Palaeohatteria

Palaeohatteria is an extinct genus of basal sphenacodonts known from the Early Permian period (Sakmarian stage) of Saxony, Germany. It contains a single species, Palaeohatteria longicaudata.[1]

Palaeohatteria Temporal range: Early Permian, Sakmarian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Sphenacomorpha
Clade:	Sphenacodontia
Family:	†Palaeohatteriidae
Genus:	†Palaeohatteria Credner, 1888
Type species
†Palaeohatteria longicaudata Credner, 1888
Synonyms
Palaeosphenodon Baur, 1889 Palaeosphenodon longicaudata Baur, 1889 Haptodus longicaudata Romer & Price, 1940

Discovery

Palaeohatteria is based on very young individuals including skulls and partial postcranial skeletons. All specimens were collected at Niederhäslich locality, in Dresden, from the Niederhäslich Limestone Member of the Niederhäslich Formation, Rotliegend Group (Döhlen Basin), dating to the Sakmarian stage of the Cisuralian series, about 295.0 -290.1 million years old.[1][2]

Description

Palaeohatteria was a fairly small synapsid, up to 60 cm in length and with a mass of about 3 kg.[3] The affinities of Palaeohatteria to the pelycosaur were first described in details by Alfred Sherwood Romer & Llewellyn Price (1940). They revised the taxonomy of pelycosaurs and synonymized Palaeohatteria (alongside with Pantelosaurus and others) with Haptodus, creating the new combination Haptodus longicaudata. After describing a new species of Haptodus in 1977, Currie (1979) synonymized all European haptodontines, as well as Cutleria wilmarthi, with the type of the genus, H. baylei. Later, Laurin (1993 and 1994) considered Haptodontinae to represent a polyphyletic grade of basal sphenacodonts, and revalidated Palaeohatteria among other genera and species.[4] His revision has been accepted since.[2][5] Due to the early ontological state of its remains, it is rarely included in phylogenetic analyses. However, it is well established that Palaeohatteria is closely related to "haptodontines" (=basal sphenacodonts) like Pantelosaurus.[2][4][5] The cladogram below shows Palaeohatteria phylogenetic position among other sphenacodonts following Fröbisch et al. (2011).[2]

	Edaphosauridae   Sphenacodontia   Haptodus garnettensis       Palaeohatteria longicaudata     Pantelosaurus saxonicus     Ianthodon schultzei       Cutleria wilmarthi   Sphenacodontoidea   Therapsida   Sphenacodontidae   Secodontosaurus obtusidens       Cryptovenator hirschbergeri       Sphenacodon     Ctenospondylus     Dimetrodon

Spindler (2016) utilized use of the name Palaeohatteriidae for the clade comprising Palaeohatteria and Pantelosaurus.[6]

Etymology

Palaeohatteria was first described and named by Carl Friedrich Heinrich Credner in 1888 and the type species is Palaeohatteria longicaudata. The generic name is derived from Greek παλαιός (palaios) "old, ancient", and from Hatteria, a proposed common name and generic name (like Rhynchocephalus) to the Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus).[1][7] Credner considered it to be an ancient relative of "Hatteria".[1] Baur (1889), who considered the name Sphenodon to be valid for Tuatara (while "Hatteria" is a junior synonym, as it is accepted today), claimed that the name Palaeohatteria should be also invalid. He proposed the name Palaeosphenodon (meaning "ancient Sphenodon") to replace it,[8] however his proposal was rejected.[2] Hence, Palaeosphenodon is a junior synonym of Palaeohatteria. The specific name is derived from Greek meaning "long tailed" in reference to its relatively long tail.[1]

References

1. Carl Friedrich Heinrich Credner (1888). "Die Stegocephalen und Saurier aus dem Rothliegenden des Plauen'schen Grundes bei Dresden. VII Theil: Palaeohatteria longicaudata Cred". Zeitschrift der Deutschen Geologischen Gesellschaft. 40: 490–558.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
2. Jörg Fröbisch, Rainer R. Schoch, Johannes Müller, Thomas Schindler and Dieter Schweiss (2011). "A new basal sphenacodontid synapsid from the Late Carboniferous of the Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany" (PDF). Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 56 (1): 113–120. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0039.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
3. "Palaeos Vertebrates Synapsida: Sphenacodontia".
4. Michel Laurin (1994). "Re-evaluation of Cutleria wilmarthi, an Early Permian synapsid from Colorado". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 14 (1): 134–138. doi:10.1080/02724634.1994.10011544.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
5. Benson, R.J. (2012). "Interrelationships of basal synapsids: cranial and postcranial morphological partitions suggest different topologies". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. in press (4): 601–624. doi:10.1080/14772019.2011.631042.
6. Spindler, F. 2016. Morphological description and taxonomic status of Palaeohatteria and Pantelosaurus (Synapsida: Sphenacodontia). Freiberger Forschungshefte C550(23): 1–57. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321129043_Morphological_description_and_taxonomic_status_of_Palaeohatteria_and_Pantelosaurus_Synapsida_Sphenacodontia
7. Albert Günther (1867). "Contribution to the Anatomy of Hatteria (Rhynchocephalus, Owen)". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 157: 595–629. Bibcode:1867RSPT..157..595G. doi:10.1098/rstl.1867.0019. JSTOR 108983.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
8. Baur, G. (1889). "Palaeohatteria Credner and the Proganosauria". American Journal of Science. Series 3. 37 (220): 310–313. doi:10.2475/ajs.s3-37.220.310.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)