Palaeontologia africana

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ISSN (print): 0078-8554 ISSN (electronic): 2410-4418 For queries regarding content of Palaeontologia africana collections please contact Jonah Choiniere by email : jonah.choiniere@wits.ac.za or Tel : 011 717 6684

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Author: search.filters.author.Barrett, Paul M

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    A brief history of Massospondylus: its discovery, historical taxonomy and redescription of the original syntype series
    (The Evolutionary Studies Institute, 2024-12) Barrett, Paul M; Chapelle, Kimberley EJ
    Massospondylus carinatus Owen, 1854 is one of the first dinosaurs to have been described from outside Europe and was based on material collected from what is now the upper Elliot Formation of the Free State province, South Africa. The species was included in various taxonomic reviews during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but no additional material was referred beyond the original syntype series and it remained poorly known. This was exacerbated by the destruction of the syntypes during World War II. From the 1970s onward, fieldwork in the upper Stormberg Group of South Africa, Lesotho and Zimbabwe led to the discovery of many new sauropodomorph dinosaur specimens that have been referred to the taxon (often uncritically) that have been used to shed further light on the anatomy, palaeobiology and biostratigraphical utility of Massospondylus carinatus. Here, we review the taxonomic history of this species, provide updated descriptions of the syntypes (based on surviving casts) and use apomorphies to identify these specimens more accurately.
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    A new specimen of the sauropodomorph dinosaur Ignavusaurus rachelis from the Early Jurassic of Lesotho
    (Evolutionary Studies Institute, 2020-12-11) Bodenham, Ewan H; Barrett, Paul M
    The upper Elliot Formation (?Rhaetian–Sinemurian) of South Africa and Lesotho has yielded a rich fauna of non-avian dinosaurs, which has generally been considered to be dominated by the massopodan sauropodomorph Massospondylus carinatus. However, re-evaluation of the abundant sauropodomorph collections from this unit suggests that the species-richness of upper Elliot sites has been underestimated. Here, we describe a series of cervical and dorsal vertebrae collected from Likhoele Mountain, Lesotho, which are referred to the rare upper Elliot sauropodomorph taxon Ignavusaurus rachelis. This material represents only the second-known specimen of this taxon, extending its geographic range, and underscores the value of undertaking detailed re-assessments of neglected historical collections.