Alarmkraal: Capitanian, South Africa
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Reptilia
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Eunotosaurus africanus
Seeley 1892
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2 individuals | |||||||||
| BP/1/5677; NMQR 3466 | ||||||||||
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Varanopidae
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Elliotsmithia longiceps
Broom 1937
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Modesto et al. 2001 | 1 individual | ||||||||
| BP/1/5678 | ||||||||||
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= Mycterosaurinae indet.
Modesto et al. 2001
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Botha-Brink and Modesto 2009 | |||||||||
| see comments on taxonomic list | ||||||||||
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= Afrothyra indet.
Spindler et al. 2018
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Spindler et al. 2018 | |||||||||
| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | South Africa | State/province: | Northern Cape | County: | Kareeberg |
| Coordinates: | 31.1° South, 22.4° East (view map) | ||||
| Paleocoordinates: | 59.5° South, 31.9° West | ||||
| Basis of coordinate: | stated in text | ||||
| Geographic resolution: | small collection |
Time
| Period: | Permian | Epoch: | Guadalupian |
| Stage: | Capitanian | 10 m.y. bin: | Permian 4 |
| Key time interval: | Capitanian | Zone: | Tapinocephalus |
| Age range of interval: | 264.28000 - 259.51000 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
| Geological group: | Beaufort | Formation: | Abrahamskraal | ||
| Stratigraphic resolution: | group of beds | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: " [...] lower Beaufort Group (Abrahamskraal Formation)"
" [...] 27 m above the Ecca–Beaufort contact [...] " " [...] Tapinocephalus biozone [...] " " [...] lowermost part of the Beaufort Group is absent from this part of the basin." Tapinocephalus AZ is Capitanian according to Catuneanu et al. (2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43) | |||||
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | siltstone | ||
| Secondary lithology: | mudstone | ||
| Includes fossils? | Y | ||
| Includes fossils? | Y | ||
| Lithology description: "thin siltstone horizon" (Rubidge et al., 1999). Modesto et al., (2001) state that the matrix rock of the Elliotsmithia skull is "mudrock". | |||
| Environment: | "floodplain" | Tectonic setting: | foreland basin |
| Geology comments: " [...] deposited mainly by overbank flooding of large meandering rivers of variable sinuosity, draining an extensive alluvial plain [...]" (Catuneanu et al., 2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43) | |||
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: | field collection |
| Reason for describing collection: | taxonomic analysis |
| Museum repositories: | BPI |
| Collection method comments: NMQR = National Museum, Bloemfontein | |
| Taxonomic list comments:The specimen (BP/1/5678) referred to Elliotsmithia longiceps by Modesto (2001) is said to be probably assignable to Heleosaurus scholtzi by Botha-Brink & Modesto (2009). Latter authors, however, additionally state that there are no autapomorphies of H. scholtzi determinable in the specimen but that "its mycterosaurine identity is unequivocal". | |
Metadata
| Database number: | 88394 | ||
| Authorizer: | J. Mueller, R. Butler | Enterer: | T. Liebrecht, R. Butler |
| Modifier: | T. Liebrecht | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Created: | 2009-04-10 16:34:37 | Last modified: | 2009-07-26 15:13:30 |
| Access level: | the public | Released: | 2009-04-10 16:34:37 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC BY |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 29681. | B. S. Rubidge, S. P. Modesto, C. A. Sidor and J. Welman. 1999. Eunotosaurus africanus from the Ecca–Beaufort contact in Northern Cape Province, South Africa - implications for Karoo Basin development. South African Journal of Science 95(11/12):553-556 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht] |
Secondary references:
| 30418 | J. Botha-Brink and S. P. Modesto. 2009. Anatomy and Relationships of the Middle Permian Varanopid Heleosaurus scholtzi Based on Social Aggregation from the Karoo Basin of South Africa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(2):389-400 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht] | |
| 30109 | S. P. Modesto, C. A. Sidor, B. S. Rubidge and J. Welman. 2001. A second varanopseid skull from the Upper Permian of South Africa: implications for Late Permian ‘pelycosaur’ evolution. Lethaia 34(4):249-259 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht] | |
| 66012 | F. Spindler, R. Werneburg, J. W. Schneider, L. Luthardt, V. Annacker and R. Rößler. 2018. First arboreal ’pelycosaurs’ (Synapsida: Varanopidae) from the early Permian Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte, SE Germany, with a review of varanopid phylogen. Palaeontologische Zeitschrift 92:315-364 [R. Butler/R. Butler] |