On September 17th, 1992, the Postal Authority of Transkei issued the second of three stamp sets
dedicated to fossils discovered in the country.
This time fossils of shells, rather than plants were depicted on the stamps.
The following text was written by Dr Herbert Klinger, South African Museum, Cape Town, and attached to the official FDC
The stretch of beach between the site of the Wild Coast casino and the
estuary of the Mzamba River in Transkei is locally known as the Fossil Forest.
However, this name is a misnomer, for the large petrified tree
trunks exposed on the beach at low tide are all orientated
horizontally, lack roots and are embedded in rocks which contain a wide
variety of marine fossils.
This indicates an ancient marine environment in which the logs had washed up on
the beach or became waterlogged.
Low cliffs on either side of the Mzamba River estuary comprise alternating
hard and soft sediments and continue the section exposed on the beach.
These contain numerous shelly marine fossils which belong to the
Santonian and Campanian Stages of the Cretaceous System of about 75 to
85 million years ago.
These rocks and some of the fossils were first
described in 1855 in the Ouanerly Journal of the Geological Society of
London by Captain RJ Garden and WH Baily respectively.
The fossils depicting on the stamps and the commemorative envelope are
from the Mzamba Formation, as these rocks are now collectively referred
to scientifically.
They include forms which are now totally extinct, namely the ammonites,
as well as others which have extant representatives, such as gastropods and bivalves.
Pseudomelania sutherlandi fossil on stamp of Transkei 1992,
MiNr.: ; Scott: -
Gaudryceras denseplicatum fossil on stamp of Transkei 1992
Pseudomelania sutherlandi (Baily, 1855)
This is one of the most common fossil gastropods at Mzamba and was
among the first fossils to be described from this locality.
Gaudryceras denseplicatum (Jimbo, 1894)
This is an ammonite a group of animals that became extinct at the end
of the Cretaceous Period, more or less at the same time as the dinosaurs.
This species is known from Transkei, KwaZulu, Madagascar, Japan and Spain.
Neithea quinquecostata fossil on stamp of Transkei 1992,
MiNr.: ; Scott: .
Pugilina (Mayerie) acutlcarlnatus fossil on stamp of Transkei 1992,
Neithea quinquecostata (J Sowerby, 1814)
This fossil represents a common, scallop-like bivalve with a wide geographic distribution.
Pugilina (Mayerie) acutlcarlnatus (Rennie, 1930)
This is a rather rare fossil gastropod at Mzamba.
Commemorative envelope:
Texanites presoutoni (Klinger and Kennedy, 1980).
This fossil is a large ammonite from the basal beds of the Mzamba Formation.
