Weigeltisaurus is an extinct genus of weigeltisauridreptile from the Late PermianKupferschiefer of Germany and Marl Slate of England. It has a single species, originally named as Palaechamaeleo jaekeli in 1930 and later assigned the name Weigeltisaurus jaekeli in 1939, when it was revealed that Palaeochamaeleo was a preoccupied name. A 1987 review by Evans and Haubold later lumped Weigeltisaurus jaekeli under Coelurosauravus as a second species of that genus.[2] A 2015 reassessment of skull morphology study substantiated the validity of Weigeltisaurus and subsequent authors have used this genus.[3][4] Like other Weigeltisaurids, they possessed long rod-like bones that radiated from the trunk that were likely used to support membranes used for gliding, similar to extant Draco lizards.
The first remains of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli were described by Johannes Weigelt in 1930 from a specimen (SSWG 113/7) found in the Kupferschiefer near the town of Eisleben in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The specimen was purchased from a fossil dealer in 1913 by Otto Jaekel. Jaekel had considered the bony rods to be caudal fin spines of the coelacanthCoelacanthus granulatus that was also known from the Kupferschiefer, and so the rods were prepared away to expose the skeleton. Johannes Weigelt named the new species Palaeochamaeleo jaekeli both in honour of Jaekel and in reference to the similarity of the skull morphology to those of chameleons.
The same year, Friedrich von Huene noted the similarity of the specimen to Coelurosauravus elivensis from Madagascar, which had been described by Jean Piveteau in 1926, and concluded that both animals were closely related and represented climbing reptiles. In 1939, Oskar Kuhn noted that Palaeochamaeleo had already been used in a different publication in 1903, and proposed the new genus name Weigeltisaurus in honour of Weigelt.
In publications in 1976 and 1986, Günther Schaumberg described additional specimens of Weigeltisaurus from the Kupferschiefer of Germany. Due to the fact that the bony rods were also present on these skeletons, and the fact that the rods were only superficially similar to coelacanth spines, Schaumberg (1976) argued that they represented parts of the animals skeleton and were used for gliding flight, stating that the presence of the bones "...virtually provokes the attempt to explain its function for flight characteristics.".[5] In 1979, a specimen (TWCMS B5937.1) was described from Eppleton Quarry near Hetton-le-Hole, in Tyne and Wear in Northern England, in sediments that are part of the Marl Slate, a unit equivalent to the Kupferschiefer.[6] This specimen was given a detailed description by Susan E. Evans in 1982, in the publication she placed Coelurosauravus and Weigeltisaurus into the new family Coelurosauravidae.
In 1987, Evans and Haubold proposed that Weigeltisaurus jaekeli represented a species of Coelurosauravus, and synonymised Gracilisaurus ottoi, which had been described from a disarticulated postcranial skeleton from the Kupferschiefer by Weigelt in 1930 with Weigeltisaurus jaekeli.
In 2007, Schaumberg, Unwin and Brandt presented and discussed new skeleton details of Weigeltisaurus, the mechanism of unfolding and folding the patagium and presented thin-sections of the rods with lamellar bone.
In 2015 in two separate publications, V. V. Bulanov & A. G. Sennikov redescribed Coelurosauravus elivensis and Coelurosauravus jaekeli and concluded that the generic separation should be maintained, restoring Weigeltisaurus as a valid genus.
In 2021, an extensive description of a mostly complete specimen of Weigeltisaurus (SMNK-PAL 2882) was published, this specimen was collected in 1992 from near the town of Ellrich in Saxony-Anhalt, and had briefly been described in a 1997 publication in Science.[7][8] The counterpart of the specimen is in private collection and inaccessible to researchers.[7]
List of specimens
Greifswald specimen (SSWG 113/7): Holotype of Palaeochamaeleo/Weigeltisaurus/Coelurosauravus jaekeli (Weigelt, 1930). A partial skeleton including a well-preserved skull, vertebrae, limbs, and gliding structures.
GM 1462: Holotype of Gracilisaurus ottoi (Weigelt, 1930). A partial skeleton including a forelimb, neck vertebrae, skull fragments, and gliding structures.
Wolfsberg & Cornberg specimens: Privately owned specimens described by Schaumberg (1976).
Eppleton specimen (TWCMS B.5937 1&2): A well-preserved partial skeleton including the torso, hindlimbs, part of the tail, and gliding structures all in articulation. The only Coelurosauravus specimen known from England, specifically the Marl Slate near Hetton-le-Hole, Tyne and Wear. First described in Nature by Pettigrew (1979).[6]
Bodental specimen: A privately owned specimen described by Schaumberg (1986).
Ellrich specimen (SMNK 2882 PAL): A well-preserved and fully articulated complete skeleton first described in Science magazine by Frey, Sues, & Munk (1997).[8]
Description
Schematic reconstruction of the skeleton of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli
Like other weigeltisaurids, the skull and lower jaws of Weigeltisaurus are covered in horns and tubercles, including a horned cranial frill present on both the parietal and squamosal bones. In contrast to the condition in Coelurosauravus and Glaurung, where only tubercles are present on the parietal.[7] The teeth are slightly heterodont, with the front teeth being small and peg-like, while the back teeth are lance-shaped and recurved.[7] The hands and feet have elongate phalanges, similar to those of extant arboreal lizards.[7] At least 22 caudal vertebrae are present on the skeleton, the posterior caudal vertebrae have elongated centra, similar to those of extant lizards.[7] A minimum of 24 pairs of elongate bony rods are present along the trunk of Weigeltisaurus They are not ribs, but distinct bones, dubbed "patagials". They have been proposed to represent either modified gastralia (unmodified gastralia are also present on the skeleton) or novel bone ossifications. These rise in length posteriorly until the eighth and longest patagial, with subsequent patagials gradually decreasing in size.[7]
Gliding
Artistic reconstruction of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli
The gliding membrane of weigeltisaurids is distinct from those of other gliding reptiles, which originate from modified ribs originating from the upper-lateral surface of the body. In contrast, in weigeltisaurids, the rods originate from the lower-lateral surface of the body. The furling and unfurling of the gliding membrane were likely controlled by the abdominal muscles. Preserved fossils show that the bony rods had a high degree of flexibility, similar to the ribs of living gliding lizards. Due to the low-wing configuration, it is likely that the gliding surface was angled upwards to increase stability.[7] In living gliding lizards, it has been found that the forelimbs grab hold of the front of the membrane during takeoff, and are used to adjust the trajectory mid-flight. Similar behaviour has been proposed for weigeltisaurids.[9] In a 2011 study comparing Coelurosauravus and other extinct gliding reptiles to modern Draco species, Coelurosauravus was found to be a less efficient glider due to its larger body size, with a steep descent angle of over 45 degrees and a consequent substantial drop in height per glide.[7][10]
^"†Weigeltisaurus Kuhn 1939". Paleobiology Database. Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
^Evans, Susan E.; Haubold, Hartmut (1 July 1987). "A review of the Upper Permian genera Coelurosauravus, Weigeltisaurus and Gracilisaurus (Reptilia: Diapsida)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 90 (3): 275–303. doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1987.tb01356.x. ISSN 0024-4082.
^Bulanov, V.V.; Sennikov, A.G. (2015). "Substantiation of Validity of the Late Permian Genus Weigeltisaurus Kuhn, 1939 (Reptilia, Weigeltisauridae)". Paleontological Journal. 49 (10): 1101–1111. doi:10.1134/S0031030115110039. S2CID 85660972.
^Pritchard, Adam C.; Nesbitt, Sterling J. (2017). "A bird-like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida". Royal Society Open Science. 4 (10): 170499. Bibcode:2017RSOS....470499P. doi:10.1098/rsos.170499. ISSN 2054-5703. PMC5666248. PMID 29134065.
^Pritchard, Adam C.; Sues, Hans-Dieter; Scott, Diane; Reisz, Robert R. (2021-05-20). "Osteology, relationships and functional morphology of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli (Diapsida, Weigeltisauridae) based on a complete skeleton from the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany". PeerJ. 9: e11413. doi:10.7717/peerj.11413. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC8141288. PMID 34055483.
^ abPettigrew, T. H. (27 September 1979). "A gliding reptile from the Upper Permian of North East England". Nature. 281 (5729): 297–298. Bibcode:1979Natur.281..297P. doi:10.1038/281297a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4283518.
^ abcdefghiPritchard, Adam C.; Sues, Hans-Dieter; Scott, Diane; Reisz, Robert R. (2021-05-20). "Osteology, relationships and functional morphology of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli (Diapsida, Weigeltisauridae) based on a complete skeleton from the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany". PeerJ. 9: e11413. doi:10.7717/peerj.11413. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC8141288. PMID 34055483.
^ abFrey, Eberhard; Sues, Hans-Dieter; Munk, Wolfgang (7 March 1997). "Gliding Mechanism in the Late Permian Reptile Coelurosauravus". Science. 275 (5305): 1450–1452. doi:10.1126/science.275.5305.1450. ISSN 1095-9203. S2CID 129834880.
^Dehling, J. Maximilian (2017-12-13). "How lizards fly: A novel type of wing in animals". PLOS ONE. 12 (12): e0189573. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1289573D. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0189573. PMC5728497. PMID 29236777.
^McGuire, Jimmy A.; Dudley, Robert (2011-12-01). "The Biology of Gliding in Flying Lizards (Genus Draco) and their Fossil and Extant Analogs". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 51 (6): 983–990. doi:10.1093/icb/icr090. ISSN 1540-7063. PMID 21798987.
^Bernardi, Massimo; Petti, Fabio Massimo; Kustatscher, Evelyn; Franz, Matthias; Hartkopf-Fröder, Christoph; Labandeira, Conrad C.; Wappler, Torsten; Van Konijnenburg-Van Cittert, Johanna H.A.; Peecook, Brandon R.; Angielczyk, Kenneth D. (2017-12-01). "Late Permian (Lopingian) terrestrial ecosystems: A global comparison with new data from the low-latitude Bletterbach Biota". Earth-Science Reviews. 175: 18–43. Bibcode:2017ESRv..175...18B. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2017.10.002. ISSN 0012-8252. S2CID 134260553.
^Witzmann, Florian (2005-05-31). "A dissorophid temnospondyl in the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte. 2005 (5): 289–300. doi:10.1127/njgpm/2005/2005/289. ISSN 0028-3630.
^Sues, Hans-Dieter; Munk, Wolfgang (March 1996). "A remarkable assemblage of terrestrial tetrapods from the Zechstein (Upper Permian: Tatarian) near Korbach (northwestern Hesse)". Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 70 (1–2): 213–223. doi:10.1007/BF02988279. ISSN 0031-0220. S2CID 128465809.
March 12, 2023
weigeltisaurus, extinct, genus, weigeltisaurid, reptile, from, late, permian, kupferschiefer, germany, marl, slate, england, single, species, originally, named, palaechamaeleo, jaekeli, 1930, later, assigned, name, jaekeli, 1939, when, revealed, that, palaeoch. Weigeltisaurus is an extinct genus of weigeltisaurid reptile from the Late Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany and Marl Slate of England It has a single species originally named as Palaechamaeleo jaekeli in 1930 and later assigned the name Weigeltisaurus jaekeli in 1939 when it was revealed that Palaeochamaeleo was a preoccupied name A 1987 review by Evans and Haubold later lumped Weigeltisaurus jaekeli under Coelurosauravus as a second species of that genus 2 A 2015 reassessment of skull morphology study substantiated the validity of Weigeltisaurus and subsequent authors have used this genus 3 4 Like other Weigeltisaurids they possessed long rod like bones that radiated from the trunk that were likely used to support membranes used for gliding similar to extant Draco lizards WeigeltisaurusTemporal range Lopingian 260 4 251 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg NSpecimen SMNK PAL 2882Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass ReptiliaFamily WeigeltisauridaeGenus WeigeltisaurusKuhn 1939 1 Species W jaekeliBinomial name Weigeltisaurus jaekeli Weigelt 1930 SynonymsPalaeochamaeleo jaekeliWeigelt 1930 Gracilisaurus ottoiWeigelt 1930 Coelurosauravus jaekeli Evans and Haubold 1987 Contents 1 History of discovery 1 1 List of specimens 2 Description 3 Gliding 4 Paleoenvironment 5 ReferencesHistory of discovery Edit Holotype specimen SSWG 113 7 The first remains of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli were described by Johannes Weigelt in 1930 from a specimen SSWG 113 7 found in the Kupferschiefer near the town of Eisleben in Saxony Anhalt Germany The specimen was purchased from a fossil dealer in 1913 by Otto Jaekel Jaekel had considered the bony rods to be caudal fin spines of the coelacanth Coelacanthus granulatus that was also known from the Kupferschiefer and so the rods were prepared away to expose the skeleton Johannes Weigelt named the new species Palaeochamaeleo jaekeli both in honour of Jaekel and in reference to the similarity of the skull morphology to those of chameleons The same year Friedrich von Huene noted the similarity of the specimen to Coelurosauravus elivensis from Madagascar which had been described by Jean Piveteau in 1926 and concluded that both animals were closely related and represented climbing reptiles In 1939 Oskar Kuhn noted that Palaeochamaeleo had already been used in a different publication in 1903 and proposed the new genus name Weigeltisaurus in honour of Weigelt In publications in 1976 and 1986 Gunther Schaumberg described additional specimens of Weigeltisaurus from the Kupferschiefer of Germany Due to the fact that the bony rods were also present on these skeletons and the fact that the rods were only superficially similar to coelacanth spines Schaumberg 1976 argued that they represented parts of the animals skeleton and were used for gliding flight stating that the presence of the bones virtually provokes the attempt to explain its function for flight characteristics 5 In 1979 a specimen TWCMS B5937 1 was described from Eppleton Quarry near Hetton le Hole in Tyne and Wear in Northern England in sediments that are part of the Marl Slate a unit equivalent to the Kupferschiefer 6 This specimen was given a detailed description by Susan E Evans in 1982 in the publication she placed Coelurosauravus and Weigeltisaurus into the new family Coelurosauravidae In 1987 Evans and Haubold proposed that Weigeltisaurus jaekeli represented a species of Coelurosauravus and synonymised Gracilisaurus ottoi which had been described from a disarticulated postcranial skeleton from the Kupferschiefer by Weigelt in 1930 with Weigeltisaurus jaekeli In 2007 Schaumberg Unwin and Brandt presented and discussed new skeleton details of Weigeltisaurus the mechanism of unfolding and folding the patagium and presented thin sections of the rods with lamellar bone In 2015 in two separate publications V V Bulanov amp A G Sennikov redescribed Coelurosauravus elivensis and Coelurosauravus jaekeli and concluded that the generic separation should be maintained restoring Weigeltisaurus as a valid genus In 2021 an extensive description of a mostly complete specimen of Weigeltisaurus SMNK PAL 2882 was published this specimen was collected in 1992 from near the town of Ellrich in Saxony Anhalt and had briefly been described in a 1997 publication in Science 7 8 The counterpart of the specimen is in private collection and inaccessible to researchers 7 List of specimens Edit Greifswald specimen SSWG 113 7 Holotype of Palaeochamaeleo Weigeltisaurus Coelurosauravus jaekeli Weigelt 1930 A partial skeleton including a well preserved skull vertebrae limbs and gliding structures GM 1462 Holotype of Gracilisaurus ottoi Weigelt 1930 A partial skeleton including a forelimb neck vertebrae skull fragments and gliding structures Wolfsberg amp Cornberg specimens Privately owned specimens described by Schaumberg 1976 Eppleton specimen TWCMS B 5937 1 amp 2 A well preserved partial skeleton including the torso hindlimbs part of the tail and gliding structures all in articulation The only Coelurosauravus specimen known from England specifically the Marl Slate near Hetton le Hole Tyne and Wear First described in Nature by Pettigrew 1979 6 Bodental specimen A privately owned specimen described by Schaumberg 1986 Ellrich specimen SMNK 2882 PAL A well preserved and fully articulated complete skeleton first described in Science magazine by Frey Sues amp Munk 1997 8 Description Edit Schematic reconstruction of the skeleton of Weigeltisaurus jaekeliLike other weigeltisaurids the skull and lower jaws of Weigeltisaurus are covered in horns and tubercles including a horned cranial frill present on both the parietal and squamosal bones In contrast to the condition in Coelurosauravus and Glaurung where only tubercles are present on the parietal 7 The teeth are slightly heterodont with the front teeth being small and peg like while the back teeth are lance shaped and recurved 7 The hands and feet have elongate phalanges similar to those of extant arboreal lizards 7 At least 22 caudal vertebrae are present on the skeleton the posterior caudal vertebrae have elongated centra similar to those of extant lizards 7 A minimum of 24 pairs of elongate bony rods are present along the trunk of Weigeltisaurus They are not ribs but distinct bones dubbed patagials They have been proposed to represent either modified gastralia unmodified gastralia are also present on the skeleton or novel bone ossifications These rise in length posteriorly until the eighth and longest patagial with subsequent patagials gradually decreasing in size 7 Gliding Edit Artistic reconstruction of Weigeltisaurus jaekeliThe gliding membrane of weigeltisaurids is distinct from those of other gliding reptiles which originate from modified ribs originating from the upper lateral surface of the body In contrast in weigeltisaurids the rods originate from the lower lateral surface of the body The furling and unfurling of the gliding membrane were likely controlled by the abdominal muscles Preserved fossils show that the bony rods had a high degree of flexibility similar to the ribs of living gliding lizards Due to the low wing configuration it is likely that the gliding surface was angled upwards to increase stability 7 In living gliding lizards it has been found that the forelimbs grab hold of the front of the membrane during takeoff and are used to adjust the trajectory mid flight Similar behaviour has been proposed for weigeltisaurids 9 In a 2011 study comparing Coelurosauravus and other extinct gliding reptiles to modern Draco species Coelurosauravus was found to be a less efficient glider due to its larger body size with a steep descent angle of over 45 degrees and a consequent substantial drop in height per glide 7 10 Paleoenvironment EditThe Kupferschiefer and the equivalent Marl Slate is a marine unit that forms part of the Zechstein a sequence of rocks formed on the edge of the Zechstein Sea a large inland shallow sea that existed in Northern Europe during the Late Permian The environment at the time of deposition is considered to have been semi arid The terrestrial flora of the Zechstein is dominated by conifers with seed ferns also being common while taeniopterids ginkgophytes and sphenophytes are rare Other terrestrial vertebrates found in the Kupfershiefer and lower Zechstein include the fellow weigeltisaurid Glaurung the early archosauromorph Protorosaurus the pareiasaur Parasaurus the cynodont Procynosuchus and indeterminate captorhinids dicynodonts and dissorophid temnospondyls 11 12 13 References Edit Weigeltisaurus Kuhn 1939 Paleobiology Database Fossilworks Retrieved 17 December 2021 Evans Susan E Haubold Hartmut 1 July 1987 A review of the Upper Permian genera Coelurosauravus Weigeltisaurus and Gracilisaurus Reptilia Diapsida Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 90 3 275 303 doi 10 1111 j 1096 3642 1987 tb01356 x ISSN 0024 4082 Bulanov V V Sennikov A G 2015 Substantiation of Validity of the Late Permian Genus Weigeltisaurus Kuhn 1939 Reptilia Weigeltisauridae Paleontological Journal 49 10 1101 1111 doi 10 1134 S0031030115110039 S2CID 85660972 Pritchard Adam C Nesbitt Sterling J 2017 A bird like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida Royal Society Open Science 4 10 170499 Bibcode 2017RSOS 470499P doi 10 1098 rsos 170499 ISSN 2054 5703 PMC 5666248 PMID 29134065 Pritchard Adam C Sues Hans Dieter Scott Diane Reisz Robert R 2021 05 20 Osteology relationships and functional morphology of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli Diapsida Weigeltisauridae based on a complete skeleton from the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany PeerJ 9 e11413 doi 10 7717 peerj 11413 ISSN 2167 8359 PMC 8141288 PMID 34055483 a b Pettigrew T H 27 September 1979 A gliding reptile from the Upper Permian of North East England Nature 281 5729 297 298 Bibcode 1979Natur 281 297P doi 10 1038 281297a0 ISSN 1476 4687 S2CID 4283518 a b c d e f g h i Pritchard Adam C Sues Hans Dieter Scott Diane Reisz Robert R 2021 05 20 Osteology relationships and functional morphology of Weigeltisaurus jaekeli Diapsida Weigeltisauridae based on a complete skeleton from the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany PeerJ 9 e11413 doi 10 7717 peerj 11413 ISSN 2167 8359 PMC 8141288 PMID 34055483 a b Frey Eberhard Sues Hans Dieter Munk Wolfgang 7 March 1997 Gliding Mechanism in the Late Permian Reptile Coelurosauravus Science 275 5305 1450 1452 doi 10 1126 science 275 5305 1450 ISSN 1095 9203 S2CID 129834880 Dehling J Maximilian 2017 12 13 How lizards fly A novel type of wing in animals PLOS ONE 12 12 e0189573 Bibcode 2017PLoSO 1289573D doi 10 1371 journal pone 0189573 PMC 5728497 PMID 29236777 McGuire Jimmy A Dudley Robert 2011 12 01 The Biology of Gliding in Flying Lizards Genus Draco and their Fossil and Extant Analogs Integrative and Comparative Biology 51 6 983 990 doi 10 1093 icb icr090 ISSN 1540 7063 PMID 21798987 Bernardi Massimo Petti Fabio Massimo Kustatscher Evelyn Franz Matthias Hartkopf Froder Christoph Labandeira Conrad C Wappler Torsten Van Konijnenburg Van Cittert Johanna H A Peecook Brandon R Angielczyk Kenneth D 2017 12 01 Late Permian Lopingian terrestrial ecosystems A global comparison with new data from the low latitude Bletterbach Biota Earth Science Reviews 175 18 43 Bibcode 2017ESRv 175 18B doi 10 1016 j earscirev 2017 10 002 ISSN 0012 8252 S2CID 134260553 Witzmann Florian 2005 05 31 A dissorophid temnospondyl in the Upper Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany Neues Jahrbuch fur Geologie und Palaontologie Monatshefte 2005 5 289 300 doi 10 1127 njgpm 2005 2005 289 ISSN 0028 3630 Sues Hans Dieter Munk Wolfgang March 1996 A remarkable assemblage of terrestrial tetrapods from the Zechstein Upper Permian Tatarian near Korbach northwestern Hesse Palaontologische Zeitschrift 70 1 2 213 223 doi 10 1007 BF02988279 ISSN 0031 0220 S2CID 128465809 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Weigeltisaurus amp oldid 1139090440, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
