Department of Karoo Vertebrate Palaeontology

Department of Karoo Vertebrate Palaeontology

 

Line Functions:

  • Research

Ø      Therapsid (early relatives of mammals) biology, ecology and biostratigraphy

Ø      Bone histology of Permo-Triassic vertebrates

Ø      The end-Permian extinction and Early Triassic biotic recovery

  • Conservation of Karoo fossils
  • Education, at all levels, concerning Karoo Vertebrate palaeontology

 

Regular field trips are conducted annually or bi-annually to various sites in the South African Karoo Basin. Current research focuses on Karoo vertebrates, resulting in this collection is being expanded the most rapidly. The department is currently concentrating on various sites in the Beaufort Group in the Free State, Northern and Eastern Cape Provinces.

Staff

Head of Department: Dr Jennifer Botha-Brink    (webpage)

Research Assistant: Mrs E. Butler

Preparators: Messrs. M. J. Nyaphuli, J. Mohoi, B. Nkedi, N. Ntheri, S. Stuurman & Ms. S. Ledibane.

Brief History of the Department

The fossil collection predates the founding of the National Museum in 1877. The present large collection contains more than 3600 fossil specimens and includes the tritheledontid cynodont Diarthrognathus, virtually all the material of the primitive dicynodont, Eodicynodon, and the only known skull of the early prosauropod dinosaur, Melanorosaurus, that lived during the Triassic about 215 million years ago. We also have more than 3000 invertebrate specimens, mainly consisting of Cretaceous ammonites, 126 specimens of fossil plants, which were collected mostly during the 1920s and 1950s, as well as more than 2000 mineral specimens, which include several meteorites.

The fossil display, which is open to the public, consists mainly of animals that represent early relatives of mammals, namely the Therapsida, and are integral to understanding the origin of mammals.

Return to Natural Sciences | Site Map

Last updated 22 September 2006