Calyptosuchus wellesi is an aetosaur known from the upper Blue Mesa Member and lowermost Sonsela Member of the Chinle Formation in Arizona, and the Tecovas Formation of the Dockum Group of Texas. The taxon is considered biostratigraphically informative and aids in correlating Upper Triassic strata across the southwestern United States. Our anatomical understanding of Calyptosuchus was primarily based on the holotype specimen from Texas and referred specimens, including several disarticulated elements from the Placerias Quarry in northern Arizona. We provide a re-interpretation of the holotype specimen and describe two new specimens referrable to Calyptosuchus from northern Arizona. Together these specimens provide new information on the cranial anatomy, including dentition, and the positional and intraspecific variation within the carapace and vertebral column of the taxon. This new evidence suggests that the skull anatomy of Calyptosuchus is more similar to that of Neoaetosauroides and Stagonolepis than to other aetosaurs. The dentition of Calyptosuchus supports recent hypotheses suggesting that aetosaurs were more omnivorous/faunivorous. The associated carapace expands our anatomical understanding of characters that vary among trunk paramedian osteoderms. We identify variation in the vertebral column within the trunk region, including the prominence of the centrodiapophyseal lamina and anatomy of the neural spine. Additionally, we report the first documentation of co-ossified sacral vertebrae within Calyptosuchus, which is also the first observation of this state within the Aetosauria outside of the Desmatosuchini. This suggests that co-ossification of the sacral vertebrae may be more prevalent within the Aetosauria than previously recognized.

http://zoobank.org/da3735b8-edf1-465d-820a-316174ed7bf9

On the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, archaeologists encounter evidence that challenges conventional understandings of early state formation as a transition from ‘small-scale, egalitarian’ to ‘large-scale, stratified’ societies. One such location is the Early Bronze Age cemetery of Başur Höyük, which presents evidence of grand funerary rituals—including ‘retainer burials’ and spectacular deposits of metallic wealth—in an otherwise small-scale, egalitarian setting. A further, puzzling feature of this cemetery is the preponderance of teenagers in the richest tombs. Here we describe the combined results of archaeological and anthropological analysis at Başur Höyük, including ancient DNA, and consider the challenges they pose to traditional accounts of early state formation.

The deleterious effects of adversity are likely intergenerational, such that one generation’s adverse experiences can affect the next. Epidemiological studies link maternal adversity to offspring depression and anxiety, possibly via transmission mechanisms that influence offspring fronto-limbic connectivity. However, studies have not thoroughly disassociated postnatal exposure effects nor considered the role of offspring sex. We utilized infant neuroimaging to test the hypothesis that maternal childhood maltreatment (CM) would be associated with increased fronto-limbic connectivity in infancy and tested brain-behavior associations in childhood. Ninety-two dyads participated (32 mothers with CM, 60 without; 52 infant females, 40 infant males). Women reported on their experiences of CM and non-sedated sleeping infants underwent MRIs at 2.44 ± 2.74 weeks. Brain volumes were estimated via structural MRI and white matter structural connectivity (fiber counts) via diffusion MRI with probabilistic tractography. A subset of parents (n = 36) reported on children’s behaviors at age 5.17 ± 1.73 years. Males in the maltreatment group demonstrated greater intra-hemispheric fronto-limbic connectivity (b = 0.96, p= 0.008, [95%CI 0.25, 1.66]), no differences emerged for females. Fronto-limbic connectivity was related to somatic complaints in childhood only for males (r = 0.673, p = 0.006). Our findings suggest that CM could have intergenerational associations to offspring brain development, yet mechanistic studies are needed.

Non-archosaur archosauromorphs are a paraphyletic group of diapsid reptiles that were important members of global Middle and Late Triassic continental ecosystems. Included in this group are the azendohsaurids, a clade of allokotosaurians (kuehneosaurids and Azendohsauridae + Trilophosauridae) that retain the plesiomorphic archosauromorph postcranial body plan but evolved disparate cranial features that converge on later dinosaurian anatomy, including sauropodomorph-like marginal dentition and ceratopsian-like postorbital horns. Here we describe a new malerisaurine azendohsaurid from two monodominant bonebeds in the Blue Mesa Member, Chinle Formation (Late Triassic, ca. 218–220 Ma); the first occurs at Petrified Forest National Park and preserves a minimum of eight individuals of varying sizes, and the second occurs near St. Johns, Arizona. Puercosuchus traverorum n. gen. n. sp. is a carnivorous malerisaurine that is closely related to Malerisaurus robinsonae from the Maleri Formation of India and to Malerisaurus langstoni from the Dockum Group of western Texas. Dentigerous elements from Puercosuchus traverorum n. gen. n. sp. confirm that some Late Triassic tooth morphotypes thought to represent early dinosaurs cannot be differentiated from, and likely pertain to, Puercosuchus-like malerisaurine taxa. These bonebeds from northern Arizona support the hypothesis that non-archosauriform archosauromorphs were locally diverse near the middle Norian and experienced an extinction event prior to the end-Triassic mass extinction coincidental with the Adamanian-Revueltian boundary recognized at Petrified Forest National Park. The relatively late age of this early-diverging taxon (Norian) suggests that the diversity of azendohsaurids is underrepresented in Middle and Late Triassic fossil records around the world.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/e6eeefd2-a0ae-47fc-8604-9f45af8c1147.