Cyclotosaurus buechneri, Witzmann & Sachs & Nyhuis, 2016

Witzmann, Florian, Sachs, Sven & Nyhuis, Christian J., 2016, A new species of Cyclotosaurus (Stereospondyli, Capitosauria) from the Late Triassic of Bielefeld, NW Germany, and the intrarelationships of the genus, Fossil Record 19 (2), pp. 83-100 : 86

Cyclotosaurus buechneri sp. nov.

Figures 2 , 3

LSID urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:BEA3C090-24EC-4E39-BE5D-74898812C1A0 . Date of registration: 20 March 2016 .

2000 Cyclotosaurus robustus . – Schoch and Milner, p. 154.

2008a Cyclotosaurus robustus . – Büchner, p. 134, fig.

2008b Cyclotosaurus robustus . – Büchner, fig. 8.

2013 Amphibienschädel (amphibian skull). – Büchner, fig. 3.03–6.

Derivation of name: In honor of Dr. Martin Büchner, former director of the Museum of Natural History in Bielefeld. Martin Büchner discovered the holotype and only known specimen in 1975, and has a life-long record of outstanding contributions to the museum’s geological collection and the popularization of geosciences in the region .

Holotype and only specimen: Namu ES/k 36053, an almost complete cranium in dorsal view, embedded in sandstone with the palate and occiput obscured.

Type locality and horizon: Bielefeld, district Sieker, North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Germany; Stuttgart Formation, middle Carnian, Late Triassic.

Diagnosis: A species within Cyclotosaurus with the following unique combination of characters: (1) orbitae medially placed with short interorbital distance (shared with C. robustus ); (2) region lateral to orbitae only slightly wider than width of orbitae (shared with C. posthumus , C. ebrachensis , C. intermedius , and C. mordax ); (3) postorbital skull region slender (shared with C. ebrachensis ); (4) preorbital projection of jugal shorter than half the length of snout (shared with C. mordax , C. ebrachensis , C. intermedius , C. posthumus , and C. hemprichi , but dissimilar to C. robustus ).

Figures

Figure 2. Cyclotosaurus buechneri sp. nov. from the middle Carnian Stuttgart Formation (Late Triassic) of Bielefeld, NW Germany, holotype and only specimen (Namu ES/k 36053).

Figure 3. Cyclotosaurus buechneri sp. nov. from the middle Carnian Stuttgart Formation (Late Triassic) of Bielefeld, NW Germany, holotype and only specimen (Namu ES/k 36053). Drawings of the specimen with (a) dermal sculpture and (b) dermal sculpture omitted and lateral line sulci highlighted. Abbreviations: f, frontal; ifs, infraorbital sulcus; ifs-o, otic part of infraorbital sulcus; j, jugal; la, lacrimal; n, nasal; na, naris; otf, otic fenestra; p, parietal; pf, postfrontal; pfo, parietal foramen; po, postorbital; pp, postparietal; prf, prefrontal; sos, supraorbital sulcus; sq, squamosal; t, tabular.