''Glaurung'' 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 weigeltisaurid reptile from the Upper

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The only known species is ''Glaurung schneideri''. Originally considered a specimen of ''

Coelurosauravus ''Coelurosauravus'' (meaning "hollow-tailed lizard grandfather") is an extinct genus of gliding reptile, known from the Late Permian of Madagascar. Like other members of the family Weigeltisauridae, members of this genus possessed long, rod-like ...

'', a later study named it as a new genus after noting that it had several unique characteristics relative to other weigeltisaurids. These characteristics included a low skull, small eyes, smooth parietal and

squamosal The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones form the cheek series of the skull. The bone forms an ancestra ...

bones, and spiny

jugal The jugal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians and birds. In mammals, the jugal is often called the malar or zygomatic. It is connected to the quadratojugal and maxilla, as well as other bones, which may vary by species. Anatomy ...

bones.

Discovery

''Glaurung schneideri'' is known from a slab and counterslab discovered in 2002 by fossil collector Thomas Schneider. It was found in Late

Kupferschiefer The Kupferschiefer (German for Copper Shale, Copper Schist or Copper Slate) or Kupfermergel (Copper Marl), (T1 or Z1) is an extensive and remarkable sedimentary unit in Central Europe. The relatively monotonous succession is typically and maximu ...

sediments near

Mansfeld Mansfeld (), sometimes also unofficially Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, is a town in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Protestant reformator Martin Luther grew up in Mansfeld, and in 1993 the town became one of sixteen places ...

. Although the original specimen remains in Schneider's private collection, there are several casts in European museums, such as MBR 3610 (stored at the Museum fur Naturkunde in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

) and PIN 5392/1 (stored at the Paleontological Institute in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

). The specimen consists of a flattened skull as well as material from the pectoral girdle, forelimbs, vertebrae, and gliding structures (termed "patagial spurs"). Although it was originally referred to ''Coelurosauravus'' by Schaumberg, Unwin, & Brandt (2007), it was later given its own genus and species by Bulanov & Sennikov (2015). The genus is named after

Glaurung J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium features dragons based on those of European legend, but going beyond them in having personalities of their own, such as the wily Smaug, who has features of both Fafnir and the ''Beowulf'' dragon. ...

, the fictional ancestor of all

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s in

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

's Middle Earth legendarium. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

honors Thomas Schneider.

Description

Like other weigeltisaurids, ''Glaurung'' possessed bony extensions on the side of the body which probably supported a patagial membrane, allowing it to glide. In addition, bones at the rear of the skull formed a distinctive crest similar to that of other members of the family. Most of its distinguishing qualities (compared to other members of the family) relate to the structure of this crest. The crest manifested as two large, rectangular horns which projected straight back. These horns were extensions of the

parietal bone The parietal bones ( ) are two bones in the skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint known as a cranial suture, form the sides and roof of the neurocranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four bord ...

s, known as caudal processes. The parietal bones also formed the part of the skull between the base of the horns and above the braincase. The caudal processes were long and quite wide, with each horn almost as wide as the distance between them. Apart from small ridges and bumps along their anterolateral (front and outer) edge, the horns were rather unornamented, without the large spines present on the parietals of other weigeltisaurids. The caudal process of each parietal defined the upper edge of a large hole in the skull known as the temporal fenestra, while the rear edge of this hole was formed by the

squamosal bone The squamosal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In fishes, it is also called the pterotic bone. In most tetrapods, the squamosal and quadratojugal bones form the cheek series of the skull. The bone forms an ancestral ...

. Like the parietals' caudal processes, the squamosals were similarly widened and relatively unornamented. On the other hand, the

(cheek bone) had large, conical spines with rounded tips. Although a lack of spines on the parietals and squamosals may indicate that the ''Glaurung'' specimens were juveniles, the well-developed jugal spines indicates that a more likely explanation is that they were legitimate distinguishing features of adult members of the genus. The

orbits In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an physical body, object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an satellite, artificia ...

(eye sockets) were relatively small. The

postorbital bone The ''postorbital'' is one of the bones in vertebrate skulls which forms a portion of the dermal skull roof and, sometimes, a ring about the orbit. Generally, it is located behind the postfrontal and posteriorly to the orbital fenestra. In some ...

, which formed the upper rear edge of each orbit, also had a rear branch which underscored a portion of the parietal horns and formed part of the upper edge of the temporal fenestra. The teeth were fewer in number compared to other weigeltisaurids, and the teeth towards the rear part of the mouth were flattened near their tips. Based on the small size of the orbits, their elevated position relative to the rest of the skull), and the wideness of the squamosals, it is likely that ''Glaurung'' had a lower, broader skull than other known weigeltisaurids. Bulanov & Sennikov (2015) considered ''Glaurung'' to be so distinctive (compared to other weigeltisaurids) that they placed it in its own subfamily, Glaurunginae.

Paleoenvironment

The Kupferschiefer is a marine unit that forms part of the

Zechstein The Zechstein ( German either from ''mine stone'' or ''tough stone'') is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Late Permian ( Lopingian) age located in the European Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland. T ...

, a sequence of rocks formed on the edge of the Zechstein Sea, a large inland shallow sea that existed in Northern Europe during the Late Permian. The environment at the time of deposition is considered to have been

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

. The terrestrial flora of the Zechstein is dominated by conifers, with

seed ferns Pteridospermatophyta, also called pteridosperms or seed ferns, are a polyphyletic grouping of extinct Spermatophyte, seed-producing plants. The earliest fossil evidence for plants of this type are the Lyginopteridales, lyginopterids of late Devon ...

also being common, while taeniopterids, ginkgophytes and sphenophytes are rare. Other terrestrial vertebrates found in the Kupfershiefer and lower Zechstein include the fellow weigeltisaurid ''

Weigeltisaurus ''Weigeltisaurus'' is an extinct genus of weigeltisaurid reptile from the Late Permian Kupferschiefer of Germany and Marl Slate of England. It has a single species, originally named as ''Palaechamaeleo jaekeli'' in 1930 and later assigned the na ...

,'' the early archosauromorph ''

Protorosaurus ''Protorosaurus'' (from , 'earlier' and , 'lizard') is an extinct genus of reptile. Members of the genus lived during the late Permian period in what is now Germany and Great Britain. Once believed to have been an ancestor to lizards, ''Protoro ...

'', the

pareiasaur Pareiasaurs (meaning "cheek lizards") are an extinct clade of large, herbivorous parareptiles. Members of the group were armoured with osteoderms which covered large areas of the body. They first appeared in southern Pangea during the Middle Per ...

Parasaurus ''Parasaurus'' (meaning "near lizard") is a genus of pareiasaur known from fossils collected in the Kupferschiefer in Germany (Hesse, Thuringia and Lower Saxony), dating to the Late Permian (Wuchiapingian). The type species, ''Parasaurus geinitz ...

,'' the

cynodont Cynodontia () is a clade of eutheriodont therapsids that first appeared in the Late Permian (approximately 260 Megaannum, mya), and extensively diversified after the Permian–Triassic extinction event. Mammals are cynodonts, as are their extin ...

Procynosuchus ''Procynosuchus'' (Greek: "Before dog crocodile") is an extinct genus of cynodonts from the Late Permian. It is considered to be one of the earliest and most basal (phylogenetics), basal cynodonts. It was 60 cm (2 ft) long. Remains of ...

,'' and indeterminate

captorhinids Captorhinidae is an extinct family of tetrapods, traditionally considered primitive reptiles, known from the late Carboniferous to the Late Permian. They had a cosmopolitan distribution across Pangea. Description Captorhinids are a clade of sm ...

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, t ...

s, and dissorophid

temnospondyls 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 wo ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q63847962 Prehistoric reptile genera Weigeltisauridae Lopingian reptiles of Europe Fossils of Germany Kupferschiefer Fossil taxa described in 2015