VIII.—The Fauna of the Bokkeveld Beds

Abstract

The conspicuous relations of the brachiopod fauna of these heds to that of the Lower Devonian in South America have frequently been pointed out, and may be summarised as follows:—(1) In the Falkland Islands the following South African species are found (12):—

The Cape Basin, South Africa: A review

“…Body fossils are common, including an abundance of crinoid, brachiopod, gastropod, bivalve and pteropod remains. Some cephalopod, sponge and coral fragments have been identified, as well as a few plant fragments (Reed, 1925;du Toit, 1954). Fossils are not, however, equally abundant throughout the Bokkeveld succession.…”

Orbiculoidea baini and Orbiculoidea excentrica (Brachiopoda, Discinidae) from the Middle Devonian (Alto Garças Sub-basin, Paraná Basin) of Caiapônia, Goiás (Brazil)

“…11-13. Orbiculoidea (Roemerella) baini (Reed, 1925), p. 36-38. Orbiculoidea baini (Melo, 1985), p. 48-57, fig.…”

Taphonomy and sedimentology of an echinoderm obrution bed in the Lower Devonian Voorstehoek Formation (Bokkeveld Group, Cape Supergroup) of South Africa

“…Furthermore, by integrating the taphonomic and sedimentologic findings, a more accurate understanding of the Early Devonian marine communities as well as a detailed reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment of the Voorstehoek Formation will emerge. To date, the taphonomy of the invertebrate assemblages of the Voorstehoek Formation has received little attention as previous studies mainly focused on the systematic palaeontology Bain, 1856;Salter, 1856;Reed, 1925;Ruta and Theron, 1997;Jell and Theron, 1999) and the biostratigraphy of these Emsian invertebrates (Theron, 1972(Theron, , 2003Oosthuizen, 1984;Hiller and Theron, 1988).…”

“…that are also found in the Devonian of the Falkland Islands and southern parts of South America (Ponta Grossa Formation in the Parana Basin -e.g., Reed, 1906;Clarke, 1913;Richter and Richter, 1942;Melo, 1988;Almond et al, 1996;Boucot, 1999). The fossiliferous nature of the Lower Devonian Bokkeveld Group was first recorded in 1830 and onwards (e.g., Grisbrook, 1830;Bain, 1856;Salter, 1856) and in comprehensive reviews by Reed (1925), Theron (1972) and Oosthuizen (1984). Furthermore, the Lower Bokkeveld stylophorans were described by Rennie (1936) and revised in detail Ruta and Theron (1997).…”