Zwarts Siding: Capitanian, South Africa
List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
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Reptilia
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Embrithosaurus schwarzi
Watson 1914
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Boonstra 1969 | |||||||||
| 1 individual | ||||||||||
| SAM 6242 (not mentioned in Lee, 1997) | ||||||||||
| see common names | ||||||||||
Geography
| Country: | South Africa | State/province: | Western Cape | County: | Prince Albert |
| Coordinates: | 32.9° South, 21.8° East (view map) | ||||
| Paleocoordinates: | 52.9° South, 28.6° West (Wright 2013) | ||||
| Basis of coordinate: | based on nearby landmark | ||||
| Geographic resolution: | small collection |
Time
| Period: | Permian | Epoch: | Guadalupian |
| Stage: | Capitanian | 10 m.y. bin: | Permian 4 |
| Key time interval: | Capitanian | Zone: | Tapinocephalus or Pristerognathus Assemblage |
| Age range of interval: | 264.28 - 259.51 m.y. ago |
Stratigraphy
| Geological group: | Beaufort | Formation: | Abrahamskraal | ||
| Stratigraphic resolution: | bed | ||||
| Stratigraphy comments: Kitching (1977, "Distribution of the Karroo Vertebrate Fauna") assigns this locality to the middle Tapinocephalus Zone. This corresponds to the transition of the Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus Assemblage Zones of Rubidge et al. (1995, South African Committee for Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphic Series No. 1).
The Tapinocephalus and Pristerognathus AZs are Capitanian according to Catuneanu et al. (2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43). Since the locality is west of 24°E it very likely is within the Abrahamskraal Fm. (see Catuneanu et al., 2005 figs. 24, 25). | |||||
Lithology and environment
| Primary lithology: | sandstone | ||
| Secondary lithology: | claystone | ||
| Lithology description: "fining-upward succession of sandstones and purple mudstones containing numerous thin chert bands and rich tetrapod faunas" (general lithology description of the Abrahamskraal Fm. in Catuneanu et al., 2005, J. Afr. Earth Sci. 43). | |||
| 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 [...]. 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 |
Collection methods and comments
| Collection methods: | survey of museum collection |
| Reason for describing collection: | taxonomic analysis |
| Collection method comments: SAM = Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town | |
Metadata
| Database number: | 93088 | ||
| Authorizer: | J. Mueller, A. Dunhill | Enterer: | T. Liebrecht, B. Allen | Research group: | vertebrate |
| Subset of collection #: | 92645 | ||
| Created: | 2010-01-02 11:14:29 | Last modified: | 2025-02-22 15:12:02 |
| Access level: | authorizer only | Released: | 2013-01-02 11:14:29 |
| Creative Commons license: | CC0 |
Reference information
Primary reference:
| 31439. | S. H. Haughton and L. D. Boonstra. 1929. Pareiasaurian studies. Part I. - An Attempt at a Classification of the Pareiasauria based on Skull Features. Annals of the South African Museum 28(1):79-87 [J. Mueller/T. Liebrecht/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] |