Volume 27 1990
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Item Palaeontologia africana Volume 27(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990)Item The affinities of the early cynodont reptile, Nanictosaurus(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) van Heerden, Jacques; Rubidge, BruceThis investigation into the anatomy of the four extant specimens of Nanictosaurus has revealed that there is one valid species, viz. N. kitchingi Broom 1936 which has two junior synonyms, viz. N. robustus Broom 1940 and N. rubidgei Broom 1940. The closest known relative of Nanictosaurus is the well-known cynodont Thrinaxodon liorhinus. The differences from Thrinaxodon and other early cynodonts are discussed and illustrated.Item Carnivore activity at Klasies River Mouth: a response to Binford(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Thackeray, J FrancisEnvironmental and behavioural factors contributed to variability in the relative abundance of Raphicerus (grysbok/steenbok) represented in Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits at the complex of caves at Klasies River Mouth and at Nelson Bay Cave in the southern Cape Province, South Africa. Binford has used the relative abundance of Raphicerus in an index assumed to measure the degree of hunting by Middle Stone Age hominids. However, the occurrence of relatively high numbers of Raphicerus with leopards and baboons in some layers is likely to have been associated, at least in part, with leopard activity, particularly at times when relatively large ungulates were not common in the palaeoenvironment and when the cave sites were not frequently occupied by hominids with control over fire. Binford's indices are re-assessed in the light of other indices which are designed to identify assemblages that have a relatively high probability of having been accumulated by leopards and/or other carnivores.Item A new vertebrate biozone at the base of the Beaufort Group, Karoo sequence (South Africa)(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Rubidge, Bruce SA new vertebrate biozone at the base of the Beaufort Group has been identified. This biozone is the oldest vertebrate biozone of the Beaufort Group and contains fossils of various therapsid genera which are more primitive than previously known related forms from the Karoo. The name Eodicynodon - Tapinocaninus Assemblage Zone is proposed as these two genera of therapsid are the most plentiful from this biozone and have not been found in the rocks of the overlying Dinocephalia Assemblage (Tapinocephalus) Zone.Item Dinosaur tracks in Triassic Molteno sediments: the earliest evidence of dinosaurs in South Africa?(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Raath, Michael A; Kitching, James W; Shone, Russell W; Rossouw, G JA fossil tracksite containing well-preserved tridactyl footprints of bipedal theropod dinosaurs is reported from fluvial overbank deposits of Molteno age (Stormberg Group: Triassic) in the northeastern Cape Province, South Africa. They occur stratigraphically below the mudrocks of the Elliot Formation, in which dinosaur remains are comparatively common, and are taken to represent the earliest evidence for dinosaurs in South Africa. They also represent the earliest unequivocal evidence of tetrapods in Molteno deposits.Item A tribute to James William Kitching(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Raath, Michael AItem A dinosaur trackway from the Purbeck Beds of Swanage, England(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Newman, B HDuring 1962 a dinosaur trackway was unearthed in a quarry of Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous building-stone at Langton Maltravers near Swanage. The primary tracks had been removed initially but secondary impressions were still visible and these were marked with black paint. It was concluded that the prints were made by a tridactyl bipedal species of dinosaur, probably of megalosaurian type. A quantity of overburden covered part of the trackway and it was arranged for this to be removed so that the primary tracks could be collected. The trackway, which was 22 metres long as preserved, showed a somewhat sinuous gait of a true biped with no tail-drag and only occasional evidence of what may have been front foot impressions. Two individuals had made the footprints, walking on a similar course about one metre apart. The tracks of these two were collected, as was a third trackway which went off at an angle to the right. Above the stratum containing the prints was another layer which contained prints of an undoubted iguanodontid type.Item Fossil vertebrate tracks near Murraysburg, Cape Province(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) McRae, Colin SThe presence of a palaeosurface with a set of relatively large concave epirelief tracks that extend for some 60 m is documented and described. The trackmaker is believed to be a member of the genus Aulacephalodon Seeley 1898 or Rhachiocephalus Seeley 1898 and to have walked across a submerged silty surface on a floodplain. A mud veneer deposited under relatively low energy conditions soon after the tracks were made, and the thermal alteration of the sediment by nearby diabase intrusives, contributed to the preservation of this set of fossil tracks.Item Clarification of Belemnopteris Feistmantel 1876, and description of a leaf of Belemnopteris pellvcida Pant and Choudhury 1977 found amongst a South African Ecca flora(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) Kovacs-Endrody, EA leaf of Belemnopteris pellucida Pant and Choudhury 1977 was found for the first time in South Africa amongst an Ecca flora near Hammanskraal, about 30km north of Pretoria. The taxonomic status of Belemnopteris Feistmantel 1876 and the biostratigraphic correlation indicated by the presence of this genus is clarified.Item Dicynodonts and the end Permian event(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1990) King, Gilian MPatterns of diversity changes in several groups of Late Permian South African terrestrial tetrapods are examined. Using data contained in Kitching (1977), histograms are presented which illustrate changes in a) total number of tetrapod genera per biostratigraphic zone; b) total number of therapsid genera per zone; c) total number of herbivore genera per zone; and d) total number of carnivore genera per zone. Herbivorous and carnivorous genera are categorized as comprising small, medium or large individuals and histograms which document changes in number of genera in each of these six categories per zone are presented. Potential sources of error inherent in the data are outlined. Broad changes in generic diversity are noted and possible explanations for these changes are presented. It is concluded that the present data do not provide overwhelming evidence for a rapid and catastrophic drop in terrestrial tetrapod diversity at the very end of the Permian, but do illustrate a gradual and continuing decrease from the middle of the Late Permian into the middle of the Triassic.