Rautiania is an extinct genus of gliding neodiapsid reptiles belonging to the family Weigeltisauridae.
Description[]
Isolated fossil remains of Rautiania are known from the Late Permian of Russia. The genus is known from two species, Rautiania alexandri (the type species) and Rautiania minichi, which differ in aspects of their maxilla and parietal bones. Certain Rautiania fossils have helped to reveal certain aspects of weigeltisaurid anatomy and lifestyle which had long alluded paleontologists, such as the component bones of the "crest" at the back of the head, and the large amount of adaptations towards life in the canopies of forests. Additional Rautiania bones (of an unspecified species) from both the skull and the rest of the body were described in 2010, along with the implications these new discoveries provided for weigeltisaurid anatomy in general.
References[]
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-maxillae-of-Rautiania-a-left-maxilla-of-R-alexandri-specimen-PIN-no-5130-4_fig2_225562555
- http://www.paleofile.com/Diapsida/Rautiania.asp
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rautiania-sp-specimen-PIN-no-5130-10-left-autopodium-KulchumovooA-locality_fig5_225192300
- https://www.mindat.org/taxon-P138325.html
- https://eol.org/pages/24178373
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Rautiania-sp-quadrate-articular-region-a-b-left-quadratojugal-specimen-PIN-no_fig1_225192300