Austrobrachyops

Genus: Austrobrachyops COLBERT & COSGRIFF, 1974

Etymology: Austro, from Latin australis = south; brachy from Greek brachys = short; ops, from Greek ops = face.

Diagnosis: A brachypoid in which the posterior edge of the ascending ramus of the pterygoid bone possesses a distinct angle in the middle of its course, giving the stapedial fossa a quadrangular shape. This angle on the ascending ramus is surmounted by a longitudinal suprapterygoid crest. The ventrolateral corner of the stapedial fossa is incised by a groove for the internal carotid artery. The posterior border of the pterygoid corpus is diagonal to the skull midline.

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Species: A. jenseni COLBERT & COSGRIFF, 1974

Etymology: Named in honor of Dr. James Jensen who found the type specimen.

Holotype: AMNH 9346 - Left pterygoid bone lacking only a small part of its palatal ramus and its posterolateral corner and including the broken base of the epipterygoid bone fused to its dorsal surface.

Locality: Coalsack Bluff, Transantarctic Mountains, at approximately latitude 84' 15" S, longitude 162' 20"E, Queen Maud Mountains, East Antarctica, Antarctica.

Horizon: Lower part of the Fremouv Formation.

Age: Anisian, Early Middle Triassic.

Referred: AMNH 9301- a fragment of the articular region of a left lower jaw ramus.

Note: My belong to the Dicynodontia (WARREN & MARISCANO, 2000)

References: 

Colbert, E. H., and Cosgriff, J. W., 1974, Labyrinthodont Amphibians from Antarctica: American Museum Novitates, n. 2552, p. 1-30.

Warren, A. A., and Marsicano, C., 2000, A phylogeny of the brachyopoidea (Temnospondyli, Stereospondyli): Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, v. 20, n. 3, p. 462-483.

Austrobrachyops jensei holotype, left pterygoid, dorsal view.