scholarly journals Redescription of <i>Digalodon rubidgei</i>, an emydopoid dicynodont (Therapsida, Anomodontia) from the Late Permian of South Africa

Fossil Record ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. F. Kammerer ◽  
K. D. Angielczyk ◽  
J. Fröbisch
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Time Span ◽  
Central Portion ◽  
Sister Taxon ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
Dorsal Margin ◽  
Sexually Dimorphic ◽  
Limited Time ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Karoo Basin

Abstract. The Late Permian dicynodont Digalodon rubidgei Broom and Robinson, 1948, is redescribed based on reanalysis of the holotype and newly recognized referable specimens. Digalodon can be diagnosed by the presence of a long "beak" sharply demarcated from the caniniform process; an extremely tall zygomatic ramus of the squamosal, with a thickened, "folded-over" dorsal margin; raised parietal "lips" along the lateral edges of the pineal foramen; and a broad posterolateral expansion of the parietal, excluding the postorbital from the back of the skull roof. Inclusion of Digalodon in a recent analysis of anomodont phylogeny recovers it as a kistecephalian emydopoid, specifically as the sister taxon to the clade containing the remaining kistecephalians. Four definite specimens of Digalodon are known, but several additional specimens lacking tusks, the swollen pineal "lips", and a thickened zygoma may represent sexually dimorphic females or juveniles. Specimens of Digalodon are restricted to the central portion of the Karoo Basin, in the area around Graaff-Reinet, and are part of a characteristic fauna probably representing a limited time span.

scholarly journals A New Late Permian Burnetiamorph From Zambia Confirms Exceptional Levels of Endemism in Burnetiamorpha (Therapsida: Biarmosuchia) and an Updated Paleoenvironmental Interpretation of the Upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian A. Sidor ◽  
Neil J. Tabor ◽  
Roger M. H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Cladistic Analysis ◽  
Dorsal Margin ◽  
Rift Basin ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Paleoenvironmental Interpretation ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Trigonal Pyramid ◽  
Ceratopsian Dinosaurs

A new burnetiamorph therapsid, Isengops luangwensis, gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of a partial skull from the upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation of the Luangwa Basin of northeastern Zambia. Isengops is diagnosed by reduced palatal dentition, a ridge-like palatine-pterygoid boss, a palatal exposure of the jugal that extends far anteriorly, a tall trigonal pyramid-shaped supraorbital boss, and a recess along the dorsal margin of the lateral temporal fenestra. The upper Madumabisa Mudstone Formation was deposited in a rift basin with lithofacies characterized by unchannelized flow, periods of subaerial desiccation and non-deposition, and pedogenesis, and can be biostratigraphically tied to the upper Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, suggesting a Wuchiapingian age. Isengops is the second burnetiamorph recognized from Zambia and is part of a tetrapod assemblage remarkably similar to others across southern Pangea during the Wuchiapingian. A revised cladistic analysis of Biarmosuchia yielded over 500 most parsimonious trees that generally reaffirm the results of previous analyses for burnetiamorphs: Lemurosaurus is basal, Lobalopex and Isengops are proximate burnetiid outgroups, and Bullacephalus, Burnetia, Mobaceras, Niuksenitia, and Pachydectes are burnetiines. Furthermore, Russian biarmosuchians are scattered throughout the tree and do not form sister taxon relationships with each other. Burnetiamorphs display a wide disparity of cranial adornments and are relatively speciose (13 species), especially when compared to the number of specimens discovered to date (∼16 specimens). As has been suggested in some other tetrapod clades (e.g., ceratopsian dinosaurs), the burnetiamorph fossil record supports an inferred macroevolutionary relationship between cranial adornment and increased speciation rate.

scholarly journals Evidence of a therapsid scavenger in the Late Permian Karoo Basin, South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Fordyce ◽  
Roger Smith ◽  
Anusuya Chinsamy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Karoo Basin

Revision of the first therocephalian,TheriognathusOwen (Therapsida: Whaitsiidae), and implications for cranial ontogeny and allometry in nonmammaliaform eutheriodonts

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 645-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam K. Huttenlocker ◽  
Fernando Abdala
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Triassic Boundary ◽  
Karoo Basin ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Status ◽  
Assemblage Zone ◽  
Jaw Function

AbstractHistorically, the whaitsiid therocephalianTheriognathusOwen was one of the earliest described nonmammalian therapsids, its morphology helping to link phylogenetically the Paleozoic synapsids of North America and southern Africa to their mammalian successors. However, decades of taxonomic over-splitting and superficial descriptions obscured the morphologic diversity of the genus, hindering its utility as a study system for the evolution of synapsid cranial function as well as its biostratigraphic significance in the Late Permian of southern Africa. Here, we revise the status and provenance of all the known specimens ofTheriognathusfrom South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia. We present both qualitative and quantitative support for the presence of a single morphospecies as proposed by some authors. Proportional differences in skulls that were previously ascribed to different morphotypes (‘Aneugomphius,’ ‘Notosollasia,’ ‘Moschorhynchus,’ and ‘Whaitsia’) are largely size-related and allometric trends are considered here in the context of jaw function and prey prehension. Our results suggest that the single species,Theriognathus microps, represented one of the most abundant Late Permian therocephalians in southern Africa and is consequently a potentially useful biostratigraphic marker for the upperCistecephalus-lowerDicynodonAssemblage Zone transition (i.e., late Wuchiapingian). The wide range of preserved sizes in conjunction with recent paleohistological evidence supports that individuals spent much of their lives in an actively-growing, subadult phase. LaterDicynodonAssemblage Zone records (e.g., upper Balfour Formation) are unconfirmed as the genus was likely replaced by other theriodont predators (e.g.,Moschorhinus) leading up to the Permo-Triassic boundary in the Karoo Basin of South Africa.

VARIABILITY IN THE LATE PERMIAN LANDSCAPE OF THE UPPER BALFOUR FORMATION (BEAUFORT GROUP STRATA, KAROO BASIN, SOUTH AFRICA)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Gastaldo ◽  
◽  
Johann Neveling ◽  
J.W. Geissman ◽  
Sandra L. Kamo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Karoo Basin

scholarly journals A new therocephalian (Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.) from the Permian Kotelnich locality, Kirov Region, Russia

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4933 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian F. Kammerer ◽  
Vladimir Masyutin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Transverse Process ◽  
Sister Taxon ◽  
Dental Morphology ◽  
Late Permian ◽  
Apex Predators ◽  
Global Patterns

A new therocephalian taxon (Gorynychus masyutinae gen. et sp. nov.) is described based on a nearly complete skull and partial postcranium from the Permian Kotelnich locality of Russia. Gorynychus displays an unusual mixture of primitive (“pristerosaurian”) and derived (eutherocephalian) characters. Primitive features of Gorynychus include extensive dentition on the palatal boss and transverse process of the pterygoid, paired vomers, and a prominent dentary angle; derived features include the absence of the postfrontal. Gorynychus can be distinguished from all other therocephalians by its autapomorphic dental morphology, with roughly denticulated incisors and postcanines. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gorynychus as a non-lycosuchid, non-scylacosaurid therocephalian situated as sister-taxon to Eutherocephalia. The identification of Gorynychus as the largest predator from Kotelnich indicates that therocephalians acted as apex predators in middle–late Permian transition ecosystems in Russia, corroborating a pattern observed in South African faunas. However, other aspects of the Kotelnich fauna, and Permian Russian tetrapod faunas in general, differ markedly from those of South Africa and suggest that Karoo faunas are not necessarily representative of global patterns.

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