An osteological comparison between bontebok Damaliscus pygargus pygargus and blesbok, Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi and its bearing on the evolution of bontebok

The alcelaphine species Damaliscus pygargus has two subspecies: the bontebok Damaliscus pygargus pygargus and the blesbok Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi. On analogy with black wildebeest evolution, it is thought that the two subspecies became biogeographically distinct during the Last Glacial, when lowered sea levels exposed additional plains habitat on the continental platform. This would have caused reproductive isolation between interior and coastal populations with the Cape Fold Mountains acting as biogeographic barrier. The aim of this study was to test the possibility of the osteological discrimination between the two subspecies by using reference specimens from the National Museum, Bloemfontein, and Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town. It was hypothesized that bone morphology and measurements would serve to differentiate between the subspecies, which are adapted to different environments, and thus experience different stresses. However, results showed no significant differences between the two subspecies osteologically

First fossil Agama lizard discovered in the Cradle of Humankind (Bolt’s Farm Cave System, South Africa)

Abstract: Plio-Pleistocene sites in the Cradle of HumankindWorld Heritage Site (recognized by UNESCO), including Taung and Makapansgat Limeworks, all in South Africa, have not only yielded a rich collection of macrofauna but also an abundance of microfauna. Even though the extant small lizards are highly diverse with 23 families and 350 species in southern Africa, very few fossil remains have been studied. This is probably due in part to difficulties in accessing comparative osteological collections (the comparative material is usually rarely completely prepared, rendering anatomical study almost impossible). In 2016 an incomplete mandible with acrodont dentition was excavated in Brad Pit A (Bolt’s FarmKarst System) by the Hominid Origins and Past Environment Research Unit team.Upon inspection, the fossil resembled agamids, even though it lacked the anterior pleurodont dentition present in Agamids. The fossil specimen can only be identified as Agama sp.due to its fragmentary state, but it represents the first fossil of this genus to be reported from the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site

‘Humble’ knowledge in the palaeosciences : isn’t it

Abstract: The palaeosciences have grown immensely in southern Africa over the past 50 years. Many of the ‘discoveries’ that have propelled this growth have been attributed to various researchers but not necessarily to the individuals who were actually behind the discovery. Narrations from local communities have shown that people who have never been acknowledged in fact either made the discovery, or knew of its existence and significance. Increasingly, researchers and scholars confirm these narrations. The purpose of this discussion is to provide a voice to the voiceless, the initiators of the discovery of these significant remains, to identify the ‘humble’ knowledge holders in palaeoscientific findings whose identities have been largely hidden, with some rare exceptions. This is one of the ways in which the process of decolonisation can be initiated, leading to giving the anonymous, unrecognised discoverers their rightful place in the palaeosciences..

Fossil lizards (squamata,reptilia) from the early Pleistocene of Cooper's Cave (South Africa): taxonomy and further implications for the herpetofaunal studies of the plio-pleistocene sites from the Cradle of Humankind

South Africa is well known for its many, important fossil bearing deposits of Plio-Pleistocene age. Many of these sites contain abundant remains of extinct and extant animals including hominins. Non-herpetological fauna have been used to reconstruct important information about past environments and for chronological data. This study tried a different method; using herpefauna to establish past environments of Cooper’s Cave. Herpetological fauna potentially have numerous advantages in their use for such questions, including typically limited ranging behaviors, and specific temperature requirements. Despite these advantages only a few studies have even mentioned the presence of squamate fauna in the fossil assemblages of these sites. This study has demonstrated that herpefauna exists, in reasonable levels of abundance and with adequate preservation within the fossil record of the dolomitic region now known as the Cradle of Humankind. It has also demonstrated for the first time the presence of a relative abundance of herpefauna at numbers far greater than any previous study has recognized. The present study was however, handicapped in not being able to fully utilize the material at hand to interpret past environments, owing to the lack of comparative material needed to move beyond the family or generic level in most cases with any degree of confidence. However, Agamids and Pseudocordylids were described to generic level. However, the many shortcomings that this work highlighted should not be seen as reason not to pursue the study of herpefauna, but to improve present comparative collections and collecting methods around the fossils themselves

Waypoint 160, Bolt’s Farm Cave System: first in situ primate remains

International audienc

Southern African Tetraconodontinae: recent discoveries;

International audienceTetraconodont suids are in general rather poorly represented in Southern Africa, except at Langebaanweg, Cape Province and the Chiwondo Beds, Malawi. We here describe material from two localities in Namibia and one in South Africa in order to fill out the fossil record of this subfamily of artiodactyls in the subcontinent. The oldest specimens (Nyanzachoerus sp. cf jaegeri) are from Kaukausib Fontein, Namibia (ca 4-6 Ma), the next oldest (Gerontochoerus koobiforaensis) are from Brad Pit 'A', Bolt's Farm, South Africa (ca 3.7 Ma) and the youngest (Gerontochoerus scotti) are from Ekuma Rhino Site, northern Namibia (ca 3.2 Ma)

Mylomygale (Macroscelidea, Macroscelididae) from the Pliocene of South Africa

International audienceThe palaeokarst system of Bolt’s Farm, Gauteng Province, South Africa, is endowed with numerous fossiliferous Plio-Pleistocene deposits. Among them, the mid-Pliocene locus of BPA (Brad Pit A) has yielded a hypsodont upper molar which exhibits a rodent-like wear pattern, but is not a rodent. In several aspects, it recalls macroscelidids and could fit in occlusal morphology with the lower teeth of Mylomygale spiersi, described on the basisof a mandible from Norlim Cave close to the Taung Limeworks, which yielded the holotype of Australopithecus africanus. This upper molar could be attributed to Mylomygale, a taxon represented by only three specimens. The hypsodonty of the molar and the wear pattern suggest that, at Bolt’s Farm, Mylomygale was feeding on tough food and that some herbaceous patches might have occurred in the environment. Moreover our scans reveal that the holotype of Mylomygale possessed an m/3, previously unrecognized

First in situ middle Pliocene cercopithecoid fossils from the Palaeokarst System of Bolt's Farm (South Africa)

International audienceImportant collections of Plio-Pleistocene cercopithecoid remains has have been discovered in South African karstic sites but few are older than the Late Pliocene. The fossiliferous Palaeokarst System of Bolt’s Farm in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site of UNESCO is known to have yielded a few remarkable remains of cercopithecoids, mainly between 1936 and 1948. The excavation done in Brad Pit B (BPB) which was discovered in 2010, led to the in situ discovery of some fossils in karst-fill breccia correlated faunally to the Middle Pliocene. The cercopithecoids are represented by Parapapio broomi Jones, 1937, and Cercopithecoides cf. williamsi Mollett, 1947. At BPB, we have potentially the oldest known co-occurrence of these two taxa in Southern Africa, the second oldest being at Sterkfontein-Member 2. The currently available evidence suggests dispersal of these two genera from East Africa to Southern Africa, a hypothesis generally accepted by most authors, even though the period of dispersal is now considered to be somewhat earlier than previously thought. Whereas the Early Pliocene environment in the Cradle of Humankind seems to have been drier than that of today, it was probably more humid during the Middle Pliocene which would have allowed the dispersal of these two taxa

Bolt's Farm : du terrain au musée

International audienceLe réseau karstique de Bolt's Farm, en Afrique du Sud, présente une trentaine de remplissages du PlioPléistocène et est classé au titre de patrimoine mondial de l'humanité par l'UNESCO depuis 1999, comme d'autres sites du Cradle of Humankind (Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai ,... ). Lors du colloque de l'APF à Dijon, en 2017, nous avons présenté les premiers résultats concernant Bolt's Fam. Depuis, les recherches menées au sein d'un IRL par des chercheurs français et sud-africains ont progressé en se focalisant su certains loci conduisant à la découverte de nouveaux restes de primates, de suidés, de grands félins et d'autres taxons.A partir de 1936, avec les premières recherches par R. Broom, différents sites du Cradle of Humankind ont livré une faune assez riche mais pou des séquences chronologiques courtes, ce qui permettait des comparaisons assez restreintes avec l'Afrique de l'Est. Bolt's Farm présente la plus longue séquence chronologique pour cette région, du Pliocène inférieur à la limite entre le Pléistocène inférieur et le Pléistocène moyen, même si elle reste discontinue. Ces découvertes permettent également d'avoir une idée plus précisede la paléobiodiversité et des paléoenvironnements de cette région australe de l'Afrique où ont existé différents types d'hominidés anciens.Pour faire émerger de nouvelles vocations en paléontologie et en géologie au sein de la jeunesse sud-africaine, les membres de ce projet sud-africain ont mis en place, au Ditsong National Museum of Natural History de Prétoria, une exposition s'intitulant "The fossil world of Bolt's Farm. From field to exhibition"

Bolt’s Farm Cave System dans le Cradle of Humankind (Afrique du Sud) : un exemple d’approche multidisciplinaire dans l’étude des sites à primates fossiles

Le Cradle of Humankind en Afrique du Sud présente des sites qui sont tous classés au titre de patrimoine mondial de l’humanité par l’UNESCO depuis 1999 (Thackeray, 2016). Ces sites ont livré des restes d’hominidés et/ou de primates non-humains (Cercopithecoidea). Robert Broom est le premier à rechercher des fossiles dans le Bolt’s Farm Cave System (ou BFCS), et ceci dès 1936. Les recherches n’y deviennent régulières que depuis 2006 avec la création du HRU (Hope (Human Origins and Past Environment) Research Unit). BFCS est surtout connu pour avoir livré des restes de grands félins. Pourtant, certains fossiles de Cercopithecoidea découverts à BFCS sont des références en paléoprimatologie comme BF42 (Cercopithecoides williamsi) et BF43 (Parapapio broomi). Waypoint 160 à BFCS a livré les plus anciens restes de primate non-humain du Cradle of Humankind qui sont datés du Pliocène inférieur. Pour obtenir plus d’informations sur le contexte géologique et le paléoenvironnement, des fouilles sont menées depuis 2011 dans certains loci et viennent remplacer les prospections menées par les membres du HRU. L’enjeu est d’obtenir le maximum de données sur la paléodiversité, notamment la microfaune qui doit être extraite des brèches par des techniques de préparation à l’acide, sur les conditions de fossilisation et de préservation des fossiles, ainsi que de pouvoir replacer ces fossiles dans le temps.The Cradle of Humankind in South Africa, recognized as World Heritage by UNESCO since 1999, contains fossil sites which have yielded hominid remains and/or non-human primates (Cercopithecoidea). Robert Broom was the first to prospect for fossils at Bolt's Farm Cave System (or BFCS), and this since 1936. Research only became regular in 2006 with the creation of the HRU (Hope (Human Origins and Past Environment) Research Unit). BFCS is best known for yielding remains of large cats. Yet some fossils of Cercopithecoidea discovered at BFCS are considered to be references in palaeoprimatology: BF42 (Cercopithecoides williamsi) and BF43 (Parapapio broomi). Waypoint 160 at BFCS yielded the oldest remains of nonhuman primates in the Cradle of Humankind which are dated to the Pliocene. For more information about the geological and palaeoenvironmental context, excavations were conducted since 2011 in some loci based on the surveys carried out by members of HRU. The present challenge is to obtain the maximum amount of data concerning palaeobiodiversity, including the microfauna which must be extracted from the breccia by acid preparation techniques, study of the conditions of fossilization and the preservation of fossils, as well as the determination of the ages of the fossils