''Cherninia'' is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of mastodonsaurid

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

known from the Denwa Formation of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and the Ntawere Formation of

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Discovery and species

The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

, ''Cherninia denwai'', is known from the Denwa Formation. 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 temnospondyls 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 aquatic envir ...

'' in 1998 before being given its own genus in 2001. Another species, ''Cherninia megarhina'', is known from the Upper Ntawere Formation. ''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.

Description

''Cherninia denwai'' was initially described on the basis of cranial material from the Denwa Formation. A redescription in 2024 described new material from the Denwa Formation referred to ''C''. ''denwai''. This new material consists of a partial skull, a mandible, clavicles, interclavicles, vertebrae, neural arches and spines, ulnae, an ilium, a femur, and a fibula, which sum up to roughly 80 individual skeletal elements. ''C''. ''denwai'' can be distinguished from ''C.'' ''megarhina'', the second known species of ''Cherninia'', by short and narrow postparietals, the presence of a septomaxilla, both anteriorly and posteriorly pointed interpterygoid vacuities, lack of parasphenoid groove, lack of occipital sensory canal, posteriorly directed and distally recurved tabular horns, the deeply concave occipital margin of the skull and the posteriorly broad otic. ''C''. ''denwai'' 's skull roof possessed conspicuous, paired and forked ridges anterior to the orbits. The otic notch is angular and the tabular horns are posteriorly directed and are recurved distally. The mandible is slender with a distinct post glenoid area and a well-developed, hamate process. The prearticular is separated from the splenial by the dentary and the coronoid series. The hemi-mandible is low. In labial view, the angular shows well-defined ornamentation that becomes feeble on the postsplenial. A well-developed mandibular sulcus is found in the posterior part of the hemi-mandible, and the oral sulcus extends all the way to the dentary.

Paleoenvironment

The type species is known from the

Middle Triassic In the geologic timescale, the Middle Triassic is the second of three epoch (geology), epochs of the Triassic period (geology), period or the middle of three series (stratigraphy), series in which the Triassic system (stratigraphy), system is di ...

Denwa Formation of Satpura Gondwana Basin, Central India. Mastodonsaurids are common in the Formation. The Formation comprises os heterolithic deposits encompassing sequences of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from ''shale'' by its lack of fissility.Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.'' New York, New York, ...

. The prevailing paleoenvironment of the Formation is a fluvio-lacustrine habitat, which would have contributed to a larger braided river system. The Denwa Formation is notable for its abundance of Triassic vertebrate fossils.

Temnospondyli Temnospondyli (from Greek τέμνειν, ''temnein'' 'to cut' and σπόνδυλος, ''spondylos'' 'vertebra') or temnospondyls is a diverse ancient order of small to giant tetrapods—often considered primitive amphibians—that flourished ...

are common, including other mastodonsaurids such as ''Paracyclotosaurus crookshanki''., lonchorhynchine trematosaurids and brachyopids. '' Ceratodus'', the horned archosauromorph '' Shringasaurus',''

Rhynchosaur Rhynchosaurs are a group of extinct herbivorous Triassic archosauromorph reptiles, belonging to the order Rhynchosauria. Members of the group are distinguished by their triangular skulls and elongated, beak like premaxillary bones. Rhynchosaurs ...

s''Bandyopadhyay, S. 1999. Gondwana vertebrate faunas of India. ''Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy'', 65A, 285–313.'' and large and medium sized dicynodonts are also known.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5092056 Capitosauria Triassic temnospondyls of Africa Triassic temnospondyls of Asia Fossil taxa described in 2001