Wits Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI)

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1972 - 197911980 - 19841

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Author: search.filters.author.Kitching, James W.

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    Fossils from the Elliot and Clarens Formations (Karoo sequence) of the Northeastern Cape, Orange Free State and Lesotho, and a suggested biozonation based on tetrapods
    (Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1984) Kitching, James W.; Raath, Michael A.
    Recent intensive collecting from the Elliot Formation and lower part of the Clarens Formation of the Orange Free State is reported and a broad description is given of the general lithology of the beds in this area. Productive localities in the main Karoo basin (northeastern Cape Province, Lesotho, Orange Free State} are listed with a summary of the tetrapods recovered from each. A preliminary biozonation of these strata is proposed based on the vertical ranges of the prosauropod saurischian genera Euskelosaurus and Massospondylus. Attention is drawn to a palaeontologically rich horizon within the Massospondylus Range Zone which is designated the Tritylodon Acme-zone on the basis of the abundance in it of the advan- ced cynodont Tritylodon cf. longaevus. It is concluded that previous taxonomic work on the tetrapod fauna of these strata has resulted in an erroneous impression of faunal diversity.
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    A REVISED CLASSIFICATION OF CYNODONTS (REPTILIA; THERAPSIDA)
    (BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 1972) Hopson, James A.; Kitching, James W.
    Cynodonts are very advanced mammal-like reptiles of the Permian-Triassic which are of special interest to evolutionists because they gave rise to the Class Mammalia during Middle or Late Triassic time. Cynodonts have been known from strata of Early Triassic age in South Africa for over one hundred years, and numerous specimens have been collected and described. In recent years the record of cynodonts has been extended into earlier and later time zones, not only in southern Africa but in East Africa, South America, Russia , China, and, most recently, in North America. Much of the material from outside of Africa has not yet been fully described.