Gee et al.—New early Permian vertebrate locality 92(6):1092–1106


1099


Positioned anterior to these are an additional empty socket and a lateral protuberance that houses two teeth broken at the level of the jaw. The lateral surface is lightly ornamented with a few pits. The vertebrae consist mostly of the amphicoelous centra


Figure 8. Dentulous fragments of captorhinids: (1 −3) Captorhinidae gen. indet. sp. indet. (TMM 43628-12): (1) right mandibular symphysis in dorsal profile (left) and labial profile (right); (2) posterior right lower jaw in dorsal profile (left) and labial profile (right); (3) posterior left lower jaw in dorsal profile (left) and labial profile (right); (4 −6) cf. Captorhinikos chozaensis Olson, 1954c (TMM 43628-13): (4) partial right dentary in dorsal profile (left) and labial profile (right); (5) posterior maxillary fragment in dorsal profile; (6) anterior maxillary fragment in dorsal profile. Scale bars=1 cm.


material consisting of partial left and right mandibles and a partial symphysis with two enlarged (caniniform) teeth (TMM 43628-12, Fig. 8.1–8.3) from the D3 site. The two partial mandibles (Fig. 8.2, 8.3) are of an identical


size but are also of markedly different preservation and cannot be confidently assigned to the same individual. Only the posterior and labial regions are preserved, including portions of the articular, surangular, and possibly the angular; no teeth are present, which inhibits further resolution. The medial wall of the adductor chamber is lost in both specimens. The labial surface is ornamented with the shallow ridging and pitting typical of captorhinids, being less developed and more irregular in patterning than in coeval temnospondyls. The glenoid region is slightly wider than long and consists of medial and lateral facets that are divided by a slight ridge, as in Labidosaurus Cope, 1896 (Modesto et al., 2007) and in contrast to Captorhinus Cope, 1895 (e.g., Fox and Bowman, 1966). Conversely, the greater development of the retroarticular process and the posterior boss rising dorsally to frame the glenoid are more comparable to Captorhinus. Shallow bosses also frame the glenoid anteriorly and laterally. The partial symphysis appears to comprise only the dentary and features two complete teeth with circular cross sections and pointed tips.


that are tightly sutured to the expanded bases of the neural arches. All of the vertebrae pertain to the presacral region, but some feature prominent, laterally directed transverse processes, indicating a more anterior position, whereas others lack them entirely, indicating a more posterior position. The pre- and postzygapophyses are mostly anteroposteriorly directed, with the facets parallel to each other in the dorsoventral axis. The base of the neural arch is a rough square and becomes slightly longer posteriorly in the column. The spines are frequently damaged so that determining their original height for additional axial determination is not possible. The humerus is typical of early reptiles, featuring expanded ends set at approximate right angles; a thin shaft; a small, oval entepicondylar foramen; and a prominent deltoid process. It is more comparable to the humerus of small captorhinids such as Captorhinus aguti Cope, 1895 (Fox and Bowman, 1966) in which the features are less robust than in a large taxon like Labidosaurus (Sumida, 1989), but to cite one differential feature, the ectepicondyle of TMM 43628- 11 is intermediate between the two. Both elements are relatively conserved among captorhinids and cannot be further resolved in isolation. Because the material comes from the same site as the moradisaurine material described below, it might all pertain to the same individual, or at least to the same taxon, but this cannot be demonstrably proven, hence the separate specimen numbers and taxonomic identifications.


Subfamily Moradisaurinae de Ricqlès and Taquet, 1982 Genus cf. Captorhinikos Olson, 1954c


Type species.—Captorhinikos valensis Olson, 1954c from the Vale Formation, Texas, by original designation.


cf. Captorhinikos chozaensis Olson, 1954c Figure 8.4–8.6


Holotype.—Cranial and mandibular fragments (CNHM UR 97) from the lower part of the Choza Formation, Texas (Olson, 1954c, fig. 86A–E).


Description.—Dentulous maxillary fragments and a partial dentary (TMM 43628-13) from the D3 site are confidently referable to the Moradisaurinae on the basis of a high number of tooth rows arranged in parallel, and on the basis of the shape of the teeth. Five tooth rows arranged in parallel are present on one maxillary fragment (Fig. 8.5), likely representing a more pos- terior region of the element, whereas the second fragment (Fig. 8.6) preserves a transition from one to four rows, likely repre- senting the anterior region. The dentary (Fig. 8.4) features the typical torsion along its length and a transition from one to four rows, with teeth arranged in parallel. The teeth are worn and often lacking the tip of the crown, but when intact, they are generally circular in cross section, without any compression, and with rounded tips. An intact anterior dentary tooth from the single-tooth-row region, and a lingual (younger) tooth from the


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