New discoveries from the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage Zone: 3. Archosauriformes from Linxian, Shanxi, China

摘要: The tetrapod assemblage from the Middle Triassic upper part of the Ermaying Formation of northern China has been known for two decades as the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage because of the characteristic presence of the dicynodont therapsid Sinokannemeyeria and the erythrosuchid archosauriform Shansisuchus. Recently a Sinokannemeyeria species has been described from Member I of the Tongchuan Formation, which overlies the Ermaying, near Baidaoyu, Linxian, Shanxi Province. Here we document archosauriform specimens from the Baidaoyu site, including a partial Shansisuchus skeleton and some additional bones from probable suchian archosaurs, which constitute the first archosauriform material known from Member I of the Tongchuan. The most intriguing archosauriform specimens are a large ilium probably attributable to an unusual poposauroid, and a small, strangely shaped element that appears to represent a highly autapomorphic suchian calcaneum. Given the presence of both Sinokannemeyeria and Shansisuchus at Baidaoyu, the stratigraphic range of the Sinokannemeyeria-Shansisuchus Assemblage can be considered to extend upward into the Tongchuan Formation, although with possible changes in faunal composition. The occurrence of a poposauroid ilium at the Baidaoyu locality adds to the evidence that poposauroids diversified extensively during the Middle Triassic.