Table 1 Key invertebrate and plant discoveries to date, and their broad significance.
From: South African Lagerstätte reveals middle Permian Gondwanan lakeshore ecosystem in exquisite detail
Taxon | Taxonomic status | New temporal/ stratigraphic/ biogeographic range | Evolutionary / other significance | Figures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Plants | ||||
Bryophytes | ||||
Moss sporophytes | New genus | Permian of Africa (previously only moss gametophytes recorded). | 4i | |
Liverwort (thalloid) | Marchantiales | Permian of Africa; in South Africa, only known from the Lower Cretaceous. | One of only seven reports globally of Permian thalloid liverwort adpression fossils. | 4j |
Glossopteris fertile organs | ||||
Lidgettonia sp. 1 | New species | Genus—6 Ma older; expansion from Lopingian to Guadalupian | Highest number of cupules reported for the genus to date; unusually large species. | 4a, b |
Lidgettonia sp. 2 | New species | Genus—6 Ma older; expansion from Lopingian to Guadalupian | Present in very high numbers (in mixed mats with Eretmonia) | 4e |
Lidgettonia cone (Lidgettonia sp. 2) | New genus, new species | — | Novel record of Lidgettonia found attached in a loose cone; hundreds of specimens. Previously, only detached scales with cupules known from Gondwana. | 4c, e |
Eretmonia cone (Ediea sp.) | New species | Genus—6 Ma older; expansion from Lopingian to Guadalupian; previously only known from upper Permian of Australia | Novel discovery of complete specimens in the adpression fossil record; hundreds of cones preserved in mats. Previously only incomplete adpressions and permineralised examples known, from Australia. | 4c, f |
Dictyopteridium cf. sporiferum | — | Genus—6 Ma older; expansion from Lopingian to Guadalupian | Previously considered to be an index genus for the late Permian | — |
Ottokaria cf. bullatus | ? | Species minimum 17 Ma younger (Artinskian to Guadalupian); previously only known from the Artinskian of Australia. | 4d | |
Invertebrates | ||||
Insects | All insect taxa are new records for the Guadalupian of South Africa | |||
Protozygoptera Luiseiidae | New genus and species: Afrozygopteron inexpectatus45 | Family previously known only from Carboniferous/Permian boundary of New Mexico, USA; temporal range expansion of family ~32 Ma, new to Gondwana | Oldest Protozygopteran from Gondwana to date; this is one of only two species of Luseiidae described globally, the only other genus from New Mexico, USA45. | 5d |
Hemiptera Pereboriidae | New genus | Family previously known only from Permian of Russia and Brazil | First convincing record of this family from Africa. | 5j |
Hemiptera Prosboliidae | New genus | A fossil showing a unique wing venation pattern | ||
Palaeodictyoptera | Two new genera | — | Many nymphs collected; taphonomically interesting, as confirms aquatic lifestyle for at least some taxa. | 5a |
Plecoptera | Two new genera, three new species | Previously known from the Lopingian of Gondwana, range expansion in the Guadalupian. | Earliest Plecoptera for Gondwana; aquatic nymphs present in high numbers; no adults identified to date. | 5b, c |
Grylloblattodea | Liomopteridae Four new species and a new genus Liomopterum connexus Liomopterum daenerys Colubrosopterum karooensis Paraliomopterum sp. | One of the most diverse and abundant groups in the outcrop, while the roachoids (Dictyoptera) remain unrecorded | ||
Paoliida Anthracoptilidae | New genus | Single species of Anthracoptilidae described from latest Permian to earliest Triassic of Kenya; range expansion of family in Africa of ~14 Ma | New family for South Africa, second genus recorded from Africa. | 5g |
Arachnids | ||||
Acari Hydrachnidia | New genus, at least two new species | Previously, oldest occurrence was from Early/Late Cretaceous boundary; South African specimens are166 Ma older, and are new to Gondwana. | Water mites are extremely rare in the Palaeozoic fossil record; currently the earliest record refers to undescribed specimens in French amber, that are ~100 Ma. | 5n |
