Nythosaurus revalidated

[VD231991]

I found a new basal cynodont-related paper online that you may find interesting:

Pusch, L. C., Kammerer, C. F., Fernandez, V., and Fröbisch, J., 2023. Cranial anatomy of Nythosaurus larvatus Owen, 1876, an Early Triassic cynodont preserving a natural endocast. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology: e2174441. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2174441. (PDF at ResearchGate)

For a long time, Nythosaurus was seen as either a synonym of the well-known extinct Early Triassic cynodont Thrinaxodon or alternately a nomen dubium, and Brink (1988) had stressed that if Nythosaurus were synonymized with Thrinaxodon, using the name Nythosaurus would entail nomenclatural instability due to the widespread use of Thrinaxodon in many literary works. With new anatomical data from the non-endocast region of the holotype of Nythosaurus larvatus by Pusch et al. demonstrating that Nythosaurus itself is a distinct taxon in its own right, any fear of nomenclatural instability that would have arisen with the abandonment of the name Thrinaxodon for Nythosaurus is now moot, and the recovery of Nythosaurus as a basal member of cynodont clade Epicynodontia in the phylogenetic analysis Pusch et al. is yet another reminder of why the diversity of basal epicynodonts from the Early Triassic of the Karoo Basin has been mostly underestimated in the past.

Brink, A. S., 1988. Illustrated Bibliographical Catalogue of the Synapsida. Geological Survey, Department of Mineral and Energy Affairs, South Africa. Handbook 10, Part II.