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A NEW SPECIES OF THE SPHENODONTIAN REPTILE CLEVOSAURUS FROM THE LOWER JURASSIC OF SOUTH WALES
Author(s) -
SÄILÄ LAURA K.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
palaeontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1475-4983
pISSN - 0031-0239
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00486.x
Subject(s) - incertae sedis , premaxilla , fauna , paleontology , genus , geology , biology , maxilla , zoology , ecology , anatomy
Small reptiles from the Early Jurassic Pant 4 fissure fill in Glamorgan, South Wales (St. Bride's Island, Pant Quarry), were formerly provisionally attributed to three species of sphenodontian lepidosaurs. A re‐analysis, aided by new material, has found this herpeto‐fauna to consist almost exclusively of a single new species, Clevosaurus convallis sp. nov . , with only one specimen referable to Sphenodontia incertae sedis . Clevosaurus is known from the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic in various parts of the world, but C. convallis represents the first occurrence of the genus in the Jurassic of Britain. The material is fragmentary but includes numerous premaxillae, maxillae, dentaries and palatines, and the new species is distinguished by the unique combination of six large additional dentary teeth and a very short nasal process of the premaxilla, along with the diagnostic Clevosaurus features.