A mixed-age classed 'pelycosaur' aggregation from South Africa: Earliest evidence of parental care in amniotes?

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Volumn 274, Issue 1627, 2007, Pages 2829-2834

  Botha Brink, Jennifer ^a,b   Modesto, Sean P ^c  

^a NATIONAL MUSEUM   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE   (South Africa)

^c CAPE BRETON UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

Author keywords

'pelycosaur'; Parental care; Permian; South Africa; Varanopidae

Indexed keywords

AGE CLASS; AGGREGATION BEHAVIOR; BODY SIZE; FOSSIL RECORD; FOSSILIZATION; PARENTAL CARE; PERMIAN; SKELETAL REMAINS; TETRAPOD;

ARTICLE; FOSSIL; NONHUMAN; OSSIFICATION; PARENT; PELYCOSAUR; POSTHUMOUS CARE; PREDATOR; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REPTILE; SIBLING; SKIN; SOUTH AFRICA; SUTURE;

AFRICA; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

AMNIOTA; AVES; CROCODYLIDAE (ALL CROCODILES); MAMMALIA; VERTEBRATA;

EID: 35848935881     PISSN: 09628452     EISSN: 14712970     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.0803     Document Type: Article

References (28)

1. Abdala, F., Cisneros, J. C. & Smith, R. M. H. 2006 Faunal aggregation in the Early Triassic Karoo Basin: earliest evidence of shelter-sharing behaviour among tetrapods? Palaios 21, 507-512. (doi:10.2110/palo.2005.P06-001R)
2. Anderson, J. S. & Reisz, R. R. 2004 Pyozia mesenensis, a new small varanopid (Synapsida, Eupelycosauria) from Russia: "pelycosaur" diversity in the Middle Permian. J. Vert. Paleontol. 24, 173-179. (doi:10.1671/1940-13)
3. Broom, R. 1907 On some new fossil reptiles from the Karroo Beds of Victoria West, South Africa. Trans. S. Afr. Philos. Soc. 18, 31-42.
4. Broom, R. 1937 A further contribution to our knowledge of the fossil reptiles of the Karroo. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. B 1937, 299-318.
5. Carroll, R. L. 1976 Eosuchians and the origin of archosaurs. In Essays on palaeontology in honour of Loris Shano Russell (ed. C. S. Churcher), pp. 58-79. Toronto, Canada: Miscellaneous Publications of the Royal Ontario Museum.
6. Coombs Jr, W. P. 1982 Juvenile specimens of the ornithischian dinosaur Psittacosaurus. Palaeontology 25, 89-107.
7. deBraga, M. 2003 The postcranial skeleton, phylogenetic position, and probable lifestyle of the Early Triassic reptile Procolophon trigoniceps. Can. J. Earth Sci. 40, 527-556. (doi:10.1139/e02-082)
8. Dilkes, D. W. & Reisz, R. R. 1996 First record of a basal synapsid ('mammal-like reptile') in Gondwana. Proc. R. Soc. B 263, 1165-1170. (doi:10.1098/rspb.1996.0170)
9. Gardner, M. G., Bull, C. M., Cooper, S. J. B. & Duffield, G. A. 2001 Genetic evidence for a family structure in stable social aggregations of the Australian lizard Egernia stokesii. Mol. Ecol. 10, 175-183. (doi:10.1046/j.l365294X.2001.01171.x)
10. Groenewald, G. H. 1991 Burrow casts from the Lystrosaurus- Procolophon assemblage zone. Koedoe 34, 13-22.
11. Luo, Z.-X. & Wible, J. R. 2005 A Late Jurassic digging mammal and early mammalian diversification. Science 308, 103-107. (doi:10.1126/science.1108875)
12. Maddin, H. C., Evans, D. C. & Reisz, R. R. 2006 An Early Permian varanodontine varanopid (Synapsida: Eupelycosauria) from the Richards Spur locality, Oklahoma. J. Vert. Paleontol. 26, 957-966. (doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[957:AEPWS]2.0.CO;2)
13. Meng, Q., Liu, J., Varricchio, D. J., Huang, T. & Gao, C. 2004 Parental care in an ornithischian dinosaur. Nature 431, 145-146. (doi:10.1038/431145a)
14. Modesto, S., Sidor, C. A., Rubidge, B. S. & Welman, J. 2001 A second varanopseid skull from the Upper Permian of South Africa: implications for Late Permian 'pelycosaur' evolution. Lethaia 34, 249-259. (doi:10.1080/002411601753292971)
15. Reisz, R. R. 1986 Pelycosauria. Handbuch der Palä oherpetologie. Stuttgart, Germany: Gustav Fischer Verlag.
16. Reisz, R. R. & Dilkes, D. W. 2003 Archaeovenator hamiltonensis, a new varanopid (Synapsid: Eupelycosauria) from the Upper Carboniferous of Kansas. Can. J. Earth Sci. 40, 667-678. (doi:10.1139/e02-063)
17. Reisz, R. R. & Modesto, S. P. In press. Heleosaurus scholtzi from the Permian of South Africa: a varanopid synapsid, not a diapsid reptile. J. Vert. Paleontol.
18. Reisz, R. R., Dilkes, D. W. & Berman, D. S. 1998 Anatomy and relationships of Elliotsmithia longiceps Broom, a small synapsid (Eupelycosauria: Varanopseidae) from the Late Permian of South Africa. J. Vert. Paleontol. 18, 602-611.
19. Retallack, G. J., Metzger, C. A., Greaver, T., Jahren, A. H., Smith, R. M. H. & Sheldon, N. D. 2006 Middle-Late Permian mass extinction on land. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 118, 1398-1411. (doi:10.1130/B26011.1)
20. Reynolds, J. D., Goodwin, N. B. & Freckleton, R. P. 2001 Evolutionary transitions in parental care and live bearing in vertebrates. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 357, 269-281. (doi:10.1098/rstb.2001.0930)
21. Romer, A. S. & Price, L. W. 1940 Review of the Pelycosauria. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 28, 1-538.
22. Rubidge, B. S. (ed.) 1995 Biostratigraphy of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Supergroup). South African Committee for Stratigraphy, Biostratigraphic Series, vol. 1, pp. 1-46. Pretoria, Republic of South Africa: South African Committee for Stratigraphy.
23. Smith, R. M. H. 1987 Helical burrow casts of therapsid origin from the Beaufort Group (Permian) of South Africa. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 60, 155-169. (doi:10.1016/0031-0182(87)90030-7)
24. Smith, R. M. H. & Evans, S. E. 1996 New material of Youngina: evidence of juvenile aggregation in Permian diapsid reptiles. Palaeontology 39, 289-303.
25. Varricchio, D. J., Martin, A. J. & Katsura, Y. 2007 First trace and body fossil of a burrowing, denning dinosaur. Proc. R. Soc. B 274, 1361-1368. (doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.0443)
26. von Huene, F. 1925 Ein neuer Pelycosaurier aus der unteren Permformation Sachsens. Geol. Paläont. Abh., N.F. 14, 215-264.
27. Weigelt, J. 1989 Recent vertebrate carcasses and their paleobiological implications. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. [English transi, of original 1927 publication.]
28. Welles, S. P. & Peachy, F. 1953 Family endings. J. Paleontol. 27, 756-758.