Vancleavea campi Long and Murry, 1995

Nesbitt, Sterling J., 2011, The Early Evolution Of Archosaurs: Relationships And The Origin Of Major Clades, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (352), pp. 1-292 : 17

Vancleavea campi Long and Murry, 1995

AGE:?Carnian-?Rhaetian, Late Triassic.

OCCURRENCE: Mesa Redondo Member, Chinle Formation , Arizona ; Monitor Butte Member, Chinle Formation , Utah ; Blue Mesa Member, Chinle Formation , Arizona ; Sonsela Member, Chinle Formation , Arizona ; Petrified Forest Member, Chinle Formation, Arizona ; Owl Rock Member, Chinle Formation , Arizona ; ‘‘ Siltstone Member,’’ Chinle Formation , New Mexico ; Bull Canyon Formation, New Mexico ; Redonda Formation, New Mexico ; Tecovas Formation, Dockum Group , Texas .

HOLOTYPE: PEFO 2427, an incomplete postcranial skeleton.

REFERRED MATERIAL: GR 138, complete skeleton; GR139, partial disarticulated skeleton.

REMARKS: Vancleavea stands as one of the most bizarre archosauriforms recorded to date ( Nesbitt et al., 2009a). The morphology of Vancleavea is unparalleled within Reptilia; it has four unique types of imbricated osteoderms covering the entire body, a short, highly ossified skull, relatively small limbs, and morphological features consistent with a semiaquatic lifestyle. Until recently, the taxon was only represented by a handful of incomplete specimens ( Hunt et al., 2002, 2005). However, nearly complete specimens indicate that Vancleavea represents one of only few non-archosaurian archosauriforms from Laurasia ( Parker and Barton, 2008; Nesbitt et al., 2009a). The long stratigraphic range of Vancleavea in the Chinle Formation suggests that it or similar taxa were present for much of the Late Triassic in western North America.

KEY REFERENCES: Long and Murry, 1995; Small and Downs, 2002; Hunt et al., 2002, 2005; Parker and Barton, 2008; Nesbitt et al., 2009a.