PALEONTOLOGY OF THE BLAAUWATER 67 AND 65 FARMS, SOUTH AFRICA: TESTING THE DAPTOCEPHALUS/LYSTROSAURUS BIOZONE BOUNDARY IN A STRATIGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK

: Vertebrate paleontologists have proposed a model for the terrestrial end-Permian event in the Karoo Basin, South Africa. The scenario envisions vegetational collapse that resulted in a phased extinction of vertebrate taxa in the uppermost Daptocephalus Assemblage Zone and overlying Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone. These biodiversity patterns are placed into composite stratigraphic sections at key localities, several of which are in close spatial...