The smallest tetrapod from the Middle Triassic of South America: a new procolophonoid parareptile from the Ladinian of Southern Brazil.

ABSTRACT: The Middle Triassic fossil record of South American parareptiles is scarce, with only a few procolophonoid specimens known. Here, we describe Sauropia macrorhinus gen. et sp. nov., a procolophonoid from the Ladinian (Pinheiros-Chiniquá Sequence of the Santa Maria Supersequence) of southern Brazil. The holotype, a nearly complete skull measuring only 9.5 mm in length, represents the smallest tetrapod known from these deposits. Its unique combination of features includes a proportionally large external naris, slender dorsal ramus of the maxilla, broad interorbital space, and three premaxillary teeth. Phylogenetic analyses consistently recover Sauropia macrorhinus gen. et sp. nov. as an early-diverging procolophonid, although its phylogenetic placement is complicated by its putatively immatur

SUBMITTER: Muller RT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12852135 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature