Lutungutali
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Lutungutali Temporal range: Middle Triassic |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Clade: | Dinosauriformes |
| Clade: | †Silesauridae |
| Genus: |
†Lutungutali Peecook et al., 2013 |
| Type species | |
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†Lutungutali sitwensis Peecook et al., 2013 |
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Lutungutali (meaning "high hip" in the Bemba language) is an extinct genus of silesaurid dinosauriform from the Middle Triassic of Zambia. The single type species of the genus is Lutungutali sitwensis. Lutungutali was named in 2013 and described from a fossil specimen, holotype NHCC LB32, including hip bones and tail vertebrae. The specimen was collected in 2009 from the upper Ntawere Formation, which dates to the Anisian stage of the Middle Triassic. Lutungutali is the first known silesaurid from Zambia and, along with the Tanzanian silesaurid Asilisaurus and dinosauriform Nyasasaurus, the oldest bird-line archosaur known from body fossils (i.e. parts of the skeleton).
Lutungutali is known from parts of its pelvis and from four caudal vertebrae that make up the base of the tail. These bones represent one individual, although bones that may belong to Lutungutali representing eight other individuals were collected from the same fossil site in 2011. Lutungutali shares the following three features (synapomorphies) with other early dinosauriforms:
Lutungutali also shares two synapomorphies with the clade or evolutionary grouping containing silesaurids and dinosaurs:
In addition, it shares two synapomorphies with other silesaurids:
Lutungutali has one unique feature or autapomorphy that distinguishes it from all other dinosauriforms: an iliac blade that is taller than the portion of the ilium that forms the hip socket. This feature is references in its name, which means "high hip" in the Bemba Language.
Lutungutali belongs to Silesauridae, a family of archosaurs that is very closely related to Dinosauria. Silesaurids are known from southern Africa, Poland, the southwestern United States, and South America. When Lutungutali was named in 2013, a phylogenetic analysis (an analysis of evolutionary relationships) grouped it with the most derived silesaurids from the Late Triassic. The closest silesaurid in both space and time to Lutungutali is Asilisaurus from the Anisian-age Manda Beds of Tanzania, yet it was found to be a more basal silesaurid. Below is a cladogram from the analysis:
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