Victoria West District (?Abrahamskraal Formation) (Permian of South Africa)

Also known as Karoo, Karroo

Where: Northern Cape, South Africa (31.4° S, 23.1° E: paleocoordinates 60.2° S, 32.0° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• small collection-level geographic resolution

When: ? Tapinocephalus assemblage zone, Abrahamskraal Formation (Beaufort Group), Capitanian (265.1 - 259.9 Ma)

• "The horizon is uncertain because, like many of Robert Broom’s localities, the type locality, ‘Victoria West and District’ (Kitching, 1977), is not well established [...] " (Reisz & Modesto, 2007 p. 735). The authors argue that the horizon in question is either in the Teekloof Formation (Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone) or in the Abrahamskraal Formation (Tropidostoma Assemblage Zone). Both Formations belong to the Beaufort Group, the former being Wuchiapingian in age, the latter being Capitanian in age, according to Catuneanu et al. (2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43). Modesto & Reisz (2007) prefer assignment to the Abrahamskraal Formation.

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: terrestrial; fine-grained sandstone

• Broom (1907) at least reports that the host rock of the Galechirus specimens is a "fine-grained sandstone".

Size class: macrofossils

Preservation: mold/impression

Collected by T. J. R. Scholtz

Primary reference: R. R. Reisz and S. P. Modesto. 2007. Heleosaurus scholtzi from the Permian of South Africa: a Varanopid Synapsid, not a Diapsid Reptile. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3):734-739 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 85515: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 05.01.2009, edited by Bethany Allen

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• The specimens of Galechirus scholtzi and Arnognathus parvidens are not mentioned by Reisz & Modesto (2007). However, Kitching (1977) reports that all specimens "were recovered from a very localized exposure".
Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Varanopidae
Heleosaurus scholtzi n. gen. n. sp.
Heleosaurus scholtzi n. gen. n. sp. Broom 1907 synapsid
SAM-PK-1070 (type)
 Therocephalia -
Arnognathus parvidens n. gen. n. sp.2
Arnognathus parvidens n. gen. n. sp.2 Broom 1907 therapsid
 Dicynodontia - Pylaecephalidae
Eosimops newtoni n. gen. n. sp.1
Eosimops newtoni n. gen. n. sp.1 Broom 1921 dicynodont
NHMUK R5749, damaged skull and jaw
 Dicynodontia - Lystrosauridae
Lystrosaurus sp.2 Cope 1870 dicynodont
 Dicynodontia -
Dicynodon sp.2 Owen 1845 dicynodont
 Anomodontia -
Galechirus scholtzi n. gen. n. sp.2
Galechirus scholtzi n. gen. n. sp.2 Broom 1907 therapsid
SAM 1068 (?type), AMNH 5516 ("now housed in the South African Museum" (Brinkman, 1981, Breviora 465))
 Palaeonisciformes - Atherstoniidae
Atherstonia sp.2 Woodward 1889