A new Middle Triassic arboreal reptile fauna from the Voltziensandstein (Grès à Voltzia) and the recovery of forest ecosystems

Voltziensandstein (Gres à Voltzia) 的新中三叠世树栖爬行动物动物群和森林生态系统的恢复

• 批准号: 467348773
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Rainer Schoch
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart - Zentrum für Biodiversitätsforschung
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/467348773?language=en
• 关键词: new; Middle; Triassic; arboreal; reptile

The Triassic was an important phase for the evolution of life, within which a gradual recovery of the global ecosystems after the Permian-Triassic extinction took place. During this time interval, reptiles experienced major evolutionary radiations in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. One of the least understood terrestrial communities were those of forest ecosystems, which were slowly re-established by early Middle Triassic time. An exceptional suite of fossillagerstätten preserving such ecosystems is the Voltziensandstein (Grès à Voltzia) of Alsace (France). This rock sequence yielded rich floras, diverse arthropod and fish faunas, and two undescribed reptile taxa collected by Louis Grauvogel in the 20th century. One of the latter, taxon A, is present with 83 specimens, including two articulated skeletons with well-preserved skull material. This 15 cm long diapsid reptile preserves features in the limbs that are believed to correlate with arboreal climbing, and the skeletons preserve extensive integumentary structures. These include stiffened epidermal structures that might be interpreted as either display features or components of a gliding or flying apparatus.The envisioned project focuses on the reptiles of the Grès à Voltzia, their anatomy and phylogenetic position, mode of life, and ecological relations within the forest habitat. It integrates data on (1) the morphology of the new reptile taxa A and B, (2) the fossillagerstätten at which they occur, and (3) the preserved rich flora and fish, mollusc and arthropod fauna of these localities in order to understand the interactions between these highly unusual forest-dwelling reptiles and the paleoecological context in which they lived. This requires a detailed analysis and some new acquisition of the available data on the Grauvogel collection on the Grès à Voltzia. Principal goals of the project are (1) to document the morphology of the new reptile taxa A and B (including CT data), (2) elucidate their phylogenetic position, (3) examine the climbing adaptations in these taxa, (4) study the habitat and putative ecological traits of these reptiles and finally (5) analyze the function of the integumentary and skeletal structures in order to decide between the two competing hypotheses: (a) an aerial gliding mechanism or (b) an elaborate display structure.

三叠纪是生命进化的一个重要阶段，在二叠纪-三叠纪灭绝之后，全球生态系统逐渐恢复，爬行动物在海洋、淡水和陆地环境中经历了重大的进化辐射。最不为人所知的陆地群落是森林生态系统，它们在中三叠世早期慢慢重建，保存此类生态系统的一套特殊的化石群落是森林生态系统。阿尔萨斯（法国）的 Voltziensandstein (Grès à Voltzia) 岩石序列产生了丰富的植物群、多样化的节肢动物和鱼类动物群，以及 Louis Grauvogel 在 20 世纪收集的两个未描述的爬行动物类群，其中之一是分类单元 A。 83 个标本，包括两具保存完好的头骨材料的铰接式骨骼。这种 15 厘米长的双孔类爬行动物保留了特征。在被认为与树栖攀爬相关的四肢中，骨骼保留了广泛的外皮结构，其中包括可能被解释为滑翔或飞行装置的显示特征或组件的硬化表皮结构。 Grès à Voltzia，它们的解剖学和系统发育位置、生活方式，以及森林栖息地内的生态关系的整合。其数据涉及 (1) 新爬行动物类群 A 和的形态。 B，(2) 它们出现的化石群，以及 (3) 这些地点保存下来的丰富的植物群和鱼类、软体动物和节肢动物群，以便了解这些极不寻常的森林爬行动物与其中的古生态环境之间的相互作用这需要对 Grès à Voltzia 的 Grauvogel 收藏品进行详细分析并获取一些新的数据。该项目的主要目标是 (1) 记录。新爬行动物类群 A 和 B 的形态（包括 CT 数据），(2) 阐明其系统发育位置，(3) 检查这些类群的攀爬适应性，(4) 研究这些爬行动物的栖息地和假定的生态特征，最后（5）分析外皮和骨骼结构的功能，以便在两个相互竞争的假设之间做出决定：（a）空中滑翔机制或（b）精心设计的展示结构。