The heteromorph ammonite Ndumuiceras variabile gen. et sp. nov. from the Albian Mzinene Formation, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

 

 

William James Kennedy^I; Herbert Christian Klinger^II

^IOxford University Museum of Natural History, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PW, U.K. E-mail: jim.kennedy@oum.ox.ac.uk
^IINatural History Collections Department, Iziko South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town 8000 South Africa, and Department of Geological Sciences University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701 South Africa. E-mail: hklinger@iziko.org.za

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Four specimens of a micromorphic heteromorph ammonite, one from the Lower Albian Mzinene Formation in the vicinity of Ndumu, and three from the basal Middle Albian Mzinene Formation in the Mkuze Game Reserve of KwaZulu-Natal are referred to the new genus and species Ndumuiceras variabile. Its general appearance suggests affinities with the crioceratitid representatives of the superfamily Ancyloceratoidea Gill, 1871, but the suture line points to affinities with the superfamily Turrilitoidea Gill, 1871.

Keywords: heteromorph, ammonite, Albian, Mzinene Formation, KwaZulu-Natal.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We thank the staff of the Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford, and of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History for technical support. Access to the Mkuze Game Reserve was facilitated by KwaZulu Wildlife (ex. Natal Parks board).

 

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Received 5 March 2009
Accepted 2 April 2009