Volume 25 1984

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Fossils from the Elliot and Clarens Formations (Karoo sequence) of the Northeastern Cape, Orange Free State and Lesotho, and a suggested biozonation based on tetrapods
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1984) Kitching, James W.; Raath, Michael A.
Recent intensive collecting from the Elliot Formation and lower part of the Clarens Formation of the Orange Free State is reported and a broad description is given of the general lithology of the beds in this area. Productive localities in the main Karoo basin (northeastern Cape Province, Lesotho, Orange Free State} are listed with a summary of the tetrapods recovered from each. A preliminary biozonation of these strata is proposed based on the vertical ranges of the prosauropod saurischian genera Euskelosaurus and Massospondylus. Attention is drawn to a palaeontologically rich horizon within the Massospondylus Range Zone which is designated the Tritylodon Acme-zone on the basis of the abundance in it of the advan- ced cynodont Tritylodon cf. longaevus. It is concluded that previous taxonomic work on the tetrapod fauna of these strata has resulted in an erroneous impression of faunal diversity.