Now officially published:
Frederick Tolchard, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Julia B. Desojo, Pia Viglietti, Richard Butler & Jonah N. Choiniere (2019)
'Rauisuchian' material from the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa: implications for Late Triassic biogeography and biostratigraphy.
Journal of African Earth Sciences 160 (December 2019) Article 103610 : 1-13
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103610
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X19302651
'Rauisuchian' material from the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa: implications for Late Triassic biogeography and biostratigraphy.
Journal of African Earth Sciences 160 (December 2019) Article 103610 : 1-13
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103610
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X19302651
On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 9:12 PM Ben Creisler <bcreisler@gmail.com> wrote:
Ben CreislerA new paper:Frederick Tolchard, Sterling J. Nesbitt, Julia B. Desojo, Pia Viglietti, Richard Butler & Jonah N. Choiniere (2019)
'Rauisuchian' material from the Lower Elliot Formation of South Africa: implications for Late Triassic biogeography and biostratigraphy.
Journal of African Earth Sciences Article 103610 (advance online publication)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2019.103610
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X19302651
HIGHLIGHTS
We identify fossils of 'rauisuchians' from South Africaâs Elliot Formation.
This is the first record of large carnivores from the lower Elliot Formation.
The five specimens represent at least two distinct taxa.
They are among the youngest and highest palaeolatitude record of the group.
This research provides insight into the Late Triassic ecosystems of South Africa.
Abstract
'Rauisuchians' are non-crocodylomorph pseudosuchian archosaurs that played important roles in terrestrial Triassic ecosystems. Because they are generally considered to have gone extinct in the end-Triassic mass extinction, they are potentially useful for relative dating of terrestrial strata. Despite the abundance of fossils of this group in South America, East Africa and Laurasia, there is currently no published definitive rauisuchian fossil record from southern Africa. However, several fragmentary archosaurian remains representing potential members of this grade have been recovered from the latest Triassic lower Elliot Formation of South Africa. Here, we critically review this material and show that it represents a modest diversity of rauisuchians. These records are the southernmost palaeolatitudes that these animals are known to have occurred and the first definitive remains from southern Africa.