Cherninia

{{Short description|Extinct genus of temnospondyls}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Middle [[Triassic]] {{Fossil range|247.0|242.0}} | image = Cherninia12.jpg | image_caption = Life restoration of ''Cherninia denwai'' | taxon = Cherninia | authority = Damiani, 2001 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * {{extinct}}'''''C. denwai''''' <small>Mukherjee & Sengupta, 1998 ([[type species|type]])</small> * {{extinct}}'''''C. megarhina''''' <small>Chernin & Cosgriff, 1975</small> }}

'''''Cherninia''''' is an [[Extinction|extinct]] [[genus]] of [[Mastodonsauridae|mastodonsaurid]] [[temnospondyl]] known from the [[Denwa Formation]] of [[India]] and the [[Ntawere Formation]] of [[Zambia]].

== Discovery and species ==

The [[type species]], ''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]]'' in 1998<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=Mukherjee|first1=Ram Narayan|last2=Sengupta|first2=Dhurjati Prasad|date=1998-01-01|title=New capitosaurid amphibians from the Triassic Denwa Formation of the Satpura Gondwana Basin, central India|journal=Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology|volume=22|issue=4|pages=317–327|doi=10.1080/03115519808619330|bibcode=1998Alch...22..317M |issn=0311-5518}}</ref> before being given its own genus in 2001.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Damiani|first=Ross J.|date=2001-12-01|title=A systematic revision and phylogenetic analysis of Triassic mastodonsauroids (Temnospondyli: Stereospondyli)|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|language=en|volume=133|issue=4|pages=379–482|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2001.tb00635.x|issn=0024-4082|doi-access=free}}</ref>

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''.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Damiani|first=Ross J.|date=2001|title=Cranial anatomy of the giant Middle Triassic temnospondyl ''Cherninia megarhina'' and a review of feeding in mastodonsaurids|url=http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/16366/2001.V37.DAMIANI.CRANIAL%20ANATOMY%20CHERNINIA.pdf|journal=Palaeontologia Africana|volume=37|pages=41–52}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Peecook|first1=Brandon R.|last2=Steyer|first2=J. Sébastien|last3=Tabor|first3=Neil J.|last4=Smith|first4=Roger M. H.|date=2017-11-29|title=Updated geology and vertebrate paleontology of the Triassic Ntawere Formation of northeastern Zambia, with special emphasis on the archosauromorphs|journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology|volume=37|issue=sup1|pages=8–38|doi=10.1080/02724634.2017.1410484|bibcode=2017JVPal..37S...8P |s2cid=133878741|issn=0272-4634}}</ref> 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 [[Evolutionary Studies Institute|Bernard Price Institute]] and the namesake of the genus.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chernin|first=Sharon|date=1974|title=Capitosaurid amphibians from the Upper Luangwa Valley, Zambia|url=http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/16048/1974.V17.CHERNIN.CAPITOSAURID%20AMPHIBIANS%20UPPER%20LUANGWA.pdf|journal=Palaeontologia Africana|volume=17|pages=29–55}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Chernin|first1=S.|last2=Cosgriff|first2=J.W.|date=1975|title=Further consideration of the capitosaurids from the Upper Luangwa Valley, Zambia|url=http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/16281/1975.V18.CHERNIN_AND_COSGRIFF.CAPITOSAURIDS%20FROM%20UPPER%20LUANGWA.pdf?sequence=1|journal=Palaeontologia Africana|volume=18|pages=143–148}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

== 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.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last1=Roy |first1=Pummy |last2=Chakravorti |first2=Sanjukta |last3=Sengupta |first3=Dhurjati Prasad |date=2024-12-30 |title=Osteology and revised diagnosis of Cherninia denwai from the Middle Triassic Denwa Formation, Satpura Gondwana Basin, Central India |url=https://fr.pensoft.net/article/135664/ |journal=Fossil Record |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=423–443 |doi=10.3897/fr.27.135664 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2024FossR..27..423R |issn=2193-0074}}</ref>

''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.<ref name=":3" />

''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.<ref name=":3" />

==Paleoenvironment== The type species is known from the [[Middle Triassic]] [[Denwa Formation]] of Satpura Gondwana Basin, Central India. Mastodonsaurids are common in the Formation.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last1=Bandyopadhyay |first1=Saswati |last2=Sengupta |first2=Dhurjati P. |date=1999-07-01 |title=Middle Triassic vertebrates of India |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0899536299000937 |journal=Journal of African Earth Sciences |series=Gondwana-10: Event Stratigraphy of Gondwana, Proceedings volume 1 |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=233–241 |doi=10.1016/S0899-5362(99)00093-7 |bibcode=1999JAfES..29..233B |issn=1464-343X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The Formation comprises os heterolithic deposits encompassing sequences of [[sandstone]] and [[mudstone]].<ref name=":3" /> 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]] are common, including other [[Mastodonsauridae|mastodonsaurids]] such as [[Paracyclotosaurus|''Paracyclotosaurus crookshanki'']].,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bandyopadhyay |first1=Saswati |last2=Ray |first2=Sanghamitra |date=2020-03-01 |title=Gondwana Vertebrate Faunas of India: Their Diversity and Intercontinental Relationships |journal=Episodes Journal of International Geoscience |language=en |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=438–460 |doi=10.18814/epiiugs/2020/020028|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Lonchorhynchinae|lonchorhynchine]] [[Trematosauridae|trematosaurids]]<ref name=":4" /><ref>Welles, S.P., 1993. A review of the Lonchorhynchinae trematosaurs (Labyrinthodontia), and a description of a new genus and species from the Lower Moenkopi Formation of Arizona. Palaeobios 14 (3), l-24.</ref> and [[Brachyopidae|brachyopids]].<ref name=":4" /> ''[[Ceratodus]]'',<ref name=":4" /> the horned [[Archosauromorpha|archosauromorph]] ''[[Shringasaurus]]''<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=SENGUPTA |first1=SARADEE |last2=SENGUPTA |first2=DHURJATI P. |date=2021-11-24 |title=TAPHONOMY AND DEPOSITIONAL SETTING OF THE ''SHRINGASAURUS INDICUS'' (ARCHOSAUROMORPHA: ALLOKOTOSAURIA) BONEBED FROM THE MIDDLE TRIASSIC DENWA FORMATION, SATPURA GONDWANA BASIN, INDIA |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm/palaios/article-abstract/36/11/339/609868/TAPHONOMY-AND-DEPOSITIONAL-SETTING-OF-THE?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=PALAIOS |volume=36 |issue=11 |pages=339–351 |doi=10.2110/palo.2021.013 |issn=0883-1351|url-access=subscription }}</ref>'','' [[Rhynchosaur]]s''<ref name=":4" /><ref>Bandyopadhyay, S. 1999. Gondwana vertebrate faunas of India. ''Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy'', 65A, 285–313.</ref>'' and large and medium sized [[Dicynodontia|dicynodonts]]<ref name=":4" /> are also known.

==References== {{Wikispecies}} {{Commons}} {{Portal|Paleontology}} {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Capitosauria]] [[Category:Triassic temnospondyls of Africa]] [[Category:Triassic temnospondyls of Asia]] [[Category:Fossil taxa described in 2001]]