Liliensternus liliensterni (F. Huene, 1934 )

Liliensternus liliensterni (F. Huene, 1934)

Syntypes.

MB. R. 2175 , association of disarticulated and commingled skeletal remains of two individuals. Welles (1984) selected the larger skeleton as the lectotype, but this selection is arbitrary because the bones of the two individuals cannot be readily separated from each other. Kirmse et al. (2024) noted that the neurocentral sutures are still open and the sacral vertebrae are only partially fused. These features suggest that the syntypes represent somatically immature individuals.

Type locality.

Grosser Gleichberg, SW of Hildburghausen, Thuringia.

Type horizon.

Top of Arnstadt Formation, Middle Keuper Subgroup. Age: Late Triassic (Norian: Sevatian).

Referred material.

Still unpublished cranial and postcranial remains of several individuals from the Trossingen Formation of Ellingen in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district of Bavaria belong to Liliensternus liliensterni or a closely related taxon ( Kirmse et al. 2024). This material represents large, presumably adult individuals, with estimated total lengths between 7 and at least 9 m. Potentially diagnostic features shared with the syntypes from Thuringia include the ridges and keels on the cervical vertebrae and and the denticle pattern on the maxillary tooth crowns ( Kirmse et al. 2024).

Diagnosis.

A comprehensive diagnosis must await a detailed reassessment of the syntypes and recently referred specimens that is currently in progress. Ezcurra and Cuny (2007) listed the absence of the centrodiapophyseal lamina extending from the diapophysis to the posterodorsal corner of the cervical centrum and the absence of a posterior pleurocoel on the anterior cervical vertebrae as distinctive for Liliensternus liliensterni .

Comments.

F. Huene (1934) named this taxon Halticosaurus liliensterni , but it lacks apomorphies that would relate it to the poorly known Halticosaurus longotarsus . Welles (1984) proposed a new genus Liliensternus for its reception. Phylogenetic analyses by Ezcurra (2017) and Kirmse et al. (2024) recovered Liliensternus liliensterni as a stem-averostran rather than as a coelophysoid.

References.

F. Huene (1934), Welles (1984), Rauhut and Hungerbühler (2000), Ezcurra and Cuny (2007), Ezcurra (2017), Kirmse et al. (2024).