Volume 26 1985-1989
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Item Clarification of the genus Palaeovittaria Feistmantel(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1987-08-06) Kovacs-Endrody, EEver since the genera Palaeovittaria and Noeggerathiopsis were first established it seems that separating them has posed problems for many palaeobotanists, yet the original definitions noted clear and unambiguous generic differences in their leaf venation; these characters are now applied in the identification of South African leaves. In Palaeovittaria leaves the veins run toward the margin over the entire length of the lamina, and they radiate fan-wise in the apical portion. In Noeggerathiopsis, on the other hand, the veins appear to run parallel to the margins over the whole length of the lamina, from base to apex, and they intersect the margin only in the apical region. Interpretation of the chronostratigraphic distribution of Palaeovittaria Feistmantel, 1876 has also been problematical. It has been regarded on the one hand as a genus restricted to late Permian floras, and on the other as a very early member of Glossopteris floras, thus implying an early Permian age. The reason for this discrepancy is discussed. It is concluded that by direct interpretation of the available data, Palaeovittaria must be regarded as a late Permian taxon.Item A new skull of Megazostrodon (Mammalia, Triconodonta) from the Elliot Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Southern Africa(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1986-06-30) Gow, Chris EA skull of Megazostrodon with atlas and axis in articulation is described. The dental formula is 14/4 C 1/1 Pm 5/5 M 5/5. Tooth wear is more advanced than in the type specimen and the lower molar series contains evidence of tooth replacement. The braincase differs remarkably from that of Morganucodon, the only contemporaneous triconodont in which the skull is adequately known. The lower jaw has an angular process similar to that of Dinnetherium. The earliest triconodonts appear to represent a modest radiation following the attainment of mammalian status.Item New species and a new genus of Hippotragini (Bovidae) from Makapansgat limeworks(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1987-06-19) Vrba, Elizabeth SA revision of the Hippotragini from the Makapansgat Limeworks is proposed : a new species of Hippotragus is described, Hippotragus cookei, and fossils previously referred to cf. Oryx gazella (Wells and Cooke, 1956) and Hippotragus gigas (Gentry and Gentry, 1978) are assigned to this species. H. gigas is present in the Pleistocene Member 5, but not in the Pliocene Grey Breccia, Member 3, as had been formerly supposed . A new genus and species from Member 3, Wellsiana torticornuta, tentatively referred to ?Hippotragini, is described based on a frontlet that had been assigned to Damaliscus sp. (aff. albifrons) by Wells and Cooke ( 1956). The horncore piece previously referred to Aepyceros cf. melampus (Wells and Cooke, 1956) may belong to the same species as ?Hippotragini sp. nov. (Gentry, 1986) from the Laetolil Beds, Tanzania. The hippotragine fossils here discussed again emphasize that Makapansgat Member 3 contains a Pliocene assemblage that is more ancient than was originally thought, with particular affinities with the Laetolil Beds and also with the Pinjor Formation of the Siwaliks in India and Pakistan.Item A new species of Linotrigonia (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the Campanian of Zululand(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1989-02-11) Cooper, Michael RA new species of Linotrigonia, L. nibelaensis sp. nov., is described from the mid-Campanian of the St Lucia Formation. The relationship of Linotrigonia to Oistotrigonia is discussed and it is suggested they are best treated as distinct genera. Linotrigonia is believed to be a southeast African endemic, currently restricted to the late Cretaceous.Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 1(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1985)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 2(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1986)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 5(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1987)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 6(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1987)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 7(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1987)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 8(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1988)Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 26 Number 9(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1989)Item Plio-Pleistocene fossil mammalian microfauna of southern Africa - a preliminary report including description of two new fossil Muroid genera (Mammalia: Rodentia)(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1987-11-11) Pocock, T. N.Analyses are presented of the mammalian component of rich microfaunal fossil breccia collections mainly of owl pellet origin from the Transvaal Plio-Pleistocene australopithecine sites Kromdraai, Sterkfontein and Makapansgat Limeworks, with briefer references to Swartkrans, Langebaanweg and the Makapansgat Cave of Hearths. Identification of rodent incisors has proved useful in showing Cryptomys robertsi to be a distinct extinct species occurring with C. hottentotus, and in indicating, through the common possession of doubly ridged incisors, a relationship between Mystromys , the Cricetomyidae and certain fossil Cricetodontidae. The fossil assemblages are generally similar to modern ones but elephant shrews (several species) and dormice are relatively commoner, and the once dominant cricetid Mystromys has declined in favour of the murid Mastomys. Two genera, Crocidura and Saccostomus are absent from the older fossil sites, appearing only in the more recent Cave of Hearths, while on the other hand there are certain lineages now extinct. Of these Mystromys darti Lavocat has been rediscovered in abundance in in situ Rodent Corner breccia at Makapansgat, yet it is totally absent from other parts of the Limeworks deposit, suggesting a more complex stratigraphy than previously realised. It is referred to a new genus, Stenodontomys, with a second species from Langebaanweg. Another extinct cricetid previously known under a manuscript name as "Mystromys cookei", common to Makapansgat, Taung and the Krugersdorp district sites, is formally described for the first time also under a new generic name, Proodontomys. On microfaunal evidence Makapansgat is definitely older than the Krugersdorp sites, of which Kromdraai is perhaps the oldest and Swartkrans the youngest. Certain extinct fossils link Makapansgat to Langebaanweg (Stenodontomys), Kromdraai (Macroscelides proboscideus vagans) and Taung (Gypsorhychus). Suggestions that Taung is significantly younger than other australopithecine sites are not supported.Item A recently discovered clypeasteroid, Echinodiscus colchesterensis species novum, from the Alexandria Formation (Late Tertiary), South Africa(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1988-12-30) Smuts, Willem JA recently discovered astriclypeid, Echinodiscus colchesterensis sp. nov. from the Late Tertiary of South Africa is described and classified as ancestral to the living E. bisperforatus on the basis of certain morphological characteristics and parameters. These include a smaller interlunule angle, different ambitus shape, breadth/ length ratio, and similar growth trends.Item Upper Cretaceous Cephalopoda from offshore deposits off the Natal South coast, South Africa(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1985-09-07) Klinger, Herbert CDredge samples off the Natal South Coast yielded an Upper Cretaceous cephalopod fauna consisting of Eutrephoceras sphaericum geinitzi Wiedmann, 1960, Phylloceras (Hypophylloceras) woodsi woodsi Van Hoepen, 1921, Partschiceras umzambiense (Van Hoepen, 1920), Saghalinites nuperus (Van Hoepen, 1921), Saghalinites cala (Forbes, 1846), Baculites bailyi Woods, 1906, 'Bostrychoceras' indicum (Stoliczka, 1865), Hyphantoceras (Madagascarites?) amapondense (Van Hoepen, 1921), Desmophyllites diphylloides (Forbes, 1846), Hauericeras sp. cf. H. gardeni (Baily, 1855), Kossmaticeras (Natalites) africanus (Van Hoepen, 1920), and Kossmaticeras (Kossmaticeras) sp. cf. K. (K.) inornatum Collignon, 1966. This fauna is similar to that of the onshore Mzamba Formation of Natal and Transkei (Pondoland), and is dated as Middle Santonian to Lower Campanian.