Volume 13 1970

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    Palaeontologia africana Volume 13
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970)
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    Epidermal remnants of Proterosuchus vanhoepeni (HTN)
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Thornley, A. L.
    None
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    New fossil Cercopithecoidea from the lower Pleistocene cave deposits of the Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Maier, Wolfgang
    So far about 70 specimens of five species of Cercopithecoids have been recorded from the Makapansgat Limeworks. The present paper adds the descriptions of another 20, some of them being the most complete skulls known of these species: Cercopithecoides williamsi is represented by a nearly complete male skull; its large upper teeth confirm the invalidity of the former species C. molletti. Parapapio jonesi is represented by parts of a young female and two adult males. The male material is the most comprehensive known of this species and made it possible to give a reconstruction of the male skull. Specimen M.2961, described by Freedman (1960) as Parapapio broomi, is referred to P. jonesi. Of Parapapio broomi 7 new specimens are recorded and described. A fragmentary male skull (M.3065) and a very large mandible (M.3067) most probably belong together, giving a good idea of the male skull of this species. Of Parapapio whitei the first fairly complete male skull could be prepared and described. In the light of the new specimen, some of the male specimens, formerly referred to this species (Freedman 1960; 1965) should be removed. Simopithecus darti is represented by a nearly complete and undistorted skull of a sub adult female, with the mandible being in situ. In addition, a nearly complete mandible of a young male and a fragmentary maxilla of an old male could be described. Some of the teeth of these specimens nearly equal those of Simopithecus danieli from 'Swartkrans.
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    The anterior of the palate in Euparkeria
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Gow, C. E.
    Ewer (1965) has given a careful and comprehensive description of the anatomy of the thecodont Euparkeria, but erred if anything on the side of caution in her preparation of the material. This is a commendable approach, but it has meant that certain details remained unknown. Recently Cruickshank (1970) has redescribed and reinterpreted the braincase as being surprisingly primitive. The present author's current interest lies in the origin of the lizards, and this necessarily implies an interest in Archosaur origins. In this regard an important element of the skull is the vomer; this will become apparent when recently completed work on the Millerosauria is published (Gow 1971). The important feature is the nature and disposition of vomerine teeth. Not surprisingly the vomer is not known in detail in any "Eosuchian" or early lepidosaur, as it usually lies hidden by the symphysis of the lower jaws and in any event requires delicate preparation.
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    Revised classification for Makapania broomi Wells and Cooke (Bovidae, Mammalia)
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Gentry, A. W.
    Details of skull morphology, particularly of the basioccipital, show that Makapania broomi from the Makapansgat Limeworks Quarry, Transvaal belongs to the tribe Ovibovini, and is very like Megalovis latifrons Schaub, best known from the later Villafranchian of Seneze, France. The Ovibovini have only two living species, but in the Pliocene and early Pleistocene they must have been more widespread than hitherto suspected. Makapania broomi is the first clear record from Africa south of the Sahara of a fossil member of the Eurasian and North American subfamily Caprinae.
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    A new check-list of fossil Cercopithecoidea of South Africa
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Freedman, Leonard
    During 1970, the opportunity was afforded me to spend several weeks in South Africa, studying and identifying the cercopithecoid fossils which have been found recently. The new specimens have been recovered, in the main, by Professor P. V. Tobias and Mr. A. R. Hughes at Sterkfontein, and by Dr. C. K. Brain at Swartkrans and Kromdraai; in addition, further specimens have been developed from the Makapansgat breccia at the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research. At the request of Professor Tobias, I have compiled a new check-list of the fossil Cercopithecoidea from South African Pleistocene deposits.
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    Skin structure of small pareiasaurs. With comments on their taxonomy in the Cistecephalus Zone
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Findlay, G. H.
    The Cistecephalus zone pareiasaurs all show skin armour. The features of this armour are described as found virtually complete in a small pareiasaur, identified here as an about half-grown Pareiasaurus serridens. Different in skin structure from this small pareiasaur is the dwarf-form, Nanoparia pricei. A few particulars have now been added to the known skin structure of this species. It is suggested that Cistecephalus zone pareiasaurs can be referred to 2 principal species: the one is Pareiasaurus serridens Owen, to which all the incomplete and variably grown specimens can be assigned such as the genus Propappus and some other species from the genera Pareiasaurus, Anthodon and Nanoparia. The other consists of the single specimen Nanoparia pricei. Further affinities are beyond existing evidence to settle.
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    Contribution a la connaissance des ictidorhinides (Gorgonopsia)
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Sigogneau, Denise
    Le materiel d'Ictidorhinide disponible est actuellement limite, rappelons-le, a neuf echantilIons: sept consistent en un crane isole, tandis que les deux autres comportent quelques elements post-craniens. Ce dixieme exemplaire n'apparait donc pas negligeable, d'autant moins que la plupart des echantillons sont assez mal conserves et qu'en consequence l'anatomie cranienne de la famille reste encore imprecisee; or cette famille constitue certainement l'une des plus interessantes des Theriodontes du point de vue de la morphologie evolutive. Le crane etudie ici fut decouvert par Mr. J. W. Kitching, et nous a ete prete avec l'accord du Gouvernement Sud-Africain. Notre dette de reconnaissance envers l'un et l'autre s'en trouve encore accrue.
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    Taxonomy of the Triassic anomodont genus Kannemeyeria
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Cruickshank, A. R. I.
    The types of the species hitherto assigned to the genus Kannemeyeria Seeley 1908 have been re-examined and D. simocephalus Weithofer, D. latifrons Broom, K. proboscoides Seeley, Sagecephalus pachychynchus Jaekel and K. erithrea Haughton are synonymised as K. simocephalus (Weit). K. wilsoni Broom is retained as a monotypic species, but could be considered a female of K. simocephalus. The genus Kannemeyeria is redefined using the type of K. erithrea as a basis, as this specimen is complete, almost undistorted and comes from a reliably recorded locality, unlike the majority of other types. Kannemeyeria vanhoepeni Camp, while closely related to Kannemeyeria Simocephalus, has only one character in common with that species and is placed therefore in a new genus Proplacerias. This name is chosen because the specimen seem to have the characters which might be expected in a very early representative of the line leading to Placerias. K. argentinensis Bonaparte and K. latirostris Crozier are retained for valid reasons as separate species, occurring as they do in South America and Zambia respectively.
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    Preliminary report on two Triassic dicynodonts from Zambia.
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1970) Crozier, E. A.
    The purpose of this communication is to establish the presence of a species of Stahleckeriid, hitherto known only from India, in the Zambian Triassic N'tawere Formation and to establish the new specific name of the Kannemeyeria specimen also recorded from the same locality. The skulls and some post-cranial material of these two dicynodonts were collected by Mr. James Kitching from the Luangwa Valley, Zambia in 1961. The material comes from Locality 16, of the Lower Fossiliferous Horizon in the N'tawere Formation. One large skull has been assigned to genus and species Rechnisaurus cristarhynchus Roy Chowdhury, 1970. The other skull and the postcranial material has been named Kannemeyeria latirostris sp. nov. One other specimen has been described from this locality, Diademodon rhodesiensis (Brink 1963), which marks it as being of near Cynognathus-zone age.