A new dicynodont–archosaur assemblage from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of Poland

Abstract

This paper reports a new assemblage from the Late Triassic (mid–late Carnian) at Woźniki near Częstochowa (Poland). The Woźniki vertebrate assemblage is similar to that of Lisowice–Lipie Śląskie, a new locality bearing vertebrates from latest Triassic (latest Norian–early Rhaetian) strata of southern Poland, in the presence of dicynodonts, shark spines, plagiosaurs and a cyclotosaur, but conchostracans and bivalves are similar to those from the Krasiejów site (late Carnian). The most complete specimen from Woźniki belongs to a dicynodont, and consists of cranial and postcranial bones of a single individual. It demonstrates that large dicynodonts were part of the Late Triassic vertebrate assemblage in Central Europe. Numerous tetrapod tracks and traces are associated with skeletal fossils at Woźniki.