A Review of Robert Broom's Therapsid Holotypes
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On the Stratigraphic Range of the Dicynodont Taxon Emydops (Therapsida: Anomodontia) in the Karoo Basin, South Africa
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Wits Institutional Repository on DSPACE On the stratigraphic range of the dicynodont taxon Emydops (Therapsida: Anomodontia) in the Karoo Basin, South Africa Kenneth D. Angielczyk1*, Jörg Fröbisch2 & Roger M.H. Smith3 1Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, BS8 1RJ, United Kingdom 2Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 3359 Mississauga Rd., Mississauga, ON, L5L 1C6, Canada 3Divison of Earth Sciences, South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town, 8000 South Africa Received 19 May 2005. Accepted 8 June 2006 The dicynodont specimen SAM-PK-708 has been referred to the genera Pristerodon and Emydops by various authors, and was used to argue that the first appearance of Emydops was in the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone in the Karoo Basin of South Africa. However, the specimen never has been described in detail, and most discussions of its taxonomic affinities were based on limited data. Here we redescribe the specimen and compare it to several small dicynodont taxa from the Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus assemblage zones. Although the specimen is poorly preserved, it possesses a unique combination of features that allows it to be assigned confidently to Emydops. The locality data associated with SAM-PK-708 are vague, but they allow the provenance of the specimen to be narrowed down to a relatively limited area southwest of the town of Beaufort West. Strata from the upper Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone and the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone crop out in this area, but we cannot state with certainty from which of these biostratigraphic divisions the specimen was collected. -
Deinocephaliarts
I I The Cranial M-orpholgy of Some3 Titanosuchid Deinocephaliarts BY LIEUWE: D. BOONSTRA BULLETIN OF TEE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY OL. LXXII,ART. New York, Issed, Atigust 24, 1,986 - -I."Ttf.~_jI~-, ", r", ~T,., -~'. '. - 4474,--,f - - \- -. t - -, 4 ?\<- 4 .. " " ,,~~, .444 44 44 I, ,~ e " ", 'a"; ~I_ 444444~~~~~ 4-4») 4444- 4>44 444>4~~~~~~~~~~ r~l,, .. ,., -'.-. ,~-1 -_ 44444 / /I ~ I -4f ~ ~ ,~" -I I1,,41.., ." -~~~~~~44444--4444\~~,~/F'4- ~ -4- >~-I I ~~ -11,,"4,,~~~~~~~~I1- , "I r'..,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - r~~~~-44I44I4. -.J,-"iI~~44 -44 44 .'':. II,,~~~~~~~~, '' 1.1Y~ .~ ~ ~ ~. -. 4,.t, I- ~ ll44IL ,. ,~IAII, l,.l_ '..~ 44~ -,~ ~!~1 44, / 4-444- .; 4 / 4 444 A---- 44/~ ,J -,- 44I4I44> 44 44I 4-4 44 I-~~~/444 4 4>44 r I;,I" 44444444, -~ -,-44 4I 44 >) II1,,.~ ~ ~ 44444 4 >'> 4 4;4444444 -/-:-j-V&--).0~4~4,,;, 1,. ..~~~.-i,_""- -.".~~~~~~~~~~~,~~~,,,- 4 -- - 44 4 -444>I4>4~ 1~~~~~..,), 4I4j444II44-44--f4 4444 4>4 ,44A4;4 .4444 '/I '.I444 4 ~~~ ;, , 444 4444 ,444I4(4I4.-4 .4 4 4)4/4 ».)) ~ 44)- ,44 I-4 4I ,,,, 4 44 44 I444,I 1~~:4444,44 ,4.,4 -4444II44- 4 i--<4444,44 ~ 44~ 44444 ~ ~ 44444 ~II 4 4 ,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 ~ 4 44- 44 4444 f4 4444 4 4 4,4I444If ----44444 )4Q4I;444f ~, 44 4> y->4 I"44.444 t 2I4 I ,. k, ,,. IIII,~~~~~tI -, ~ ~ ~ ~~I4~ ~ ~ ~,-- '4>4 I44 >4> ,I~ 44444444- /44I, ,~, 444444- 4 444 4444474444 4'~.I- _,, / m,~l -I ~ ?, II4I4) ~ 4I44I44444444~,;>44.4 4144 44I44>444 444 44 4C 4,4444I~f,444.4I44~,.I4-444.4I- 44i.4I4 44444 K ~ , ., _. -
Dental Pathology, Wear and Developmental Defects in South African Hominins
Dental pathology, wear and developmental defects in South African hominins IAN EDWARD TOWLE A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2017 Abstract Studying different types of dental pathology, wear, and developmental defects can allow inferences into diet and behaviour in a variety of ways. In this project data on these different variables were collected for South African hominins and compared with extant primates. The species studied include Paranthropus robustus, Australopithecus africanus, A. sediba, early Homo, Homo naledi, baboons, chimpanzees and gorillas. Macroscopic examination of each specimen was performed, with a 10X hand lens used to verify certain pathologies. Variables recorded include antemortem chipping, enamel hypoplasia, caries, occlusal wear, tertiary dentine, abscesses, and periodontal disease. Clear differences in frequencies were found in the different South African hominin species. Homo naledi displays high rates of chipping, especially small fractures above molar wear facets, likely reflecting a diet containing high levels of contaminants. Other noteworthy results include the high levels of pitting enamel hypoplasia in P. robustus molars compared to other species, likely due to a species-specific enamel formation property or developmental disturbance. The low rates of chipping in P. robustus does not fit with this species being a hard food specialist. Instead, the wear best supports a diet of low-quality tough vegetation. Australopithecus africanus likely had a broad diet, with angled molar wear, lack of caries, and high chipping frequencies supporting this conclusion. Seven new carious lesions are described, two from H. naledi and five P. -
Filling the Olson's Gap? a Re-Appraisal of Raranimus Dashankouensis (Synapsida, Therapsida) Using CT Scanning Technologies
IMGRAD4 Abstract ID : 9 Filling the Olson’s Gap? A re-appraisal of Raranimus dashankouensis (Synapsida, Therapsida) using CT scanning technologies. Content Non-mammalian Therapsida is a paraphyletic group of Permian-Jurassic amniotes closely related tomam- mals. Understanding the origin of Therapsida is complicated by the existence of a phylogenetic gapinthe fossil record termed Olson’s gap. Because of its assumed low stratigraphic occurrence and basal phylogenetic position, Raranimus dashankouensis, from the Dashankou fauna, Qingtoushan Formation, China, is the best candidate to fill this gap. However, its phylogenetic position as the basal-most therapsid is the subjectof debate. In addition, the age of the Qingtoushan Formation is poorly constrained. Enhancement of CT scanning technology offers new ways to investigate the skull of extinct species andpro- vides access to characters which were previously out of reach (e.g. internal cranial features such as cranial nerves) which can be useful for phylogenetic analysis. Our results show that Raranimus has five therapsid synapomorphies, the most obvious being the short contact between the maxilla and the prefrontal. However the presence of plesiomorphic characters, such as the presence of a precanine caniniform tooth, manifest re- tention of typical “pelycosaur” grade features. The maxillary canal morphology of Raranimus is comparable to that of the “pelycosaur” Varanosaurus and the biarmosuchian Herpetoskylax. Overall, this suggests a very basal position for Raranimus in the therapsid phylogenetic tree. New data on the age of the Qingtoushan For- mation indicates a Roadian age for Rarianimus, hence filling the Olson’s gap and confirming that the genus is an important taxon for understanding the evolutionary origin of therapsids. -
First Palaeohistological Inference of Resting
First palaeohistological inference of resting metabolic rate in an extinct synapsid, Moghreberia nmachouensis (Therapsida: Anomodontia) Chloe Olivier, Alexandra Houssaye, Nour-Eddine Jalil, Jorge Cubo To cite this version: Chloe Olivier, Alexandra Houssaye, Nour-Eddine Jalil, Jorge Cubo. First palaeohistological inference of resting metabolic rate in an extinct synapsid, Moghreberia nmachouensis (Therapsida: Anomodon- tia). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Linnean Society of London, 2017, 121 (2), pp.409-419. 10.1093/biolinnean/blw044. hal-01625105 HAL Id: hal-01625105 https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01625105 Submitted on 27 Oct 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. First palaeohistological inference of resting metabolic rate in extinct synapsid, Moghreberia nmachouensis (Therapsida: Anomodontia) CHLOE OLIVIER1,2, ALEXANDRA HOUSSAYE3, NOUR-EDDINE JALIL2 and JORGE CUBO1* 1 Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 7193, Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris (iSTeP), 4 place Jussieu, BC 19, 75005, Paris, France 2 Sorbonne Universités -CR2P -MNHN, CNRS, UPMC-Paris6. Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle. 57 rue Cuvier, CP38. F-75005, Paris, France 3Département Écologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, UMR 7179, CNRS/Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 55, Paris, 75005, France *Corresponding author. -
A New Mid-Permian Burnetiamorph Therapsid from the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and a Phylogenetic Review of Burnetiamorpha
Editors' choice A new mid-Permian burnetiamorph therapsid from the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and a phylogenetic review of Burnetiamorpha MICHAEL O. DAY, BRUCE S. RUBIDGE, and FERNANDO ABDALA Day, M.O., Rubidge, B.S., and Abdala, F. 2016. A new mid-Permian burnetiamorph therapsid from the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa and a phylogenetic review of Burnetiamorpha. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61 (4): 701–719. Discoveries of burnetiamorph therapsids in the last decade and a half have increased their known diversity but they remain a minor constituent of middle–late Permian tetrapod faunas. In the Main Karoo Basin of South Africa, from where the clade is traditionally best known, specimens have been reported from all of the Permian biozones except the Eodicynodon and Pristerognathus assemblage zones. Although the addition of new taxa has provided more evidence for burnetiamorph synapomorphies, phylogenetic hypotheses for the clade remain incongruent with their appearances in the stratigraphic column. Here we describe a new burnetiamorph specimen (BP/1/7098) from the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone and review the phylogeny of the Burnetiamorpha through a comprehensive comparison of known material. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that BP/1/7098 is closely related to the Russian species Niuksenitia sukhonensis. Remarkably, the supposed mid-Permian burnetiids Bullacephalus and Pachydectes are not recovered as burnetiids and in most cases are not burnetiamorphs at all, instead representing an earlier-diverging clade of biarmosuchians that are characterised by their large size, dentigerous transverse process of the pterygoid and exclusion of the jugal from the lat- eral temporal fenestra. The evolution of pachyostosis therefore appears to have occurred independently in these genera. -
Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Fossil Primate and Other
RESEARCH ARTICLE Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Fossil Primate and Other Mammal Holotype and Paratype Specimens of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa Justin W. Adams1*, Angela Olah2,3, Matthew R. McCurry1,3, Stephany Potze4 a11111 1 Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia, 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia, 3 Geosciences, Museum Victoria, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 4 Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section, Department of Vertebrates, Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa * [email protected] OPEN ACCESS Citation: Adams JW, Olah A, McCurry MR, Potze S (2015) Surface Model and Tomographic Archive of Abstract Fossil Primate and Other Mammal Holotype and Nearly a century of paleontological excavation and analysis from the cave deposits of the Paratype Specimens of the Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria, South Africa. PLoS ONE Cradle of Humankind UNESCO World Heritage Site in northeastern South Africa underlies 10(10): e0139800. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139800 much of our understanding of the evolutionary history of hominins, other primates and other Editor: Brenda A Wilson, University of Illinois at mammal lineages in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene of Africa. As one of few desig- Urbana-Champaign, UNITED STATES nated fossil repositories, the Plio-Pleistocene Palaeontology Section of the Ditsong National Received: January 29, 2015 Museum of Natural History (DNMNH; the former Transvaal Museum) curates much of the mammalian faunas recovered from the fossil-rich deposits of major South African hominin- Accepted: September 17, 2015 bearing localities, including the holotype and paratype specimens of many primate, carni- Published: October 6, 2015 vore, and other mammal species (Orders Primates, Carnivora, Artiodactyla, Eulipotyphla, Copyright: © 2015 Adams et al. -
Journal of Anatomy
Journal of Anatomy J. Anat. (2017) 230, pp325--336 doi: 10.1111/joa.12557 Reconstruction of body cavity volume in terrestrial tetrapods Marcus Clauss,1 Irina Nurutdinova,2 Carlo Meloro,3 Hanns-Christian Gunga,4 Duofang Jiang,2 Johannes Koller,2 Bernd Herkner,5 P. Martin Sander6 and Olaf Hellwich2 1Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2Computer Vision and Remote Sensing, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany 3Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK 4ChariteCrossOver - Institute of Physiology, Berlin, Germany 5Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Frankfurt (Main), Germany 6Steinmann Institute of Palaeontology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany Abstract Although it is generally assumed that herbivores have more voluminous body cavities due to larger digestive tracts required for the digestion of plant fiber, this concept has not been addressed quantitatively. We estimated the volume of the torso in 126 terrestrial tetrapods (synapsids including basal synapsids and mammals, and diapsids including birds, non-avian dinosaurs and reptiles) classified as either herbivore or carnivore in digital models of mounted skeletons, using the convex hull method. The difference in relative torso volume between diet types was significant in mammals, where relative torso volumes of herbivores were about twice as large as that of carnivores, supporting the general hypothesis. However, this effect was not evident in diapsids. This may either reflect the difficulty to reliably reconstruct mounted skeletons in non-avian dinosaurs, or a fundamental difference in the bauplan of different groups of tetrapods, for example due to differences in respiratory anatomy. -
By in the Spring of 1929, I Had the Privilege of Acting As Guide To
O n a S o u t h A fr ic a n M a m m a l -l ik e R e p t il e , B a u r i a c y n o p s . By Lieuwe D. Boonstra (South African Museum, Capetown). With 8 textfigures. (Eingelangt am 18. Dezember 1934.) In the spring of 1929, I had the privilege of acting as guide to Professor and Frau Abel on a short collecting trip in the Great Karroo. When the opportunity was offered me of contributing to the number of Palaeobiologica which is to be issued in honor of Professor Abel’s sixtieth birthday,I recalled with pleasure the time we had spent together. When Professor Abel reads this account of a very interesting reptile from the Karroo, I hope that he may have equally pleasant recollections of our donkey-cart excursions in the Great Karroo of South Africa. On working through the collection of Karroo reptiles which had been sold to the American Museum of Natural History by Dr. R. B room in 1913, I came across some interesting remains of a Bauriamorph. Under the number Amer. Mus. 5622, there is catalogued a good skull, a hind-foot and some limb-bones from the Cynognathus zone at Winnaarsbaken. The skull was first described and figured by B room in 1911. In 1913, and again in 1915, the lateral view was republished. In 1914, sections through the sphen- ethmoidal and prootic regions were published by the same author. When the skull first came under my notice, it had a mass of matrix, containing some limb-bones, attached to the preorbital sur face of the snout; the teeth of the left side were partly exposed; parts of the basicranium were cleaned; the matrix on the dorsal surface had been removed in a rough manner, so that part of the D. -
The Role of Fossils in Interpreting the Development of the Karoo Basin
Palaeon!. afr., 33,41-54 (1997) THE ROLE OF FOSSILS IN INTERPRETING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE KAROO BASIN by P. J. Hancox· & B. S. Rubidge2 IGeology Department, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa 2Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa ABSTRACT The Permo-Carboniferous to Jurassic aged rocks oft1:J.e main Karoo Basin ofSouth Africa are world renowned for the wealth of synapsid reptile and early dinosaur fossils, which have allowed a ten-fold biostratigraphic subdivision ofthe Karoo Supergroup to be erected. The role offossils in interpreting the development of the Karoo Basin is not, however, restricted to biostratigraphic studies. Recent integrated sedimentological and palaeontological studies have helped in more precisely defming a number of problematical formational contacts within the Karoo Supergroup, as well as enhancing palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, and basin development models. KEYWORDS: Karoo Basin, Biostratigraphy, Palaeoenvironment, Basin Development. INTRODUCTION Invertebrate remains are important as indicators of The main Karoo Basin of South Africa preserves a facies genesis, including water temperature and salinity, retro-arc foreland basin fill (Cole 1992) deposited in as age indicators, and for their biostratigraphic potential. front of the actively rising Cape Fold Belt (CFB) in Fossil fish are relatively rare in the Karoo Supergroup, southwestern Gondwana. It is the deepest and but where present are useful indicators of gross stratigraphically most complete of several depositories palaeoenvironments (e.g. Keyser 1966) and also have of Permo-Carboniferous to Jurassic age in southern biostratigraphic potential (Jubb 1973; Bender et al. Africa and reflects changing depositional environments 1991). -
Dashankou Fauna: a Unique Window on the Early Evolution of Therapsids
Vol.24 No.2 2010 Paleoherpetology Dashankou Fauna: A Unique Window on the Early Evolution of Therapsids LIU Jun* Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, CAS, Beijing 100044, China n the 1980s, the Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of IGeological Sciences (IGCAGS) sent an expedition to the area north of the Qilian Mountains to study the local terrestrial Permian and Triassic deposits. A new vertebrate fossil locality, later named Dashankou Fauna, was discovered by Prof. CHENG Zhengwu in Dashankou, Yumen, Gansu Province in 1981. Small-scale excavations in 1981, 1982 and 1985 demonstrated that this locality was a source of abundant and diverse vertebrate fossils. In the 1990s, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Fig. 1 Prof. LI Jinling in the excavation of 1995. She first summarized the known IGCAGS, the Institute of Vertebrate members of the Dashankou Fauna and brought it to light as the most primitive and abundant Chinese tetrapod fauna. Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) under CAS, and the Geological Museum of China formed a joint team IVPP were productive and have since investigations were first disseminated to work on this fauna. Three large- unveiled an interesting episode in the to the public in 1995. In 2001, Prof. scale excavations, undertaken in transition from reptiles to mammals in LI Jinling summarized the known 1991, 1992, and 1995 respectively, as evolutionary history. members of the fauna and discussed well as the subsequent ones held by The results from these their features. She pointed out that * To whom correspondence should be addressed at [email protected]. -
Osteohistology of Late Triassic Prozostrodontian Cynodonts from Brazil
Osteohistology of Late Triassic prozostrodontian cynodonts from Brazil Jennifer Botha-Brink1,2, Marina Bento Soares3 and Agustín G. Martinelli3 1 Department of Karoo Palaeontology, National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa 2 Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa 3 Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil ABSTRACT The Prozostrodontia includes a group of Late Triassic-Early Cretaceous eucynodonts plus the clade Mammaliaformes, in which Mammalia is nested. Analysing their growth patterns is thus important for understanding the evolution of mammalian life histories. Obtaining material for osteohistological analysis is difficult due to the rare and delicate nature of most of the prozostrodontian taxa, much of which comprises mostly of crania or sometimes even only teeth. Here we present a rare opportunity to observe the osteohistology of several postcranial elements of the basal prozostrodontid Prozostrodon brasiliensis, the tritheledontid Irajatherium hernandezi, and the brasilodontids Brasilodon quadrangularis and Brasilitherium riograndensis from the Late Triassic of Brazil (Santa Maria Supersequence). Prozostrodon and Irajatherium reveal similar growth patterns of rapid early growth with annual interruptions later in ontogeny. These interruptions are associated with wide zones of slow growing bone tissue. Brasilodon and Brasilitherium exhibit a mixture of woven-fibered bone tissue and slower growing parallel-fibered and lamellar bone. The slower growing bone tissues are present even during early ontogeny. The relatively slower growth in Brasilodon and Brasilitherium may be related to their small body size compared to Prozostrodon and Irajatherium. These brasilodontids also exhibit osteohistological similarities with the Late Triassic/Early Jurassic mammaliaform Morganucodon and the Late Cretaceous multituberculate mammals Kryptobaatar and Nemegtbaatar.