Abstract

A new aeduellid actinopterygian Amelangia ornata gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Goldlauter Formation of the Thuringian Forest (Lower Permian, Germany). Distinguishing characters of the newly described taxon are a large dermosphenotic, an unusually large number of suborbital bones, a maxilla with a low maxillary plate, a distinct sculpture consisting of tubercles on the operculum and suboperculum, the presence of a single branchiostegal ray, and a pectoral fin with a scaly basal lobe. The preserved characters place the new genus close to the genera Aeduella and Bourbonnella. The newly described genus and species is similar to an isolated operculum and suboperculum recovered from the Lower Permian of the Krkonoše Piedmont Basin in the Bohemian Massif.

Key words

Actinopterygii, Aeduellidae, anatomy, Lower Permian, Thuringian Forest

Abstract

A new actinopterygian fauna from the Permian of the Brive Basin (Corrèze, Massif Central, France) is described in detail. It is represented by a new pygopterid taxon, Briveichthys chantepieorum gen. et sp. nov., erected and described here on the basis of several well-preserved specimens showing peculiar characters in the bones of the skull roof, parasphenoid, bones of the cheek and opercular apparatus. Other specimens from this new fauna are also described; they are referred to Progyrolepis heyleri Poplin, 1999, also known in the Bourbon-l’Archambault Basin, and Aeduella cf. blainvillei, which is relatively common in the Permian of France. These discoveries show the importance of the Brive Basin which was previously considered as a rather barren basin in term of palaeontology. This new fauna from Brive is compared with the other Permian ichthyofaunas from France: it is less rich in terms of specimen numbers than the faunas of Bourbon-l’Archambault and Autun, but it is more diversified in terms of number of taxa than the faunas of Lodève and L’Argentière (Ardêche). These actinopterygians, together with other aquatic vertebrates (e.g., acanthodians, sharks etc.), were widespread and diversified in the Hercynian Mountain Chain during the Permian. They indicate that the French basins were connected in time and space. The wide distribution of these aquatic taxa may have been favoured by numerous hydric systems (lakes, rivers etc.) which were well developed under the tropical climate.

Key words

Actinopterygii, anatomy, Permian, Brive Basin, French Massif Central

Abstract

Actinopterygians from the Permian sediments of the Czech part of Intra-Sudetic Basin, occurring in the Ruprechtice and Otovice Limestone horizons (Broumov Formation), are revised and redescribed based on both old material and newly discovered specimens. A new diagnosis and reconstruction of Paramblypterus vratislaviensis (Agassiz, 1833), the most numerous actinopterygian of the Ruprechtice Limestone Horizon, and the rare Paramblypterus zeidleri (Fritsch, 1895) are published. First actinopterygians from the Otovice Limestone Horizon were described. Most of the specimens from the Otovice Limestone are referred here to Paramblypterus cf. rohani and Paramblypterus sp. Representatives of Aeduellidae have also recently been discovered in the Otovice Limestone. Osteological fragments belonging to a new taxon exhibit the diagnostic features of the genera Aeduella and Bourbonnela. The reasons for the significantly different faunistic content in the stratigraphically close Ruprechtice Limestone Horizon and Otovice Limestone Horizon are discussed.

Key words

Actinopterygii, anatomy, Permian, Intra-Sudetic Basin, Bohemian Massif

Abstract

The first record of the seymouriamorph stem amniote Discosauriscus from the Krkonoše Piedmont Basin (the Czech Republic) is described. The specimen is identified as D. pulcherrimus on the basis of the following features which are absent in D. austriacus: 1) the pointed tip of the ventrolateral process of the postorbital lies anteriorly to the tip of the wedge-shaped dorsomedial process of the jugal; and 2) the rows of small denticles diverge anteromedially and anterolaterally from the midwidth of the ventral surface of the palatal ramus of the pterygoid. This new record increases our knowledge of the occurrence of this seymouriamorph in the Permo-Carboniferous basins of Europe.

Key words

Seymouriamorpha, Discosauriscidae, skeleton, lower Permian, the Czech Republic

Abstract

A new temnospondyl, Korkonterpeton kalnense gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of an almost complete specimen from the lover Permian Prosečné Formation of the Czech Krkonoše Piedmont Basin. The exceptional preservation of the holotype allows a detailed description of the cranial and postcranial characters: Korkonterpeton kalnense gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of vomerine fangs located anteriorly to the posterior choana, much longer than wide tabulars – as long as the supratemporals, a deeply concave posterior margin of the skull table, extraordinarily elongated exoccipitals, anteriorly widened pterygoids and a parasphenoid cultriform process swollen at its mid-length. In order to clarify the relationship between this new taxon and Intasuchus silvicola Konzhukova, 1956 from the lower Permian (late Kungurian) of the Russian Inta Basin, the latter is also redescribed here: Intasuchus silvicola exhibits a lacrimal entering the septomaxilla, a widened jugal, a posterolaterally widened interpterygoid vacuity, a subtemporal window elongated anteriorly up to the anterior orbital region, an elongated basipterygoid ramus which is as long as the orbit width, a vomer with a parachoanal tooth row, and an ectopterygoid of about the same length as the palatine. The description of Korkonterpeton kalnense gen. et sp. nov. and the revision of Intasuchus silvicola complete our knowledge on the origin and evolution of early stereospondylomorph temnospondyls during the lower Permian.

Key words

Korkonterpeton kalnense gen. et sp. nov., Krkonoše Piedmont Basin, Bohemian Massif, lower Permian, Intasuchus silvicola, anatomy, relationships