Implications of summer breeding frogs from Langebaanweg, South Africa : regional climate evolution at 5.1 mya
Date
2016-09-28
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
No direct palaeoclimatic proxies have been available to indicate the seasonality or amount of rainfall on
the west coast of southern Africa during the Early Pliocene. The Benguela Upwelling System (BUS) is
today one of the factors responsible for the present-day aridity on the west coast of southern Africa.
The initiation of the BUS is frequently linked to the entrenchment of aridity and the establishment of the
current winter rainfall pattern on the west coast; however, marine proxies are inconclusive regarding the
effects of past fluctuations in the BUS and sea surface temperatures on the rainfall regime. Neither the
fossil evidence nor the fact that plants using the C3 photosynthetic pathway predominate at this time,
provide direct evidence of winter rainfall at Langebaanweg. We challenge certain assumptions which are
commonly made in the literature regarding the timing of inception of a winter rainfall regime on the west
coast and the onset of aridity in the Langebaan region, and provide new evidence as to seasonality of
rainfall at Langebaanweg in the Early Pliocene. Herein, the identification of frog species from the genus
Ptychadena from Langebaanweg provides new and compelling evidence for a summer rainfall regime, or
of at least significant summer rainfall, at 5.1 mya in the southwestern Cape of South Africa.
Significance:
• Advances understanding of the evolution of the winter rainfall zone on the west coast of South Africa
• Assesses evidence for the inception of aridity and a winter rainfall regime on the west coast of South Africa
• Fossil Ptychadenidae from the Early Pliocene site of Langebaanweg provide evidence for a summer rainfall
regime at 5.1 mya on the west coast of the southwestern Cape.
Description
CITATION: Matthews, T., Measey, G. J. & Roberts, D. L. 2016. Implications of summer breeding frogs from Langebaanweg, South Africa : regional climate evolution at 5.1 mya. South African Journal of Science, 112(9/10), Art.
#2016-0070, doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/20160070.
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
Keywords
Paleoclimatology, Ptychadena, Rain and rainfall -- South Africa -- Langebaanweg, Early Pliocene, Fossil frogs, Paleontology -- South Africa -- Langebaanweg, Amphibians, Fossil
Citation
Matthews, T., Measey, G. J. & Roberts, D. L. 2016. Implications of summer breeding frogs from Langebaanweg, South Africa : regional climate evolution at 5.1 mya. South African Journal of Science, 112(9/10), Art.
#2016-0070, doi:10.17159/sajs.2016/20160070.