Kudnu

Kudnu
Temporal range: Middle Triassic (Ladinian) ~239 Ma
Holotype skull QM F9181 (top) and referred skull QM F9182 (bottom)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Clade: Neodiapsida
Genus: †Kudnu
Bartholomai, 1979
Species:
†K. mackinlayi
Binomial name
†Kudnu mackinlayi
Bartholomai, 1979

Kudnu is an extinct genus of neodiapsid reptile from the Mid–Late Triassic Arcadia Formation of Australia. The type species is K. mackinlayi.

Discovery and naming

The holotype is QM F9181, an anterior section of a cranium with articulated dentary rami, and it was discovered in The Crater (L78), southwest of Rolleston, Queensland. The referred skull QM F9182 is also known.

Kudnu mackinlayi was named and described by Alan Bartholomai in 1979.

Classification

Kudnu was initially classified within Paliguanidae by Bartholomai (1979). Benton (1985) classified Kudnu within Lepidosauromorpha, while Evans (2003) classified Kudnu within Prolacertiformes, and Evans & Jones (2010) later assigned Kudnu to the Procolophonidae. Ezcurra et al. 2022 preferred neodiapsid or saurian affinities for Kudnu, but did not suggest a more precise placement. This classification was followed by Poropat et al. (2023) in their review of Australian tetrapods from the Mesozoic.

Paleoecology

Currently a high diversity of fauna has so far been recorded from the Arcadia Formation that lived alongside Kudnu. This includes a high diversity of temnospondyls, the archosauriform Kalisuchus rewanensis, the archosauromorph Kadimakara australiensis, the procolophonid Eomurruna yurrgensis as well as an indeterminate dicynodont.

There is also evidence of a diversity of different ichnotaxa based on coprolites.

References

  1. ↑ Scipione, M.; Vaucher, R.; Roberts, E.; et al. (2026). Shifting the Paradigm: Redefining the Chronostratigraphy of the Triassic Rewan Group, Bowen Basin, Australia. Basin Research, 38, no. 3: e70102.
  2. 1 2 Alan, Bartholomai (2008). "New lizard-like reptiles from the Early Triassic of Queensland". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 3 (3): 225–234. doi:10.1080/03115517908527795.
  3. 1 2 Bartholomai, Alan (1979). "New lizard-like reptiles from the Early Triassic of Queensland". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 3 (3): 225–234. doi:10.1080/03115517908527795. ISSN 0311-5518.
  4. ↑ Metcalfe, I.; Crowley, J.L.; Nicoll, R.S.; Schmitz, M. (2015). "High-precision U-Pb CA-TIMS calibration of Middle Permian to Lower Triassic sequences, mass extinction and extreme climate-change in eastern Australian Gondwana". Gondwana Research. 28 (1): 61–81. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2014.09.002. ISSN 1342-937X.
  5. 1 2 Poropat, Stephen F.; Bell, Phil R.; Hart, Lachlan J.; Salisbury, Steven W.; Kear, Benjamin P. (2023-04-03). "An annotated checklist of Australian Mesozoic tetrapods". Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology. 47 (2): 129–205. doi:10.1080/03115518.2023.2228367. hdl:20.500.11937/96166. ISSN 0311-5518.
  6. ↑ BENTON, MICHAEL J. (1985). "Classification and phylogeny of the diapsid reptiles". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 84 (2): 97–164. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1985.tb01796.x. ISSN 0024-4082.
  7. ↑ EVANS, SUSAN E. (2003). "At the feet of the dinosaurs: the early history and radiation of lizards". Biological Reviews. 78 (4): 513–551. doi:10.1017/s1464793103006134. ISSN 1464-7931.
  8. ↑ Evans, Susan E.; Jones, Marc E.H. (2010), "The Origin, Early History and Diversification of Lepidosauromorph Reptiles", New Aspects of Mesozoic Biodiversity, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 27–44, ISBN 978-3-642-10310-0, retrieved 2023-12-29
  9. ↑ Ezcurra, Martín D.; Bandyopadhyay, Saswati; Sen, Kasturi (March 2022). "A new faunistic component of the Lower Triassic Panchet Formation of India increases the continental non-archosauromorph neodiapsid record in the aftermath of the end-Permian mass extinction". Journal of Paleontology. 96 (2): 428–438. doi:10.1017/jpa.2021.100. ISSN 0022-3360.
  10. ↑ M. H, Monroe. "The Triassic Labyrinthodonts of Australia". Australia: The Land Where Time Began. M. H Monroe.
  11. ↑ Thulborn, R. A. (1979). "A proterosuchian thecodont from the Rewan Formation of Queensland". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 19: 331–355.
  12. ↑ Hamley, Tim; Cisneros, Juan; Damiani, Ross (2020). "A procolophonid reptile from the Lower Triassic of Australia". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 192 (2): 554–609. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa056.
  13. ↑ Rozefelds, Andrew C.; Warren, Anne; Whitfield, Allison; Bull, Stuart (2011). "New Evidence of Large Permo-Triassic Dicynodonts (Synapsida) from Australia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 31 (5): 1158–1162. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.595858. S2CID 140599970.
  14. ↑ Caroline, Northwood (2005). "Early Triassic coprolites from Australia and their palaeobiological significance". The Journal of the Palaeontological Association. doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.595858. S2CID 140599970.