New stem-lepidosaurs from Vellberg, Germany: Implications for palaeoecology in the early diversification of Lepidosauromorpha

Lepidosauromorphs account for roughly a third of the living diversity of land vertebrates and yet their origin and early evolutionary history remain highly contentious. The fossil record of early lepidosauromorphs has been historically very poor, but this has been changing in recent years with new taxa reported from Europe and the North America, in particular the contributions from Vellberg, South-Western Germany. Here, we describe four new early lepidosauromorph taxa from the same locality (Airistagiz seegesi, Hohlachia multidens, Klainjosaura staroskalja, gen. et sp. novae, and an unnamed taxon), raising the number of known lepidosauromorphs from three to seven. The new taxa share many similarities, but are at the same time very distinctive from the previous known ones. The importance of the Central European Basin for the origin of several reptile groups like archosauromorphs and turtles had already been demonstrated with iconic fossils like Protorosaurus and Pappochelys, but these new findings now include lepidosauromorphs, the second-most diverse group of amniotes, and highlights the importance of the systematic exploration of small taxa in Lagerstätten.