Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI)
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Item On Bauria cynops Broom(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1963-08-01) Brink, A. S.Descriptions of this genus and species, the type of an infraorder, have thus far been based on three individuals. The type in the South African Museum, Cape Town is a complete skull, but somewhat unsatisfactorily preserved and cleaned. The second specimen in the American Museum of Natural History, New York, is a good skull with a portion of the skeleton, but the skull has been damaged in the course of preparation. The third specimen is in the Bernard Price Institute. It is an exceptionally fine specimen, but was only superficially cleaned when described. This specimen also includes a portion of the skeleton. Two additional complete skulls, one somewhat crushed, have since been added to the Bernard Price Institute's collection. This paper describes Bauria cynops Broom on information derived from all five specimens. Illustrations are based on the three specimens in this Institute. Attention is also given to the position of this infraorder relative to other related groups.Item A new type of primitive Cynodont(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1961-08-01) Brink, A. S.A very interesting ancestral type of Cynodont is described in reasonable detail from serial sections, graphical figures, and a complete wax model, four times natural size. The form is recognised as a new genus and species, for which the name Scalopocynodon gracilis is proposed. It is the earliest true Cynodont, from the base of the lower Cistecephalus-zone. Although its nearest allies are the somewhat later Silphedestids and Procynosuchids, it has unmistakably very close affinity with the base of the Ictidosuchid-Scloposaurid branch of the Therocephalians. Thus new light is cast on the origin of the Cynodonts and their general relationship with the Therocephalia. The specimen was thought to be a Scaloposaurus before it was decided to subject it to serial grinding.Item A new skull of the procynosuchid Cynodont Leavachia duvenhagei Broom(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1963-08-01) Brink, A. S.This paper describes one of the most excellent, complete, virtually undamaged and undistorted skulls of a Karroo therapsid yet found. It is of exactly the same size as the type specimen of Leavachia duvenhagei Broom, housed in the Rubidge Collection. Nearly every detail of the structure of the skull can be traced, except structures on the inside of the cranial cavities and details obscured by the lower jaw which is in good occlusion. It is the third specimen of this species on record and this description renders it the best known specimen of all procynosuchid species. It is pointed out that the genera Leavachia and Procynosuchus are not readily distinguishable, but this may be due to lack of knowledge of the latter genus.Item Two Cynodonts from the Ntawere formation in the Luangwa valley of Northern Rhodesia(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1963-08-01) Brink, A. S.Two Cynodonts, Diademodon rhodesiensis sp. nov. and Luangwa drysdalli gen. et sp. nov., are described in this paper. In structure both forms indicate that the Ntawere Formation in the upper Luangwa valley of Northern Rhodesia from which they were collected can be regarded as very late Cynognathus-zone, perhaps mostly Molteno, compared with the South African succession, or of the same age as the Manda Beds of the more nearby Ruhuhu valley of Tanganyika. The Diademodon specimen is very similar to its South African relatives, but in some details it is more advanced. The new genus Luangwa has its closest ally in the Ruhuhu form Scalenodon.Item Notes on some new Diademodon specimens in the collection of the Bernard Price Institute(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1963-08-01) Brink, A. S.Seven Diademodon specimens are dealt with and all are reasonably adequately figured. These comprise a large D. mastacus specimen already featured in publication; a complete skull of D. grossarthi; an interesting snout of D.haunhtoni; and four immature D.browni specimens of various ages and sizes. The latter form part of about eight similar individuals found in an area some two yards square and could be the litter of a single Diademodon family. Attention is focused on the snouts and the peculiar nature of the external nares.Item A new large Bauriamorph from the Cynognathus-zone of South Africa(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1965-12) Brink, A. S.The specimen forming the subject of this paper is the anterior two-thirds of a very large Bauria skull. It is described as a new species, Bauria robusta. It is pointed out that the skull is perhaps as much as 20 per cent larger than the largest known specimen of Bauria cynops, which in turn is about 15 per cent larger than the average of all other known specimens of the genotype. Many of the measurements are derived from reconstructed figures and if these measurements should prove to be less, the new skull would undoubtedly prove to be proportionally different, in which case its recognition as a new species would be more substantial. The features on which the specimen can at present be recognised as a new species are size, the greater number of cheek teeth (11 as compared with 9 in B. cynops), the weaker canines and the absence of an interpterygoid vacuity.Item A new Ictidosuchid (Scaloposauria) from the Lystrosaurus-zone(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1965-12) Brink, A. S.This paper describes a specimen recently discovered in Lystrosaurus-zone strata in the Bergville district of Natal. While a contemporary of Scaloposaurus, it has retained much of the general structure of the earlier lctidosuchidae of the Cistecephalus-zone and in a few minor respects it shows affinity with the Therocephalia, beyond the characteristics of the infra-order. The specimen consists of a good skull with lower jaw, the whole pectoral girdle with the right fore limb, and a length of anterior vertebral column with ribs; these are figured as preserved. The skull is additionally figured in three views with distortion corrected. The specimen is identified as a new genus and species, belonging to the family lctidosuchidae of the infra-order Scaloposauria, and the name Olivieria parringtoni is proposed.Item A new gomphodont cynodont from the Cynognathus zone of South Africa(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1965-12) Brink, A. S.This paper describes a somewhat peculiar new gomphodont cynodont from Cynognathus-zone beds of the Karroo System of South Africa. It is a fairly good skull, with lower jaw in position, but lacking the anterior portion of the snout. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that while the posterior portion of the dentary is powerfully expanded in true gomphodont style, the zygomatic arch is very weakly developed, unlike the condition in any of its other cynodont contemporaries. It is described as a new genus and species, Cragievarus kitchingi, generically after the locality Cragievar and specifically after its collector, Mr J. W. Kitching.Item On two new specimens of Lystrosaurus-zone cynodonts(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1965-12) Brink, A. S.In this paper the skulls of two new specimens of Lystrosaurus-zone cynodonts are described. One is a skull of Notictosaurus luckhoffi Broom, and it is pointed out that the other two species, N. gracilis and N. trigonocephalus, are respectively the young and the adult of the genotype. N. gracilis was described on only one small skull amongst more than three skulls and skeletons intimately associated in one block with the skull and skeleton of the adult, only the skull of which was subsequently described as N. trigonocephalus. At the time of description this block was in different fragments and the authors of the new species were not conscious of their association. The second new specimen is a close ally, but different enough to be recognised as a separate genus. While it cannot satisfactorily be contrasted with Cynosuchoides whaitsi, it is identified and described as belonging to this genus and species. Our knowledge thus far of this form is based on one imperfectly preserved skull.