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A late Permian archosauriform from Xinjiang shows evidence of parasagittal posture

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Abstract 

Archosaurs diversified and became dominant during the Mesozoic Era, but their earliest relatives (non-archosaurian archosauromorphs) were already scarcely present in the late Permian. Here we describe a new species of non-archosaurian archosauriform from the upper Permian of Xinjiang, China. Preserved as a partial hindlimb, it possesses a few derived features shared with other archosauriforms, including a much stouter tibia than fibula, a longer metatarsal III than metatarsal IV, and a hooked metatarsal V. Phylogenetic analysis confirmed the new taxon to be a non-archosaurian archosauriform. The morphology of the knee, crus, and pes shows traits that are commonly related with a parasagittal posture, including an entirely proximo-distal articulation of the femur and fibula, the slender and closely spaced tibia and fibula, and a mesaxonic foot with a reduced fifth toe. The new taxon shows that the parasagittal posture evolved before the end-Permian Mass Extinction.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lu Li, Yufeng Liu, Xingwen Li, and Xu Xu for the fieldwork, Fu Hualin and Yong Wu for preparing the specimen, and Jingsong Shi and Yemao Hou for CT-scanning the specimen.

Funding

This work is funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB26000000), and the International Partnership Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (132311KYSB20190010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China

    Jianye Chen & Jun Liu

  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, 100044, China

    Jun Liu

  3. College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jun Liu

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  1. Jianye Chen
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Correspondence to Jianye Chen.

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Chen, J., Liu, J. A late Permian archosauriform from Xinjiang shows evidence of parasagittal posture. Sci Nat 110, 1 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01823-8

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