Dendromaia
Name:
Dendromaia
(Tree mother).
Phonetic: Den-dro-my-ah.
Named By: Hillary C. Maddin, Arjan Mann
& Brian Hebert - 2019.
Classification: Chordata, Synapsida,
Eupelycosauria, Varanopidae.
Species: D. unamakiensis
(type).
Diet: Insectivore?
Size: Roughly estimated between 20-30
centimetres long.
Known locations: Canada, Nova Scotia - Sydney
Mines Formation.
Time period: Moscovian of the Carboniferous.
Fossil representation: Partial remains on a slab.
With
bone features similar to the genus Mycterosaurus,
yet different
enough to be distinct, Dendromaia is a genus of
varanopid pelycosaur
that lived in North America during the Carboniferous. Dendromaia
was
described from the description of two individuals on a fossil bearing
rock slab, one large, the other much smaller with slightly
differing features. These two individuals might represent adult and
juvenile forms, though the smaller one is similar to other genera
such as Archaeovenator.
Because
the tail of the larger specimen lays across the smaller one, the
describers of the genus came up with the name Dendromaia,
meaning
‘tree mother’. This is to reflect the possibility that the
individuals on this specimen might be showing a degree of parental
care. If that is the correct interpretation, then it would be one
of the earliest examples of parental care in animals to appear in the
fossil record.
Further reading
- Varanopid from the Carboniferous of Nova Scotia reveals evidence of
parental care in amniotes. - Nature Ecology and Evolution
4:50-56. - Hillary C. Maddin, Arjan Mann & Brian
Hebert - 2019.
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