Psephoderma alpinum Meyer, 1858

Sues, Hans-Dieter & Schoch, Rainer R., 2025, Synopsis of the Triassic reptiles from Germany, Fossil Record 28 (2), pp. 411-483 : 411-483

Psephoderma alpinum Meyer, 1858

Holotype.

SNSB-BSPG AS I 8 , carapace.

Type locality.

Winkelmoos Alm, southwest of Ruhpolding, Bavaria.

Type horizon.

Kössen Formation. Age: Late Triassic (late Norian-Rhaetian).

Diagnosis.

Distinguished by the following combination of features of the dermal armor: Carapace with three longitudinal ridges, one dorsomedial and two dorsolateral ones, which are composed of enlarged and distinctly keeled or tubercle-like osteoderms ( Rieppel 2002 a).

Comments.

Several excellently preserved specimens from the middle to upper Norian Calcare de Zorzino in northern Italy have fully documented the skeletal structure of Psephoderma alpinum ( Pinna and Nosotti 1989; Renesto and Tintori 1995; Rieppel 2001 a). Broili (1921) described a small partial cranium ( SNSB-BSPG 1921 I 3) from the Kössen Formation of Kothalpe at the Wendelstein in the Bavarian Alps as “ Placochelys alpis sordidae . ” Rieppel (2000) considered it likely that this specimen can be assigned to Psephoderma but treated the binomen as a nomen dubium. Pinna (1976) and Rieppel (2000) noted that a fragment of a palate ( SNSB-BSPG AS I 1457) from the Kössen Formation at the Plankensteinsattel (Tegernsee) in the Bavarian Alps, which Oswald (1930) named Placochelys stoppanii , can be referred to Psephoderma .

References.

Meyer (1858), Broili (1921), Oswald (1930), F. Huene (1936), Westphal (1975), Pinna (1976), Pinna and Nosotti (1989), Renesto and Tintori (1995), Rieppel (2000, 2001 a, 2002 a).