Sakamaniga (Sakamena Fm.) (Permian of Madagascar)

Also known as Ranohira; Morondava Basin

Where: Fianarantsoa, Madagascar (22.6° S, 45.4° E: paleocoordinates 52.4° S, 27.8° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Lower Sakamena Formation (Sakamena Group), Lopingian (259.9 - 252.2 Ma)

• "Locally, the top of the Permian has been recognized by a prominent nodular layer, above which the nature of the sedimentary record is indicative of the Middle Sacamena Formation, dated throughout the island as Lower Triassic. According to Germain, the aquatic reptiles come from just below this horizon. The spore and pollen flora confirms the Upper Permian age for the beds containing the fossil reptiles." (Carroll, 1981 p. 338)

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: paralic; fine-grained, concretionary, sandy shale

• "The environment of the Madagascar localities unfortunately cannot be unequivocally established. [...] one can imagine a mixed environment that would have had a continuous transition from freshwater streams and lakes to brackish and shallow-water marine, seemingly ideal conditions for the evolution of marine reptiles." (Carroll, 1981 p. 338)

•"There is no evidence of the environment having been anaerobic [...] " (ibidem, p. 339)

Size class: macrofossils

Primary reference: R. L. Carroll. 1981. Plesiosaur Ancestors from the Upper Permian of Madagascar. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 293(1066):315-383 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 85512: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 05.01.2009

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Reptilia
 Eosuchia -
"cf. Daedalosaurus sp." = Coelurosauravus
"cf. Daedalosaurus sp." = Coelurosauravus Piveteau 1926 diapsid
a single rib; same block and catalogue no. as the Claudiosaurus specimen
 Eosuchia - Claudiosauridae
Claudiosaurus germaini Carroll 1981 diapsid
MNHN (PM) 1910-33-1