bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Llandoverian thelodont scales from the Burnt Bluff group of Wisconsin and Michigan
Authors: Turner Susan , Kuglitsch Jeffrey J. , Clark David L.
Published: August 2016

Phosphatic microfossils including copious microvertebrates and conodont elements indicative of the upperIcriodella discreta–Icriodella deflectaZone (Aeronian) are found in a single bed of the Hendricks Formation, Burnt Bluff Group, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Scales of thelodonts, includingLoganelliasp. cf.Loganellia sibericaKarajute-Talimaa, 1978, and rareValyalepis cristaTurner (inTurner and Nowlan, 1995) predominate among the microvertebrate remains. Most scales are referred toZuegelepis potanusTurner new genus and species. Associated with the thelodont scales are rare phosphatic fragments of questionable dermal “bone” and scales, possibly of heterostracan origin. Thelodont scales are also found in the Hendricks Formation at Fayette State Park, Michigan and in the subsurface Byron Formation (Burnt Bluff Group) in Schoolcraft County, Michigan.
Morphologic evolution of the coccolithophorid Calcidiscus leptoporus from the Early Miocene to Recent
Authors: Knappertsbusch Michael
Published: August 2016

A detailed investigation of the morphological evolution of the coccolithophorids Calcidiscus leptoporus and C. macintyrei from the Early Miocene to the Quaternary shows that microevolutionary patterns were very complex. Speciation patterns such as cladogenesis and phyletic divergence were observed, but stasis also existed over prolonged time-intervals. Similar coccoliths developed repeatedly at stratigraphically distant intervals, leading to taxonomic uncertainies. On the basis of bivariate frequency diagrams of coccolith diameters and number of elements in the distal shields nine morphotypes S, I, L, F, A, B, C, D and E are distinguished. A tentative phylogeny was constructed for these morphotypes suggesting, that they belong to one extant species and several extinct species. The extant species is Calcidiscus leptoporus, which comprises the living morphotypes S, I, L, and F and one extinct morphotype E. Morphotype S is the most conservative one, which originated from an unknown ancestor during the Early Miocene or earlier, while morphotype I originated from S during the Early Miocene. Morphotypes L and E separated from I during the Late Miocene. An extinct lineage is proposed, including morphotypes C, D, A, and B, which all produced large coccoliths except morphotype B, which is small. Morphotypes C, D, and A are very similar to a coccolith that specialists call Calcidiscus macintyrei, but in the present phylogenetic model they may belong to separate species with similar morphology. Morphotype C developed from morphotype I during the Early Miocene and is the precursor of an extra large morphotype D, and two other morphotypes, A and B. All three forms separated from morphotype C by pronounced cladogenetic events during the Late Miocene and Pliocene, and hence may represent separate species. Morphotypes A and B are supposed to belong to an extinct morphocline and may thus be ecophenotypes of one species. Alternatively, due to the lack of paleoenvironmental and biogeographic observations in the past, it cannot be discounted that all morphotypes found in this investigation simply represent ecovariants of one species. With the present status of knowledge, it is not possible to propose a sound differential diagnosis in the plexus C. leptoporus-C. macintyrei, which would allow differentiation among species at each point in space and time. It is hoped that this study stimulates further morphometric and phylogenetical studies that will generate a more profound understanding of species in paleontology and biology in general.
Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) Stromatoporoidea from the Manlius Formation of New York
Authors: Stock Carl W.
Published: August 2016

Stromatoporoids are found in all five members of the Manlius Formation of New York and are abundant at many localities. The fauna is dominated by two closely related species, Habrostroma microporum (Girty) and H. centrotum (Girty). Present in lesser numbers are Intexodictyon manliusense n. sp., Plectostroma micum (Bogoyavlenskaya), Actinostromella vaiverensis Nestor, Densastroma pexisum (Yavorsky), Habrostroma cf. H. centrotum (Girty), and ?Parallelostroma sp. The assemblage displays both Silurian and Devonian affinities.
Mississippian brachiopod biostratigraphy and the Osagean-Meramecian boundary in south-central Indiana
Authors: Hirt David S.
Published: August 2016

Stratigraphic distribution of two key brachiopod species in the Ramp Creek Formation and Harrodsburg Limestone (middle Mississippian) in south-central Indiana suggests the boundary between the Osagean and Meramecian Series lies in the lower part of the Ramp Creek Formation.Marginirugus magnus(Meek and Worthen), an Osagean index fossil, ranges into the lower part of the Ramp Creek Formation.Warsawia lateralis(Hall), a Meramecian index fossil, also occurs in the lower part of the Ramp Creek Formation and in the lower part of the Harrodsburg Limestone. Thus, the upper part of the Edwardsville Formation and lower part of the Ramp Creek Formation in Indiana are temporally equivalent to the lower half of the Warsaw Formation in the Mississippi Valley. The upper part of the Ramp Creek Formation and the lower part of the Harrodsburg Limestone are temporally equivalent to the upper half of the Warsaw Formation.
Viola Group (Ordovician, Oklahoma) cryptolithinid trilobites: biogeography and taxonomy
Authors: Shaw Frederick C.
Published: August 2016

Cryptolithinid trilobites have been repeatedly described from North America for over 150 years. Earlier work on these forms is here integrated with new information from Oklahoma to form a strong case for the following conclusions: 1) the genusCryptolithusmigrated to (present-day) eastern North America from Europe at a single time in the early Caradoc; 2) it gave rise rapidly to a western North American relative,Cryptolithoides; 3) both genera were restricted to relatively cool-water shelf environments roughly 30 m deep and remained, in general, geographically isolated for several million years. The Viola Group, geographically between these eastern and western occurrences and representing much of Middle and Upper Ordovician time, chronicles the interplay between these two genera over some six million years.

In the biogeographic boundary region formed by Oklahoma, the two supposedly distinct genera showed suprising convergence of fringe pit and other character traits as marine transgression reduced provinciality through Ordovician time. This suprising convergence of genera is interpreted as hybridization of mere subspecies after several million years of incomplete geographic separation.
The atlas-axis complex in the late Paleozoic genus Diadectes and the characteristics of the atlas-axis complex across the amphibian to amniote transition
Authors: Sumida Stuart S. , Lombard R. Eric
Published: August 2016

The atlas-axis complex in the Early Permian diadectomorph Diadectes is shown to be similar to those of a variety of primitive amniotes. Diadectes does not possess elements in addition to the standard complement seen in advanced batrachosaurs and primitive amniotes as previously thought. Characteristics of the complex include: paired, well-developed proatlases and atlantal neural arches, lack of atlantal neural spines, an extremely robust atlantal intercentrum, fusion of the atlantal pleurocentrum and axial intercentrum, a large anterior projection of the axial intercentrum, exclusion of the atlantal pleurocentrum from ventral exposure, fusion of axial neural arch and pleurocentrum, and a robustly developed axial neural spine. An analysis of the transformations of the atlas-axis complex in advanced anthracosaurs and primitive amniotes indicates that many of the characteristics of the complex previously thought to be definitive of amniotes or reptiles appear to be conditions common to Diadectes plus Amniota.
The skull of Cedromus and a review of the Cedromurinae (Rodentia, Sciuridae)
Authors: Korth William W. , Emry Robert J.
Published: August 2016

The problematical rodent genus Cedromus Wilson, previously only known from the Orellan of the Great Plains, has been considered a sciurid by some authors and an aplodontid by others. An excellent collection of complete skulls with associated mandibles from Converse County, Wyoming, has provided evidence that this genus is a sciurid but that it represents a new subfamily distinguished from all other sciurids by a unique zygomasseteric structure that closely approaches myomorphy. A second genus, Oligospermophilus Korth, also from the Orellan of the Great Plains, is allocated to this subfamily.

Additional and more complete cranial material of the primitive aplodontid Prosciurus indicates that sciurids and aplodontids share a common ancestry and should be included together at least within the same suborder Sciuromorpha.

Three species of Cedromus are recognized, C. wardi Wilson, C. wilsoni n. sp., and Cedromus sp.; the latter extends the known temporal range of the genus into the Whitneyan.
Biogeographic significance of Ordovician brachiopods from Thailand and Malaysia
Authors: Laurie John R. , Burrett Clive
Published: August 2016

Early Ordovician brachiopods Spanodonta floweri (Cooper) and Aporthophyla tianjingshanensis? Fu from peninsular Thailand and the Langkawi Islands, Malaysia, and described and offer important confirmatory evidence for the Ordovician juxtaposition of the Shan-Thai terrane, the North China terrane, and Western Australia.
Silurian Encrinurinae (Trilobita) from the central United States
Authors: Gass Kenneth C. , Edgecombe Gregory D. , Ramsköld Lars , Mikulic Donald G. , Watkins Rodney
Published: August 2016

Silurian (Llandovery–Ludlow) Encrinurinae from Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois include species ofBalizomaHolloway, 1980,CurriellaLamont, 1978,DistyraxLane, 1988,EncrinurusEmmrich, 1844,MackenziurusEdgecombe and Chatterton, 1990a, andNucleurusRamsköld, 1986.Mackenziurus lauriaen. sp. is described from Wenlock strata of the Racine and Sugar Run Dolomites; nine segments in the holaspid thorax are the fewest known for any encrinurid. A square rostral plate is diagnostic ofMackenziurus. New morphological data are provided by Illinois specimens ofBalizoma indianensis(Kindle and Breger, 1904) from the Wenlock–Ludlow Racine Dolomite, and ofCurriella tuberculifrons(Weller, 1907) from the Llandovery Elwood–Wilhelmi Formations.Nucleurusn. sp. is possibly from Llandovery strata in Wisconsin.Distyraxn. sp. occurs in the Brandon Bridge Member (late Llandovery–early Wenlock) of the Joliet Dolomite in Illinois. The type pygidia and possible topotype material ofEncrinurus nereusHall, 1867, confirm assignment to that genus as currently viewed; this reefal species is distinct from the closely related inter-reef speciesE. eganiMiller, 1880, and appears to be distinct from reefalE. reflexusRaymond, 1916. Lectotypes are selected for theseEncrinurusspecies.
“Pipe-organ structures” in the Lee Formation (Pennsylvanian) of the central Appalachian Basin: animal or plant?
Authors: Chesnut Donald R. , Cobb James C. , Greb Stephen F.
Published: August 2016

A sequence of unusual vertical tubes, arranged in multiple groups, and each tube several meters high occurs in the Middlesboro Member of the Lee Formation (Lower Pennsylvanian). These structures are controversial with various interpretations suggesting either plant or animal origin. Observations supporting a plant origin include: 1) numerous C- and D-shaped, and multichambered tube cross sections are similar to fern and seed fern structures, 2) numerous membrane relicts loosely enclosing the tubes are similar to fern and seed fern tissues, 3) microscopic bundles are observed in cross-sectional thin sections, 4) presence of carbonaceous material and reported fecal pellets over a vertical distance in excess of 5 m are consistent with deteriorating plant material, not escape structures, 5) tubes are composed of casts and molds, but lack spreite or other features typical of escape structures, 6) tubes occur in clusters about one meter in diameter and are associated with coaly material at their base, which suggests that the clusters represent trees, 7) other trace fossils are absent in the enclosing sandstone, 8) tubes branch upward, which is a common structure in plants but unlikely in escape structures, 9) a coalified root structure was found at the base of the sandstone, and 10) all the tubes extend from the bottom of the sandstone to the top. The probability of burrowing animals escaping through as much as 8 m of sand with 100 percent survivorship is low.

The structures may represent a stand of pteridosperms with each “tree” approximately 1–1.5 m in diameter. The individual pipe-organ structures represent aerial stems, shoots, and adventitious roots; each cluster of pipe-organ structures represents a single tree.

Based upon sedimentologic features such as presence of 1) channel form, 2) scoured base, and 3) fining-upward sequence, we interpret the sandstone containing the pipe-organ structures to have been deposited in a sandy fluvial or tidal channel. The unidirectional cross-bed dips, poor sorting, occurrence only of very restrictive fauna and terrestrial flora, position of the sandstone above a possible floodplain facies, and lack of characteristic tidal structures suggest that the sandstone is more probably a sandy fluvial channel that may have minor tidal influence.
Viriatellina (Dacryoconarida) from the Middle Devonian Ludlowville Formation at Alden, New York
Authors: Lindemann Richard H. , Yochelson Ellis L.
Published: August 2016

Even though Viriatellina gracilistriata (Hall) has been cited repeatedly, this work is the first modern description and illustration of the lectotype. Not only have the characters of the species not been well understood, the type locality and horizon for this species have been in error. Rare specimens associated with this species are described as a new species, Viriatellina porteri.
New species ofCamptochlamysandChlamys(Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinidae) from near the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary at Ocean Point, North Slope, Alaska
Authors: Waller Thomas R. , Marincovich Louie
Published: August 2016

Two new species of pectinid bivalves,Camptochlamys alaskensisandChlamys aquilonia, are present in shallow-marine deposits near Ocean Point, northeastern Alaska, at about 70°N latitude. The precise age of these deposits is debatable, but paleontological and isotopic age estimates indicate placement near the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary. The occurrence ofCamptochlamysextends the chronostratigraphic and geographic range of this genus, previously unknown from any strata above the uppermost Jurassic (Tithonian) of Europe and unknown from any strata in North America. In contrast, the newChlamysspecies represents an evolutionary advance beyond its nearest relative in the Maastrichtian of northern Europe and resembles Cenozoic members of its clade in certain features of shell microstructure. These new species are thus a microcosm of the debate regarding the age of these deposits and strengthen the hypothesis that the Ocean Point fauna lived in an Arctic Ocean basin that was isolated from the world ocean.
Upper Cambrian (Marjuman–Steptoean) trilobites from the Port Au Port Group, western Newfoundland
Authors: Westrop Stephen R.
Published: August 2016

The Port au Port Group of western Newfoundland is a sequence of Upper Cambrian (Marjuman–Sunwaptan) shallow subtidal–supratidal carbonates and fine siliciclastics that are organized into three large scale sedimentary grand cycles. Low diversity trilobite faunas from the Marjuman and Steptoean portions (March Point and Petit Jardin Formations) include 17 species that are assigned to 16 genera; one species,Coosina kindlei, is new. Biostratigraphic analysis confirms earlier suggestions that the grand cycles boundaries record major intervals of onlap that can be recognized in other parts of North America and may be related to eustatic sea level rises.
Conodonts and the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary in the upper Woodford Shale, Arbuckle Mountains, south-central Oklahoma
Authors: Over D. Jeffrey
Published: August 2016

The Woodford Shale of south-central Oklahoma was deposited in an offshore, quiet-water, oxygen-poor setting on the southern margin of North America in assocation with other dark organic-rich shales of the Upper Devonian–Lower Carboniferous black-shale facies. The basal Woodford was deposited unconformably over lower Paleozoic carbonate strata as a south-to-north transgressive unit during the Frasnian and early Famennian. Black shales and cherts lie directly above the basal beds.

Phosphatic shales in the upper Woodford contain a conodont succession characterized by three distinct environmentally controlled faunas. The lower fauna is characterized by Palmatolepis gracilis ssp., Branmehla inornata, Bispathodus stabilis, and Pseudopolygnathus marburgensis trigonicus, indicative of the Late Devonian Lower expansa Zone to Upper praesulcata Zone. The middle fauna, which spans the Devonian–Carboniferous (D/C) boundary, is characterized by Polygnathus communis communis and species of Protognathodus. On the Lawrence uplift the D/C boundary is disconformable, as indicated by the absence of Protognathodus kockeli before the first occurrence of Siphonodella sulcata. Light-colored phosphate laminae and beds, indicative of erosion and nondeposition, and a change in biofacies from an offshore palmatolepid–bispathodid fauna to a more nearshore, palmatolepid–polygnathid–protognathodid fauna indicate higher energy conditions and a lowering of sea level associated with the boundary interval. In the eastern Arbuckle Mountains the D/C boundary is apparently conformable, marked by a green shale interval containing a Protognathodus fauna. Species of Siphonodella, indicative of an offshore setting, characterize the third and youngest fauna. The Early Carboniferous sulcata, Lower duplicata, and Upper duplicata Zones are recognized in the upper Woodford. The Woodford Shale is conformably overlain by the “pre-Welden Shale’ and its equivalents, or unconformably overlain by the lower Caney Shale (Osagean?–Meramecian) in the northern outcrop regions and the Sycamore Formation (late Osagean?–Meramecian) in the southern Arbuckle Mountains.
Cymbospondylus(Shastasauridae: Ichthyosauria) from the Middle Triassic of Spitsbergen: filling a paleobiogeographic gap
Authors: Sander P. Martin
Published: August 2016

The occurrence of the large ichthyosaurCymbospondylusin the Middle Triassic of Spitsbergen is recognized based on two different specimens. One consists of a semiarticulated string of 17 dorsal vertebrae with associated ribs and the other of an anterior dorsal vertebral centrum and possibly a caudal vertebral centrum. Both specimens can only be identified asCymbospondylussp. This record fills a gap in the distribution ofCymbospondylus, establishing this genus as the second most widespread Triassic ichthyosaur afterMixosaurus.
Occurrence of the chimaeroid Ischyodus bifurcatus Case in the Cusseta Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian) of western Georgia and its distribution
Authors: Case Gerard R. , Schwimmer David R.
Published: August 2016

We described a Late Cretaceous fish fauna from the Campanian-age Blufftown Formation in western Georgia (Case and Schwimmer, 1988), including 15 selachian taxa and 8 osteichthyans; however, at that time no chimaeras had been found in the region. A well-preserved specimen of Ischyodus bifurcatus Case, 1978, was subsequently collected from the same general locality described in the above study, but in the immediately superjacent Cusseta Formation. This is a note of the new occurrence of this fish and a summary of its known geographic and stratigraphic distribution (Appendix).
Microscleres of a Paleocene Geodia from western Alabama
Authors: Rigby J. Keith , Smith Charles C.
Published: August 2016

Siliceous sterraster microscleres of the choristid demosponge, Geodia Lamarck, 1815, occur in outcrops of the lower Porters Creek Formation (Paleocene) near Moscow Landing on the Tombigbee River in southeastern Sumter County, Alabama. This is the first report of that sponge from the Cretaceous–Tertiary of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The initially opaline spicules have been converted to clinoptilolite, a Na-K-Ca zeolite.
Reinterpretation of the temporal and occipital regions inDiadectesand the relationships of diadectomorphs
Authors: Berman David S , Sumida Stuart S. , Lombard R. Eric
Published: August 2016

New materials from the Permo-Pennsylvanian of north-central New Mexico permit a new description of the temporal and occipital regions of the diadectomorphDiadectes.The important issue of the fate of the intertemporal bone is resolved by demonstrating its absence and apparent incorporation into the parietal as a lateral lappet. Four cranial autapomorphies ofDiadectesare recognized: 1) loss of contact between postparietal and tabular; 2) supratemporal greatly enlarged with well-developed occipital process; 3) tabular no longer exposed on skull roof, but greatly reduced and incorporated into occipital plate, with a coarse, posteromedially facing surface; and 4) skull roofing bones thick and porous, with a consistent network of U-shaped grooves. The temporal–occipital region ofDiadectesis compared with those of holotypic and recently collected specimens ofLimnoscelisandTseajaia, the type genera of the other two recognized diadectomorph families, Limnoscelidae and Tseajaiidae. On the basis of the literature the comparisons are extended to include certain late Paleozoic amniotes: synapsid Pelycosauria, Captorhinomorpha, and the primitive diapsidPetrolacosaurus.The results are subjected to a cladistic analysis, which supports the following hypotheses of relationships: 1) Diadectidae, Tseajaiidae, and Limnoscelidae form a natural group, the Diadectomorpha; 2)DiadectesandTseajaiashare a more recent common ancestor than either does withLimnoscelis; 3) Diadectomorpha, Pelycosauria, and their descendants form an unnamed, primitive sister clade to that consisting of Captorhinomorpha,Petrolacosaurus, and their descendants; and 4) the taxon Cotylosauria (sensu Heaton, 1980), consisting of Diadectomorpha and Seymouriamorpha, is paraphyletic and invalid. The third hypothesis dictates the assignment of Diadectomorpha to Amniota.
Alcidedorbignya inopinata(Mammalia: Pantodonta) from the Early Paleocene of Bolivia: phylogenetic and paleobiogeographic implications
Authors: de Muizon Christian , Marshall Larry G.
Published: August 2016

Alcidedorbignya inopinataMuizon and Marshall is a primitive pantodont from the Early Paleocene of Tiupampa, Department of Cochabamba, in the “Cordillera Oriental” of south-central Bolivia. It is known by almost complete upper and lower dentitions, which are described in detail. The occurrence of abundant juvenile specimens allows a study of tooth replacement. The molars ofAlcidedorbignya inopinataare primitive for a pantodont but they show the characteristic synapomorphy of the group, which is the presence of a V-shaped ectoloph of P3-4. However, the paracone and the metacone ofA. inopinataare separated at their bases, a feature absent in the Bemalambdidae andHarpyodus, which have connate to semi-connate paracone and metacone. Because of this character,A. inopinata, although the oldest, is not the most primitive pantodont. However,A. inopinata, as in bemalambdids andHarpyodus, does not have a mesostyle on M1-2/ or a strongly V-shaped centrocrista, which are found in all other pantodonts. For this reason,Alcidedorbignya inopinatais removed from the Pantolambdidae (which are too specialized) and referred to the new monotypic family Alcidedorbignyidae. The family Wangliidae Van Valen, 1988, is not accepted here and the genusWangliais regarded as a junior synonym ofHarpyodus; the latter includes the two speciesH. eurosandH. decorus.Analysis of pantodont origins leads to the conclusion that didelphodontines constitute the best potential sister-group; however, no synapomorphy could be found to substantiate this hypothesis.Alcidedorbignya inopinatais the first pantodont known from a southern continent and, being the oldest, it raises a discussion on the paleobiogeographic history of the group.
Late Ordovician (Ashgill)Foliomenafauna brachiopods from northeastern Maine
Authors: Neuman Robert B.
Published: August 2016

Foliomena folium(Barrande) and other very small, thin-shelled brachiopods from the Pyle Mountain Argillite in Aroostook County, Maine, provide the only record of the presence of theFoliomenafauna in North America. Associated fossils include numerous small trilobites and a few specimens of other groups. An Ashgill age is established by the presence of graptolites of theClimacograptus spiniferousZone in the underlying Winterville Formation.

Most of the 190 specimens are small strophomenaceans and plectambonitaceans. One of the most numerous is the christianiidNubialba forbesin. gen. and sp. that has ribs and elaborately developed internal features. In the absence of evidence to contradict previous interpretations that theFoliomenafauna records cold-water environments, the presence of one or more deep basins along the southeastern margin of the trans-equatorial North American paleoplate occupied by cool peri-Gondwanan waters during a short segment of Ashgill time is implied.
A new species of Droharhynchia (Brachiopoda) from the lower Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of west-central Alaska
Authors: Baxter Mary E. , Blodgett Robert B.
Published: August 2016

A new species of the genus Droharhynchia Sartenaer is established from lower Eifelian strata of west-central Alaska and the northwestern Brooks Range of Alaska. Droharhynchia rzhonsnitskayae n. sp. occurs in the Cheeneetnuk Limestone of the McGrath A-5 quadrangle, west-central Alaska, and the Baird Group of the Howard Pass B-5 quadrangle, northwestern Alaska. These occurrences extend the lower biostratigraphic range of both the genus and the subfamily Hadrorhynchiinae into the Eifelian. They also suggest close geographic proximity of the Farewell terrane of southwestern and west-central Alaska and the Arctic Alaska superterrane of northern Alaska during Devonian time.
New rhynchonellid brachiopod genus from Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) cold seep deposits of California and its paleoenvironmental setting
Authors: Sandy Michael R. , Campbell Kathleen A.
Published: August 2016

A new brachiopod genusCooperrhynchiais described for the species originally designated“Rhynchonella” schuchertiStanton, 1895, from the so-called Knoxville beds of northern California. A lectotype is selected forCooperrhynchia schucherti(Stanton). An isolated carbonate lens within deep-water turbidites of the Great Valley Group (Jurassic–Cretaceous) yielded the brachiopod fossils near the town of Paskenta, western Sacramento Valley. The associated bivalve fauna indicates a mid late Tithonian age for the locality. Mollusks and the rhynchonellidsCooperrhynchiaandPeregrinellaare known from several scattered limestone lenses within Great Valley strata; collectively, these faunas and carbonate patches represent cold seep-associations that developed in forearc basins along the tectonically active northeast Pacific convergent margin during the late Mesozoic.
Upper Campanian ammonites from the Mount Laurel Sand at Biggs Farm, Delaware
Authors: Kennedy W. J. , Cobban W. A.
Published: August 2016

The Mount Laurel Sand at Biggs Farm, Delaware, yielded a diverse ammonite fauna comprisingPachydiscus(Pachydiscus) sp.,Placenticerascf.P. placenta(DeKay, 1828),Placenticerasn. sp.,Eulophocerassp.,Nostoceras(Nostoceras)draconisStephenson, 1941,Didymoceras cheyennense(Meek and Hayden, 1856a),Anaklinoceras reflexumStephenson, 1941,Anaklinoceras tenuicostatumn. sp.,Oxybeloceras meekanum(Whitfield, 1877),Solenoceras annuliferMorton, 1841,Baculites ovatusSay, 1820,B. undatusStephenson, 1941,Hoploscaphites vistulensisBłaszkiewicz, 1980, andJeletzkytes compressus(Roemer, 1841). The last named two species occur in Europe and indicate an upper but not uppermost upper Campanian horizon. Several species also occur in the Western Interior and suggest correlation with theDidymoceras cheyennensezone and part of theBaculites compressuszone of the upper Campanian in that region.
Cambrian corynexochid trilobites from Morocco
Authors: Geyer Gerd
Published: August 2016

Corynexochid trilobites of the Cambrian of Morocco are described and the subfamily Acontheinae is revised. WithKootenia beethovenin. sp.,Kooteniaspp. indet.,Strettoniasp. A,Clavigellus annulusn. gen. and sp., and gen. et sp. incert., the Moroccan Corynexochida comprise only a few forms that are almost exclusively restricted to the High Atlas Mountains. Biogeographical relationships are weak; strong relationships may exist with the faunas of the Shropshire area as already exemplified by some eodiscid and ellipsocephalid taxa.
New Ostracoda species from an Upper Cretaceous oyster reef, northern Gulf Coastal Plain, U.S.A.
Authors: Puckett T. Markham
Published: August 2016

This paper describes new species of Ostracoda from Late Cretaceous (late Santonian) oyster reefs of the Eutaw Formation of eastern Alabama. The reefs are composed almost exclusively ofOstrea cretaceaMorton, with rarer occurrences of the oystersExogyra upatoiensisStephenson andLopha ucheensis(Stephenson) and the bivalveAnomia preolmstediStephenson. Total thickness of the reefs is about 30 m, and the reefs are a major topographic feature across most of Macon and Russell Counties, Alabama, a distance of about 60 km. The reefs are interpreted to have been backbarrier sediments deposited under brackish conditions.

Eight species of ostracodes are identified, including five new species described herein. The fauna is typically well preserved, and includes males, females, and juveniles. New species includeHaplocytheridea?eutawensis, Antibythocypris dimorphicus, A. nephotrema, Brachycythere asymmetrica, andEocytheropteron mutafoveata.Also discussed and illustrated areCytherella tuberculiferaAlexander,Haplocytheridea renfroensis renfroensisCrane, andFissocarinocythere gapensis(Alexander).
A sclerotized retiolitid, and its bearing on the origin and evolution of Silurian retiolitid graptolites
Authors: Lenz Alfred C.
Published: August 2016

The recovery of fully sclerotized specimens of the retiolitidAgastograptus robustusObut and Zaslavskaya permits the recognition of the relationship between the sicula and thecae 11and 12for the first time, and demonstrates unequivocally that the ancora sleeve (the “clathria” of earlier literature) is not homologous with the outer wall of normal diplograptaceans, but is a structure unique to Silurian retiolitids. The study supports earlier proposals that Silurian retiolitids arose, cladogenetically, from Pattern I, ancorate diplograptaceans by distal extension of the ancora/corona, to form the ancora sleeve, but further suggests that the sclerotization of the original diplograptacean outer wall (corresponding to the inner wall of the retiolitid of this study) was suppressed.
A predatory drillhole inGlottidia palmeriDall (Brachiopoda; Lingulidae) from Recent tidal flats of northeastern Baja California, Mexico
Authors: Kowalewski Michał , Flessa Karl W.
Published: August 2016

Predatory drillholes (boreholes) are known from fossils as old as the late Precambrian (Bengtson and Zhao, 1992). The presence of predatory drillholes has been documented in a large number of shelly invertebrates including bivalves, gastropods, scaphopods, crabs, ostracodes, brachiopods, and many others (e.g., Sohl, 1969; Bishop, 1975; Bromley, 1981; Vermeij, 1987; Kabat, 1990; and references therein). We document here, for the first time, a drillhole in a lingulid brachiopod.
Nacre in an early gryphaeid bivalve (Mollusca)
Authors: McRoberts Christopher A. , Carter Joseph G.
Published: August 2016

McRoberts (1992, figs. 4.13, 4.14, 6.8) illustrated the shell microstructure of late Triassic Gryphaea (Gryphaea) arcuataeformis Kiparisova, 1936, and Gryphaea (Gryphaea) nevadensis McRoberts, 1992. McRoberts (1992, p. 33) described the left valve of G. arcuataeformis as showing “neomorphosed calcite with multiple laminae of ?prismatic structure perpendicular to [the] outer shell surface ….” He described the left valve of G. nevadensis as consisting of two distinct layers of neomorphosed calcite:“…an outer layer with ?prismatic structure occasionally with bands of dark material (?micritic matrix), and a much thinner inner layer with ?cross-foliated structure ….” Subsequent study has shown these microstructural diagnoses to be inaccurate. They are revised as follows.
Cretaceous ammonite collection from Texas: R. Lasswitz, die Kreide-Ammoniten von Texas
Authors: Klinger H. C.
Published: August 2016

In 1904 R. Lasswitz described a collection of Cretaceous ammonites from Texas, most of which were collected in 1846 by Ferdinand Roemer. Apart from the historical value of the collection, Lasswitz described several new species, which also makes the collection important from a taxonomic point of view. According to Lasswitz, in his plate descriptions, all the original (figured) specimens of the (Roemer) collection were housed in the “Königlich Geologisches Museum” in Breslau. Adkins (1928) in his Handbook of Texas Cretaceous Fossils referred to the collection at “University of Breslau” and figured several specimens that he had photographed prior to 1928. He also made casts of some of the specimens (see, e.g., Young, 1979, p. 52).
Upper Permian silicified sponges from central Guangxi and western Hubei, South China
Authors: Rigby J. Keith , Jiasong Fan , Nairen Han
Published: August 2016

Well-preserved silicified sponges have been recovered from the Upper Permian Changxing Formation at Huangnitang in western Hubei province. The new speciesCystauletes grossaandCystothalamia irregularaare associated withCystothalamiasp.,Colospongia salinaria irregularisZhang, 1983,Sollasia ostiolataSteinmann, 1882,Virgola?osiensis(de Gregorio, 1930), a questionable inozoan species, and a form questionably referred to the genusHikorodium? sp. These sponges were detrital fragments that accumulated at the toe of the forereef, at the margin of slope fades and basin fades, at Huangnitang.Amblysiphonella vesiculosa minimaZhang, 1983, is represented in the collections from the Upper Permian Heshan Formation at the village of Guwu, near Heshan City in central Guangxi. Heshan beds that produced the silicified sponges are of Wujiapingian age and accumulated on a normal-marine, shallow-water carbonate platform, or in skeletal shoals within the carbonate platform, and represent a level-bottom community.
Devonian brachiopods from northern Chile
Authors: Boucot A. J. , Bahlburg Heinrich , Breitkreuz Christoph , Isaacson Peter E. , Niemeyer Hans , Urzua Felipe
Published: August 2016

Fossiliferous marine Devonian has been known in Chile for less than a decade. The initial discovery from south of the Salar de Atacama region, in the Sierra de Almeida, northern Chile is described together with its brachiopods. The brachiopods indicate an age span of Emsian–Eifelian or Givetian, shallow-water conditions in the Benthic Assemblage 2 range, and a biogeographic boundary region between the cool climate Malvinokaffric Realm and warmer region extra-Malvinokaffric Realms, including the Eastern Americas Realm and the Rhenish-Bohemian Region of the Old World Realm. The recent discovery of a Malvinokaffric Realm trilobite far to the south in Chile, at Buill in the Andes of Chiloe, serves to underline our very preliminary knowledge of the Chilean Devonian, whereas the alleged Devonian brachiopods from the Chonos Archipelago far to the south are probably bivalves of uncertain age.
A re-evaluation of evolutionary stasis between the bivalve species Chione erosa and Chione cancellata (Bivalvia: Veneridae)
Authors: Roopnarine Peter D.
Published: August 2016

Demonstrating stasis in the fossil record has proven to be problematic with respect to both data collection and analysis. A previous approach is morphometric analysis of lineages sampled temporally and geographically. A hypothesis of stasis is apparently supported if morphological distances between descendent species and ancestral species are no greater than those between geographically distant samples of the descendent species. Evidence presented in this paper conflicts with such interpretations for at least one bivalve lineage, Chione erosa–Chione cancellata, of the late Neogene of tropical America. The direction and magnitude of morphological variance were quantified between two geographically distant groups of C. cancellata from the Recent, and compared to Pleistocene samples of C. cancellata and Pliocene samples of C. erosa. The results indicate that, although the magnitude of intraspecific geographic variation is as great as interspecific temporal variation, the species are morphologically discrete groups. The direction of morphological variance is as important as its magnitude, and interpretations overlooking this point are at best equivocal.
Predation on the Pennsylvanian ammonoidGoniolobocerasand its implications for allochthonous vs. autochthonous accumulations of goniatites and other ammonoids
Authors: Mapes R. H. , Sims M. S. , Boardman D. R.
Published: August 2016

Damage displayed by 18 of 954 relatively mature (> 35 mm diameter) specimens ofGonioloboceras goniolobum(Meek) from North American Midcontinent Upper Carboniferous sediments is interpreted to be bite marks caused by condrichthyans and other fish, particularly the symmoriid sharkSymmorium reniforme.It is likely that these and other predators regularly preyed onGonioloboceras goniolobumbecause all of the analyzed specimens ofGoniolobocerasexhibit some evidence of unrepaired damage, including broached camerae and missing body chambers. Two new characteristics utilized with caution to detect predatory events on ammonoids are raised oval or circular pedestals on internal molds and the breakage and termination of septa in conjunction with a broken external shell. When sufficient damage to theGoniolobocerasconchs occurred during predatory attacks, the broached camerae flooded, the conch became negatively buoyant, and it sank in the vicinity of the attack. When preserved, these conchs form a variable component of an autochthonous fossil accumulation that can include numerous other cephalopod taxa, which also were probably subjected to predatory attacks. Other, but not all, ammonoid accumulations in the fossil record form similar autochthonous deposits, or even autochthonous portions of mixed deposits.
Neltneriidae and Holmiidae (Trilobita) from Morocco and the problem of Early Cambrian intercontinental correlation
Authors: Geyer Gerd , Palmer Allison R.
Published: August 2016

Previously undescribed Holmiidae from theSectigenaZone of Morocco indicate correlation of this zone with other zones bearing Holmiidae on Baltica, Avalonia, Siberia, and Laurentia. The occurrence of the youngest Antatlasiinae in theSectigenaZone and the oldest Protoleninae in the overlyingHupeolenusZone suggests correlations of theSectigenaZone with upper Atdabanian beds bearing the youngest Antatlasiinae and theHupeolenusZone with Botomian beds bearing the oldest Protoleninae in Siberia. The occurrence, in the overlyingHupeolenusandCephalopygeZones, ofParadoxidess.l. in association with the olenelloidCambropallasand with trilobites characteristic of the Lower Cambrian “Protolenus” Zone of Avalonia calls into question the major criteria for recognition of strata of Early and Middle Cambrian age. New taxa includelyouella contractan. gen. and sp. of the Holmiidae andBondonella sdzuyin. sp. of the Neltneriidae. The known species ofNeltneria, N. jacquetiandN. termieri, are revised.
Pleistocene turtles of Port Kennedy Cave (late Irvingtonian), Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Authors: Parris David C. , Daeschler Edward
Published: August 2016

The Late Irvingtonian fauna of Port Kennedy Cave, Pennsylvania, includes four species of turtles. Terrapene carolina is the most common species; Clemmys insculpta is present. A nearly complete plastron of Emydoidea blandingii from Port Kennedy and two specimens from New Jersey sites indicate that the species ranged through the Delaware Valley region during much of the Quaternary. The type material of Clemmys percrassa Cope is reidentified as Geochelone (Hesperotestudo) percrassa Cope, and becomes one of the more northeasterly records of the genus in North America.
Calcareous microfossils from the Upper Mississippian (Chesterian) Maxville Limestone, southeastern Ohio
Authors: Hoare R. D. , Skipp Betty
Published: August 2016

A low-diversity assemblage of smaller calcareous microfossils is present in the Upper Mississippian Maxville Limestone in Muskingum and Perry Counties, southeastern Ohio. Diagnostic faunal elements that suggest an early Chesterian age include the foraminifers Neoarchaediscus maxvillensis n. sp., Paraarchaediscus aff. P. Pachytheca (Petryk), Paraarchaediscus cf. P. koktjubensis (Rauzer-Chernousova), Endothyra excellens (Zeller), Endothyra bowmani Phillips emend. Brady, and attached forms. The presence of these diagnostic faunal elements in the Chesterian of Ohio significantly extends their known geographic range into the eastern Midcontinent region.

Other forms present include the foraminifers Priscella? of the group P. prisca (Rauzer-Chernousova and Reitlinger), Diplosphaerina inaequalis (Derville), Earlandia spp., and the problematic Asphaltinoides macadami (Brenckle and Groves) and Salebra irregularis Bogush and Brenckle. Microfossils are present in both calcareous mudstone and limestone.
Examples of Mesozoic and CenozoicBathysiphon(Foraminiferida) from the Pacific Rim and the taxonomic status ofTerebellinaUlrich, 1904
Authors: Miller William
Published: August 2016

The generic nameTerebellinawas proposed by E. O. Ulrich for large (> 100 mm long, several millimeters wide), siliceous, tubular fossils from Cretaceous rocks of southern Alaska. Originally interpreted as annelid tubes, these unusual agglutinated fossils are locally abundant in Triassic to Neogene flysch and other basinal deposits of the Pacific borderlands. Other generic names employed for the same fossils includeTorlessia(used in New Zealand) andYokoia(in Japan). Although most authors have regarded the tubes as body fossils of worms, some workers have speculated recently that PacificTerebellinaare really large bathysiphonid foraminiferids. At the same time, the name has been co-opted by trace fossil workers for thick-walled, grain-lined burrows usually occurring in outer-shelf to slope facies.

Based on comparisons with modern and fossil bathysiphonids, including a new species (Bathysiphon harperi) from the Cretaceous of southwestern Oregon, the body fossils calledTerebellinaare here reinterpreted as large species ofBathysiphon, and the nameTerebellinais therefore a junior synonym of this foraminiferid genus. Except for the compression and recrystallization of tubes, PacificTerebellinaresemble very closely the tests of larger species of modernBathysiphon. Terebellinashould not be salvaged for use as an ichnogenus. Most of the trace fossils identified with this name in the recent literature could be accommodated in other established ichnogenera, primarilyPalaeophycus(where grain-lined burrows occur individually and are dominantly horizontal) andSchaubcylindrichnus(where they occur in curved bundles).
Upper Permian brachiopods of the superfamily Orthotetoidea from Hydra Island, Greece
Authors: Grant Richard E.
Published: August 2016

Permian Orthotetoidea on Hydra belong to the generaCyndaliaGrant (1993a),GoniarinaCooper and Grant (1969),DerbyiaWaagen (1884),DiplanusStehli (1954),SchuchertellaGirty (1904),SiceliaMerla (1934), andTropidelasmaCooper and Grant (1969). Hydra has the most complete Permian section in the Western Tethys, 500 m thick and ranging in age from Asselian to Dorashamian. These are the youngest silicified Permian brachiopods west of China.
Ramipora hochstetteri Toula, 1875 (Bryozoa, Cystoporata), from the Permian of Svalbard
Authors: Nakrem Hans Arne , Spjeldnæs Nils
Published: August 2016

This review of the goniocladiid genus Ramipora Toula is based on zoarial morphology. The diagnosis of Ramipora is emended and the type species R. hochstetteri Toula from the Upper Permian of Svalbard is redescribed. Anastomosing secondary branches forming a fenestrated meshwork discriminate Ramipora from other goniocladiids. Descriptions are based on new material collected from the type horizon (Kapp Starostin Formation, Akseløya) and elsewhere in the Svalbard Archipelago, and also on Toula's type specimen. Goniocladiella Nekhoroshev and Aetomacladia Bretnall are herein designated junior synonyms of Ramipora. Some species previously assigned to Ramipora are transferred to Ramiporidra.
On some Paleocene invertebrates from the Potrerillos Formation (Difunta Group), northeastern Mexico
Authors: Vega Francisco J. , Del Carmen Perrilliat Maria
Published: August 2016

Three species of mollusks and one annelid are described from the Paleocene upper mudstone member of the Potrerillos Formation (La Popa Basin), and from the upper part of the Rancho Nuevo Formation (Parras Basin). The species described include a gastropod, a bivalve, a nautiloid and a serpulid worm, which are formally reported for first time as Paleocene fauna of the Difunta Group in northeastern Mexico. The nautiloid species provides the basis for correlation between the two sedimentary basins of the Difunta Group, as it is reported for Paleocene layers of the two formations studied. Shoreface and tidal-flat depositional environments are inferred for the Paleocene rocks of the Difunta Group.
Domatial dimorphism occurs in leperditellid and monotiopleurid ostracodes
Authors: Lundin Robert F. , Williams Mark , Siveter David J.
Published: August 2016

The discovery of domatial dimorphism in the leperditellid ostracode Loculocavata n. gen. and the monotiopleurid Primitiella minima (Harris), and the possibility that Leperditella Ulrich exhibits domatial dimorphism, requires a revision of the concept and/or diagnosis of the Platycopina. Domatial dimorphism is manifested by a special domiciliar space for egg/brood care in females. Domatia are represented by a loculate domiciliar wall or by a more generalized space bounded anteriorly by an interior partition caused by thickening or folding (sulcation) of the shell wall. Domatial dimorphism occurs in morphologically diverse ostracodes as shown by the podocopine Mesocyprideis, kloedenellids, cytherellids, monotiopleurids, the leperditellid Loculocavata n. gen., and by its possible occurrence in Hypotetragona and Leperditella. Changes in the present concept and/or diagnosis of the Platycopina are required to account for the above. Possible classifications range from restricting the Platycopina to holosolenic ostracodes with R/L overlap and domatial dimorphism to including within the Platycopina all groups that exhibit domatial dimorphism. The position of adductor muscle attachment in Loculocavata n. gen. and Primitiella minima (Harris) suggests that L2 may be the external expression of the position of adductor muscle attachment in some ostracodes.