| Summary: | We have now positively identified a number of specimens of the formerly exclusively South American Stereosternum tumidum in the Great Karoo Basin of South Africa, and an osteological study has shown Mesosaurus tenuidens and M. braziliensis to be conspecific. The occurrence of the same mesosaurid species in the Southern African and South American Gondwana is of importance for 2 reasons: it constitutes the earliest record of a shared reptile species on different Gondwana continents, and it is the first record of a reptile species shared by Southern Africa and South America. Even the widespread genus Lystrosaurus, known from South Africa, Antarctica, India and China, has not yet been discovered in South America in spite of the recent discovery of other, only slightly older African genera such as Pareiasaurus and Procolophon in Brazil.-from Authors
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