A dinocephalian therapsid fauna on the Ecca-Beaufort contact in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Systematic exploration of outcrops of the lowermost Beaufort Group for foss ils of the oldest terrestrial vertebrates of South Africa, known only from the Permian age Eodicynodon Assemblage Zone in Western Cape Province, has r esulted in the discovery of a therapsid fauna in Eastern Cape Province that is dominated by advanced dinocephalians. The new discoveries include the s kull and partial skeleton of a juvenile Anteosaurus, skull and skeletal ele ments of tapinocephalids, as well as the skull of a scylacosaurid theroceph alian. The combined presence of advanced tapinocephalid dinocephalians, the anteosaur Anteosaurus, and scylacosaurid therocephalians suggests that the rocks of the lowermost Beaufort Group in the Eastern Cape Province can be assigned to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone, rather than to the Eodicyno don Assemblage Zone, which appears to be restricted to the southwestern par t of the Karoo Basin. This biozone identity permits the recognition of a yo unger age for the Ecca-Beaufort contact eastwards along the southern margin of the basin, thus demonstrating the diachronous nature of the Ecca-Beaufo rt contact in the southern Karoo.