Pareiasaurs were an enigmatic and diverse group of plant-eating animals from the Middle and Late Permian.
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An artistic reconstruction of Nanoparia luckhoffi. Image credit: Viktor Radermacher.
The dwarf pareiasaur Nanoparia luckhoffi lived in what is now South Africa approximately 255 million years ago.
Until now, this species had eluded a full anatomical description since its initial erection by the British-South African paleontologist Robert Broom in 1936.
“Pareiasaurs were unique parareptilian (or ‘near-reptiles’) herbivores that lived until the end of the Permian period,” said University of the Witwatersrand paleontologist Marc Van den Brandt and his colleagues.
“Despite their wide range and variety, much about dwarf pareiasaurs remained a mystery, overshadowed by their better-understood and larger relatives.”
“However, our study puts Nanoparia luckhoffi in the spotlight by offering the first detailed description of its skull and a new diagnosis, helping us better understand its role within the pareiasaur family tree.”
“The importance of the research goes beyond just one species,” they added.
“Nanoparia luckhoffi is identified as a ‘dwarf’ pareiasaur, a part of the Pumiliopareiasauria group of pareiasaurs that includes three species from South Africa and one from Brazil, which was connected to Africa at the time as the single southern land mass Gondwana.”
“This indicates that the ‘dwarf’ pareiasaurs were spread across the southern supercontinent Gondwana, enhancing our knowledge of their global distribution.”
“Our work fills in gaps about Nanoparia luckhoffi, also contributing to our broader understanding of pareiasaur evolution worldwide.”
Dr. Van den Brandt’s team described seven unique features (autapomorphies) of Nanoparia luckhoffi, including a distinctive additional bone on the cheek, a unique notch on the palate, and an unexpected pronounced internal flange on the tabular bones, among others, after months of hard work.
These characteristics distinguish the species from its contemporaries and suggest that the holotype specimen is a juvenile.
This discovery challenges previous assumptions and opens new avenues for understanding pareiasaurian diversity and evolution.
“Our research has significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge of the four ‘dwarf’ pareiasaurs,” Dr. Van den Brandt said.
The results were published in the journal Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia.
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Marc Johan Van den Brandt et al. 2023. Cranial osteology and a new diagnosis of the Late Permian pareiasaur Nanoparia luckhoffi (Broom, 1936) from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, and a consolidated pareiasaurian phylogeny. Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia 26 (4): 288-314; doi: 10.4072/rbp.2023.4.04
