Heteropelta boboi n. gen., n. sp. an armored archosauriform (Reptilia: Archosauromorpha) from the Middle Triassic of Italy.

ABSTRACT: Heteropelta boboi is a new archosauriform reptile from the upper Anisian of northeastern Italy represented by a fragment of dorsal armor with a row of neural arches of the dorsal vertebrae. The dorsal armor of the new taxon is composed of two columns of paramedian osteoderms and at least six columns of lateral osteoderms. Unlike other armored archosaurs, the osteoderms are imbricated with the posterior osteoderm overlapping the anterior one. The low neural arches bear small neural spines and long postzygapophyses. The osteoderms of the lateral columns increase in size and change in shape from the most medial to the most lateral columns. Among the Archosauriformes, only the non-archosaur proterochampsians Vancleavea campi, Litorosuchus somnii, and the doswelliids have d

SUBMITTER: Dalla Vecchia FM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8601055 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature