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David S. Berman,1Robert R. Reisz,2*Diane Scott,2Amy C. Henrici,1Stuart S. Sumida,3Thomas Martens4
A 290-million-year-old reptilian skeleton from the Lower
Permian (Asselian) of Germany provides evidence of abilities forcursorial bipedal locomotion, employing a parasagittal digitigradeposture. The skeleton is of a small bolosaurid, Eudibamus
cursoris,gen. et sp. nov., and confirms the widespread
distribution ofBolosauridae across Laurasia during this early stage of
amnioteevolution. E. cursoris is the oldest known
representative of Parareptilia,a major clade of reptiles.
1 Section of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carnegie
Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
2 Department of Zoology, University of Toronto
in Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada.
3 Department of Biology, California State
University, 5500 University Parkway, San Bernardino, CA 92407, USA.
4 Museum der Natur Gotha, Abteilung Palaeontologie,
Parkallee 15, Postfach 217, 99853 Gotha, Germany.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
rreisz{at}credit.erin.utoronto.ca
