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L. gaumensis | ||||||||||||||
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Lepagia is a poorly known genus of meat-eating ‘mammal-like reptile’, (Therapsids), which lived during the latter Upper Triassic in Europe. Partly due to the paucity of remains, (it’s only known from teeth), the precise affinities of this genus are unclear. It seems reasonably closely related to Probainognathus, a somewhat earlier inhabitant of South America.
Genus: Lepagia Hahn, Wild & Wouters, 1987
‘for Lepage’
Species: Lepagia gaumensis Hahn, Wild & Wouters, 1987
Place: Habay-la-Vielle & Hallau & Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Country: Belgium, Switzerland & France
Age: Norian (late) - Rhaetian (early), Upper Triassic
Remarks: The holotype, (holotooth is perhaps a better term), is at the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique in Brussels. These teeth are 2 - 3mm in length.
The postcanines have long and narrow crowns with three to five cusps, the central one of which is dominant and points straight upwards. The root is vaguely rectangular, with the lower portion tapering. There are no distinctive wear facets, but the separation of crown and root are clear. Sometimes the crown's larger, and sometimes the root.
Godefroit & Battail 1997, (p.596), cite similarities and differences with and to both Chiniquodontidae and Dromatheriidae and leave the systematical placement open.
Reference: Hahn et al (1987), Cynodontier-Zähne aus der Obertrias von Gaume (Süd-Belgien). Memoires pour sevir d'explication aux cartes géologiques de minières de la Belgique 24, p.1-33.
Page Reference: Godefroit P & Battail B (1997), Late Triassic cynodonts from Saint-Nicolas-de- Port (north-eastern France). Geodiversitas, 19 (3), p.567-631.
(This information has been derived from [1] TRIASSIC CYNODONTS; Cynognathidae, Probainognathidae and ‘Allies’, an internet directory. As that's my webpage, there are no issues of copyright. Trevor Dykes)