Vertebrate assemblages from the north‐central Main Karoo Basin,South Africa,and their implications for mid‐Permian biogeography

The rich fossil vertebrate record from the Beaufort Group, Main Karoo Basin, provides a global standard for mid‐Permian to Mid‐Triassic continental faunas. However, recent studies have demonstrated variability in the composition of contemporaneous faunas across Gondwana. This raises the question of how much the vertebrate faunas differ within the Karoo, where the taxonomic composition of vertebrate assemblage zones (AZs) is mostly considered to be uniform. Although fossil material is known from across the outcrop of the Beaufort Group, the lowest Beaufort strata have received little attention, particularly north of S31°10′. Here, we report two fossil tetrapod assemblages from the lowest Beaufort Group in the southern Free State Province, which represent the northernmost point at which the lowest Beaufort has been targeted for collecting. The lower assemblage is characterized by an abundance of the small dicynodont Eosimops and can thus be attributed to the Tapinocephalus AZ (Guadalupian), but the absence of dinocephalian or pareiasaurian material is unlike contemporaneous assemblages found further south. This suggests that the Tapinocephalus AZ was not uniform across the entire basin and highlights that the abundance, distribution and taxonomic composition of Karoo biozones may vary more than currently appreciated. The upper assemblage, characterized by the dicynodonts Oudenodon, Aulacephalodon and Dinanomodon, is attributable to the upper Cistecephalus AZ to lower Daptocephalus AZ. The juxtaposition of the lower Tapinocephalus AZ and upper Cistecephaluslower Daptocephalus AZ in the southern Free State implies a stratigraphic gap from the Middle to Late Permian of up to 6 million years.