outside of this clade associated with a new feeding strategy to scrape algae with the tricuspid anterior dentition and the gracile built snout region. The subfamily Tungussogyrininae Kuhn, 1962 is newly defined here by the two derived characters of Tungussogyrinus bergi. All other branchiosaurid genera and species are included in a second subfamily Branchiosaurinae Fritsch, 1879. doi:10.1002/mmng.200900001
Highlights
The newt-like branchiosaurids mostly lived in Permocarboniferous lakes of Laurussia
The reconstruction of the ossified hyobranchial apparatus of Tungussogyrinus bergi (Fig. 8A) is in the general configuration very close to the kontheri type known from Apateon dracyiensis and A. pedestris, but in individuals with a skull length of 9 mm, it is similar to the flagrifer type
Differences in proportion of the limbs are sometimes indicative for sexual dimorphism in modern amphibians, but the fossil record in Tungussogyrinus bergi is too limited and the experiences from the related species Apateon dracyiensis point towards fossil preservation as the cause for this dimorphism
Summary
The newt-like branchiosaurids mostly lived in Permocarboniferous lakes of Laurussia. Thousands of specimens are known from the Saar-Nahe Basin and the Thuringian Forest Basin in Germany. A slender, elongate tooth bearing bone located in some specimens (Figs 3A, 4B, 5F, 6H) is a coronoid of the lower jaw (a precoronoid after Shishkin 1998) Such a robust, ossified coronoid with relatively large teeth and denticles in one to two rows is rarely preserved in branchiosaurids The reconstruction of the ossified hyobranchial apparatus of Tungussogyrinus bergi (Fig. 8A) is in the general configuration very close to the kontheri type known from Apateon dracyiensis and A. pedestris, but in individuals with a skull length of 9 mm, it is similar to the flagrifer type. Differences in proportion of the limbs are sometimes indicative for sexual dimorphism in modern amphibians, but the fossil record in Tungussogyrinus bergi is too limited and the experiences from the related species Apateon dracyiensis point towards fossil preservation as the cause for this dimorphism
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