''Vitalia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

genus of reptile from the Early Triassic (late Olenekian stage) of

European Russia European Russia (russian: Европейская Россия, russian: европейская часть России, label=none) is the western and most populated part of Russia. It is geographically situated in Europe, as opposed to the cou ...

known from the type species ''V. grata''. It is known from the holotype dentary PIN 4173/126 (SGU 104/3105) as well as two additional dentaries PIN 1043/627 and 1043/628, all housed at the Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. The type dentary was originally included in the hypodigm of '' Coelodontognathus donensis'' named by the notable Russian vertebrate paleontologist Vitaliy Georgiyevich Ochev in 1967. Ivakhnenko (1973) separated the specimen and gave it its own genus and species name in light of the new material, which he named in honor of Ochev. The dentaries of ''Vitalia'' were collected at the Donskaya Luka Locality near the village of Sirotinskaya in

Ilovlinsky District Ilovlinsky District (russian: Иловли́нский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #139-OD district (raion), one of the thirty-three in Volgograd Oblast, Russia. As a municipal division, it is incorporated as Ilovlinsky Municipal Distri ...

Volgograd Oblast Volgograd Oblast (russian: Волгогра́дская о́бласть, ''Volgogradskaya oblast'') is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the Volga region, Volga region of Southern Russia. Its adminis ...

, from the

Lipovskaya Formation The Yarenskian Gorizont (geology), Gorizont ("Yarenskian Horizon") is a major biostratigraphic unit in Russia corresponding to Upper Olenekian-age terrestrial sediments. It lies above the Ustmylian Gorizont of the Vetlugian Supergorizont, and is lo ...

of the Gamskii Horizon. Like ''Coelodontognathus'', ''Vitalia'' was originally described as a procolophonid parareptile in 1973, but Arkhangelskii & Sennikov (2008) reclassified the taxon as a possible

trilophosaurid Trilophosaurs are lizard-like Triassic allokotosaur reptiles related to the archosaurs. The best known genus is ''Trilophosaurus'', a herbivore up to long. It had a short, unusually heavily built skull, equipped with massive, broad flattened che ...

archosauromorph. ''Vitalia'' is thought to be similar to the possible trilophosaurids ''

Coelodontognathus ''Coelodontognathus'' is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Triassic (late Olenekian stage) of European Russia. It was originally described as a procolophonid parareptile in 1967 but was reclassified as a possible trilophosaurid archosaur ...

'' and ''

Doniceps ''Doniceps'' is an extinct genus of reptile from the Early Triassic (late Olenekian stage) of European Russia known from the type species ''D. lipovensis''. It was solely known from the holotype premaxilla 104/3106 housed at Saratov University, ...

'', both of which are known exclusively from the same locality. ''Coelodontognathus'' and ''Vitalia'' are similar to procolophonids in that they have wide teeth but differs from them in that they have tooth roots set deep into the jaws.

References

Allokotosaurs Prehistoric reptile genera Olenekian genera Early Triassic reptiles of Europe Triassic Russia Fossils of Russia Fossil taxa described in 1973 {{triassic-reptile-stub