''Antarctanax'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...
of basal
archosauriform
Archosauriformes (Greek for 'ruling lizards', and Latin for 'form') is a clade of diapsid reptiles that developed from archosauromorph ancestors some time in the Latest Permian (roughly 252 million years ago). It was defined by Jacques Gauthie ...
that during the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
lived in
Antarctica
Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest co ...
. The
type species
In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...
is ''Antarctanax shackletoni''. It was a reptile around the size of an
iguana
''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described in 1768 by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti in his ...
.
Discovery and naming
During a paleontological expedition to the
Transantarctic Mountains
The Transantarctic Mountains (abbreviated TAM) comprise a mountain range of uplifted (primarily sedimentary) rock in Antarctica which extend, with some interruptions, across the continent from Cape Adare in northern Victoria Land to Coats Land. ...
in 2010 and 2011, a small skeleton was discovered at the
Graphite Peak.
In 2019, the type species ''Antarctanax shackletoni'' was named and described by Brandon Robert Peecook, Roger Malcolm Harris Smith and
Christian Alfred Sidor. The generic name combines a reference to Antarctica — itself derived from Greek ''anti'', "opposite of", and ''arktikos'', "of the
Bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the N ...
" — with a Greek ''anax'', "ruler", a reference to the
Archosauria, the "Ruling Reptiles". The
specific name honours
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of A ...
, the polar explorer who named the
Beardmore Glacier
The Beardmore Glacier in Antarctica is one of the largest valley glaciers in the world, being long and having a width of . It descends about from the Antarctic Plateau to the Ross Ice Shelf and is bordered by the Commonwealth Range of the Que ...
which runs along the Graphite Peak.
The
holotype
A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...
, UWBM 95531, was found in a layer of the lower
Fremouw Formation, which dates to the Early Triassic. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It contains eight vertebrae of the neck or back, ribs, the left humerus, all five metatarsals of the left foot, phalanges, among them the claws, of the left foot, and the almost complete right foot. Apart from the feet, the skeleton is largely disarticulated. It represents an adult individual.
Description
''Antarctanax'' was about the size of an iguana, long.
The describing authors indicated a unique combination of traits that in themselves are not unique. These traits prove that ''Antarctanax'' is a distinct
taxon
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
. The cervicodorsal vertebrae, those spanning the rear neck and front back, have per side a ''lamina centrodiapophysealis anterior'', a ridge running on the front underside of the side process towards the vertebral body. The cervicodorsal vertebrae have per side a ''lamina prezygodiapophysealis'', a ridge running from the side process to the front articulation process. The cervicodorsal vertebrae have per side a ''lamina postzygodiapophysealis'', a ridge running from the side process to the rear articulation process. The cervicodorsal vertebrae lack a ''lamina centrodiapophyseal posterior'', a ridge running on the rear underside of the side process towards the vertebral body. The neck vertebrae have no keels on the underside. The neck vertebrae have deep pits to the side of the base of the
neural spine
The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates,Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristic ...
. The back vertebrae have deep pits to the side of the base of the neural spine. The fourth
metatarsal
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the med ...
is more than 30% longer than the third metatarsal.
Phylogeny
''Antarctanax'' was, within the larger
Archosauromorpha
Archosauromorpha ( Greek for "ruling lizard forms") is a clade of diapsid reptiles containing all reptiles more closely related to archosaurs (such as crocodilians and dinosaurs, including birds) rather than lepidosaurs (such as tuataras, li ...
, placed in the Archosauriformes. A
cladistic
Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived ch ...
analysis showed that it had a more derived position than the
Proterosuchidae
Proterosuchidae is an early family of basal archosauriforms whose fossils are known from the Latest Permian and the Early Triassic of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and possibly South America. The name comes from Greek πρότερο- ("first") ...
. It was in a
polytomy
An internal node of a phylogenetic tree is described as a polytomy or multifurcation if (i) it is in a rooted tree and is linked to three or more child subtrees or (ii) it is in an unrooted tree and is attached to four or more branches. A tr ...
with ''
Fugusuchus
''Fugusuchus'' is an extinct genus of archosauriform, probably the basal-most member of the family Erythrosuchidae. The genus is known from a single fossil from the middle Early Triassic Heshanggou Formation in Shanxi, China. The partial skelet ...
'' and ''
Sarmatosuchus'', all three forms being more basal than ''
Cuyosuchus'', the
Erythrosuchidae
Erythrosuchidae (meaning "red crocodiles" in Greek) are a family of large basal archosauriform carnivores that lived from the later Early Triassic (Olenekian) to the early Middle Triassic (Anisian).
Naming
The family Erythrosuchidae was named by ...
and the
Eucrocopoda
Archosauriformes (Greek for 'ruling lizards', and Latin for 'form') is a clade of diapsid reptiles that developed from archosauromorph ancestors some time in the Latest Permian (roughly 252 million years ago). It was defined by Jacques Gauthie ...
.
The derived position of ''Antarctanax'' indicates that several more basal archosauromorph groups must have
ghost lineages dating back to the
Late Permian
Late may refer to:
* LATE, an acronym which could stand for:
** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia
** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law
** Local average treatment effect, ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q61498546
Prehistoric archosauriforms
Early Triassic reptiles
Prehistoric reptiles of Antarctica
Triassic Antarctica
Fossils of Antarctica
Fossil taxa described in 2019
Prehistoric reptile genera