Cyclotosaurus buechneri

Cyclotosaurus buechneri is a species of the temnospondyl genus Cyclotosaurus from the Upper Triassic (middle Carnian) of northwestern Germany.[1]

Cyclotosaurus buechneri
Temporal range: Late Triassic, 228–235 Ma
Holotype skull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Temnospondyli
Suborder: Stereospondyli
Clade: Capitosauria
Family: Mastodonsauridae
Genus: Cyclotosaurus
Species:
C. buechneri
Binomial name
Cyclotosaurus buechneri
Witzmann, Sachs & Nyhuis, 2016

The type and only known specimen is a 28 cm long skull that was found in 1975 by Martin Büchner, the former director of the Natural History Museum Bielefeld, at a construction site in Bielefeld-Sieker, Germany. The specimen derives from the Stuttgart Formation and is kept in the collection of the Natural History Museum in Bielefeld. In 2016, Florian Witzmann, Sven Sachs and Christian Nyhuis provided a detailed description of the skull and established the new species, Cyclotosaurus buechneri, honoring the discoverer.

Cyclotosaurus buechneri differs from other species of Cyclotosaurus e.g. by a narrower distance between the orbitae, a more slender postorbital region and a distinct shape of the jugal. It was nearly 2 meter long and is the only unequivocal evidence of a cyclotosaur in northern Germany.[1]


Phylogeny

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The phylogenetic position of C. buechneri within the genus Cyclotosaurus according to Witzmann et al.[1]

Cyclotosaurus

C. robustus

C. buechneri

C. mordax

C. ebrachensis

C. intermedius

C. posthumus

C. hemprichi

References

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  1. ^ a b c Witzmann, F.; Sachs, S.; Nyhuis, C.J. (2016). "A new species of Cyclotosaurus (Stereospondyli, Capitosauria) from the Late Triassic of Bielefeld, NW Germany, and the intrarelationships of the genus" (PDF). Fossil Record. 19: 83–100. doi:10.5194/fr-19-83-2016.
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