Stratigraphy of the Vulcanodon type locality and its implications for regional correlations within the Karoo Supergroup

Viglietti, Pia A.; Barrett, Paul M.; Broderick, Tim; Munyikwa, Darlington; MacNiven, Rowan; Broderick, Lucy; Chapelle, Kimberley E. J.; Glynn, Dave; Edwards, Steve F.; Zondo, Michel; Broderick, Patricia A.; Choiniere, Jonah N.

doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2017.10.015

Cited by 13 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We confirm the hypothesis that quadrupedality preceded the origin of sauropod-like columnar limbs and was present in sauropodiforms including NMQR 3314 [10] and Antetonitrus [8]. However, we differ from previous studies in inferring quadrupedality in earlier-diverging taxa such as Anchisaurus and Jingshanosaurus, implying a phylogenetically deeper origin that took place at least 15 million years prior to the earliest skeletal evidence of quadrupedal Sauropoda [7,21]. This has further implications-for example, a previous study suggested that bipedality was primitively retained in Mussaurus [9], but we find it instead indicates previously unrecognized homoplasy in the evolution of stance among early sauropodiforms.…”

Section: Quadrupedality In Sauropodomorph Dinosaurssupporting

confidence: 76%

“…This is indicated by a set of derived morphological features of sauropod forelimbs, including reduction of the deltopectoral crest; straightening of the humeral and femoral shafts; lengthening of the antebrachium and modification of the proximal ulna to a triradiate shape; modification of the metacarpus into a U-shaped support structure; loss of the lesser trochanter, migration of the fourth trochanter distally and medially, increase in fibular robustness; and many others [16,18]. These features evolved, at least in incipient forms, by the middle of the Early Jurassic and are exemplified by the early sauropod Vulcanodon [19,21] (see also Pulanesaura [16]).…”

Section: Quadrupedality In Sauropodomorph Dinosaursmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Quadrupedality In Sauropodomorph Dinosaurssupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Quadrupedality In Sauropodomorph Dinosaursmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Implications of the origin of gigantism. The mid-Norian age of Lessemsaurus 28 -the oldest lessemsaurid-indicates the appearance of an early trend towards large body size (equal to or approximating the body mass of basal gravisaurians such as Vulcanodon or Tazoudasaurus) at least 15 Myr earlier than previously thought (that is, Vulcanodon ~199-188 Ma 38 ; Fig. 3).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

An early trend towards gigantism in Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dinosaurs dominated the terrestrial ecosystems for more than 140 Myr during the Mesozoic era, and among them were sauropodomorphs, the largest land animals recorded in the history of life. Early sauropodomorphs were small bipeds, and it was long believed that acquisition of giant body size in this clade (over 10 tonnes) occurred during the Jurassic and was linked to numerous skeletal modifications present in Eusauropoda. Although the origin of gigantism in sauropodomorphs was a pivotal stage in the history of dinosaurs, an incomplete fossil record obscures details of this crucial evolutionary change. Here, we describe a new sauropodomorph from the Late Triassic of Argentina nested within a clade of other non-eusauropods from southwest Pangaea. Members of this clade attained large body size while maintaining a plesiomorphic cyclical growth pattern, displaying many features of the body plan of basal sauropodomorphs and lacking most anatomical traits previously regarded as adaptations to gigantism. This novel strategy highlights a highly accelerated growth rate, an improved avian-style respiratory system, and modifications of the vertebral epaxial musculature and hindlimbs as critical to the evolution of gigantism. This reveals that the first pulse towards gigantism in dinosaurs occurred over 30 Myr before the appearance of the first eusauropods.

show abstract

“…The ages of the fossil vertebrate assemblages of the Beaufort Group (Karoo Basin) were long based only on biostratigraphic correlations (e.g., Rubidge, 1995Rubidge, , 2005, but over the past decade, radiometric dates have become available that calibrate the ages of many of the Permian biostratigraphic assemblages (Coney et al, 2007;Fildani et al, 2007Fildani et al, , 2009Rubidge et al, 2013;Day et al, 2015;Gastaldo et al, 2015;Neveling et al, 2016). However, direct radiometric ages of the Triassic assemblage zones (i.e., the Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus assemblage zones) remain unavailable (although see Viglietti et al, 2018a Rubidge et al (2013) and Gastaldo et al (2015). In that work, the Lower Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone Smith and Botha-Brink (2014) did not explicitly calibrate their three extinction phases to the geological timescale, but they noted that phases 1 and 2 (Ph1 and Ph2) occurred below their placement of the PTB,…”

Section: Ages Of the Karoo Basin Paleocommunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological persistence, incumbency and reorganization in the Karoo Basin during the Permian-Triassic transition

Roopnarine¹,

Angielczyk²,

AllenWeik³

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The geological persistence of biotic assemblages and their reorganization or destruction by mass extinctions are key features of long-term macroevolutionary and macroecological patterns in the fossil record. These events affected biotic history disproportionately and left permanent imprints on global biodiversity. Here we hypothesize that the geological persistence and incumbency of paleocommunities and taxa aremaintained by patterns of biotic interactions that favour the ecological persistence and stable coexistence of interacting species. Equally complex communities produced by alternative macroevolutionary histories, and hence of different functional structure, may support less stable species coexistence, and are therefore less persistent. However, alternative communities with the same functional structure as a persistent paleocommunity, but variable clade richnesses, tend to be as or more stable than observed palecommunities, thus demonstrating that geological persistence is not the result of constrained patterns, or ecological locking. Numerically modeled food webs for seven tetrapod-dominated paleocommunities spanning thetraditionally-recognized Permian-Triassic boundary in the Karoo Basin of South Africa, show that incumbency before the Permian-Triassic mass extinction was maintained by a dynamically stable, community-level system of biotic interactions, thereby supporting the hypothesis. The system’s structure was lostthrough successive extinction pulses, and replaced initially by a rich but geologically ephemeral Early Triassic fauna, which itself was replaced by a novel Middle Triassic community with renewed incumbency.The loss of persistence and incumbency, therefore, did not result simply from the extinction of species; instead the largest declines were accompanied by the addition of new species to the system in the earliest aftermath of the event. We therefore further hypothesize that ecological reorganization and evolutionary innovation in the wake of mass extinctions play key roles in the destruction of highly stable, preexisting systems of biotic interaction. In the case of the Karoo Basin paleocommunities, we estimate that a return tostable interactions, and thus incumbency, was achieved in approximately 4-17 Ma.

show abstract

Stratigraphy of the Vulcanodon type locality and its implications for regional correlations within the Karoo Supergroup

Cited by 13 publications

References 15 publications

A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs

A Giant Dinosaur from the Earliest Jurassic of South Africa and the Transition to Quadrupedality in Early Sauropodomorphs

An early trend towards gigantism in Triassic sauropodomorph dinosaurs

Ecological persistence, incumbency and reorganization in the Karoo Basin during the Permian-Triassic transition

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About