A new kannemeyeriiform dicynodont (<i>Ufudocyclops mukanelai</i>, gen. et sp. nov.) from Subzone C of the <i>Cynognathus</i> Assemblage Zone, Triassic of South Africa, with implications for biostratigraphic correlation with other African Triassic faunas

A new taxon of kannemeyeriiform dicynodont, <i>Ufudocyclops mukanelai</i>, is described based on a well-preserved skull from Subzone C of the <i>Cynognathus</i> Assemblage Zone, which are the youngest strata (probably Middle Triassic) of the Beaufort Group (uppermost Burgersdorp Formation) in South Africa. <i>Ufudocyclops mukanelai</i> is diagnosed by its autapomorphic intertemporal morphology: the intertemporal bar in this taxon is ‘X’-shaped—broad anteriorly and posteriorly but distinctly ‘pinched’ at mid-length and bears a deep, triangular depression immediately behind the enormous pineal foramen. The new kannemeyeriiform can also be diagnosed by the presence of a laterally expanded jugal plate beneath the orbit, and highly discrete, ovoid nasal bosses separated by a broad, unornamented median portion of the premaxilla and the nasals. Two partial dicynodont skulls from this subzone, previously identified as specimens of the otherwise Tanzanian taxon <i>Angonisaurus</i>, are also referable to <i>U</i>. <i>mukanelai</i>. Removal of these specimens from the hypodigm of <i>Angonisaurus</i> eliminates a crucial point of correlation between <i>Cynognathus</i> Subzone C and the Manda Beds of Tanzania and suggests that Subzone C preserves a distinct, endemic fauna, not just a southern extension of the better-known Middle–Late Triassic tetrapod faunas from Tanzania and Zambia. Inclusion of <i>Ufudocyclops</i> in a phylogenetic analysis of anomodonts recovers it as an early stahleckeriid, the first record of this clade from the <i>Cynognathus</i> Assemblage Zone.