Placodont remains (Sauropsida, Sauropterygia) from the Triassic of Hungary (Transdanubian Range and Villány Mountains)

Abstract

New placodont remains from the Triassic of Hungary are described here. They come from two different tectonic units: the Transdanubian Range Unit representing Alpine type sedimentary basins and the Villány-Bihar Unit that was part of the southern passive margin of the European Plate during the Triassic. The fossils came from four stratigraphic levels with the oldest specimen, a maxilla fragment found in the upper Anisian of Forrás Hill, near Felsőörs (Transdanubian Range). Based on dental morphology, the specimen is referred to here as Paraplacodus broilii. This site is similar in age to the Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland and Italy) locality. A Carnian occurrence of placodonts from this tectonical unit is a dentary fragment and two isolated teeth referred to here as Placochelys placodonta. The youngest specimen from this unit is a placochelyid tooth fragment from the Rhaetian of the Keszthely Mountains (Transdanubian Range). The richest assemblage of new placodont remains is from the Ladinian of the Villány Mountains, southern Hungary. Cranial elements are referred to here as Cyamodus sp. Teeth from this site are similar to that of Cyamodus sp. described from Slovenia, and both assemblages are among the last occurrences of the genus in the European Triassic. The Villány site is considered as a gap locality because of the rarity of Ladinian placodont occurrences in the German-Alpine sedimentary basins.