A new Chinese dicynodont and the frequent dispersal of tetrapods between Northern and Southern Pangaea during the late Permian

Abstract The dispersal pattern of tetrapods across Pangaea is a crucial problem for understanding Permian terrestrial ecosystems. This study describes a rare cross‐equatorial record of a dicynodont genus. New fossil material from China can be referred to Dinanomodon , a genus formerly only known from South Africa, although it represents a new species— D. guoi . To investigate the divergence of Bidentalia, a newly assembled dataset was employed to perform maximum parsimony analysis, Bayesian inference and the first tip‐dating analysis within the anomodonts. Considering other tetrapod occurrences, we suggest that frequent cross‐equatorial dispersal of tetrapods occurred during the Lopingian (late Permian). Based on tetrapod distribution and paleoclimate data, precipitation, rather than temperature, probably represents the major ecological factor influencing corridors for dispersal along the eastern margin of Pangaea.