A new typothoracine aetosaur (Archosauria, Pseudosuchia) from the Upper Triassic of India with insights on biostratigraphy, diversification, and paleobiogeography

A new typothoracine aetosaur is described based on multiple isolated and articulated left paramedian and lateral osteoderms recovered from the Upper Triassic lower Dharmaram Formation of India. The partial carapace of the new taxon is reconstructed as strongly discoidal based on the curvature of the paramedian osteoderms with the widest one positioned dorsal to the mid-dorsal trunk vertebra. Asymmetric lateral osteoderms with acute flexion are considered as precaudals with the angle of flexion decreasing posteriorly. Phylogenetic analysis recovered the new taxon as deeply nested within the clades Typothoracinae and Paratypothoracini, and a sister taxon to Kocurypelta silvestris. The autapomorphic characters involving paramedian osteoderms dorsal to the trunk vertebrae include dorsal surface ornamented by large, irregular pits surrounding the dorsal eminence and radiating ridges in other areas, straight anterior margin of the anteromedial corner of the anterior bar in dorsal view, and raised or ridged and ornamented posteromedial corner. The current study highlights the significance of the new aetosaur, and the age of the lower Dharamaram Formation is modified here as mid-Norian to Rhaetian based on global correlation with other coeval horizons. The recovery of this taxon marks the first record of Paratypothoracini from high paleolatitudes of the Gondwanan region. The study corroborates the earlier findings of a strong Laurasian faunal influx in India during the Late Triassic suggesting possible land bridges and/or conducive environmental conditions for faunal dispersal.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FCC37C0E-107F-4B15-9460-4E802B465865