Walplaas: Wuchiapingian, South Africa
collected by Roger M.H. Smith 2000

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Burnetiidae
Paraburnetia sneeubergensis n. gen., n. sp. Smith et al. 2006
1 specimen
SAM-PK-K10037, complete skull with lower jaw
see common names

Geography
Country:South Africa State/province:Eastern Cape County:Cacadu
Coordinates: 32.2° South, 23.8° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:51.7° South, 20.0° West (Wright 2013)
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period: Permian Epoch: Lopingian
Stage: Wuchiapingian 10 m.y. bin: Permian 4
Key time interval: Wuchiapingian Other zone:  Cistecephalus Assemblage
Age range of interval: 259.51 - 254.14 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Geological group:Beaufort Formation:Teekloof
Stratigraphic resolution:bed
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:massive,lenticular,tabular lithified siltstone
Includes fossils?Y
Lithology description: The strata contain- ing the burnetiid consist of stacked tabular beds (each up to 1 m thick) of maroon, purple, and olive-grey massive siltstone with minor fissile dark reddish brown mudstone lenses. Thin (<1 m) coarsening-upward sequences occur at intervals throughout the succession where the siltstone beds grade into greenish grey, lenticular-bedded, fine-grained sandstone (Fig. 1). These are in- terpreted as avulsion sequences similar to those described from the Eocene strata of the Bighorn Basin by Kraus (1996). They were deposited incrementally in the area between the meander- belt slope and the axial floodbasin as a complex of coalescing overbank splay sheets (Smith et al., 1989; Perez-Arlucea and Smith, 1999). Less than a meter above the burnetiid fossil, the sequence is truncated by the base of a crevasse-splay sandstone displaying climbing-ripple cross lamination grading upwards into massive siltstone. Sand from the crevasse channel has penetrated a set of desiccation cracks that are now preserved at its base, thus recording short-term exposure of the floodplain surface between episodic flood events. Evidence for an extended period of non- deposition on the floodplain surface is contained in the horizons of paleopedogenic calcareous nodules that occur throughout the succession (Fig. 1). Large (up to 30 cm long axis), smooth- surfaced micrite nodules are interpreted as palustrine carbonates that were precipitated within the surficial alluvium surrounding floodplain ponds and lakes (Sanz et al., 1995; Wright and Platt, 1995) under semi-arid climatic conditions. Horizons of smaller, more irregularly shaped micrite nodules resemble incipient pa- leocaliche formed in the B-horizons of soils that develop in well- drained, semi-arid floodplains (Goudie, 1983). This supports the highly seasonal rainfall and flooding regime interpreted from fluctuating river hydrology (Stear, 1978; Smith, 1987), seasonal growth rings in Araucarioxylon (Bamford, 1999), and desiccated floodplain paleosurfaces (Smith, 1993).
Environment:fine channel fill
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Preservation of anatomical detail:good
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:surface (in situ),mechanical,field collection
Reason for describing collection:taxonomic analysis
Collectors:Roger M.H. Smith Collection dates:July 2000
Collection method comments: SAM: South African Museum, Cape Town
Taxonomic list comments:Holotype and only specimen = SAM-PK-K10037
Metadata
Also known as:Walplaas, Aberdeen District
Database number:144682
Authorizer:C. Sidor Enterer:C. Sidor
Modifier:R. Butler Research group:vertebrate
Created:2013-05-15 04:34:47 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2013-05-15 04:34:47
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
46819. R. M. H. Smith, B. S. Rubidge, and C. A. Sidor. 2006. A new burnetiid (Therapsida: Biarmosuchia) from the Upper Permian of South Africa and its biogeographic implications. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26:331-343 [C. Sidor/C. Sidor]