Palaeontologia africana

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A sauropodomorph dinosaur from the ?Early Jurassic of Lusitu, Zambia
(2015-04-01) Choiniere, Jonah N
Dinosaur material has been reported from Zambia but remains undescribed. The first record, from the upper Luangwa Valley, was mistakenly identified and pertains instead to indeterminate dicynodonts. The only other report on Zambian dinosaur material concerns associated partial hind limb and vertebral material collected from an Upper Karoo sandstone in the vicinity of Lusitu. We provide a description of this specimen, the first definitive dinosaur to be reported from Zambia, and identify it as an indeterminate basal sauropodomorph. Unfortunately, the precise age of the specimen remains unknown, although an Early Jurassic age seems likely.
A dinosaur fauna from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of northern Sudan
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1999) Rauhut, Oliver W M
A dinosaur fauna from the Cenomanian of northern Sudan (Wadi Milk Formation) is described. It comprises at least nine, probably ten to eleven taxa: a dicraeosaurid, a titanosaurid and another undetermined sauropod (possibly a titanosaurid), two charcharodontosaurids, a dromaeosaurid, a probable hypsilophodontid and two iguanodontian ornithopods. It is one of the most diverse dinosaur faunas known from the Cretaceous of Africa. The environment was probably a semiarid savanna with some rivers, lined by dense vegetation, with abundant sauropods, less abundant theropods and rare ornithopods. Gigantic carcharodontosaurids were at the top of the food chain. At the present state of knowledge, the dinosaur fauna from the middle to late Cretaceous of Africa can be characterized by the presence of carcharodontosaurids, spinosaurids, titanosaurids, diplodocoids, and possibly iguanodontian ornithopods.
Further material of the ceratosaurian dinosaur Syntarsus from the Elliot Formation (Early Jurassic) of South Africa
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, 1999) Munyikwa, Darlington
Two further fossils recovered from the Elliot Formation in South Africa are referred to the ceratosaurian genus Syntarsus: a partial pelvis and a well preserved and articulated snout. The pelvic fragment consists of most of the posterior end of the left ilium and sacrum, with a small part of the right ilium attached. The acetabular area and ‘brevis shelf’ of the left ilium are well preserved, as is the ventral surface of the sacrum. These parts show features characteristic of Syntarsus material from Zimbabwe. The snout has the premaxillae, maxillae, nasals and dentaries from both sides preserved, of which only the premaxillae are more or less complete. The premaxilla has four alveoli and the maxilla nine, and the maxilla bears the characteristic dimpling on its lateral surface also seen in Syntarsus material collected in Zimbabwe. The snout also possesses the characteristic small diastema or subnarial gap between the premaxillary and maxillary teeth shown by Syntarsus material from elsewhere. The snout is strongly compressed bilaterally and the jaws are tightly closed, so that the dentary teeth are obscured beneath the upper dentition. This compression has crushed the palatal region, obscuring palatal details.
Massospondylus carinatus Owen 1854 (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa: Proposed conservation of the usage by designation of a neotype
(Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010-12) Yates, Adam M.; Barrett, Paul M.
The purpose of this article is to preserve the usage of the binomen Massospondylus carinatus by designating a neotype specimen. Massospondylus is the most abundant basal sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Early Jurassic strata of southern Africa. This taxon forms the basis for an extensive palaeobiological literature and is the eponym of Massospondylidae and the nominal taxon of a biostratigraphical unit in current usage, the ‘Massospondylus Range Zone’. The syntype series of M. carinatus (five disarticulated and broken vertebrae) was destroyed during World War II, but plaster casts and illustrations of the material survive. Nonetheless, these materials cannot act as type material for this taxon under the rules of the ICZN Code. In order to avoid nomenclatural instability, we hereby designate BP/1/4934 (a skull and largely complete postcranial skeleton) as the neotype of Massospondylus carinatus.

Palaeontologia africana

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