''Deltasaurus'' 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

Carnian The Carnian (less commonly, Karnian) is the lowermost stage of the Upper Triassic Series (or earliest age of the Late Triassic Epoch). It lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago (Ma). The Carnian is preceded by the Ladinian and is followed by t ...

temnospondyl Temnospondyli (from Greek language, Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') is a diverse order (biology), order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered Labyrinthodontia, primitive amphi ...

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

of the family

Rhytidosteidae Rhytidosteidae is a family of Temnospondyli that lived in the Permian and Triassic. Phylogeny Below is a cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations am ...

Taxonomy

The genus was erected in 1965 by John W. Cosgriff, when describing two new species discovered northwest Australia. The author recognised an affinity with other genera allied to the family

that had been uncovered in Africa, and proposed their arrangement to a new

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

Rhytidosteoidea Rhytidosteoidea is a superfamily of Temnospondyli Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') is a diverse order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive a ...

It is the most common animal fossil of the

Blina Shale Blina Shale is a fossil bearing geological formation located in the Kimberley region of Northwest Australia. The location is rich in deposits of vertebrate material, and the site of previously unknown Triassic species. Flora and invertebrate specie ...

, a fossil deposit at the eastern end of the Erskine Range in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. A specimen has also been collected from the Knocklofty Sandstone deposit in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The genus places two fossil taxa, '' Deltasaurus kimberleyensis'', 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 ...

which grew to around 90 centimetres in length, and '' Deltasaurus pustulatus'', also described by Cosgriff in 1965. The genus has been variously placed in subsequent arrangements, at one time as a familia Derwentiidae that separated the Australian taxa from ''

Indobrachyops ''Indobrachyops'' is an extinct genus of temnospondyl amphibian from the Early Triassic of India. It is known from a nearly complete fossil skull that was first described by paleontologists Friedrich von Huene and M. R. Sahni in 1958 from the Pan ...

'' found on the Indian subcontinent. A revision of the

(

Stereospondyli The Stereospondyli are a group of extinct temnospondyl amphibians that existed primarily during the Mesozoic period. They are known from all seven continents and were common components of many Triassic ecosystems, likely filling a similar ecologi ...

Trematosauria Trematosauria is one of two major groups of temnospondyl amphibians that survived the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the other (according to Yates and Warren 2000) being the Capitosauria. The trematosaurs were a diverse and important group th ...

) published in 2011 applied phylogenetic methodologies to reassess the relationships of the genera and submerged the Derwentiidae as a new subfamily of Rhytidosteidae that included the genus ''Indobrachyops'' as an eastern

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...

n grouping of Australian and Indian rhytidosteids.

Distribution

stereospondyl The Stereospondyli are a group of extinct temnospondyl amphibians that existed primarily during the Mesozoic period. They are known from all seven continents and were common components of many Triassic ecosystems, likely filling a similar ecologi ...

genus unearthed at sites located in

and

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

in shale deposits dated from the upper Permian to lower Triassic.

Description

A temnospondyl amphibian of the family Rhytidosteidae. It had four limbs and a tail, and numerous tiny teeth. It is thought to have been a predator of fish. ''Deltasaurus'' are distinguished from other Australia species of

by the straight side of the skull, rather than parabolic outline of '' Rewana quadricuneata'', '' Arcadia myriadens'' and '' Derwentia warreni''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3021943 Stereospondyls Amphibians of Western Australia Prehistoric amphibians of Australia Triassic temnospondyls of Australia Fossil taxa described in 1965