Paramblypterus duvernoyi(Actinopterygii): skull morphology and intra-specific variation, and its implications for the systematics of paramblypterid f…

1999

ABSTRACT More than 300 specimens of Paramblypterus duvernoyi from four lakes of the Lower Permian of Germany are examined to determine intra-specific variation of this species and to revise the diagnosis of the genus Paramblypterus. For the first time, a three-dimensional model of the skull and the snout of Paramblypterus is reconstructed. A partial tooth bearing premaxilla, which forms the anterior most part of the gape, is described; in contrast, the absence of a premaxilla had until now been considered a synapomorphy of the genus Paramblypterus. Information obtained from the study of P. duvernoyi has required a new revision of Paramblypterus gelberti. A comparison between the two species…