Name:
Aenigmastropheus
(Enigmatic vertebrae).
Phonetic: Ay-nig-ma-stro-fee-us.
Named By: M. N. D. Ezcurra, T. M.
Scheyer & R. J. Butler - 2014.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia,
Protorosauria, Protorosauridae.
Species: A. parringtoni
(type).
Diet: Insectivore?
Size: Unknown.
Known locations: Tanzania - Songea District -
Usili Formation.
Time period: Late Permian.
Fossil representation: Partial post cranial skeleton.
First collected in 1933, and tentatively described in 1956, the fossils of Aenigmastropheus were not granted their own genus until 2014. Aenigmastropheus is a genus of archosauromorph saurian that lived in Tanzania during the Late Permain, something that makes Aenigmastropheus the first and at the time of writing only known late Permian protosaur from the Southern hemisphere.
Further reading
- The Origin and Early Evolution of Sauria: Reassessing the Permian
Saurian Fossil Record and the Timing of the Crocodile-Lizard
Divergence. - PLoS ONE 9 (2): e89165. - M. N. D.
Ezcurra, T. M. Scheyer & R. J. Butler - 2014