New Permian fauna from tropical Gondwana

CISNEROS, JUAN; MARSICANO, CLAUDIA; ANGIELCZYK, KEN; SMITH, ROGER; RICHTER, MARTHA; FROBISCH, JORG; KAMMERER, CHRISTIAN

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Nature

Año: 2015

2041-1723

Terrestrial vertebrates are first known to colonize high-latitude regions during the middlePermian (Guadalupian) about 270 million years ago, following the Pennsylvanian Gondwanancontinental glaciation. However, despite over 150 years of study in these areas, the biogeographicorigins of these rich communities of land-dwelling vertebrates remain obscure.Here we report on a new early Permian continental tetrapod fauna from South America intropical Western Gondwana that sheds new light on patterns of tetrapod distribution.Northeastern Brazil hosted an extensive lacustrine system inhabited by a unique communityof temnospondyl amphibians and reptiles that considerably expand the known temporal andgeographic ranges of key subgroups. Our findings demonstrate that tetrapod groups commonin later Permian and Triassic temperate communities were already present in tropicalGondwana by the early Permian (Cisuralian). This new fauna constitutes a new biogeographicprovince with North American affinities and clearly demonstrates that tetrapod dispersal intoGondwana was already underway at the beginning of the Permian.