A "Leptosaurus" (Rhynchocephalia) from the Kimmeridgian of Schamhaupten, Bavaria

来自巴伐利亚州 Schamhaupten 启默里阶的“细龙”（Rhynchocephalia）

• 批准号: 250330695
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Oliver Rauhut, Ph.D.
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Sektion Paläontologie und Geobiologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2012-12-31 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/250330695?language=en
• 关键词: Leptosaurus; Rhynchocephalia; Kimmeridgian; Schamhaupten; Bavaria

The Rhynchocephalia are an ancient group belonging to the Lepidosauria, and are currently represented with a single genus. However, the clade was taxonomically and ecologically diverse during the Mesozoic. Understanding the evolution of Mesozoic rhynchocephalians is thus of greatest importance for our interpretation of the recent Tuatara and of the implications of this group for our understanding of the other group of lepidosaurs, the squamates. One of the most important fossil lagerstätten for Mesozoic rhynchocephalians are the Late Jurassic limestones of southern Germany: Not only is this group represented by several taxa in these deposits, but these taxa are known from complete skeletons, whereas many Mesozoic rhynchocephalians are known only from isolated remains, often jaws. Unfortunately, however, the taxonomy of the rhynchocepalians from these limestones is still problematic, and recent finds have usually been referred to one of the known taxa simply on the basis of general similarity. Thus, the only known rhynchocephalian from the Kimmeridgian locality of Schamhaupten has been referred to Leptosaurus pulchellus, although it shows several differences to this taxon, which might indicate that it represents a new species. In the framework of this project, we will therefore study and describe this specimen in detail and establish its taxonomic identity. The results will not only be of interest for our understanding of the faunal composition of Schamhaupten and the diversity of rhynchocephalians in the Late Jurassic limestones of southern Germany, but will also provide new information on the separation or possible synonymy of the genera Kallimodon and Leptosaurus and the species included in these genera.

线头纲是鳞龙纲的一个古老的类群，目前只有一个属。然而，在中生代，该支系在分类和生态上是多样化的。因此，了解中生代纹头类的演化对于我们解释最近的Tuatara以及这个类群对我们理解另一类鳞龙--鳞龙的意义是非常重要的。对于中生代流纹头生物来说，最重要的化石之一是德国南部的晚侏罗世石灰岩：这一群不仅由这些沉积物中的几个分类群代表，而且这些分类群是从完整的骨骼中已知的，而许多中生代流纹头生物只从孤立的遗骸中获知，通常是颌骨。然而，不幸的是，这些石灰岩中的石灰石化石的分类仍然是有问题的，最近的发现通常只是基于一般的相似性而提到一个已知的分类群。因此，唯一已知的来自基默里德地区SChamhaupten的线头类动物被称为Leptosaurus Pulchellus，尽管它与这个分类单元有几个不同，这可能表明它代表了一个新物种。因此，在本项目的框架下，我们将对该标本进行详细的研究和描述，并建立其分类学特征。这些结果不仅有助于我们了解德国南部晚侏罗世石灰岩中SChamhaupten的动物群组成和纹头类的多样性，而且还将为Kallimodon属和Leptosaurus属以及这些属中的物种的分离或可能的同名提供新的信息。