A NEW SPHENODONTIAN (LEPIDOSAURIA, RHYNCHOCEPHALIA) FROM THE MCCOY-BROOK FORMATION (LOWER JURASSIC) OF NOVA-SCOTIA, CANADA

A new sphenodontian lepidosaur referable to Clevosaurus Swinton, 1939, C. bairdi, is described from the McCoy Brook Formation (Lower Jurassi c: Hettangian) of Nova Scotia, Canada, It is most closely related to C . mcgilli Wu, 1994 from the Dark Red Beds of the Lower Lufeng Formatio n (Lower Jurassic) of Yunnan, China, and differs from the latter mainl y in the absence of the hourglass-shaped constriction of the parietals , the shape of the suborbital fenestra, and in features of the margina l dentition. The new taxon is of considerable interest because it repr esents the first record of Clevosaurus from North America. Like many o ther early Mesozoic continental tetrapods, Clevosaurus had an apparent ly Pangaean geographic distribution.