Volume 49 April 2015

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    Complete volume 49
    (2015-05-12)
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    Cover
    (2015-04-29)
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    Style Guide
    (2015-04-29)
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    Inside Front Cover
    (2015-04-29)
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    Imprint
    (2015-04-29)
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    Table of Contents
    (2015-04-29)
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    The first biarmosuchian from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation (Luangwa Basin) of Zambia
    (2015-04-01) Sidor, Christian A;
    This contribution reports the first occurrence of a biarmosuchian therapsid from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of the Luangwa Basin of northeastern Zambia. Although incomplete, the fossil preserves diagnostic features of post-Biarmosuchus biarmosuchians, such as the presence of a preparietal bone and parasagittal ridges on the basicranial rami of the pterygoids, that allow its unambiguous referral to this group. Based primarily on the record of dicynodonts, the upper Madumabisa Mudstone assemblage can be correlated with the Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of South Africa. During this interval, the tetrapod faunas of the Karoo and Luangwa basins were remarkably similar and likely characterized by frequent biotic interchange.
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    The potential and pitfalls of using simple dental metrics to infer the diets of African antelopes (Mammalia: Bovidae)
    (2015-04-01) Louys, Julien; Meloro, Carlo; Elton, Sarah; Ditchfield, Peter; Bishop, Laura C
    The use of mesowear to infer diets of extinct species is fast becoming widespread in palaeoecological studies. Nevertheless, traditional mesowear analyses suffer from a specimen number limitation, in that a minimum number of specimens identified to the species level is necessary to make accurate dietary predictions. This is problematic in many fossil African antelope (Mammalia: Bovidae) assemblages, where isolated teeth cannot always be assigned to species. Hereweexplore the possibility of using simple dental metrics to predict diets on the basis of individual teeth as well as gnathic rows using linear discriminant function analyses.We find that browsers are accurately classified at both the individual and species levels, across all models and tooth positions. Mixed feeders and grazers are classified accurately only sometimes, and this is probably a reflection of the more limited sample size of larger bodied species in our study. Body size was a highly significant predictor of the inaccurate classifications obtained in our models, with larger bodied species tending to grazing classifications and smaller bodied species browsing classifications. Nevertheless, the models correctly classify the majority of specimens we examined to their correct trophic group, as determined through stable isotope analyses or as defined through the literature. The methods outlined hold some promise for determining the diets of isolated fossil specimens unassigned to species in a simple manner and, when used in conjunction with other palaeodietary and palaeoecological proxies, may help determine palaeoenvironments more accurately.
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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.