bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Second notice of transfer of specimens figured by Rousseau H. Flower
Authors: Wolberg Donald L.
Published: August 2016

Rousseau H. Flower described and figured about 400 new fossil taxa. In addition, he probably described and figured an equal number of other fossils during his long career (Wolberg, 1988). Appropriate disposition of the specimens held within our collections is of major concern to the NMBM&MR. We are most concerned for the long-term care of the fossils and their availability to interested persons. The importance of this material can be seen from the very large number of holotypes included in this second notice of transfer. This note continues the transfer to the Smithsonian Institution of fossil specimens described and/or figured by Rousseau Flower (1964) and housed at the NMBM&MR. This series begins at number 47, and continues the listing from Wolberg (1990). It is obvious that the sheer volume of figured material at the NMBM&MR will require additional notices.
A note on the location of the type specimens of vertebrates from Brazil described by Cope in 1886
Authors: Longbottom A. E.
Published: August 2016

There has been some confusion in the literature regarding the present location of the type specimens of species described by Cope in 1886, which has resulted in the unnecessary erection of a neotype (Grande, 1982) for one of these species. This note is an attempt to trace the fate of these Brazilian specimens based on archival material in the Palaeontological Library of the British Museum (Natural History) (BMNH).
Tempestites recorded as variable Pentamerus layers in the Lower Silurian of southern Norway
Authors: Johnson Markes E.
Published: August 2016

The brachiopod Pentamerus oblongus is especially abundant in the Lower Silurian Rytteråker Formation, which occurs widely throughout the Oslo region in southern Norway. Alternating thin limestones and shales typically occur in a shallowing-upward sequence ending in a massive grainstone often rich in tabulate corals and stromatoporoids. In the lower beds, colonization by pentamerid populations was enhanched by prior emplacement of an orthotetacean shell pavement over the clastic sea bed. Individual Pentamerus size decreases with increasing disturbance of populations or their fragmentation as lag deposits nearer the stratigraphic level of the massive grainstone. The frequency of specific storm events and the changing depth to the sea bed may be indexed according to the average size of pentamerid shells in a given population and the degree to which the population is disturbed. Preservation of prominent growth lines (assumed to be annual) suggests storms stirred the sea bed in deeper waters on an 8–10 year cycle. In shallower waters, storms more regularly disturbed the sea bed every 2–3 years. These data corroborate the interpretation that the Pentamerus community inhabited marine waters below fair-weather wave base, but still within reach of storm wave base.
Some new Paleozoic gastropod opercula (Pennsylvanian: Texas)
Authors: Linsley R. M. , Mapes R. H. , Hui-Ji Wang , Yochelson E. L.
Published: August 2016

Small gastropod opercula have been found at one locality each in the Desmoinesian and Virgilian of north-central Texas. Because of their general shape and concentric growth, these opercula are placed within the Neritacea. One form probably is the operculum ofTrachydomia. Four other forms, two of which are morphologically quite similar but from different ages, probably belong withNaticopsissensu lato.
Observations on the tunnel morphology of Heterocerus brunneus Melsheimer (Coleoptera: Heteroceridae) and its paleoecological significance
Authors: Clark George R. , Ratcliffe Brett C.
Published: August 2016

The burrow structures of Heterocerus brunneus Melsheimer and its larvae are described from both field (northeastern Kansas) and laboratory habitats. These are further interpreted in light of known North American heterocerid biology. Two important observations are that significant features of any one burrow varied with the consistency (especially the water content) of the substrate, and that different insects were making superficially similar burrows at the same field site. It would require exceptional preservation, or associated body parts, to positively identify fossil traces of these structures as heterocerid burrows, but their general pattern should be readily recognized as foraging traces in even the most degraded preservations.
Brachiopods from the extreme South Pacific and adjacent waters
Authors: Foster Merrill W.
Published: August 2016

Sixteen genera and 27 species of Recent brachiopods are reported from the far southern Pacific Ocean and adjacent parts of the South Atlantic and southern Indian Ocean. These specimens extend the known geographic ranges of at least 10 species and the known bathymetric ranges of at least seven species. The new material gives greater support to the idea that many Recent brachiopod species have a wide geographic range and calls into question the very limited geographic ranges of many species known only from the fossil record. Puncta density appears to be a useful character for distinguishing Neothyris compressa and N. lenticularis. At least nine different types of geographic distribution are represented among the species studied for this paper. Areas of moderate depth on seamounts, particularly along oceanic ridges and on oceanic rises, may form important geographic areas of distribution, avenues of dispersal, and barriers to brachiopods. Four examples of polytypic species are cited. The new specimens lend additional support to the notion that one polytypic species of Liothyrella extends, with clinal morphological changes, from southernmost South America to Antarctica. Students of modern brachiopods are urged to consider large-scale geographic variation within species and not to hide it with finely delimited taxa. This approach has the potential to lead, in both modern and ancient brachiopods, to a taxonomy with fewer and more meaningful species and genera. Progenetic changes seem to be a common adaptive strategy in brachiopods on largely soft substrates and in deep water. The progenesis may be short term within a single species or long term involving evolution of new species and genera.
A new phalangiotarbid (Arachnida) from the McLeansboro Group (Pennsylvanian) of Indiana
Authors: Patrick Randy R.
Published: August 2016

Triangulotarbus terrehautensis n. gen. and sp. is a Pennsylvanian phalangiotarbid (Arachnida) that occurs in the sandy shales of the lower Shelburn Formation, McLeansboro Group, Desmoinesian Series, above Coal VII (Danville Coal) of the Dugger Formation. Triangulotarbus terrehautensis is the youngest phalangiotarbid that has been collected in North America.
Two new multiarmed Paleozoic (Mississippian) asteroids (Echinodermata) and some paleobiologic implications
Authors: Blake Daniel B. , Guensburg Thomas E.
Published: August 2016

Lacertasterias elegansandSchondorfia fungosaare new genera and species of multiarmed asteroids described from the Kinderhookian? (Mississippian) Gilmore City Formation of Iowa and the Chesterian (Mississippian) Haney Formation of Illinois, respectively. Based on ambulacral construction, the former belongs to the Paleozoic asteroid stem group whereas the latter is distinct from but closer to post-Paleozoic asteroids.

The multiarmed condition is atypical today; nevertheless, multiarmed species are morphologically varied and taxonomically widely distributed. The condition is considered problematic; it is uncertain whether or not multiarmed organization is adaptively neutral. Although only convergent with rather than ancestral to post-Paleozoic multiarmed asteroids, both new genera share important similarities with modern multiarmed predators, implying a predatory life mode for the fossils. The similarity between phylogenetically disparate Paleozoic and post-Paleozoic asteroids implies the multiarmed condition is beneficial, and benefits endured in spite of the major biotic changes that occurred around the end of the Paleozoic.
New species of Enchodus (Pisces: Enchodontoidei) from the lower Cenomanian of Ein-Yabrud, Israel
Authors: Chalifa Yael
Published: August 2016

A new species, Enchodus brevis (Enchodontoidei: Enchodontidae), is described from lower Cenomanian beds in Ein-Yabrud, near Jerusalem. The species is characterized by the following features: the shortest enchodontid body; an ectopterygoid bearing one smooth canine terminal tooth; barbed dentary teeth; a huge front tooth of dentary with two anterior cutting edges; two supraneurals; second preural vertebra without a neural spine; and absence of lateral line scales except for a long hook-like terminal scale at the caudal peduncle. The systematic position of the new species suggests the emendment of the generic diagnosis.
Repository for Devonian–Mississippian trace fossil figured specimens
Authors: Bjerstedt Thomas W.
Published: August 2016

Trace fossils figured in four recent papers in the Journal of Paleontology and Palaios have been reposited in the Invertebrate Paleontology Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH). Catalog numbers for these specimens are herein assigned.
Trace fossils from marginal marine facies of the Kanawha Formation (Middle Pennsylvanian), West Virginia
Authors: Martino Ronald L.
Published: August 2016

Seven sedimentary facies have been identified in a 40-m-thick portion of the Kanawha Formation near Chelyan in southern West Virginia. Lithology, sedimentary and biogenic structures, body fossils, paleocurrent patterns, and facies geometry have been used to identify the following paleoenvironments: Facies 1, fluviodeltaic channels represented by thick, cross-stratified channel sandstone; Facies 2, crevasse splays and tidal creeks represented by thin, cross-stratified wedge and channel sandstone; Facies 3, coastal swamps and lakes represented by coal seat and carbonaceous shale; Facies 4, restricted bay and upper tidal flats represented by dark-gray shale, mudstone; Facies 5, interdistributary bays represented by olive-gray siltstone and shale with brachiopods; Facies 6, bay or tidal flat scour fills represented by sandy limestone with brachiopods and pelmatozoans; and Facies 7, low to mid tidal flats and distributary mouth bars represented by thinly interbedded, rippled sandstone and siltstone.

Trace fossils representing 17 ichnogenera are present with most being restricted to certain sedimentary facies. Three ichnoassemblages are recognized. 1) An annulated vertical burrow assemblage, consisting of arthropod(?) dwellings, occurs in an abandoned fluvial channel facies. 2) APhycodes–Zoophycosassemblage is associated with dark-gray shales and mudstones of a restricted bay and/or upper tidal flat environment. Additional ichnogenera includePlanolitesand ?Conostichus. 3) AnOlivellitesassemblage with a high abundance and a high diversity of trace fossils occurs within a rippled sandstone/siltstone facies; trace fossils include (in order of abundance)Olivellites, Teichichnus, Planolites, Aulichnites, transversely ridged surface trails,Rosselia, Scolicia, Curvolithus, Helminthopsis, Tasmanadia, Petalichnus, Ancorichnus, and ?Asterosoma. The associated depositional environments are interpreted as low to mid tidal flats and possibly distributary mouth bars.

The occurrence of salinity-sensitive trace fossils such as the assemblages described herein within otherwise faunally barren intervals facilitates the recognition of marine-influenced coastal facies in which stenohaline or brackish body fossils are lacking.
Upper Devonian (Frasnian–Famennian) conodont biostratigraphy in the subsurface of north-central Iowa and southeastern Nebraska
Authors: Metzger Ronald A.
Published: August 2016

The Upper Devonian–Lower Mississippian sequence in the subsurface of north-central Iowa and southeastern Nebraska consists of the Lime Creek, undifferentiated Sheffield–Maple Mill, English River, Prospect Hill, and Chapin Formations. The Lime Creek is restricted entirely to the Polygnathus biofacies where conodonts are present and correlates with an interval from Zone 4b to Faunal Interval 8 of the Canadian (Alberta) Rockies zonation based on conodonts and foraminifers. The oldest identifiable Famennian units range in age from the crepida–rhomboidea Zones at locality 1 to the Upper marginifera Zone or younger at localities 2 and 3. The youngest Devonian strata may occur in the Upper expansa Zone at locality 1 and Middle expansa Zone at localities 2 and 3. Famennian faunas are present in the Polygnathus biofacies at localities 1 and 3 and in the Icriodus biofacies at locality 2. A total of 50 species and subspecies are identified, four of which have not been previously described (Icriodus sp. A, Hemilistrona sp. A, Polygnathus depressus n. sp., and Polygnathus sp. B).
Designation of a new name and type for the Mazon Creek (Pennsylvanian, Francis Creek Shale) tanaidacean
Authors: Schram Frederick R.
Published: August 2016

When i described the Mazon Creek tanaidacean crustacean and named it Cryptocaris hootchi Schram, 1974, two problems presented themselves. First, all specimens but one were in private collections, and none of their owners then seemed inclined to donate them to an established natural history museum. Second, the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago at that time contained only a single specimen, P32053, of what appeared to be the Mazon Creek tanaidacean. This specimen is peculiarly preserved and of only mediocre quality. Consequently, I based the description of the Mazon Creek tanaidacean almost entirely on the privately held specimens, noting their numbers and private repositories, but designated the Field Museum specimen, P32053, as the holotype. A subsequent review of all fossil tanaidaceans (Schram et al., 1986) focused exclusively on the privately held specimens collected from Mazon Creek sites.
Rediagnosis of the genus Amebelodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Gomphotheriidae), with a new subgenus and species, Amebelodon (Konobelodon) britti
Authors: Lambert W. David
Published: August 2016

The diagnosis of the shovel-tusked gomphothere genus Amebelodon has been subject to dispute since it was first established by Barbour in 1927. This dispute stems from a failure to evaluate the phylogenetic nature of two characters found in some specimens referred to Amebelodon: four lophs(ids) on some intermediate cheek teeth (M2 and M1) and internal dentinal rods within the lower tusks. These characters are considered diagnostic for the shovel-tusk gomphothere genera Platybelodon and Torynobelodon, and conflict with the traditional diagnosis of Amebelodon. Newly described specimens of Amebelodon and a detailed morphological analysis of one of the disputed characters, dentinal rods, indicate that the character states in the two shovel-tusker groups are analogous. The genus Amebelodon is rediagnosed to take into account this new information.

The rediagnosis of Amebelodon is taxonomically recognized by the designation of a new subgenus, Amebelodon (Konobelodon), which includes all Amebelodon specimens convergent with Platybelodon and Torynobelodon. A new species, A. (Konobelodon) britti, is established that includes all specimens of this subgenus from North America. Specimens from the Moss Acres Racetrack site (Hemphillian) in northern Florida are used in the description of this species.
?Tethyaster albertensis,a Late Cretaceous (Turonian) sea star from the Cardium Formation, Alberta, Canada
Authors: Hall Russell L. , Moore Suzan
Published: August 2016

Although many of the surviving lineages of sea stars appeared during an early Mesozoic radiation of the class and have undergone limited change since then, they have left a very poor fossil record, particularly in the Mesozoic of North America (Blake, 1981). This record from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta is made more significant by the fact that it is apparently only the second occurrence of a member of the family Astropectinidae in the Cretaceous of North America;Lophidiaster silentiensiswas described by McLearn (1944) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Hasler Formation, from a now-submerged locality on the Peace River in northern Alberta. All previously recorded fossil sea stars from the North American Cretaceous are representatives of the family Goniasteridae.
First Silurian conulariids from Paraguay
Authors: Babcock Loren E. , Gray Jane , Boucot Arthur J. , Himes Gregory T. , Siegele Paul K.
Published: August 2016

Two new conulariid species,Conularia clarkeiBabcock andC. paraguayensisBabcock from the Vargas Peña Shale, are the first Silurian conulariids to be described from Paraguay. They increase to three the number of Silurian species to be described from South America. The concept ofConulariaMillerinSowerby, 1820, is emended. It includes as junior synonymsConularia(Plectoconularia) Bouček, 1939,DiconulariaSinclair, 1952, andYangoconulariaXu and Li, 1985. The age of the Vargas Peña Shale has long been disputed, but conclusions based on organic-walled microfossils indicate an Early Silurian (Llandoverian) age for the unit.
Early Cretaceous brachiopods from Mexico and their paleobiogeographic significance
Authors: Sandy Michael R.
Published: August 2016

The rhynchonellid genusPtilorhynchiaCrickmay and the terebratulid genusSellithyrisMiddlemiss are described from Mexico for the first time. This is the first formal description ofSellithyrisfrom the American Continent.Ptilorhynchia(Proteorhynchia)imlayin. sp. is described from the late Aptian of the La Penã Formation, Coahuila.“Rhynchonella’ durangensisImlay from the Valanginian of the Carbonera Formation, Durango, is assigned toPtilorhynchia(Proteorhynchia).“Terebratula’ coahuilensisImlay from the Valanginian Barril Viejo Formation, Coahuila, is referred toSellithyris. Sellithyris coahuilensisindicates close links with contemporaneous Valanginian faunas of southern Europe. During the early Early CretaceousSellithyrishad a fairly restricted latitudinal and broad longitudinal distribution (Tethys and its extension across the opening Central Atlantic Ocean).Ptilorhynchia(Proteorhynchia) in Mexico is significant as the first low-latitude record forPtilorhynchia.Other Lower Cretaceous records are from northern and southern high latitudes, previously interpreted as a bipolar distribution. It is suggested thatPtilorhynchiahad a Boreal-East Pacific distribution withPtilorhynchia(Proteorhynchia) being a low-latitude Early Cretaceous offshoot. The genus may prove to be pandemic.ProteorhynchiaOwen is regarded as a subgenus ofPtilorhynchia.
The new Devonian (Givetian) heteractinid sponge Gondekia from Ontario, Canada, and evolution of the astraeospongiids and eiffeliids
Authors: Rigby J. Keith
Published: August 2016

The new genus and species, Gondekia hastula, are described from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) Hungry Hollow Formation of southwestern Ontario. Astraeospongium lancifer Reimann, 1945, is also included in the new genus and A. acicularis is considered a synonym of that species. Gondekia has a flat saucer-like form and a felted, but thin, skeleton composed of at least three orders of regularly spaced and oriented simple sexiradiates. Gondekia is placed in the Eiffeliidae but is convergent toward the Astraeospongiidae in having a somewhat thickened wall.
Molluscan biostratigraphy of the lower River Bend Formation at the Martin Marietta Quarry, New Bern, North Carolina
Authors: Rossbach Thomas J. , Carter Joseph G.
Published: August 2016

The lower River Bend Formation at the Martin Marietta New Bern quarry in Craven County, North Carolina, contains a diverse and abundant moldic molluscan fauna. This fauna, reconstructed by latex casts, suggests a Vicksburgian or a post-Vicksburgian, pre-Chickasawhayan age for the New Bern exposure. Forty-one molluscan species and subspecies are presently identified from the lower River Bend Formation, 11 of which are new: Turritella caelatura alani, Turritella neusensis, Galeodaria britti, Phalium newbernensis, Cymatium planinodum, Oocorys vadosus, Ecphora wheeleri, Lyria concinna, Scaphella saintjeani, Turricula (Orthosurcula) aequa, and Lucina (Stewartia) micraulax. This fauna is virtually identical at the generic level and similar at the species level to the Vicksburgian faunas of the Gulf Coastal Plain. About 37 percent of the New Bern species also occur in the Vicksburgian of Mississippi, although many of these species reach considerably larger sizes at New Bern. Apparent evolutionary transitions between previously known Vicksburgian and Chickasawhayan mollusks suggest a time of deposition intermediate between these two Oligocene stages.

Moderately high molluscan diversity, the abundance of characteristically warm-water genera, and associated carbonate-rich sediments suggest that the lower River Bend Formation represents a subtropical, open-marine, predominantly carbonate environment immediately seaward of a nearshore lagoonal or barrier island complex.

The lower River Bend Formation at New Bern differs faunally, climatically, and sedimentologically from the upper River Bend Formation in quarry exposures near Belgrade, North Carolina. The upper River Bend Formation contains a lower diversity molluscan fauna with marked dominance diversity and few warm-water taxa. It represents a slightly cooler nearshore, open-marine environment in a transitional siliciclastic-carbonate sedimentary regime. The considerable taxonomic and sedimentologic differences between the lower and upper parts of the River Bend Formation corroborate microfossil evidence suggesting that they represent temporally distinct depositional cycles.
Morphological variations of benthic foraminiferal tests in response to changes in ecological parameters: a review
Authors: Boltovskoy E. , Scott D. B. , Medioli F. S.
Published: August 2016

Some of the relatively recent literature correlating morphological variation in benthic foraminifera with environmental parameters such as temperature, salinity, carbonate solubility, depth, nutrition, substrate, dissolved oxygen, illumination, pollution, water motion, trace elements, and rapid environmental fluctuation is reviewed. It appears some variables (most notably depth) are recorded more frequently, which may affect some conclusions. Although each variable is treated separately, it appears that almost no variables act independently on test morphologies. In reviewing the literature, it becomes clear that there are many individual trends, especially with shell ornamentation, but few broad ones, and that it is almost impossible, with exception of some of the larger reef-dwelling, symbiont-bearing foraminifera, to predict how any species will react to various parameters. The broad trends concern thinning or thickening of carbonate tests with changing carbonate availability, temperature, and salinity. It appears that many observations of morphological changes within species may not be recorded in the literature, perhaps because authors did not recognize the importance of small details that would be of importance at a later time.
Mytiloides hattinin. sp.: a guide fossil for the base of the Turonian in the Western Interior of North America
Authors: Elder William P.
Published: August 2016

Mytiloides hattini, a new species of inoceramid bivalve from the basal Turonian (Upper Cretaceous), is described and its stratigraphic importance discussed. This inoceramid is particularly significant because its first occurrence can be used as a marker for the base of the Turonian in strata that typically contain no ammonites and few other taxa. The lowest occurrence ofMytiloides hattiniis characterized by abundant specimens over wide regions of the Western Interior of North America; this species also apparently occurs in the lowest Turonian strata of western Europe. The typical absence of ammonites in this stratigraphic interval potentially makes the first occurrence ofMytiloides hattinian important fossil for regional and intercontinental correlation of the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary.
A new Jurassic Phlebopteris (Plantae, Filicales) from the Wallowa Terrane in the Snake River Canyon, Oregon and Idaho
Authors: Ash Sidney
Published: August 2016

A new species of the fern Phlebopteris, P. tracyi n. sp., is described from the Jurassic Coon Hollow Formation in the Wallowa terrane in the Snake River Canyon, Oregon and Idaho. The leaf is as large or larger than all specimens of previously described species of Phlebopteris. The pinnae of the new species are divided into many widely spaced, narrow, elongate pinnules that have obtusely pointed apices. Each pinnule contains a strong midrib from which lateral veins arise at a high angle and give off anastomosing branch veins. The fertile pinnae bear circular superficial sori arranged in a single row on each side of midrib. The new Phlebopteris occurs beneath a horizon containing marine fossils of Middle Jurassic age. The presence of P. tracyi in the Coon Hollow Formation indicates that it was deposited under a humid, warm to hot climate.
Repositories of and additional comments on Permian sponge specimens containing molds of Paraconularia
Authors: Van Iten Heyo
Published: August 2016

In a previous publication in this journal, Finks (1955) reported the discovery of two sponge specimens containing external molds of the conulariid Paraconularia leonardensis (Finks). The sponges were collected from the Permian Leonard and Cherry Canyon Formations, west Texas (Finks, 1955,1960). As argued by Finks (1955), the conulariids contained in the sponges probably were sessile, and two conulariids in one of the sponges may have been directly attached to the sponge in life. These interpretations are corroborated by evidence documented by several other authors, most notably Sinclair (1948) and Babcock et al. (1987).
Obruchevellaand other microfossils in the Burgess Shale: preservation and affinity
Authors: Mankiewicz Carol
Published: August 2016

Charles D. Walcott's thin sections of the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada, have yielded many specimens of the helically coiled microfossilObruchevella delicata, as well as fragments of the cyanobacteriaMarpoliaandMorania, sphaeromorph acritarchs, and sclerites of the enigmatic metazoanWiwaxia. Obruchevellaof the Burgess Shale displays a spectrum of preservation styles ranging from tangled masses to well-developed helixes. AllObruchevellaspecimens are preserved in three dimensions, which suggests original skeletalization or early post-mortem mineralization of the organism. Morphologic analysis ofObruchevellasupports an affinity with modern helical cyanobacteria. Study of all reported occurrences ofObruchevellaindicates that: 1) the genus has been overly split into seventeen species; 2) no correlation between size and age ofObruchevellaexists; and 3) mostObruchevellaspecimens are tightly coiled and have helix diameters four to six times their filament diameters.
Morphometric methods in determination of ammonite species, exemplified throughBalatonitesshells (Middle Triassic)
Authors: Hohenegger J. , Tatzreiter F.
Published: August 2016

Specimens of the ammonite genusBalatonitesfrom the Middle Triassic of Austria and Hungary are analyzed morphometrically to obtain growth invariant character states. A new method transforming growth dependent qualitative characters into age invariant metric variables is developed. Weighted standardization as a method preserving univariate discriminatory efficiency is applied to character states preceding numerical classification procedures, resulting in a clearer separation of homogeneous groups in comparison to simple standardized data. All clustering and ordination procedures produce two identical classes, which are interpreted according to the cohesion concept as distinct biological species. In adherence to the taxonomic rules they are denominated asBalatonites egregiusArthaber andBalatonites balatonicus(Mojsisovics).
Dolabrosaurus aquatilis, a small lepidosauromorph reptile from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of north-central New Mexico
Authors: Berman David S , Reisz Robert R.
Published: August 2016

Dolabrosaurus aquatilis n. gen. and sp., a small amphibious or aquatic reptile from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of north-central New Mexico, is described on the basis of portions of the vertebral column and partial fore- and hindlimbs of a single specimen. Comparison with other Triassic reptiles indicates that D. aquatilis is most closely related to Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus, a small, enigmatic lepidosauromorph from the Upper Triassic Zorzino Formation of the Italian Alps. Both species are assigned to a new family, Drepanosauridae, with Dolabrosaurus recognized as more primitive in some aspects of its vertebral and pedal morphology. The precise assignment of Drepanosauridae within the Lepidosauromorpha remains uncertain.
A Carboniferous flora from the Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Authors: Tidwell William D. , Jennings James R. , Beus Stanley S.
Published: August 2016

A megafossil flora, composed of 12 form taxa, has been collected from the Upper Mississippian–Lower Pennsylvanian Surprise Canyon Formation in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. It is the first known flora of this age to be recorded in Arizona, and includesLepidodendron aculeatumSternberg,L. mannabachensePresl,L. volkmannianumSternberg,Lepidostrobussp. cf.L. ornatusBrongniart,Lepidostrobophyllumsp.,Knorriasp.,Cyperitessp.,Stigmaria ficoides(Sternberg),Calamites(Mesocalamites)cistiiformisStur,Calamitessp.,Pecopteriscf.P. aspera, andWardiasp. (seed). The 22 species of palynomorphs previously reported from this formation suggest that the local flora was more diverse than the paucity of plant megafossil specimens indicates.
Cambrian–Ordovician boundary in the Taconic allochthon, eastern New York, and its interregional correlation
Authors: Landing Ed
Published: August 2016

Cambrian–Ordovician boundary interval dendroid graptolites and conodonts occur in continental slope facies in the Taconic allochthon. The upper part of the Hatch Hill Formation has lowest Ordovician (lowest Tremadocian) nematophorous dendroid and lower Fauna B-aspect conodont assemblages with Cordylodus caseyi (emend.) and Iapetognathus preaengensis. Comparable dendroid-conodont faunas occur in Baltoscandia, northeastern China, and western Newfoundland; this suggests that no diachroneity can be demonstrated between the lowest occurrences of Rhabdinopora flabelliformis in a number of faunal provinces.

A practical and correlatable Cambrian–Ordovician boundary stratotype horizon defined by the lowest occurrence of a Rhabdinopora flabelliformis assemblage within an interval with lower Fauna B-aspect conodonts is advocated. A biostratigraphic horizon defined by conodonts has far less utility due to strong lithofacies-conodont biofacies linkages, unresolved problems with the species-level taxonomy of cordylodans, and possible diachronous first-appearances of Cordylodus species. Because the areally most extensive Cambrian–Ordovician boundary sequences are siliciclastic-dominated (Avalonian, Baltoscandian, Gondwanan-Hercynian platforms and shale-dominated slope sequences), the lowest local occurrence of R. flabelliformis assemblages provides a practical and traditional definition for the base of the Ordovician System and Tremadocian Series in regions where conodonts are rare or recoverable only with difficulty.

Strata correlative with the Cambrian–Tremadocian boundary interval are not represented across most of Laurentia. In this region, the “Sauk III Subsequence” locally has an important unconformity within it, and lower Tremadocian-equivalent rocks can unconformably overlie units as low as the Proterozoic. The earliest Ordovician featured a relatively simple eustatic history characterized by an “early Tremadocian onlap”; no compelling evidence supports a eustatic fall-rise couplet, or “Black Mountain eustatic event,” in this interval. Available stratigraphic information is reinterpreted to demonstrate an initially slow and subsequently higher rate of continued sea level rise in the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary interval.
An illustrated key to the identification of unilocular genera of calcareous foraminifera
Authors: Clark Fred E. , Patterson R. Timothy
Published: August 2016

Taxonomic keys are rarely used as an aid to the identification of foraminifera. Such keys become increasingly attractive, however, as the number of taxa which must be distinguished becomes large. The proliferation of known genera over the last 25 years is nowhere more apparent than in the unilocular calcareous foraminifera, where the number of genera has risen from 5 to 46. We present herein a dichotomous key in which any species may be assigned to its proper genus by progressing through a series of steps, consisting of paired statements, in which only one choice is made at a time.
Specific, generic, and familial diversity of Devonian bryozoans
Authors: Horowitz Alan Stanley , Pachut Joseph F.
Published: August 2016

Lack of an adequately calibrated Devonian time scale precludes satisfactory comparisons of Recent and Devonian bryozoan diversities. Nevertheless, Devonian bryozoans apparently are 3–100 times less diverse than Recent bryozoans. This variation is a function of how Devonian time is divided (whole period, stages, per million years) as well as the diverse skeletal architecture of cheilostome bryozoans, the most abundant Recent bryozoan order.

The Givetian has the largest specific, generic, and familial diversity of any Devonian stage and the drop in bryozoan diversity from the Givetian to the Frasnian is greater than the rise or fall of diversity between any other adjacent stages. Diversity hardly changes among bryozoans across the Frasnian–Famennian boundary. Among bryozoans the Givetian–Frasnian extinction was a major event.

Devonian taxonomic diversity is less than nomenclatorial diversity, although both exhibit the same trends from stage to stage during the Devonian. The amount of difference between the two measures of diversity is probably a reflection of the intensity of research on Devonian Bryozoa, especially revisionary studies of previously described faunas. Monographic bursts in diversity are present and are a measure of the episodic character of taxonomic studies on less popular phyla. Examination of the literature commonly provides a finer stratigraphic resolution than indicated in compilations such as the Zoological Record.

Although some significant areas of the exposed continents have not received adequate study, Devonian bryozoans show marked geographic changes in diversity that can not be ascribed entirely to lack of study.
A nonmarine pelecypod assemblage in the Pennsylvanian of Arizona and its correlation with a horizon in Pennsylvania
Authors: Eagar R. M. C. , Peirce H. W.
Published: August 2016

A nonmarine pelecypod occurrence was reported in 1977 within a zone of gray shaly mudstones yielding carbonized plants at Promontory Butte, Mogollon Rim, east-central Arizona. On paleobotanical evidence, the zone appeared then to be either of Late Carboniferous or Early Permian age. Work on 50 measurable shells indicates that the fauna is of Anthraconaia protracta Eagar and has wide variation. Standard dimensions of the Arizona fauna are identical to those of the type assemblage of A. protracta, which forms a thin band immediately above the Benwood Limestone of the Monongahela Group near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2,700 km to the east. The Arizona shell varieties match 50–60 percent of those from the band in Pennsylvania. Matching falls off rapidly to nil 70 m below this horizon and 100 m above it. Small differences in the trends of variation of the shells from Promontory Butte and Pennsylvania are accompanied by small differences in their respective host sediments, as reflected in their organic carbon and carbonate contents. When these results are compared with earlier conclusions on recurrent, apparently ecophenotypic, changes in the shape of Anthraconaia from other horizons in the Carboniferous and Lower Permian, they provide further evidence that the Arizona and Pennsylvania faunas were approximately contemporary. When the two bands are correlated, the Promontory Butte band is placed in the upper Pennsylvanian and in the upper Virgilian as traditionally accepted.
Minutes of the 1992 Midyear Paleontological Society Council Meeting
Authors: Wolberg Donald L.
Published: August 2016

The 1992 Midyear Meeting of the Council of The Paleontological Society convened at 8:35 am, Saturday, 5 May 1992, in the Geology Department of the University of Iowa. The Society is grateful to Brian Glenister for the arrangements that he and his staff provided the Council.
Early Silurian rhodocrinitacean crinoids (Brassfield Formation, Ohio)
Authors: Ausich William I.
Published: August 2016

Six Early Silurian Rhodocrinitacea (Crinoidea, Camerata) are recognized from the Brassfield Formation of Ohio. Previously only a single Early Silurian rhodocrinitacean was known. The new forms include Kyreocrinus constellatus n. gen., n. sp.; Rhachicrinus wrighti n. gen., n. sp.; Silfonocrinus siluricus n. gen., n. sp.; Stereoaster squamosus Foerste; Xysmacrinus greenensis n. gen., n. sp.; and Turbocrinus punctum n. gen., n. sp. Rhachicrinus and Silfonocrinus are assigned to the Opsiocrinidae, which previously included two Devonian genera; Turbocrinus is assigned to the Anthemocrinidae; and Kyreocrinus, Stereoaster and Xysmacrinus are assigned to the Rhodocrinitidae.

The Opsiocrinidae are thought to be derived from the Reteocrinidae; and a possible basis for subdividing the Rhodocrinidae is proposed, based on the arms, plating in regular interrays, presence of median ray ridges and calyx shape.
Mclearnia Crickmay, 1930 (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)
Authors: Kelly S. R. A. , Dhondt A. V. , Zakharov V. A.
Published: August 2016

In revising the subgenus Mclearnia Crickmay (1930), Kelly, Dhondt and Zakharov (1984) recommended that the spelling of the subgenus and species should be emended to Maclearnia maclearni. The latter authors had followed Recommendation III 21(a) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Stoll, 1964, p. 109), but this recommendation should be followed only in the formation of new names and not in revision of old names. Thus the emended name Maclearnia maclearni is unjustified and falls into the category of Article 33(ii) of the Code (Stoll, 1964, p. 37), becoming automatically a junior objective synonym of Mclearnia mclearni. The full revised name thus becomes Camptonectes (Mclearnia) mclearni (Crickmay, 1930).
Tropidocaris salsiusculus, a new rhinocaridid (Crustacea: Phyllocarida) from the Upper Devonian Hampshire Formation of West Virginia
Authors: Feldmann Rodney M. , Boswell Ray M. , Kammer Thomas W.
Published: August 2016

A new species of phyllocarid arthropod, Tropidocaris salsiusculus, is described from the Upper Devonian Hampshire Formation near Rowlesburg, West Virginia. The organism was found in association with numerous trace fossils, at least one of which could have been produced by T. salsiusculus, and body fossils, including Lingula sp., several bivalve mollusks and smooth ostracods. Collectively, these organisms suggest a brackish-water environment of deposition. This report represents only the third record of phyllocarids from West Virginia.
Burrows of Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius) as related to slopes of substrate surfaces
Authors: Duncan Glen A.
Published: August 2016

Diameter, dip and orientation of burrows of the ghost crab Ocypode quadrata (Fabricius) were measured in back-beach areas: dune faces, dune crests, swales, blowouts and washover fans. Slope direction of the substrate at each burrow site was also measured. Results support three conclusions. First, burrow diameter increases landward. Second, burrow dip is related more to topography than to distance from shoreline; burrows dip more steeply in flatter areas (swales, blowouts, washovers). Third, a causal relationship exists between burrow orientation (as measured by the direction in which apertures point) and substrate slope; contrary to previous conclusions, burrow orientation is unrelated to shoreline direction. Burrow apertures simply point in the same direction as substrate slopes. In fact, on landward faces of dunes, burrow apertures point away from shoreline.
Macropodoids from the Middle Miocene Namba Formation, South Australia, and the homology of some dental structures in kangaroos
Authors: Flannery Tim , Rich Thomas H. V.
Published: August 2016

Macropodoids from the Tarkarooloo local fauna, includingNambaroo tarrinyerin. gen. and sp.,N. saltavusn. sp.,N. novusn. sp. andPalaeopotorous priscusn. gen. and sp., include the most plesiomorphic macropodids and potoroids known. Together with the newly discovered macropodoids from the Pinpa and Yanda local faunas they are also the oldest macropodoids described. Study of the morphology of these plesiomorphic macropodoids indicates that the trigonid of the M2in potoroids and macropodids is composed of different structures (the protoconid and metaconid in macropodids and the protoconid and protostylid in potoroids). Also, the posterior cingulum in macropodids is a neomorphic structure, and not homologous with the posterior cingulum (the posthypocristid and postentocristid) in potoroids and phalangerids. A unique M2trigonid configuration, where the cristid obliqua connects with the protostylid, is here recognized as being present in plesiomorphic macropodoids and phalangerids, and possibly represents a synapomorphy for a clade containing members of those groups.
40K-40Ar age calibration of Late Miocene-Pliocene mammal-bearing Huayquerias and Tunuyan formations, Mendoza Province, Argentina
Authors: Marshall Larry G. , Drake Robert E. , Curtis Garniss H.
Published: August 2016

Mineral separates of five tuffs interbedded in the mammal-bearing Huayquerías and Tunuyán formations in Mendoza Province, west-central Argentina, were dated by the 40K-40Ar method. At the locality of Rio Seco Ultima Aguada on the east side the Meseta Guadal three biotite concentrates of a tuff from a level that apparently corresponds to the very top of the Huayquerias Formation (or less probably to the very bottom of the Tunuyan Formation, sensu Dessanti, 1946) yielded an average age of 5.8 ± 0.1 Ma. The boundary between the Huayquerias Formation (namesake and type formation and fauna of the Huayquerian Land Mammal Age) and the Tunuyan Formation (which contains a Montehermosan age fauna at this locality) is thus about 5.8 Ma. At the locality of Rio Seco de la Salada on the west side of the Meseta Guadal, glass concentrates from two tuffs in the upper part of the Tunuyan Formation yielded ages of 2.6 ± 0.1 and 2.4 ± 0.3 Ma, respectively (the latter date is from a tuff located 90 m stratigraphically above the former). These dates indicate that the rocks and faunas from the upper part of the Tunuyan Formation are of Chapadmalalan (i.e., 2.8 to 2.5 Ma) and Uquian (i.e., 2.5 to 1.5 Ma) age. The faunas from the lower and middle parts of the Tunuyan Formation on the east side of the Meseta Guadal are apparently all of Montehermosan age (i.e., ca. 6.0 to 2.8 Ma).
New Neritidae from southwestern North America
Authors: Woods Alan J. Cushing , Saul L. R.
Published: August 2016

In southwestern Baja California Norte a new species of Early Tertiary Tethyan gastropod, Velates, V. vizcainoensis n. sp., occurs with a previously unknown intertidal molluscan fauna suggestive of an unprotected coastline of probable Paleocene age. Comparison of Velates vizcainoensis n. sp. to other forms previously assigned to Velates from southwestern North America suggests that “Nerita” cuneata Gabb of Late Cretaceous age probably belongs in Neritina (Dostia), as do N. (D.) aff. N. (D.) cuneata and N. (D.) escondita n. sp.

Velates is probably derived from typical Otostoma and is an early Tertiary genus. Velates californicus Vokes, although originally described as being from the Llajas Formation of middle Eocene age, is from the upper Santa Susana Formation and probably is of late Paleocene age at its type locality.

Two other neritid gastropods are present in the fauna with Velates vizcainoensis; namely, Corsania (Januncia) Janus n. subgen., n. sp. and Nerita (Theliostyla) n. sp.(?). Corsania Vidal, 1917, is a genus distinct from Otostoma and ranges from Early Cretaceous to Paleocene. Januncia n. subgen. has a Tethyan distribution and ranges from Maastrichtian through Paleocene.
A new anomalous giant limpet from the Oregon Eocene (Mollusca: Patellida)
Authors: Lindberg David R. , Hickman Carole S.
Published: August 2016

Cellana amplan. sp. from late Eocene rocks in Oregon is the first New World record of a genus and family heretofore considered to have radiated in Australia and the mid-Pacific. Re-examination of some other Eocene limpets from the Pacific Northwest reveals that species previously assigned toAcmaeabelong inPatelloidaandSiphonaria. Thus, all three major components of the modern Australian limpet guild were present in the late Eocene of western North America along a coastline occupied today by acmaeid limpet guilds. Re-examination of a large Pliocene‘Patella’from South America shows the shell structure of aCellanaand constitutes a second documentation of a large nacellid limpet in the New World Tertiary.

Although the taxonomy of modern limpets is founded on anatomical characters, shell structure characters are sufficient to identify genera and families directly in the fossil record. Re-evaluation and reclassification of fossil limpets using shell structure contributes not only to a better understanding of the phylogeny of major limpet groups but also provides a powerful tool for elucidating the evolutionary, biogeographic, and ecologic development of the complexly structured limpet guilds of differing taxonomic composition that dominate rocky intertidal habitats throughout the world.
Cambrian Radiolaria from Utah
Authors: White Russell D.
Published: August 2016

Radiolaria have been recovered in acid residues from late Middle Cambrian strata in western Utah. Although the first Cambrian radiolaria were described by Nazarov (1973) from the Batenevskij Mountains of eastern Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union, radiolaria have not been reported from the Cambrian of North America. Except for the Kazakhstan specimens, the oldest known radiolaria are from the Lower Ordovician of western Spitsbergen (Fortey and Holdsworth, 1971). In North America only two accounts of Ordovician assemblages have been reported from southwestern Newfoundland and eastern Nevada (Bergström, 1974; Dunham and Murphy, 1976).
Sinemurian (Early Jurassic) ammonite fauna from the Guangdong region of southern China
Authors: Wang Yi-Gang , Smith Paul L.
Published: August 2016

An ammonite fauna from the southern coastal volcanic region of the Chinese Jurassic contains representatives of the genera Sulciferites, Coroniceras, Arnioceras, Asteroceras, Eparietites, and Juraphyllites. The ammonite-bearing strata of the Jinji Formation were deposited during the Sinemurian (Bucklandi to Obtusum zones), whereas the lower member has yielded marine Hettangian bivalves. The Jinji Formation is underlain by terrestrial Triassic rocks of the Xiaoping Formation and overlain by terrestrial Middle Jurassic rocks of the Baizushan Group.

Correlative Early Jurassic rocks are shown to occur across eastern Guangdong Province, and probably as far north as southern Hunan Province. Although this marine phase of deposition may correspond broadly to a eustatic sea level rise, the exact role of local tectonic events has still to be assessed.
Perrinites (Cephalopoda, Ammonoidea) in the Lower Permian of California: Paleontological Notes
Authors: Wilson Edward C.
Published: August 2016

A specimen of the ammonoid Perrinites Böse, 1919, was collected from the McCloud Limestone east of the summit of Tombstone Mountain, Shasta County, California. This is the first record of the genus in California, an important addition to the meager Permian cephalopod fauna of the state previously reported by Miller, Furnish, and Clark (1957) and Wilson (1984). It was found 1,100 feet (335 m) above the base of the formation in a coarse-grained limestone (Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History, Invertebrate Paleontology Section locality 6184) within fusulinid zone H of Skinner and Wilde (1965), considered to be late early or early middle Leonardian in age.