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.

scholarly journals Upper Karoo vertebrate assemblages (Late Triassic/Early Jurassic) of the Lake Kariba region, Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Barrett ◽  
Tim Broderick ◽  
Kimberley Chapelle ◽  
Jonah Choiniere ◽  
Steve Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Lake Kariba ◽  
Aquatic Fauna ◽  
Mudstone Facies

Southern Africa provides critical information on Late Triassic–Early Jurassic terrestrial tetrapod faunas. Most of the localities in this region are in South Africa and Lesotho, but preliminary work in Zimbabwe has revealed significant potential. Early Jurassic Zimbabwean localities have yielded the basal sauropodomorph Massospondylus, the early sauropod Vulcanodon and theropod material. Late Triassic localities are also known, but have yielded only fragmentary specimens thus far. In early 2017, a joint South African-Zimbabwean-UK team conducted fieldwork in the upper Karoo-aged deposits along the shores of Lake Kariba, northern Zimbabwe (Mid-Zambesi Basin). We relocated the Vulcanodon type locality on Island 126/127 and found that, contrary to previous reports suggesting a Toarcian age, the quarry was in a horizon pre-dating the onset of Drakensburg volcanism (= Batoka Basalts). It is situated instead within the earlier Lower Jurassic Forest Sandstone. This indicates that Vulcanodon is 10–15 million years older than thought previously, recalibrating several nodes within Sauropoda and indicating extensive overlap between true sauropods and 'prosauropods'. Other new vertebrate localities show that sauropodomorphs are present in the Forest Sandstone and upper Tashinga (Late Triassic) formations, but a grey mudstone facies within the Pebbly Arkose Member of the latter unit yields a more aquatic fauna, including lungfish and phytosaurs, but lacking sauropodomorphs. The phytosaur occurrence is the first in Africa south of the Sahara. Faunal and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sites in this region were deposited under more mesic environments than their lateral equivalents in South Africa.

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.

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 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 Upper Karoo vertebrate assemblages (Late Triassic/Early Jurassic) of the Late Kariba region, Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Barrett ◽  
Tim Broderick ◽  
Kimberley Chapelle ◽  
Jonah Choiniere ◽  
Steve Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Lake Kariba ◽  
Aquatic Fauna ◽  
Mudstone Facies

Southern Africa provides critical information on Late Triassic–Early Jurassic terrestrial tetrapod faunas. Most of the localities in this region are in South Africa and Lesotho, but preliminary work in Zimbabwe has revealed significant potential. Early Jurassic Zimbabwean localities have yielded the basal sauropodomorph Massospondylus, the early sauropod Vulcanodon and theropod material. Late Triassic localities are also known, but have yielded only fragmentary specimens thus far. In early 2017, a joint South African-Zimbabwean-UK team conducted fieldwork in the upper Karoo-aged deposits along the shores of Lake Kariba, northern Zimbabwe (Mid-Zambesi Basin). We relocated the Vulcanodon type locality on Island 126/127 and found that, contrary to previous reports suggesting a Toarcian age, the quarry was in a horizon pre-dating the onset of Drakensburg volcanism (= Batoka Basalts). It is situated instead within the earlier Lower Jurassic Forest Sandstone. This indicates that Vulcanodon is 10–15 million years older than thought previously, recalibrating several nodes within Sauropoda and indicating extensive overlap between true sauropods and 'prosauropods'. Other new vertebrate localities show that sauropodomorphs are present in the Forest Sandstone and upper Tashinga (Late Triassic) formations, but a grey mudstone facies within the Pebbly Arkose Member of the latter unit yields a more aquatic fauna, including lungfish and phytosaurs, but lacking sauropodomorphs. The phytosaur occurrence is the first in Africa south of the Sahara. Faunal and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sites in this region were deposited under more mesic environments than their lateral equivalents in South Africa.

scholarly journals Upper Karoo vertebrate assemblages (Late Triassic/Early Jurassic) of the Lake Kariba region, Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Barrett ◽  
Tim Broderick ◽  
Kimberley Chapelle ◽  
Jonah Choiniere ◽  
Steve Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Lake Kariba ◽  
Aquatic Fauna ◽  
Mudstone Facies

Southern Africa provides critical information on Late Triassic–Early Jurassic terrestrial tetrapod faunas. Most of the localities in this region are in South Africa and Lesotho, but preliminary work in Zimbabwe has revealed significant potential. Early Jurassic Zimbabwean localities have yielded the basal sauropodomorph Massospondylus, the early sauropod Vulcanodon and theropod material. Late Triassic localities are also known, but have yielded only fragmentary specimens thus far. In early 2017, a joint South African-Zimbabwean-UK team conducted fieldwork in the upper Karoo-aged deposits along the shores of Lake Kariba, northern Zimbabwe (Mid-Zambesi Basin). We relocated the Vulcanodon type locality on Island 126/127 and found that, contrary to previous reports suggesting a Toarcian age, the quarry was in a horizon pre-dating the onset of Drakensburg volcanism (= Batoka Basalts). It is situated instead within the earlier Lower Jurassic Forest Sandstone. This indicates that Vulcanodon is 10–15 million years older than thought previously, recalibrating several nodes within Sauropoda and indicating extensive overlap between true sauropods and 'prosauropods'. Other new vertebrate localities show that sauropodomorphs are present in the Forest Sandstone and upper Tashinga (Late Triassic) formations, but a grey mudstone facies within the Pebbly Arkose Member of the latter unit yields a more aquatic fauna, including lungfish and phytosaurs, but lacking sauropodomorphs. The phytosaur occurrence is the first in Africa south of the Sahara. Faunal and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sites in this region were deposited under more mesic environments than their lateral equivalents in South Africa.

Phylogeography of the genus Xenopus in southern Africa

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Xenopus Laevis ◽  
Cytochrome B ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
West African ◽  
Cytochrome B Gene ◽  
Tree Structure ◽  
The Subject

AbstractXenopus laevis (Daudin, 1802) has been the subject of numerous studies but is taxonomically poorly understood. Part of the Cytochrome b gene in mitochondrial DNA was sequenced from 50 individual Xenopus from three currently recognised species, taken from 28 localities in southern Africa, and from an outgroup of two West African X. epitropicalis. Phylogenetic analyses of these data reveal well-supported tree structure, demonstrating three clades within what is currently regarded as X. laevis : X. l. laevis from the Cape, X. l. petersii, and X. l. laevis from further north. This evidence agrees with other studies (on morphology, call and parasite data) which suggest that what is currently regarded as X. laevis encompasses more than one species. Workers using Xenopus collected away from the Cape of South Africa are not safe in assuming that they are using X. laevis.

Sanctions against South Africa: Some Issues and Implications

1986 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-283
Author(s):  
Anirudha Gupta
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Racial Equality ◽  
British Economy ◽  
Margaret Thatcher ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject

Two diametrically opposite views hare been advanced on the subject of sanctions against South Africa. One supports sanctions on the ground that, 1. sanctions will facilitate the end of apartheid and 2. timely imposition of sanctions can avoid an all-out racial blood-bath in Southern Africa. India's Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has been the foremost advocate of this argument. In his address at the Harare Summit of the Non-aligned Movement, 2–6 September 1986, he reiterated that‘sanctions could yet bring a relatively peaceful transition to racial equality and majority rule. Else, unprecedented violence would mow down a multitude of the finest flowers of South Africa.‘1 Opposing this view others argue that, 1. sanctions are immoral; 2. they will hurt South Africa's blacks more than the whites and 3. that at any rate sanctions are impracticable. The champ ionof this “no-sanction-business” is Britain's Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who observed towards the close of the Commonwealth Meeting that sanctions would only harm the blacks and frontline states and so she would not like to be accused of causing‘greater hardship to the people of South Africa.’2 Mrs Thatcher also warned that imposition of sanctions would hurt the British economy as well as render some 250,000 British workers jobless. In addition to giving a new angle to the sanction debate, she obviously picked up this theme to impress the British voters.

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