Dr Jennifer Botha-Brink from the Karoo Palaeontology Department attended the annual Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in Brisbane, Australia in October this year. Dr Botha-Brink presented her research as a poster on Early Jurassic dinosaur life histories from the Elliot Formation, Karoo Basin of South Africa.
In a recently published paper by Ermilov et al in Systematic and Applied Acarology, an interesting morphological difference was discovered in the oribatid mite species, Coetzeella navalensis, which lives inside termite nests. Observations showed that in some individuals of this mite the anterior side of the prodorsum (head) is flat and smooth while other individuals have movable blades forming a ‘tube’. Further studies are needed to confirm the mechanism and reason of this phenomenon and if it relates to living with termites.
Dr. Hendrik Snyders and Marianna Botes of the History Department, and Elmar du Plessis of the Department of Collections attended the National Conference of the SA Society for Cultural History (SASCH) from 18-19 October at the Naval Museum in Simon’s Town, where all three presented papers.
James Simpson Brink was appointed as a junior researcher in archaeozoology at the National Museum Bloemfontein in 1983 where he took over from Dr Ron Clarke in 1984 to lead an interdisciplinary palaeo-environmental research unit at the museum’s Quaternary Research Station at Florisbad. With missionary zeal, James not only began an in-depth study of of the archaeozoology of the Florisbad Spring and Living Floor Assemblages which represents the type site of the Florisian Land Mammal Age, but also initiated the expansion of an extensive vertebrate osteological reference collection in what would eventually grow into a world-class research collection for students and scientists alike.
The Steering Committee for the 2020 national conference of the SA Society for Cultural History (SASCH) that will be co-hosted by the National Museum, recently visited Clarens on a fact finding mission to inspect possible venues for the conference and meet with local organizers and community members in Clarens. The Basotho Cultural Village was also visited.