Volume 54: 2019–2020
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/27890
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Item Biostratigraphic refinement of tetrapod-bearing beds from the Metangula Graben (Niassa Province, Mozambique). New radiometric dating and the first Lower Triassic tetrapod fossils from Mozambique(Evolutionary Studies Institute, 2020-12) Aráujo, Ricardo; Macungo, Zanildo; Smith, Roger M H; Tolan, Stephen; Angielczyk, Kenneth D; Crowley, James; Milisse, Dino; Mugabe, JoãoNumerous fossils of the toothed dicynodont Endothiodon have been collected previously from the Permian K5 formation of the Metangula Graben (Niassa, Mozambique). However, no identifiable vertebrate fossils have been reported from other stratigraphic units in the basin. Here we report likely Triassic tetrapod remains from the base of the Fubué Formation some 700 stratigraphic metres above the dated K5 Formation. We present anatomical comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis that confirm that they have close affinities to the well-known Early Triassic dicynodont therapsid Lystrosaurus. Thus, the Metangula Graben can now join the few regions in the world that preserve terrestrial tetrapod fossils from before and after Permian-Triassic mass extinction event, giving it the potential to provide further insights into the evolution of terrestrial organisms during this major biotic crisis. We present an updated geological section and paleoenvironmental interpretations, as well as the first assessment of the vertebrate taphonomy of the K5, K6, Mount Lilonga, and Fubué Formations. We also report the first radiometric dates for the K5c member of the K5 formation. The K5c has a maximum depositional age of 258.85 ± 0.41 Ma and is thus older than previously thought, falling near the boundary between the Lycosuchus-Eunotosaurus and Tropidostoma-Gorgonops subzones of the Endothiodon Assemblage Zone, rather than being coeval with the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone.