Review of the tetrapod fauna of the “Lower Stormberg Group” of the main Karoo Basin (southern Africa) : implication for the age of the Lower Elliot Formation

2004 ◽  
Vol 175 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Knoll
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Karoo Basin ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Land Vertebrate

Abstract On the basis of its tetrapod fauna, the “Stormberg Group” of southern Africa can be divided into at least two zones. The lowest one is composed of the Molteno and Lower Elliot Formations. It has yielded remains of poorly known stereospondyls, unpublished rauisuchians, enigmatic carnivorous dinosaurs, numerous prosauropods, and rare sauro-pods and cynodonts. The presence of an ornithischian and a chelonian is alleged, but that of a dicynodont is quite doubtful. The age of the Lower Elliot Formation has been the subject of much speculation. A parallel is drawn with European Upper Norian-“Rhaetian” sites in which plateosaurid prosauropods constitute the vast majority of macrovertebrate remains. In conclusion, the Lower Elliot Formation is correlated with the Apachean “Land Vertebrate Faunachron”, which suggests that it is not older than late Norian.

The tetrapod fauna of the Upper Elliot and Clarens formations in the main Karoo Basin (South Africa and Lesotho)

2005 ◽  
Vol 176 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Knoll
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
North American ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Karoo Basin ◽  
Small Variety ◽  
The Subject

Abstract In the main Karoo Basin (southern Africa), the “Stormberg Group” can be divided into at least two faunal zones on the basis of its palaeontological content. The upper one encompasses the Upper Elliot and Clarens formations (“Upper Stormberg Group”). It is well known for its prosauropod and cynodont fauna, but it has also yielded some ste-reospondyl remains, a turtle, at least one lepidosaur, a small variety of crocodylomorphs, rare theropod elements, and an assortment of ornithischians. The presence of pterosaurs is put forward on ichnological grounds, but aetosaur and rauisuchian representatives do not appear to be present. The age of the “Upper Stormberg Group” has been the subject of much speculation. Strong analogies with the skeletal and ichnological record of Lower Jurassic North American formations provide evidence that the Upper Elliot Formation is fundamentally Hettangian in age. The lower part of the Clarens Formation would essentially correspond to the Sinemurian whereas its upper part, which is poor in fossils, would be Pliensbachian in age.

Politics ’72

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-9
Author(s):  
J. Leo Cefkin
Keyword(s):  
Positive Result ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
African Studies ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
The Subject

One positive result of the controversy concerning the mission of the African Studies Association has been the formation of the Committee on Current Issues. The Committee arranged several important panel discussions during the 1971 Annual Meeting in Denver, and it was agreed at that time that a special effort should be undertaken to promote a wider understanding of the situation in southern Africa. The 1972 election campaign provides a unique opportunity for discussion of the emerging crisis in southern Africa and for exploration of useful U.S. responses to that crisis. Richard Sklar, chairman of the Committee, was authorized by the Committee to appoint a subcommittee to plan such an effort for the 1972 election campaign. The work of the subcommittee—referred to as Politics ’72 — constitutes the subject of this article.

Biostratigraphy of the Lystrosaurus declivis Assemblage Zone (Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup), South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Botha ◽  
R.M.H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Community Assemblage ◽  
Faunal Assemblages ◽  
Karoo Basin ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Permian Mass Extinction ◽  
Land Vertebrate

Abstract The earliest Triassic (Induan) Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone has long been recognised as a particularly significant biozone in palaeoecological and palaeoenvironmental studies as it contains a community assemblage that records the survival and recovery from the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME). Here renamed the Lystrosaurus declivis Assemblage Zone it represents the best record globally of the ecological changes in terrestrial community structure and stability during this time period. The assemblage is dominated by two species of small to medium-sized herbivorous dicynodonts L. declivis and L. murrayi that co-occur in equal abundance, along with a range of smaller and less common faunivorous and insectivorous taxa. The latter comprise cynodonts (Thrinaxodon, Galesaurus, and Platycraniellus), therocephalians (Olivierosuchus, Regisaurus and Promoschorhynchus), the diminutive parareptiles (Saurodektes, Sauropareion, Colleta, Phonodus and Procolophon) and eureptilian arrivals possibly representing immigrant taxa (Prolacerta, Heleosuchus and Noteosuchus), among others. The attendant large carnivores were sabre-toothed Moschorhinus and the long-snouted archosauromorph Proterosuchus. In the aftermath of the mass extinction, new small temnospondyl taxa established their first occurrences i.e. Broomistega, Lydekkerina, and Micropholis, and have relatively high abundances compared to earlier temnospondyl records in the Karoo. Lithostratigraphically, the biozone for the most part spans the upper Palingkloof Member of the Balfour Formation and the overlying Katberg Formation in the western part of the basin, and the Normandien Formation in the east. The Lystrosaurus declivis Assemblage Zone of the main Karoo Basin hosts the type locality of the global Lootsbergian land-vertebrate faunachron. The biozone is one of the most widespread terrestrial faunal assemblages of western Gondwana with closely related species occurring in India and Antarctica. Similar, but much more distantly related taxa, occur in Induan-aged strata of Russia, China and Brazil.

The Common Law in Lesotho

1969 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-144
Author(s):  
Sebastian Poulter
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
English Law ◽  
The Republic

Whereas the reception and operation of English law in West and East Africa have been the subject of much study over the last few years, the introduction and application of Roman-Dutch law in Southern Africa (apart from South Africa itself) have received scant treatment.1 This article deals only with the position in Lesotho and attempts to show the extent to which Lesotho's legal system is tied to that of the Republic of South Africa, and thus strengthens the geographical and economic bonds which link the two countries.

scholarly journals I. — Afrique du Sud

1963 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 235-248
Author(s):  
J. Dommanget
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
European Southern Observatory ◽  
Afrique Du Sud ◽  
The Subject

I have not prepared anything on the subject of the present session.The best I can do is to take as an example the organization of the field survey in Southern Africa, by the European Southern Observatory (E. S. O.) with which I was collaborating from November 1955 to March 1957.

The Karoo Basin of South Africa: type basin for the coal-bearing deposits of southern Africa

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 117-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.B. Cadle ◽  
B. Cairncross ◽  
A.D.M. Christie ◽  
D.L. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Karoo Basin

Revision of the first therocephalian,TheriognathusOwen (Therapsida: Whaitsiidae), and implications for cranial ontogeny and allometry in nonmammaliaform eutheriodonts

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Huttenlocker ◽  
Fernando Abdala
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Karoo Basin ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Status ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Jaw Function

AbstractHistorically, the whaitsiid therocephalianTheriognathusOwen was one of the earliest described nonmammalian therapsids, its morphology helping to link phylogenetically the Paleozoic synapsids of North America and southern Africa to their mammalian successors. However, decades of taxonomic over-splitting and superficial descriptions obscured the morphologic diversity of the genus, hindering its utility as a study system for the evolution of synapsid cranial function as well as its biostratigraphic significance in the Late Permian of southern Africa. Here, we revise the status and provenance of all the known specimens ofTheriognathusfrom South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. We present both qualitative and quantitative support for the presence of a single morphospecies as proposed by some authors. Proportional differences in skulls that were previously ascribed to different morphotypes (‘Aneugomphius,’ ‘Notosollasia,’ ‘Moschorhynchus,’ and ‘Whaitsia’) are largely size-related and allometric trends are considered here in the context of jaw function and prey prehension. Our results suggest that the single species,Theriognathus microps, represented one of the most abundant Late Permian therocephalians in southern Africa and is consequently a potentially useful biostratigraphic marker for the upperCistecephalus-lowerDicynodonAssemblage Zone transition (i.e., late Wuchiapingian). The wide range of preserved sizes in conjunction with recent paleohistological evidence supports that individuals spent much of their lives in an actively-growing, subadult phase. LaterDicynodonAssemblage Zone records (e.g., upper Balfour Formation) are unconfirmed as the genus was likely replaced by other theriodont predators (e.g.,Moschorhinus) leading up to the Permo-Triassic boundary in the Karoo Basin of South Africa.

scholarly journals Fake Qualifications and the Challenge of regulating Higher Education in Southern Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignasio M. Jimu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Education System ◽  
General Public ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Ethical Standards ◽  
Regulatory Bodies ◽  
Legitimate Expectations ◽  
The Subject

This article examines the prevalence and implications of fake qualifications and the need for an effective regulatory regime to contain fake higher education qualifications. Fake qualifications by definition refer to false academic and professional credentials, regardless of the source, which means they may be acquired from illegitimate institutions, superficially legitimate institutions or through illegitimate means from legitimate institutions. The qualifications are in this sense illegitimate both in the manner in which they are obtained and also in terms of what they signify. The research for this article shows that the clandestine nature of the production and issuance and its global reach make it difficult to quantify, but also to control the use of fake qualifications and to manage their impact locally, nationally and globally. Drawing from several cases, it is apparent that the phenomenon of fake qualifications defies the integrity and legitimate expectations from an education system and is a serious challenge to education and ethical standards. It is further argued that given the challenges presented by the proliferation of fake qualifications generally, and in southern Africa in particular, it is imperative for higher education institutions, regulatory bodies, employers and the general public to develop a keen interest in the subject of fake qualifications and to cooperate in order to contain the menace.

Panel on South African Oral Traditions

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-13
Author(s):  
Mazisi Kunene ◽  
Daniel Kunene ◽  
Kofi Awoonor
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Oral Literature ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The subject of African oral literature is so vast that it would require more than an hour to present it in an understandable way, particularly to people for whom some of its dimensions may be new or completely unknown. Southern African oral literature is even more difficult to handle because there is not one southern African oral literature, there are several. These are divided not by languages, forms, or types, but rather by geography and history. The Sotho-speaking peoples, for instance, include the Kgatlas, the Ngwatos, the Pedis, and various other subgroups. Sotho literature does not necessarily follow the history of the Sotho nation, because there are several Sotho peoples distributed in different areas who are producing their own unique literatures. So in discussing the oral literature of southern Africa, we are actually discussing several literatures created by several peoples. If you happen to know the literature of one Sotho group, you are not necessarily versed in Sotho literature. You are versed only in the Sotho literature of a particular region. This is very important to understand.

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