Endemic South American Permian bivalve molluscs from the Ecca of South Africa.

The recent discovery of a bivalve faunule in the Ecca Group of South Africa is noteworthy for comprising taxa already known from South America. This is important for demonstrating that the diverse bivalve fauna of the Parana Basin of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina was not endemic, but was restricted to a large inland sea which also covered much of southern Africa. It thus allows for an extension of the environmental setting proposed for the Estrada Nova Formation to include part of the Ecca Group, as well as providing a firmer dating of the Parana faunas.-Authors