scholarly journals Ngwevu intloko: a new early sauropodomorph dinosaur from the Lower Jurassic Elliot Formation of South Africa and comments on cranial ontogeny in Massospondylus carinatus

PeerJ ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. e7240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberley E.J. Chapelle ◽  
Paul M. Barrett ◽  
Jennifer Botha ◽  
Jonah N. Choiniere
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Adult Size ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Cranial Ontogeny ◽  
Morphological Differences

Our knowledge of Early Jurassic palaeobiodiversity in the upper Elliot Formation of South Africa has increased markedly in recent years with the discovery of new fossils, re-assessments of previously collected material and a better understanding of Stormberg Group stratigraphy. Here, Ngwevu intloko, a new genus of upper Elliot basal sauropodomorph is named on the basis of a complete skull and partial skeleton (BP/1/4779) previously assigned to Massospondylus carinatus. It can be distinguished from all other basal sauropodomorphs by a combination of 16 cranial and six postcranial characters. The new species is compared to a small ontogenetic series of M. carinatus as well as to a range of closely related taxa. Taphonomic deformation, sexual dimorphism and ontogeny are rejected as possible explanations for the morphological differences present between BP/1/4779 and other taxa. Osteohistological examination reveals that BP/1/4779 had nearly reached adult size at the time of its death at a minimum age of 10 years.

Stoloniferous octocorals (Anthozoa, Octocorallia) from South Africa, with descriptions of a new family of Alcyonacea, a new genus of Clavulariidae, and a new species of Cornularia (Cornulariidae)

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine S. McFadden ◽  
Leen P. van Ofwegen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Colony Growth ◽  
New Family ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
Unidentified Species ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
A New Species

We describe a new family and genus of stoloniferous octocorals (Alcyonacea) and a new genus of Clavulariidae from material collected in South Africa in 2008. Arulidae, fam. nov., is characterised by polyps whose tentacles are fused proximally to form an expanded oral membrane, and sclerites of a type (‘table-radiates’) that has not been recorded previously in Octocorallia. One species, Arula petunia, gen. nov., sp. nov., is described, and the possible existence of congeners elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific is discussed. Inconstantia, gen. nov., is erected for three new species of Clavulariidae that have no or only weak anthocodial armature. I. pannucea, sp. nov., and I. procera, sp. nov., both have tall, cylindrical calyces, while I. exigua, sp. nov., has low, retractile calyces. Despite these morphological differences that would normally place them in different subfamilies, all three species are nearly identical genetically. We also describe Cornularia pabloi, sp. nov., a new species of Cornulariidae from South Africa, and discuss an unidentified species of Carijoa with an unusual colony growth form. A molecular phylogenetic analysis of 130 octocoral taxa, including 15 genera of stoloniferans, supports the distinctions of these new taxa from existing families and genera, and highlights the polyphyletic distribution of the taxa attributed to family Clavulariidae.

A new genus and four new species of Isometopinae (Hemiptera: Miridae) from South Africa

Zootaxa ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 728 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
E. Akingbohungbe
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Two New Species

Namaquaropus niger gen nov. & sp.nov. is described from South Africa. In addition, two new species of the subgenus Jehania Distant of Isometopus Fieber (I. mirus sp. nov. and I. maculipennis sp. nov.), and Paloniella flavicolor sp. nov. are described. With these, the known species of Isometopinae in South Africa now number sixteen.

scholarly journals A new genus and a new species in the subfamily Polyzosteriinae (Blattodea, Blattidae) from China

ZooKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 852 ◽  
pp. 85-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuran Liao ◽  
Zongqing Wang ◽  
Yanli Che
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Morphological Data ◽  
Hainan Province ◽  
Dna Barcodes ◽  
Guangxi Province ◽  
A New Species

Laevifaciesquadrialatagen. et sp. nov. is described from Hainan Province, China based on morphological data. COI data (DNA barcodes) is utilized to confirm the sexual dimorphism occurring in Laevifaciesquadrialatagen. et sp. nov.Melanozosterianitida Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1865, is reported from Guangxi Province, China. A key to the Chinese Polyzosteriinae is provided.

scholarly journals Upper Karoo vertebrate assemblages (Late Triassic/Early Jurassic) of the Lake Kariba region, Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul M Barrett ◽  
Tim Broderick ◽  
Kimberley Chapelle ◽  
Jonah Choiniere ◽  
Steve Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Type Locality ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Lake Kariba ◽  
Aquatic Fauna ◽  
Mudstone Facies

Southern Africa provides critical information on Late Triassic–Early Jurassic terrestrial tetrapod faunas. Most of the localities in this region are in South Africa and Lesotho, but preliminary work in Zimbabwe has revealed significant potential. Early Jurassic Zimbabwean localities have yielded the basal sauropodomorph Massospondylus, the early sauropod Vulcanodon and theropod material. Late Triassic localities are also known, but have yielded only fragmentary specimens thus far. In early 2017, a joint South African-Zimbabwean-UK team conducted fieldwork in the upper Karoo-aged deposits along the shores of Lake Kariba, northern Zimbabwe (Mid-Zambesi Basin). We relocated the Vulcanodon type locality on Island 126/127 and found that, contrary to previous reports suggesting a Toarcian age, the quarry was in a horizon pre-dating the onset of Drakensburg volcanism (= Batoka Basalts). It is situated instead within the earlier Lower Jurassic Forest Sandstone. This indicates that Vulcanodon is 10–15 million years older than thought previously, recalibrating several nodes within Sauropoda and indicating extensive overlap between true sauropods and 'prosauropods'. Other new vertebrate localities show that sauropodomorphs are present in the Forest Sandstone and upper Tashinga (Late Triassic) formations, but a grey mudstone facies within the Pebbly Arkose Member of the latter unit yields a more aquatic fauna, including lungfish and phytosaurs, but lacking sauropodomorphs. The phytosaur occurrence is the first in Africa south of the Sahara. Faunal and sedimentological evidence indicates that the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic sites in this region were deposited under more mesic environments than their lateral equivalents in South Africa.

A new genus and three new species of South African Cicadettini (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae)

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4885 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-590
Author(s):  
ALLEN F. SANBORN ◽  
MARTIN H. VILLET
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
South African ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Key To Species ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Three New Species

Ingcainyenzane irhiniensis n. gen., n. sp. and Ingcainyenzane nolukhanyoensis n. gen., n. sp. are described from Eastern Cape and Ingcainyenzane umgeniensis n. gen., n. sp. is described from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Notes on its biology of the species and a key to species of the genus are also provided. 

A new highly dimorphic genus of Sminthuridae (Collembola: Symphypleona) from Brazil

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4729 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
DOUGLAS ZEPPELINI ◽  
RONIERE A. BRITO ◽  
ROBSON ZAMPAULO ◽  
ESTEVAM C.A. LIMA
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Antennal Segment ◽  
Apical Organ ◽  
Two New Species

A new genus and two new species of Sminthurinae are described. Keratosminthurus tapigu gen. nov. sp. nov. and K. calamitosus sp. nov. show a combination of features that redefines the subfamily Sminthurinae, such as a pair of sminthuroid chaetae, unguis without cavity, nine apical chaetae on tibiotarsus, 11 or more anterior dental chaetae, fourth antennal segment clearly subdivided into many (18 or more) subsegments, and asymmetric apex of mucro. The new genus also presents a striking sexual dimorphism, with modifications on male apical organ of antennal segment III, spines on the clypeus and special organs on the interocular area. 

scholarly journals A rare case of an evolutionary late and ephemeral biomineralization: tunicates with composite calcareous skeletons

2020 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 748-757
Author(s):  
Jobst Wendt
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Cambrian Explosion ◽  
New Order ◽  
Colonial Ascidian ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Almost All

AbstractIn contrast to almost all other invertebrate phyla that constructed biomineralized skeletons during the “Cambrian explosion” and maintained them during the entire fossil record, ascidian tunicates evolved this protective and stabilizing advantage only during the Permian, although soft-bodied representatives of this subphylum made their first appearance already in the early Cambrian. It remains enigmatic why these compound calcareous skeletons persisted only until the Late Triassic, subsequently followed by less-rigid internal skeletons from the Lower Jurassic onwards, which consist of scattered isolated spicules only. In addition to recently described aragonitic ascidian exoskeletons from the Permian and Triassic, new discoveries of similar, but colonial ascidian compound endoskeletons in the lower Carnian exhibit a short-living branch of this group, which moreover contain the first indubitable calcareous spicules. The latter are embedded in the solid endoskeleton, which is composed of polygonal aragonitic plates with smooth outer and zigzag lined inner boundaries. They consist of irregular, parallel (orthogonal), or fan-shaped (clinogonal) arrangements of acicular aragonite crystals. The following taxa are described as new: order Cassianomorpha new order with the family Cassianosomidae new family and the genus Toscanisoma new genus with the species T. multipartitum new species and T. triplicatum new species.UUID: http://zoobank.org/03555353-cdab-42e8-8e99-9bfce15fa249

scholarly journals On the taxonomy of Psephenoidinae: Revision of Afropsephenoides, and descriptions of two new species and one new, genus (Coleoptera: Psephenidae)

2006 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
P.-S. Yang ◽  
M.-L. Jeng ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Two New Species

AbstractThe genus Afropsephenoides Basilewsky is revised. A new genus of Psephenoidinae, Malacopsephenoides Jeng & Satô gen.n. is established. Psephenoides japonicus Masuda is transferred to Malacopsephenoides, and P. volatilis Champion is transferred to Afropsephenoides. Two new species, Afropsephenoides ruthae Jeng & Yang sp.n. (South Africa) and Malacopsephenoides eureka Jeng & Jäch sp.n. (China), are described. A key to genera is given. The zoogeography and phylogeny of Psephenoidinae are discussed.

A new leafhopper genus Geelus and 12 new species (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae) from Southern Africa 

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4786 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL STILLER
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New Species ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Dorsal Side ◽  
Distribution Model ◽  
The South ◽  
African Species ◽  
The North ◽  
Bioclimatic Variables

Twelve new species in a new genus, Geelus gen.n. are described, 10 species from a confined area in the north- and south-western parts of South Africa and two from Namibia. The genus has been recorded from 35 plant species in 18 families, with one species Geelus dundraad collected on Rooibos Tea, Aspalathus linearis (Fabaceae), which is indigenous to South Africa and cultivated commercially. The 12 new species are Geelus driehoekdraad sp.n., G. drietanddraad sp.n., G. dundraad sp.n., G. haakdraad sp.n., G. kinkeldraad sp.n., G. lemdraad sp.n., G. nektanddraad sp.n., G. platdraad sp.n., G. slangdraad sp.n., G. stompdraad sp.n., G. viertanddraad and G. vurkdraad sp.n. This new genus is allied to the Bonaspeiini, in the Deltocephalinae based on the broad lorum, apically expanded clypellus, dorsal side of the pygofer deeply and broadly incised, large sclerotized segment X, smooth merging of face and crown and Y-shaped connective with short stem. A MaxEnt distribution model based on 19 bioclimatic variables confirmed that the South African species occur within a confined region in the south-western parts of southern Africa. 

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