Where: Diana, Madagascar (13.5° S, 48.8° E: paleocoordinates 44.5° S, 41.3° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Middle Sakamena Formation (Sakamena Group), Induan to Induan (252.2 - 247.2 Ma)

• "All previously described tetrapod specimens from the Diego Basin have been collected from the 'Couches à Poissons et Ammonites' (Besairie 1971) suggesting that the material described herein also pertains to this horizon, though this cannot be stated with absolute certainty." The "Couches à Poissons et Ammonites" are equivalent to the Middle Sakamena Formation of the Morondava Basin. "Biostratigraphical correlations based on ammonite faunas indicate referral of the 'Couches à Poissons et Ammonites' to the local Gyronitien Stage (Besairie 1971), which is equivalent to the Induan Stage of the Lower Triassic. This conclusion is supported by comparisons between the vertebrate faunas of Madagascar and the African mainland, which suggest that the Middle Sakamena Formation is intermediate in age between the Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus Assemblage Zones (Battail et al. 1987). Palynological data is also consistent with these interpretations (Wescott and Diggens 1998)." (Ketchum & Barrett, 2004. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 41:1-8).

•"The presence of Magniestheria truempyi in the same formation (Shen et al., 2002) indicates an Early Smithian (Olenekian, Early Triassic) age by correlation with the well-constrained Triassic strata of the Germanic Basin (Kozur and Weems, 2010)." (Falconnet et al. 2010. Comptes Rendus Palevol 11:357-369)

•Given the conflicting suggestions of an Induan or early Olenekian age, an Induan–Smithian range is given here.

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: deltaic; nodular siliciclastic sediments

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression, concretion

Collected in the 1990s

Collection methods: surface (float),

• MSNM: Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano

Primary reference: S. Maganuco and G. Pasini. 2009. A new specimen of trematosaurian temnospondyl from the Lower Triassic of NW Madagascar, with remarks on palatal anatomy and taxonomic affinities. Atti della Societa Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 150:91-112 [R. Butler/R. Butler/R. Butler]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 144100: authorized by Richard Butler, entered by Richard Butler on 30.04.2013, edited by Graeme Lloyd

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)