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A large temnospondyl humerus from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Bonenburg (Westphalia, Germany) and its implications for temnospondyl extinction

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Abstract

Temnospondyls are a group of basal tetrapods that existed from the Early Carboniferous to the Early Cretaceous. They were characteristic members of Permian and Triassic continental faunas around the globe. Only one clade, the Brachyopoidea (Brachyopidae and Chigutisauridae), is found as relics in the Jurassic of eastern Asia and the Cretaceous of Australia. The other Late Triassic clades, such as Plagiosauridae, Metoposauridae, and Cyclotsauridae, are generally believed to have gone extinct gradually before the end of the Triassic and putative Rhaetian records are stratigraphically poorly constrained. Temnospondyl humeri all show a similar morphological pattern, being stout, short, with widened ends, and with a typical torsion between the proximal and distal heads. Based on these characters, a humerus found in a Rhaetic-type bonebed in unequivocally Rhaetian sediments (marine Exter Formation) in a clay pit at Bonenburg (eastern Westphalia, Germany) was identified as pertaining to the temnospondyl cf. Cyclotosaurus sp. The humeral midshaft histology also supports temnospondyl affinities and serves to exclude plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs from consideration. This find is the geologically youngest record of a non-brachyopoid temnospondyl, indicating that cyclotosaurids survived well into the Rhaetian, likely falling victim to the end-Triassic extinction.

Resumen

Los Temnospóndilos son un grupo de tetrápodos basales que existieron des del Carbonífero Inicial hasta el Cretácico Inicial. Ellos fueron miembros característicos de las faunas continentales del Pérmico y el Triásico de todo el globo. Tan solo un clado, Brachyopoidea (Brachyopidae y Chigutisauridae), se encuentran como relictos en el Jurásico de Asia oriental y del Cretácico de Australia. Los otros clados del Triásico Superior, como Plagiosauridae, Metopoauridae, y Cyclotosauridae, generalmente se cree que se extinguieron gradualmente antes del final del Triásico y los putativos registros en el Raetiense están estratigráficamente pobremente constreñidos.

Los húmeros de Temnospóndilos muestran en todos los casos un patrón morfológico similar, siendo robustos, cortos, con un final ancho, y con una torsión típica entre las cabezas proximales y distales. En base a estos caracteres, un humero encontrado en un Rhaetic-type bonebed en sedimentos inequívocamente Raetienses (Formación marina Exter) en un pozo de barro en Bonenburg (Este de Westphalia, Alemania), fueron identificados como pertenecientes al temnospóndilo cf. Cyclotosaurus sp. El corte histológico en el eje intermedio del humero también apoya la afinidad con temnospóndilos y sirve para excluir plesiosaurios y ictiosaurios. Este hallazgo es el registro geológico más joven de un temnospóndilo no-braquiopodo, indicando que los cyclotosauridos sobrevivieron hasta bien entrado el Raetiense, posiblemente siendo víctimas de la extinción de finales del Triásico.

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Fig. 1

Modified from Wintrich et al. (2017)

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, we want to thank Michael Mertens of Altenbeken-Schwaney for making the study of this specimen possible and facilitating its transfer to the LWL-MFN collections. Georg Oleschinski is thanked for the clear photographs of the bone, and Olaf Dülfer is thanked for his help with thin sectioning and casting of the specimen. We thank Martin Aberhan, Robert Bussert and Paul E. Olsen for providing measured sections for Fig. 1b. Tomasz Sulej (Polish Academy of Science, Institute of Paleobiology) is acknowledged for providing the photo of the Cyclotosaurus intermedius humerus. We gratefully acknowledge the LWL-MFN and its former and current directors as well as the DFG (German Science Foundation, grant no. SA 469/47-1) for funding. We want to thank especially guest editors (Josep Fortuny and Jean-Sébastien Steyer) for making this special issue possible and two reviewers (Marco Marzola and the second anonymous) for helpful discussion and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Paleontology, Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, Nussallee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Dorota Konietzko-Meier, Jennifer D. Werner, Tanja Wintrich & P. Martin Sander

  2. Institute of Biology, Opole University, Oleska 22, 45-052, Opole, Poland

    Dorota Konietzko-Meier

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  1. Dorota Konietzko-Meier
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Correspondence to Dorota Konietzko-Meier.

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Konietzko-Meier, D., Werner, J.D., Wintrich, T. et al. A large temnospondyl humerus from the Rhaetian (Late Triassic) of Bonenburg (Westphalia, Germany) and its implications for temnospondyl extinction. J Iber Geol 45, 287–300 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-018-0092-0

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