Beukesplaas (Permian of South Africa)

Also known as Gannakraal 422, near Fraserburg

Where: Northern Cape, South Africa (32.1° S, 21.2° E: paleocoordinates 58.9° S, 34.4° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone other zone, Abrahamskraal Formation (Beaufort Group), Capitanian (265.1 - 259.9 Ma)

• "Upper Levels of the Abrahamskraal Formation, Beaufort Group, Karoo Supergroup. The strata on Beukesplaas are assigned to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, which is Middle Permian in age." (Modesto et al., 2009). Radioisotopic data constrains the likely age of the Tapinocephalus Zone to Capitanian (Rubidge et al. 2013).

•"Strata exposed at this locality include the uppermost Abrahamskraal Formation and the lowermost Poortjie Member of the Teekloof Formation (Day, 2013). This corresponds to the upper portion of the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone and possibly the lower Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone" (Angielczyk et al. 2016)

• group of beds-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: "floodplain"; lithified mudstone

• "The strata of the Tapinocephalus AZ were deposited in a predominantly fluvial floodplain environment and no volcanic or aeolian deposits are present in this geological unit (Rubidge 1995)." (Botha-Brink & Modesto, 2007).
• " [...] fine-grained, greenishgrey mudstone [...] " (Botha-Brink & Modesto, 2007). " [...] hard mudstone [...] " Modesto et al. (2009).

Size class: macrofossils

Collected by R. M. H. Smith and allies in 1995

Collection methods: surface (in situ), mechanical,

• " [...] mechanical preparation by airscribe and pin vise." (Modesto et al., 2009).

•Since damage due to weathering is reported by Botha-Brink & Modesto (2007) as well as by Modesto et al. (2009) it appears that the fossils have been collected from surface, although not stated explicitly.

•SAM = Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town

Primary reference: S. P. Modesto, D. M. Scott, and R. R. Reisz. 2009. A new parareptile with temporal fenestration from the Middle Permian of South Africa. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 46(1):9-20 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 89626: authorized by Johannes Mueller, entered by Torsten Liebrecht on 05.06.2009, edited by Richard Butler

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Osteichthyes
 Synapsida - Varanopidae
Microvaranops parentis n. gen. n. sp.2
Microvaranops parentis n. gen. n. sp.2 Spindler et al. 2018 synapsid
SAM-PK-K8305 (suite of 5 individuals)
 Dicynodontia -
Brachyprosopus broomi1 Olson 1937 dicynodont
SAM-PK-12259, a nearly complete but laterally compressed skull missing the zygomatic arches and a complete mandible
Reptilia
 Procolophonomorpha -
Australothyris smithi n. gen. n. sp.
Australothyris smithi n. gen. n. sp. Modesto et al. 2009 parareptile
SAM-PK-K8302 (type)