Metaceratodus baibianorum, a new dipnoan species from the Upper Cretaceous of southern South America supported by traditional and geometric morphometric analyses

PANZERI, KAREN MAGALÍ; GOUIRIC CAVALLI, SOLEDAD; MUÑOZ, NAHUEL; ALBERTO LUIS CIONE

JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

SOC VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY

Lugar: Lawrence; Año: 2020

0272-4634

The Upper Cretaceous record of lungfishes from South America is abundant being mainly represented by tooth plates and their associated jaw bones. A new dipnoan species from the Upper Cretaceous of La Colonia Formation, Chubut Province, Argentina is here described. Metaceratodus baibianorum sp. nov. is diagnosed by a combination of features (tooth plates from medium to large size, inner angles located at the second cleft in upper tooth plates and at the second ridge in lower ones). Previously, some material of Metaceratodus baibianorum was referred as Metaceratodus wichmanni. However, by applying morphogeometric studies and a statistical analysis to compare means of independent samples, we support the decision that Metaceratodus baibianorum sp. nov. differs from the other species of similar age in Patagonia.