A dinocephalian therapsid fauna on the Ecca–Beaufort contact in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Modesto, S P; Rubidge, B S; de Klerk, William J; Welman, J

Title: A dinocephalian therapsid fauna on the Ecca–Beaufort contact in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
Creator: Modesto, S P
Creator: Rubidge, B S
Creator: de Klerk, William J
Creator: Welman, J
Date Issued: 2001
Date: 2001
Type: text
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6999
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1008355
Description: Systematic exploration of outcrops of the lowermost Beaufort Group for fossils of the oldest terrestrial vertebrates of South Africa, known only from the Permian age Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone in Western Cape Province, has resulted in the discovery of a therapsid fauna in Eastern Cape Province that is dominated by advanced dinocephalians. The new discoveries include the skull and partial skeleton of a juvenile Anteosaurus, skull and skeletal elements of tapinocephalids, as well as the skull of a scylacosaurid therocephalian. The combined presence of advanced tapinocephalid dinocephalians, the anteosaur Anteosaurus, and scylacosaurid therocephalians suggests that the rocks of the lowermost Beaufort Group in the Eastern Cape Province can be assigned to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, rather than to the Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone, which appears to be restricted to the southwestern part of the Karoo Basin. This biozone identity permits the recognition of a younger age for the Ecca-Beaufort contact eastwards along the southern margin of the basin, thus demonstrating the diachronous nature of the Ecca-Beaufort contact in the southern Karoo.
Format: 3 pages
Format: pdf
Language: English
Relation: Modesto, S.P. and Rubidge, B.S. and De Klerk, W.J. and Welman, J. (2001) A dinocephalian therapsid fauna on the Ecca–Beaufort contact in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. South African Journal of Science, 97 (March/April). pp. 161-163.

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