''Cherninia'' is an
extinct 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 nom ...
of
mastodonsaurid temnospondyl
Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') is a diverse order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished worldwide during the Carbo ...
. 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 specime ...
, ''Cherninia denwai'', is known from the
Denwa Formation
The Denwa is a river originating around Dhupgarh, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Denwa is a tributary of the Tawa, which is the largest tributary of Narmada River.
Among the complex of hills around Pachmarhi
Pachmarhi is a hill sta ...
of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It is based on a massive skull, ISI A 54, which was originally considered a species of ''
Parotosuchus
''Parotosuchus'' is an extinct genus of capitosaurian temnospondyl amphibians within the family Mastodonsauridae. Fossils are known from the Early Triassic of Europe, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. It was about long and likely lived in aqua ...
'' in 1998 before being given its own genus in 2001.
Another species, ''Cherninia megarhina'', is known from the Upper
Ntawere Formation
The Ntawere Formation is a Middle Triassic (Anisian) geological formation in Zambia, preserving fossils of synapsids, archosaurs, and temnospondyls.
Geology
Several different facies are present in the Ntawere Formation, reconstructing a floodp ...
of
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...
. ''C. megarhina'' is based on another large skull, BP/1/4223, which had also been previously referred to ''Parotosuchus''.
Though not as well-preserved as the skull of ''C. denwai'', BP/1/4233 was described earlier in 1974. It was described by Sharon Chernin, a paleontologist at the
Bernard Price Institute and the namesake of the genus.
References
Prehistoric amphibians of Africa
Triassic temnospondyls of Asia
Prehistoric amphibians of Asia
Fossil taxa described in 2001
Prehistoric amphibian genera
{{Triassic-animal-stub