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Synchrotron scanning of 4 middle Permian skulls at the ESRF

CaseViews

CaseHeader

HeritageAuthority(s): 

Case Type: 

ProposalDescription: 

This is an application to scan Gorgonopsian specimen BP-1-8260, and anomodont specimens BP/1/8131, BP/1/8258, and BP/1/8259 at the European Synchrotron and Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. All four specimens likely represent new species from the lower middle Permian of South Africa and as such, it is important that their description is accompanied by the best CT data possible. Regular CT proved inneffective, unfortunately. The specimens will be hand-carried as hand luggage by Julien Benoit to the ESRF (Grenoble, France) on the 11 April 2022 and back to Johannesburg on 1 May 2022. This is a non-destructive experiment.

Expanded_Motivation: 

The Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (TAZ) is the most time extensive biozone of the South African Karoo. It encompasses rocks of almost the entire middle Permian (265 million years old). Abundant therapsid fossils have been collected from the TAZ, including herbivorous and carnivorous species; however, the matrix is very hard to prepare, and the skulls are rare and their bone delicate. Preparators are struggling to get to the teeth, palate, and braincase, which are crucial for description, identification, and systematic, without risk of damaging the fossils. This ultimately impedes understanding of the middle Permian terrestrial ecosystem. This project aims at investigating the 4 specimens digitally and undestructively using synchrotron scanning in order to reconstruct their teeth, palate, and braincase a more complete picture of the interactions between these animals during this time. The specimens will be hand-carried by Julien Benoit to the ESRF as hand luggage on 11 April 2022. They will be synchrotron scanned on beamlines ID19, ID17 and/or BM05, depending on availability, by the applicant and the local researcher Kathleen Dollman. The digital data will be transferred to the Evolutionary Studies Institute where they will be stored on servers and studied by Julien Benoit. Meanwhile, the specimens will be returned by Julien Benoit to the ESI on the 1st May 2022. All the data produced during this project will be new and publishable as the specimens represent two news species of gorgonopsian (BP-1-8260) and anomodont (BP/1/8131, BP/1/8258 and BP/1/8259). Therapsids are important for karoo biostratigraphy and these new species were found in the same stratigraphic level alongside an atypical middle Permian fauna, this may help define a new biozone at the transition between the Tapinocephalus AZ and the underlying Eodicynodon AZ, which will further refine the biostratigraphy of the middle Permian Karoo. In addition, the synchrotron-assisted study of these specimens will bear further palaeobiological implications. Specimen BP-1-8260 represents the earliest large gorgonopsian and displays an hypercarnivorous dentition. It has long been assumed that anteosaurs and large therocephalians were the dominant carnivores in the middle Permian terrestrial ecosystems, and that gorgonopsians were anecdotal (Kammerer et al., 2015). The extinction of anteosaurs and large therocephalians during the end-guadalupian extinction enabled the gorgonopsians to rise and reach their top predator status. This new specimen questions this assumption and its study may show that gorgonopsians were already top predators as early as in the middle Permian. Specimens BP/1/8131, BP/1/8258 and BP/1/8259 are of interest as they may represent a new species of basal anomodonts with sexually dimorphic canines (BP/1/8259 has canines, but BP/1/8131 and BP/1/8258 don’t). This would be the earliest case of sexual dimorphism demonstrated in anomodonts, which has many implications on the evolution of sociality in the mammalian lineage (Benoit et al., 2016). Also, this new species shows some similarities with Tiarajudens, which would have implications on biogeography and biostratigraphic correlations between the South African and South American karoo-aged deposits (Cisneros et al., 2015).

ApplicationDate: 

Friday, January 28, 2022 - 12:41

CaseID: 

17854

OtherReferences: 

ReferenceList: 

CitationReferenceTypeDate Retrieved
Benoit J., Fernandez V., Manger P.R. and Rubidge B.S. (2016) Cranial bosses of Choerosaurus dejageri (Therapsida, Therocephalia): earliest evidence of cranial display structures in eutheriodonts. PLoS ONE, 11(8): e0161457.
Sunday, January 2, 2022
Kammerer C. F., Smith R. M. H., Day M. O. and Rubidge, B. S. (2015) New information on the morphology and stratigraphic range of the mid-Permian gorgonopsian Eriphostoma microdon Broom, 1911. Pap. Palaeontol., 1: 201–221.
Monday, January 3, 2022
Cisneros J.C., Abdala F., Jashashvili T., Bueno A.O. and Dentzien-Dias P. 2015 Tiarajudens eccentricus and Anomocephalus africanus, two bizarre anomodonts (Synapsida, Therapsida) with dental occlusion from the Permian of Gondwana. R. Soc. open sci., 2: 150090.
Monday, January 3, 2022
 
 

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