New non-mammaliaform cynodont from the upper triassic Los Colorados formation, Ischigualasto-Villa Union basin (La Rioja, Argentina)

Abstract

We report a new species of a small probainognathian cynodont found in the uppermost third of the Los Colorados Formation at the Parque Nacional Talampaya (La Rioja, Argentina). It is represented by a partial cranium with articulated lower jaw. The specimen, PULR-V121, housed at the Universidad Nacional de La Rioja, was analyzed through X-ray micro-tomography in yPF Tecnología S.A. (y-TEC, Ensenada, Buenos Aires, Argentina) using the Bruker SkyScan 1173 instrument. Although the results were acceptable, the resolution was not ideal due to the presence of ferruginous material in the sample. To overcome this issue, we performed a neutron tomography with the highest possible spatial resolution at the ANTARES instrument in the Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz zentrum (FRM II, Garching, Germany). The new species is a tritheledontid with a unique character state combination. PULR-V121 has a large upper canine in conjunction with a reduced lower one, which is only shared with Riograndia among probainognathian cynodonts and with the mammaliaform Morganucodon. It bears a semicircular, very well-developed, ventrally projected angular process dissimilar from that in other non-mammaliaform cynodonts. It shares with other tritheledontids the presence of upper postcanines with a symmetrical main cusp with convex mesial and distal margins flanked by smaller, lingually placed accessory cusps; lower postcanines with a large, asymmetrical, mesial main cusp followed by smaller distal accessory cusps; and a ventrally bowed secondary osseous palate that reaches posteriorly up to the level of the tips of the upper postcanines and forms deep, narrow, lateral grooves for the lower postcanines. It is unique among prozostrodontians in the presence of a short osseous secondary palate that ends well-anteriorly to the anterior margin of the orbit, not reaching the end of the upper tooth row. Unlike Pachygenelinae, the upper postcanines lack cingula and their major axis is parallel to the tooth row. PULR-V121 is reconstructed as bearing 12 or 13 upper postcanines, a similar number to that observed in Elliotherium (13) and Chaliminia (13), a diagnostic feature of Chalimininae. A reduced number of lower postcanines (seven), regarding the number of upper ones, is a distinctive feature of PULR-V121, in which the last six upper postcanines lack a lower counter-element. PULR- V121 further differs from Chaliminia in having a notably shorter lower tooth row with the ascending process of the dentary well-posterior to the last lower postcanine and the masseteric fossa not reaching the level of the last lower postcanine. PULR-V121 lacks the strong osseous platform in the dentary, lateral to the last lower postcanines, which produces a strong lateral ridge present in the holotype of Chaliminia. The small non-procumbent posterior and the also small anterior (interpreted as i1) lower incisors preserved in PULR-V121 contrast with the relatively large, procumbent lower incisors observed in Chaliminia. PULR-V121 represents a new species that constitutes the second cynodont taxon recognized and the sixth reported cynodont specimen from the Upper Triassic Los Colorados Formation, adding to the diversity and knowledge of Norian South American probainognathians.