Southern African Palaeontology at SVP 2024

Bailey Weiss, ESI

Southern African Palaeontology is well represented at the 84th Society for Vertebrate Paleontology Conference! This Fossil Friday we bring you the latest news from the largest meeting in the field of palaeontology, currently underway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There are a total of 22 presentation authors based at institutions across the region with 9 of those presenting as first authors at the event. Of the 20 presentations concerning southern Africa at the conference 15 involve researchers based in southern Africa as authors. The two countries represented are South Africa and Mozambique

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Southern African researchers at the 84th Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

​We have already heard from Anusuya Chinsamy, Luke Norton, Bailey Weiss, and Atashni Moopen present their research! Today is Jonah Choiniere, Aliénor Duhamel, Brandon Stuart (presented by Adam Huttenlocker), and Chandelé Montgomery. On the final day, tomorrow, we have Maria Pererya. Of course we cannot forget about the southern Africans based at other institutions including Kimi Chapelle (presented on Wednesday), Viktor Radermacher (presented on Thursday), and Pia Viglietti (presented on Friday).

It is exciting to see the region's palaeontological research presented on the world stage of the field. This conference allows for important networking with researchers from around the world. It is also an important place for students to meet potential future supervisors, colleagues, and collaborators. The conference hosted a student round table that was a perfect way for students to network with each other, and ask senior researchers important questions about key areas of the discipline. Please visit SVP's website to read the full abstract book. Here is the list of talks and presenters at the conference that are based at, presented on, or are southern Africans at foreign institutions: 

Based at South African institutions (20):
Technical Session 2: Paleontological Practices: Preparation & Scientific Methods, Collections & Curation
L.A. Norton, K.D. Angielczyk, W.F. Simpson, J. Benoit Supplementing modern 3-D data with historical records of serially sectioned specimens

Technical Session 3: Sauropodomorpha
A. Chinsamy, F. Toefy, E. Krupandan Osteohistological insight into the growth dynamics of Sauropodomorpha

Technical Session 5: Paleozoic Herpetology
B.R. Peecook, X.A. Jenkins, D. Ford, J. Choiniere, R.B. Benson The amniote common ancestor was "synapsid"

Technical Session 9: Triassic Herpetology
B.M. Weiss, R.B. Benson, K. Chapelle, K. Dollman, P. Barrett, S.J. Nesbitt, M.R. Stocker, J. Botha, J. Choiniere A new and large pseudosuchian from the mid-Norian (Late Triassic) lower Elliot Formation of South Africa

Technical Session 11: Theropoda I
J. Choiniere, K. Chapelle The skull of a new Early Jurassic theropod from the upper Elliot Formation of South Africa

Technical Session 13: Synapsida
A. Duhamel, B. Wynd, A. Wright, A. Moopen, J. Benoit, B.S. Rubidge Rethinking therapsid phylogeny: Bayesian and cladistic analyses of early-diverging Therapsida

C.F. Kammerer, R.M. Araújo, B.S. Rubidge, Z. Macungo, N. Chambule, A. Massingue, K.D. Angielczyk A new emydopoid dicynodont from the middle Permian of the Karoo Basin and the systematics of the Kingoriidae

B.P. Stuart, A. Huttenlocker, F.P. Wolvaardt, V. Fernandez, J. Botha New exceptionally-preserved specimens of Microgomphodon oligocynus offer novel insights into the ecomorphology of the most derived therocephalian (Synapsida: Therapsida)

P.A. Viglietti, K.D. Angielczyk, A. Huttenlocker, J. Botha, R.M. Smith, J. Crowley, C. Browning, T. Seerane, C.P. Abbott Testing models of biotic survival and recovery from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction and climate crisis

Technical Session 14: Paleobiology: evolution, ecosystems, taphonomy, & traces
C. Montgomery, K. Dollman, A.B. Heckert, J.P. Hancox, J. Choiniere Comparative morphology and composition of Olenekian coprolites using 3D X-ray imaging

Technical Session 21: Cenozoic & Modern Herpetology
M. Pereyra, A. Chinsamy Postcranial osteohistology and bone appositional rates of Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768

Regular Poster Session 1
A. Moopen, K. Chapelle, R.B. Benson, P. Barrett, J. Botha, J. Choiniere Paleobiology of the first bipedal lessemsaurid From the Late Triassic of South Africa

Regular Poster Session 2
A.B. Heckert, J.P. Hancox, J. Choiniere Tanystropheid (Diapsida, Archosauromorpha) occurrences from the Lower Triassic Burgersdorp Formation (Cynognathus Assemblage Zone: Early Triassic) of South Africa: A rare early Gondwanan record of the clade

P.J. Byrne, N.D. Smith, J. Botha, A.A. Rytel, A. Huttenlocker Using intertrabecular space to validate pneumatic bone: implications for assessing postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in stem archosaurs

Regular Poster Session 3
Y. Tse, L.A. Norton, B.P. Stuart, A. Huttenlocker Ontogenetic changes in the structural performance and morphology of the mandible of Theriognathus microps (Therapsida: Therocephalia)


Based at Mozambican Institutions (2):
Technical Session 13: Synapsida
C.F. Kammerer, R.M. Araújo, B.S. Rubidge, Z. Macungo, N. Chambule, A. Massingue, K.D. Angielczyk A new emydopoid dicynodont from the middle Permian of the Karoo Basin and the systematics of the Kingoriidae


Research about South Africa (19):
Technical Session 1: Dinosaur Evolution, Soft Tissues, & Ornithischia I
J.I. Kirkland, D.D. DeBlieux Closing in on the Jurassic-Cretaceous terrestrial faunal boundary in Euramerica: Is the loss of the Morrison "style" dinosaur assemblage linked to a giant shield volcano in the northwest Pacific’s Shatsky Rise, the Morokweng meteor impact in South Africa, or both?

Technical Session 2: Paleontological Practices: Preparation & Scientific Methods, Collections & Curation
L.A. Norton, K.D. Angielczyk, W.F. Simpson, J. Benoit Supplementing modern 3-D data with historical records of serially sectioned specimens

Technical Session 3: Sauropodomorpha
A. Chinsamy, F. Toefy, E. Krupandan Osteohistological insight into the growth dynamics of Sauropodomorpha

Technical Session 9: Triassic Herpetology
B.M. Weiss, R.B. Benson, K. Chapelle, K. Dollman, P. Barrett, S.J. Nesbitt, M.R. Stocker, J. Botha, J. Choiniere A new and large pseudosuchian from the mid-Norian (Late Triassic) lower Elliot Formation of South Africa

Technical Session 11: Theropoda I
J. Choiniere, K. Chapelle The skull of a new Early Jurassic theropod from the upper Elliot Formation of South Africa

Technical Session 13: Synapsida
C.P. Abbott, K.D. Angielczyk A bottom-up revision of Lystrosaurus (Therapsida, Dicynodontia) species in the Karoo Basin, South Africa

C.F. Kammerer, R.M. Araújo, B.S. Rubidge, Z. Macungo, N. Chambule, A. Massingue, K.D. Angielczyk A new emydopoid dicynodont from the middle Permian of the Karoo Basin and the systematics of the Kingoriidae

B.P. Stuart, A. Huttenlocker, F.P. Wolvaardt, V. Fernandez, J. Botha New exceptionally-preserved specimens of Microgomphodon oligocynus offer novel insights into the ecomorphology of the most derived therocephalian (Synapsida: Therapsida)

P.A. Viglietti, K.D. Angielczyk, A. Huttenlocker, J. Botha, R.M. Smith, J. Crowley, C. Browning, T. Seerane, C.P. Abbott Testing models of biotic survival and recovery from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction and climate crisis

A. Duhamel, B. Wynd, A. Wright, A. Moopen, J. Benoit, B.S. Rubidge Rethinking therapsid phylogeny: Bayesian and cladistic analyses of early-diverging Therapsida

Technical Session 14: Paleobiology: evolution, ecosystems, taphonomy, & traces
C. Montgomery, K. Dollman, A.B. Heckert, J.P. Hancox, J. Choiniere Comparative morphology and composition of Olenekian coprolites using 3D X-ray imaging

Technical Session 18: Carnivora & Co
A. Berger, R. Brown, A. Deutsch, A. Hartstone-Rose Bite force and gape reconstruction of South African sabertooth and non-sabertooth felids

Technical Session 21: Cenozoic & Modern Herpetology
M. Pereyra, A. Chinsamy Postcranial osteohistology and bone appositional rates of Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti, 1768

Regular Poster Session 1
A. Moopen, K. Chapelle, R.B. Benson, P. Barrett, J. Botha, J. Choiniere Paleobiology of the first bipedal lessemsaurid From the Late Triassic of South Africa

K. Chapelle, P. Barrett New data on the postcranial anatomy of Massospondylus carinatus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) and implications for postcranial ontogeny

T. Sato Ready-to-apply adhesive patches for efficient fossil preparation

Regular Poster Session 2
A.B. Heckert, J.P. Hancox, J. Choiniere Tanystropheid (Diapsida, Archosauromorpha) occurrences from the Lower Triassic Burgersdorp Formation (Cynognathus Assemblage Zone: Early Triassic) of South Africa: A rare early Gondwanan record of the clade

P.J. Byrne, N.D. Smith, J. Botha, A.A. Rytel, A. Huttenlocker Using intertrabecular space to validate pneumatic bone: implications for assessing postcranial skeletal pneumaticity in stem archosaurs

Regular Poster Session 3
Y. Tse, L.A. Norton, B.P. Stuart, A. Huttenlocker Ontogenetic changes in the structural performance and morphology of the mandible of Theriognathus microps (Therapsida: Therocephalia)


Research about Mozambique (1)
Technical Session 13: Synapsida
C.F. Kammerer, R.M. Araújo, B.S. Rubidge, Z. Macungo, N. Chambule, A. Massingue, K.D. Angielczyk A new emydopoid dicynodont from the middle Permian of the Karoo Basin and the systematics of the Kingoriidae


Research by South Africans based at foreign institutions (3)
Technical Session 6: Ornithischia II
V.J. Radermacher, P. Makovicky Quantifying wear in ornithopod and ceratopsian dental batteries 

Technical Session 13: Synapsida
P.A. Viglietti, K.D. Angielczyk, A. Huttenlocker, J. Botha, R.M. Smith, J. Crowley, C. Browning, T. Seerane, C.P. Abbott Testing models of biotic survival and recovery from the Permo-Triassic mass extinction and climate crisis

Regular Poster Session 1
K. Chapelle, P. Barrett New data on the postcranial anatomy of Massospondylus carinatus (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) and implications for postcranial ontogeny