NEW DATA ON THE LATE PERMIAN VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF POSTO QUEIMADO, RIO DO RASTO FORMATION, SOUTHERN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT- New vertebrate fossils are reported from the Late Permian continental Rio do Rasto Formation in the Paraná Basin, southern Brazil. The remains were collected at the locality of Posto Queimado, in the central region of Rio Grande do Sul State, corresponding to levels of the Morro Pelado Member. Newly-recorded hybodontiform sharks, temnospondyl amphibians, and pareasaurian reptiles, as well as the previously reported paleonisciform and dipnoan fishes, and dinocephalian therapsids, comprise the fauna at this locality. The association between pareiasaurids and dinocephalians is documented for the first time in the Brazilian Permian. Based on these records, a contemporaneity between Posto Queimado and Bagé-Aceguá local faunas and their correlation to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of the South African Karoo are suggested