Volume 41 December 2005
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Item Preliminary report of a large theropod dinosaur trackway in Clarens Formation sandstone (Early Jurassic) in the Paul Roux district, northeastern Free State, South Africa(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 2005) Raath, Michael A.; Yates, Adam M.An isolated fallen block of Clarens Formation sandstone near the small northeastern Free State town of Paul Roux preserves part of the trackway of a bipedal dinosaur. Although well known as a local curiosity, this trackway has not previously been formally reported or described. It consists of five successive paces of what is interpreted as a medium-sized to large theropod dinosaur, and represents the largest known theropod trackway in the ‘Stormberg’ sequence in South Africa. The tracks are assigned to the ichnotaxon Grallator sp., and show similarities to North American tracks of comparable age originally described as Dilophosauripus. Until now no body fossils of a likely candidate trackmaker were known, but elsewhere in this volume a possible candidate is described by the second author.Item James William Kitching (1922–2003): a tribute(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 2005) Raath, Michael A.; Rubidge, Bruce S.On 24 December 2003, James William Kitching, regarded by many as one of the world’s greatest fossil finders, died at his home in Johannesburg. His passing marks the end of a pioneering era of palaeontological giants in South Africa.Item A fossil peat deposit from the Late Triassic (Carnian) of Zimbabwe with preserved cuticle of Pteridospermopsida and Ginkgoales, and its geological setting(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 2005) Barale, Georges; Bamford, Marion K.; Gomez, Bernard; Broderick, Timothy J.; Raath, Michael A.; Cadman, AnnWell-preserved cuticular material of Pteridospermopsida and Ginkgoales from the Late Triassic of Zimbabwe is described here for the first time. It is preserved within a brown peat-like lens in the Upper Karoo Angwa Sandstone Formation. The locality is on the Manyima River in the lower portion of the mid-Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe. Using SEM and light microscopy to identify the taxa, the fragmentary cuticles are of Pteridospermopsida type and have been assigned to Lepidopteris sp. (Peltaspermales) and Dicroidium sp. A, B, (Corystospermales). Cuticles of the ginkgoalean leaf genus, Sphenobaiera, are also described. Well-preserved ovules were found in close association with the cuticles, but as the stomata are not visible they cannot be assigned to any genus. Based on their close similarity to the Dicroidium flora of the South African Upper Karoo, the plants are considered to be equivalent to the South African Molteno Formation in age (Carnian). The palynoflora supports this age bracket, as does fauna preserved nearby. The taphonomic process was one of transport, sorting and deposition in a fluvial system.