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Bruce Sidney Rubidge – a Personal Appreciation
(2023-07) Raath, Michael A.
A personal appreciation of the career of Professor Bruce Sidney Rubidge, as told by his former colleague Michael A. Raath.
In Memoriam: Sidney Henry Haughton, BA, DSc, Hon LLD, Hon DSc, FRS, FGS, Hon FRSSAfr (1888-1982)
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1984) Raath, Michael A.
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.
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.
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.
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, Ann
Well-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.
A juvenile coelophysoid skull from the Early Jurassic of Zimbabwe, and the synonymy of Coelophysis and Syntarsus
(BERNARD PRICE INSTITUTE FOR PALAEONTOLOGICAL RESEARCH, 2004) Bristowe, Anthea; Raath, Michael A.
Several authors have drawn attention to the close similarities between the neotheropod dinosaurs Coelophysis and Syntarsus. Reconstruction and analysis of a skull from a juvenile specimen of Syntarsus (collected from the Forest Sandstone Formation of Zimbabwe) show that cranial characters previously used to distinguish these taxa and justify their generic separation (namely the presence of a ‘nasal fenestra’ in Syntarsus and the length of its antorbital fenestra), were based on erroneous reconstructions of disassociated cranial elements. On the basis of this reinterpretation we conclude that Syntarsus is a junior synonym of Coelophysis. Variations are noted in three cranial characters – the length of the maxillary tooth row, the width of the base of the lachrymal and the shape of the antorbital maxillary fossa – that taken together with the chronological and geographical separation of the two taxa justify separation at species level.

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