Short Communication the Osteology and Affinities of Anomoiodon Liliensterni, a Procolophonid Reptile from the Lower Triassic Bundsandstein of Germany

The procolophonid reptile Anomoiodon liliensterni was found in the Triassic Bundsandstein of Thuringia, Germany, from the lower layers of the Chirotherium sandstone horizon in the summer of 1937 by a local bricklayer (Huene, 1939). Anomoiodon is represented by a specimen that consists of two closely associated skeletons that are preserved as natural molds in a block of medium-grained sandstone (Fig. 1A). These skeletons were described in 1939 from plaster casts, which revealed little detail (Huene 1939) and subsequently the original specimen was misplaced. This was unfortunate because interest in Anomoiodon has been renewed after suggestions that it might be the senior synonym of Kapes (Spencer and Storrs, 2002). The latter genus is known from several specimens from the Triassic of both Russia and the United Kingdom, where it has been used as an informal stratigraphic index taxon (Spencer and Benton, 2000; Spencer and Storrs, 2002). Fortunately, the natural molds of the Anomoiodon skeletons recently resurfaced in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, and high-fidelity silicone rubber casts of the specimen were produced (Fig. 1B). These reveal the anatomy of Anomoiodon in considerably more detail than was available in 1939, allowing a comprehensive comparison with Kapes and the inclusion of Anomoiodon into a phylogenetic analysis of Procolophonoidea. A formal diagnosis for Anomoiodon liliensterni is also provided for the first time. Institutional Abbreviations—BP, Bernard Price Institute for Paleontological Research, University of the Witwaterstrand, Johannesburg; MB.R, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin; PIN, Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow; SAM, Iziko; South African Museum, Cape Town.