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7 September 2022 A new titanopteran Magnatitan jongheoni n. gen. n. sp. from southwestern Korean Peninsula
Tae-Yoon S. Park, Do-Yoon Kim, Gi-Soo Nam, Mirinae Lee
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Abstract

Titanopterans are spectacular, giant, predatory insects mainly known from the Triassic, but they are known from a few localities in Central Asia (including European Russia) and Australia. The Nampo Group is a nonmarine sequence, located on the southwestern Korean Peninsula, the age of which has remained controversial, due to lack of proper age-constraining fossils. Here, we report a new titanopteran Magnatitan jongheoni n. gen. n. sp. from the Amisan Formation, Nampo Group. The division of the radius anterior and radius posterior beyond the distal half of the fossil wing is a characteristic of the family Paratitanidae. This is the first discovery of a titanopteran fossil outside of Central Asia and Australia, suggesting a possible circum-Tethys oceanic distribution. Given the possibly widespread distribution of titanopterans, this group might have played a critical role as giant predatory insects in Triassic terrestrial ecology. Because titanopterans have never been found beyond the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, the occurrence of a titanopteran corroborates the Triassic age of the Nampo Group.

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Paleontological Society.
Tae-Yoon S. Park, Do-Yoon Kim, Gi-Soo Nam, and Mirinae Lee "A new titanopteran Magnatitan jongheoni n. gen. n. sp. from southwestern Korean Peninsula," Journal of Paleontology 96(5), 1111-1118, (7 September 2022). https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2022.30
Accepted: 25 March 2022; Published: 7 September 2022
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