ABSTRACT
Exposures of the Karoo Supergroup occur in the northern and southern portions of Malawi, south central Africa. The section in southern Malawi contains Lower Permian coal-bearing shales and extends upward to the Chikwawa basalt of Jurassic age (≈179 Ma). The Chikwawa basalt represents the northern limit of the Karoo Large Igneous Province, which signals the rifting of Gondwana. The Chiweta Beds of northern Malawi contain a Late Permian (Cistecephalus Zone; ≈256-258 Ma) fauna, including the dicynodont Oudenodon and a new burnetiamorph biarmosuchian more derived than Lemurosaurus and sister to Proburnetia, Burnetia, and Bullacephalus.
Louis L. Jacobs. Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
Dale A. Winkler. Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
Kent D. Newman. Department of Geological Sciences, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275, USA.
Elizabeth M. Gomani. Department of Antiquities, P.O. Box 264, Lilongwe, Malawi.
Alan Deino. Berkeley Geochronology Center, 2455 Ridge Road, Berkeley, California 94709, USA.
KEY WORDS: 40Ar/39Ar geochronology; burnetiamorph; Karoo; Malawi; Permian; therapsid
PE Article Number: 8.1.28A
Copyright:
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology May 2005
Submission: 22 November 2004. Acceptance: 25 April 2005
