Archosauromorphs (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Lamy Quarry, Garita Creek Formation (Adamanian, Late Triassic), New Mexico, USA

Abstract

The Lamy Quarry (= the Gunter bonebed) is known for its extensive accumulation of temnospondyl skulls and skeletons from the Norian (Upper Triassic) Garita Creek Formation, south of Lamy, New Mexico. Although the quarry is monodominant for metoposaurids, reptile fossils are also present. The reptile material, briefly described and identified to least-inclusive taxonomic levels, consists of several diagnostic elements from azendohsaurid and tanystropheid archosauromorphs based on apomorphies observed in the fossils. The most remarkable materials are two anterior cervical vertebrae and the posterior portion of a hemimandible that are identified as belonging to a Malerisaurus-like taxon within the Azendohsauridae. The vertebrae are two times longer than the holotype material of Malerisaurus robinsonaeChatterjee, 1980 and Malerisaurus langstoniChatterjee, 1986, which suggests that azendohsaurids in the Late Triassic of North America reached much larger sizes than previously documented. The presence of a tanystropheid and azendohsaurid together supports the Adamanian age of the Garita Creek Formation and shows that azendohsaurids were present in what is now New Mexico.