Rietfontein: Capitanian, South Africa
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Reptilia
- Styracocephalidae
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Styracocephalus platyrhynchus
Haughton 1929
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Rubidge and van den Heever 1997 | 2 specimens | ||||||||
| BP/1/5433, posterior portion of skull roof with left ‘horn’; BP/1/5428, fragmentary pieces of skull roof | ||||||||||
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Reptilia
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Eunotosaurus africanus
Seeley 1892
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1 individual | |||||||||
| BMNH R4054 (figured by Watson, 1914, figs. 3 & 4 pI. VII) | ||||||||||
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Therocephalia
- Lycosuchidae
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Hyaenasuchus whaitsi n. sp.
Broom
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Boonstra 1969 | |||||||||
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Trochosaurus acutus n. sp.
Broom
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Boonstra 1969 | |||||||||
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Therocephalia
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Trochosuchus major n. sp.
Broom 1915
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Broom 1915 | 1 specimen | ||||||||
| AMNH 5543 (holotype), partial skull | ||||||||||
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unclassified
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? Hipposaurus brinki n. sp.
Sigogneau-Russell 1970
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Sigogneau-Russell 1989 | 1 individual | ||||||||
| SAM-PK-12252 | ||||||||||
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Anomodontia
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Dicynodon jouberti
Broom 1905
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Boonstra 1969 | |||||||||
| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | South Africa | State/province: | Western Cape | County: | Prince Albert |
| Coordinates: | 32.9° South, 21.9° East (view map) | ||||
| Paleocoordinates: | 59.6° South, 35.5° West | ||||
| Basis of coordinate: | based on nearby landmark | ||||
| Geographic resolution: | local area |
Time
| Period: | Permian | Epoch: | Guadalupian |
| Stage: | Capitanian | 10 m.y. bin: | Permian 4 |
| Key time interval: | Capitanian | Other zone: | Tapinocephalus Assemblage |
| Age range of interval: | 264.28 - 259.51 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
| Geological group: | Beaufort | Formation: | Abrahamskraal | ||
| Stratigraphic resolution: | group of beds | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: " [...] Middle Permian Tapinocephalus Zone of the Beaufort Series of South Africa." (Cox, 1969). Kitching (1977, "Distribution of the Karroo Vertebrate Fauna", p. 41), however, assigns this locality to the lower Tapinocephalus zone, which corresponds to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of Rubidge et al. (1995, South African Committee for Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphic Series No. 1).
The Tapinocephalus AZ is Capitanian according to Catuneanu et al. (2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43). The geographic and biostratigraphic position of the locality suggests that the site is in the Abrahamskraal Formation, which is of Capitanian age (see Catuneanu et al., 2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43 figs. 24, 25). | |||||
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | hematitic,gray,green silty mudstone | ||
| Includes fossils? | Y | ||
| Lithology description: " [...] preserved in a non-calcareous, olive-grey, silty mudstone (subgreywacke), which shows traces of haematite staining." (Cox, 1969, with regard to Eunotosaurus) | |||
| Environment: | dry floodplain | Tectonic setting: | foreland basin |
| Geology comments: " [...] deposited mainly by overbank flooding of large meandering rivers of variable sinuosity, draining an extensive alluvial plain [...]. Deposition occurred under semi-arid climatic conditions [...]." (Catuneanu et al., 2005, p. 236; general description of the environment represented by the deposits of the Abrahamskraal and Teekloof Fms.) | |||
Taphonomy
| Modes of preservation: | body |
| Size of fossils: | macrofossils |
| Preservation of anatomical detail: | good |
| Articulated whole bodies: | none |
| Associated major elements: | all |
| Temporal resolution: | snapshot |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection methods: | survey of museum collection |
| Reason for describing collection: | taxonomic analysis |
| Museum repositories: | BMNH |
Metadata
| Database number: | 92645 | ||
| Authorizer: | J. Mueller, A. Dunhill, R. Butler | Enterer: | T. Liebrecht, B. Allen, R. Butler |
| Modifier: | R. Butler | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Collections that are a subset of this one: | |||
| Created: | 2009-11-23 02:52:34 | Last modified: | 2016-02-07 13:43:32 |
| Access level: | authorizer only | Released: | 2012-11-23 02:52:34 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 31219. | C. B. Cox. 1969. The Problematic Permian Reptile Eunotosaurus. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology Series 18(5):167-196 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht] |
Secondary references:
| 67683 | L. D. Boonstra. 1969. The fauna of the Tapinocephalus Zone (Beaufort Beds of the Karoo). Annals of the South African Museum 56(1):1-73 [A. Dunhill/B. Allen] | |
| 17006 | ETE | R. Broom. 1915. Catalogue of types and figured specimens of fossil vertebrates in the American Museum of Natural History. II.–Permian, Triassic and Jurassic reptiles of South Africa. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 25(2):105-164 [M. Carrano/M. Carrano] |
| 67668 | B. S. Rubidge and J. A. van den Heever. 1997. Morphology and systematic position of the dinocephalian Styracocephalus platyrhynchus. Lethaia 30:157-168 [A. Dunhill/B. Allen] | |
| 57886 | D. S. Sigogneau-Russell. 1989. Theriodontia I: Phthinosuchia, Biarmosuchia, Eotitanosuchia, Gorgonopsia. Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology [R. Butler/R. Butler/R. Butler] |