Ceratodontoid (Dipnoi) calvarial bones from the Triassic of Fusea, Carnic Alps: The first Italian lungfish

Four calvarial (=skull roof) bones from the Fusea vertebrate-bearing site (uppermost Ladinian or lowermost Carnian), near Tolmezzo (Udine province, northeastern Italy) provide the first unambiguous record of lungfish (Dipnoi) in Italy. The preservation of the specimens does not allow a detailed taxonomic interpretation and for this reason they are referred to the lungfish suborder Ceratodontoidei, leaving indeterminate their familial and generic attribution. Dipnoans constitute an additional taxon to be added to the diverse vertebrate assemblage discovered in the Fusea site, formed by nothosauroids, cyamodontoid placodonts, Tanystropheus, small archosaurians, and elasmobranchian and actinopterygian fishes. These fishes provide evidence of freshwater influence in the sedimentary environment of this important paleontological site occurring at the border between two prevailing marine units (the Schlern/Sciliar Dolostone and the Val Degano Formation).