Evans, S.E. 2009. An early kuehneosaurid reptile (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Early Trias−
sic of Poland. Palaeontologia Polonica 65, 145–178.

The Early Triassic locality of Czatkowice, Poland has yielded fish, amphibians, and a series
of small reptiles including procolophonians, lepidosauromorphs and archosauromorphs. The
lepidosauromorphs are amongst the smallest and rarest components of the assemblage and
constitute two new taxa, one of which is described and named here. Pamelina polonica
shares skull and vertebral characters with the kuehneosaurs, a group of specialised long−
ribbed gliders, previously known only from the Late Triassic of Britain and North America.
The relationship is confirmed by cladistic analysis. Pamelina is the earliest known kuehneo−
saur and provides new information about the history of this clade. It is less derived post−
cranially than any of the Late Triassic taxa, but probably had at least rudimentary gliding or
parachuting abilities.

Clade Neodiapsida Benton, 1985
Clade Lepidosauromorpha Gauthier, 1984
Clade Lepidosauriformes Gauthier, Estes, et De Queiroz, 1988
Family Kuehneosauridae Robinson, 1962
Genus Pamelina gen. n.
Type species: Pamelina polonica sp. n.
Derivation of name: For the late Dr Pamela L. Robinson who described the first kuehneosaur material from Britain.
Diagnosis. — As for type and only species (see below).
Pamelina polonica sp. n.
Derivation of name: From Poland.
Holotype: ZPAL RV/1036, the anterior region of a left maxilla (Figs 1A, 2A) collections of Institute of Paleobiology, Pol−
ish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
Type locality and horizon: Czatkowice 1 Quarry, Kraków region, Poland. Fissure/cave infill dated as Early Triassic (Early
Olenekian).
Diagnosis.—Small diapsid reptile resembling Late Triassic kuehneosaurids in having confluent nares
framed by specialised premaxillae with posterolateral but not dorsomedial processes; maxilla almost ex−
cluded from the narial margin by the posterolateral process of the premaxilla; prefrontal with only a narrow
contribution to the preorbital skull wall; loss of the parietal foramen; anterolateral flange on the parietal
meeting postorbital to exclude the postfrontal from the margins of the upper temporal fenestra; specialised
slender squamosal with a strong posterodorsal process but no anteroventral ramus; no supratemporal bone;
mediolaterally compressed amphiplatyan vertebral centra with short slender transverse processes through−
out the column; dichocephalous ribs on cervical vertebrae, slender holocephalous ribs on dorsal vertebrae;
very lightly built skeleton, bones with internal cavities. Pamelina differs from Kuehneosaurus, Kuehneo−
suchus, and Icarosaurus in lacking teeth on the parasphenoid, and in having more gracile ribs and verte−
brae, with short narrow circular transverse processes (unlike the extended processes of Late Triassic taxa)
and only limited buttressing on the vertebral body (as against strong buttressing, especially in Kuehneo−
saurus). Pamelina also differs from the British kuehneosaurs in lacking three−headed ribs on anterior ver−
tebrae (the condition in Icarosaurus is less certain, Colbert 1970, p. 107). Pamelina differs from all other
known Permian andMesozoic diapsids in the combination of confluent nares with a reduced squamosal, an
incomplete lower temporal arcade, an expanded quadrate, and laterally compressed amphiplatyan verte−
brae with long slender transverse processes and extended ribs. The skull of the Triassic Mecistotrachelos
(Fraser 2007) is poorly known, but the postcranial skeleton of Pamelina differs in having relatively short
cervical vertebrae.

Referred specimens. — ZPAL RV/378, 381, 383–384, 387, 537, 1087 (frontals); ZPAL RV/157,
975–978, 1028 (parietals); ZPAL RV/ 979, 980, 1001, 1002 (prefrontals); ZPAL RV/148, 1003, 1004, 1006,
1007, 1027 (postfrontals); ZPAL RV/806, 1005, 1072, 1077, 1078 (postorbitals); ZPAL RV/1008–1010
(jugals); ZPAL RV/147, 366, 1011–1026 (squamosals); ZPAL RV/1029–1033, 1083 (quadrates); ZPAL RV/1,
6, 1034–1042, 1081 (maxillae); ZPAL RV/146, 151–155, 184, 201, 451, 1043–1045, 1082 (premaxillae);
ZPAL RV/1048–1050 (sphenoids); ZPAL RV/142–144, 149, 162, 185, 186, 1046, 1047 (dentaries); ZPAL
RV/1066, 67 (possible palatines); ZPAL RV/ 613, 617, 627, 1194–1210 (vertebrae); ZPAL RV/1211–1213
(ribs); ZPAL RV/555, 981 (ilia).