bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Eocene crinoids from Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula: paleobiogeographic and paleoecologic implications
Authors: Meyer David L. , Oji Tatsuo
Published: August 2016

On the basis of recent collections from the Upper Eocene La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, the morphology, systematic position, taphonomy, and paleoecology of the isocrinid Metacrinus fossilis are investigated. A new species, Notocrinus rasmusseni, is described as the first comatulid crinoid known from the Antarctic fossil record. The systematic assignment of M. fossilis is maintained. Basal abrasion of calyxes and absence of long attached columns suggest that M. fossilis might have lost most of the column in adult stages and lived directly on the substratum, supported by some arms and a few cirri, similar to comatulids. About 10 percent of M. fossilis individuals show brachial regeneration, in contrast to regeneration frequencies of 70–90 percent among modern Japanese isocrinids. The anomalous occurrence of isocrinids in shallow-water facies of the La Meseta is attributed to a combination of reduced predation pressure, the presumed stalkless mode of life, and a favorable temperature regime in Antarctic surface waters prior to the onset of cooling at the close of the Eocene.
Spygoria zappanianew genus and species, aCloudina-like biohermal metazoan from the Lower Cambrian of central Nevada
Authors: Salak Marc , Lescinsky Halard L.
Published: August 2016

A new enigmatic Lower Cambrian fossil,Spygoria zappania,is described From theNevadellazone (Botoman) of Lander County, central Nevada. In gross morphology,Spygoriafossils consist of stacks of small (5–10 mm in diameter) irregular calcified cups that are preserved in vertical, concave-up life orientation. Stacks are linked laterally into large monospecific bioherms which flourished in a shallow turbulent marine environment.

TheSpygoriaorganism is interpreted as a metazoan which presumably inhabited the uppermost cup in each stack and periodically secreted new cups as it grew upward. Absence of holdfast structures suggest that the organism was held in place by sticky mud until opportunistically cementing to adjacent individuals. The affinity ofSpygoriaremains problematical, though we suggest that its stacked structure somewhat resembles the cone-in-cone structure ofCloudina,which formed similar dense thickets in shallow turbulent carbonate environments during the terminal Proterozoic.
The extant thermophilic dinoflagellateTectatodinium pellitum(al.Tectatodinium rugulatum) from the Danian of Denmark
Authors: Head Martin J. , Nøhr-Hansen Henrik
Published: August 2016

Tectatodinium rugulatum(Hansen, 1977) McMinn, 1988, from the lower Danian of Denmark, is considered conspecific with, and a junior synonym of, the extant thermophilic speciesTectatodinium pellitumWall, 1967. However, the Danian material, based on holotype and topotype specimens, appears to show a degree of morphologic variability not seen in younger material. The accepted stratigraphic range base ofTectatodinium pellitumis now extended to the lower Danian, where this species appears to be a useful biostratigraphic marker in the Danish North Sea basin.
Relationships between internal and external morphology in Paleofavosites (Tabulata): the unity of growth and growth form
Authors: Young Graham A. , Elias Robert J.
Published: August 2016

During growth of colonial corals, the basic organization of skeletal elements was determined by inherent factors, but arrangement of corallites within a colony could be affected if environmental change induced a modified growth form. Comparisons of internal and external characters during colony development indicate how environmental and genetic factors determined growth form. The results of these comparisons have implications for understanding of colony integration, functional morphology, and systematics.

This study is based on serially sectioned coralla of the cerioid tabulate Paleofavosites subelongus, from the uppermost Ordovician to lowermost Silurian of the east-central United States. Colony growth form resulted from changes in maximum growth angle of marginal corallites, and in the shape of the growth surface. These features were coordinated with corallite characters and were dependent on variation in corallite growth. At the same time that a colony became broader by expanding its maximum growth angle and developing a taller growth surface, its corallites became larger, more new corallites were initiated, and recently initiated corallites expanded more rapidly. When a colony's maximum growth angle was reduced and the growth surface became flatter, corallites also became smaller, fewer corallites were initiated, and those corallites that were recently initiated expanded slowly.

Genetic constraint of growth is illustrated by consistent patterns of initial colony growth, and by relationships among characters of internal and external morphology. Frequent small-scale variations in growth angle and growth surface height:width during astogeny indicate fluctuating environmental factors. Sedimentation and subsidence of the colony were probably the major environmental controls on form.
The Late Devonian brachiopodCyrtiopsis davidsoniGrabau, 1923, and related forms from central Hunan of South China
Authors: Ma Xueping , Day Jed
Published: August 2016

New specimens representing species ofCyrtiopsisGrabau, 1923, described by Grabau (1931a) were recovered in samples from the Late Devonian deposits of the Changlongjie Member of the Xikuangshan Formation in central Hunan Province of South China. Associated Famennian age conodonts and morphotypes of the rhynchonellid brachiopodYunnanellinalineage fix the ranges of species ofCyrtiopsisand related taxa in the Xikuangshan Formation within the interval of the MiddletriangularisZone through the LowercrepidaZone (early Famennian) in central Hunan Province.

Detailed study and comparison of external and internal shell structures of the type species ofCyrtiopsisGrabau, 1923, and related species described in Grabau (1931a) shows thatCyrtiopsisfrom South China includes the type species,C. davidsoni(embodied by the holotype), andC graciosa.Both of these species are shown to lack a delthyrial plate. Grabau's paratypes ofC. davidsoniare considered to belong inCyrtiopsis intermediaGrabau, 1931. The speciesC. kayseriGrabau, 1931, andC. shensiensisGrabau, 1931, are also deemed synonyms ofC. davidsoniGrabau, 1923 (as restricted above).“Cyrtiopsis” intermediadiffers from other species ofCyrtiopsisby development of a short delthyrial plate and its systematic position remains uncertain.

The genusPseudocyrtiopsisis proposed withCyrtiopsis spiriferoidesGrabau, 1931, as the type.Pseudocyrtiopsisnew genus is distinguished fromCyrtiopsisGrabau, 1923, by its alate hinge and development of a delthyrial plate. Comparisons of species ofCyrtiopsisfrom South China with cyrtospiriferid brachiopods identified asCyrtiopsisby Crickmay (1952) demonstrate that none of the early Famennian species from western Canada can be assigned to the genus as revised here, althoughC. mimetesCrickmay, 1952, is closely related to“C.” intermediaGrabau, 1931.
A note onSaleniagr.nutrixPeron and Gauthier, 1881 (Echinoidea) from the Maastrichtian type area (southeastern Netherlands, northeastern Belgium)
Authors: Jagt John W. M. , Van Der Ham Raymond W. J. M. , Meuris Roland , Indeherberge Ludo
Published: August 2016

A single specimen of a saleniid echinoid recently collected from the Late Maastrichtian of the type area of the Maastrichtian Stage is notable in being closely related toSalenia nutrixPeron and Gauthier, 1881. Representatives of the “nutrixgroup” have previously been recorded from the Late Cretaceous of the Mediterranean and north Africa. The occurrence in the type Maastrichtian of a representative of this group thus furnishes additional evidence of Tethyan incursions in the area during the Late Maastrichtian.
A new ichthyosaur from the Los Molles Formation (Early Bajocian), Neuquen Basin, Argentina
Authors: Fernández Marta S.
Published: August 2016

A large ichthyosaur from the Los Molles Formation (Early Bajocian) of the Neuquén Basin, Northwestern Patagonia, Argentina, represents a new genus and species,Mollesaurus periallus.The holotype ofM. periallusnew species represents, along with the type ofChacaicosaurus cayithat was found at the same locality, the only diagnostic ichthyosaur specimens from the Aalenian-Bathonian interval.
A primitive Halobia (Bivalvia: Halobioidea) from the Triassic of northeast British Columbia
Authors: Mcroberts Christopher A.
Published: August 2016

Halobia daonellaformis new species is described from the lowermost Carnian of northeast British Columbia. Halobia daonellaformis n. sp. is regarded as a primitive Halobia characterized by external ornamentation similar to Daonella lommeli, but with a poorly developed anterior auricle. Morphologic characters of H. daonellaformis n. sp. suggest that Halobia may be not a natural taxon but a polyphyletic group with one or more ancestors from Daonella and Aparimella and/or other posidoniid(s). The sudden appearance of Halobia throughout the marine Triassic suggests a rapid dispersal mechanism following a Ladinian origin. Larval shell morphology indicates a planktotrophic developmental strategy for H. daonellaformis n. sp., and by extension to other halobiids, which may explain the widespread distribution of many halobiid species.
The first complete skeleton of Solnhofia parsonsi (Cryptodira, Eurysternidae) from the Upper Jurassic of Germany and its taxonomic implications
Authors: Joyce Walter G.
Published: August 2016

A complete skeleton of Solnhofia parsonsi (Cryptodira, Eurysternidae) from the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian boundary of Schamhaupten, Germany provides the first complete understanding of the postcranial morphology of this genus. The here newly described postcranial characters are important in distinguishing Solnhofia from shell-based genera and thus help in resolving part of the parataxonomic conflict between shell-based and cranium-based turtle genera. This disparity originated during the last 150 years due to the history of fossil finds, preparation, and changing interests of researchers. Synonymies of Solnhofia with such turtle genera as Eurysternum, Idiochelys, Plesiochelys, Thalassemys, and Euryaspis can now be refuted. Similarities with Hydropelta are apparent, but not considered sufficient to support a synonymy. Newly observed or confirmed characters include the relatively large head (40 percent of the carapace length), the pentagonal carapace, the unique arrangement of bones and fontanelles in the pygal region, and the absence of mesoplastra, epiplastra, and an entoplastron.

The carcass of the new specimen was embedded in finely laminated limestones and shows little sign of disintegration or scavenging, suggesting hostile bottom conditions with very low water energy during deposition. This taphonomy agrees with recent published models for the origin of the lithographic limestones of southern Germany. Tooth marks along the posterior margin of the carapace are evidence of predation by a broad-nosed crocodilian. This is the first clear example for this type of predatorial interaction from the Upper Jurassic of Germany.
Geonettia waltonensis, a new goniodomacean dinoflagellate from the Pliocene of the North Atlantic region, and its evolutionary implications
Authors: Head Martin J.
Published: August 2016

A new species of the unusual dinoflagellate cyst genusGeonettiade Verteuil and Norris, 1996a is here described from the Pliocene of the western North Atlantic and eastern England.Geonettia waltonensisnew species is only the second species to be formally described for this genus, whose type,G. clineaede Verteuil and Norris, 1996a, has a range of Miocene through Pliocene.Geonettiais a gonyaulacalean, goniodomacean genus of the subfamily Pyrodinioideae and is closely related toEocladopyxisMorgenroth, 1966 andCapisocystaWarny and Wrenn, 1997, also found in the Cenozoic. However,Geonettiais the only known dinoflagellate cyst genus to have plates that dissociate extensively on both epi- and hypocyst during excystment.Geonettia waltonensishas this style of excystment, but its hypocystal tabulation is more akin toCapisocysta lataHead, 1998a than toG. clineae.Comparison of tabulation and other morphological features suggests that during the late Miocene,Capisocysta lataevolved fromGeonettia waltonensisor a closely related species through failure of its epicystal plates to dissociate.Geonettia waltonensisprobably did not evolve directly fromG. clineaebut may represent a separate lineage withinGeonettiathat arose during the Miocene.
Systematic revisions toAorocrinus, Dorycrinus, Macrocrinus, Paradichocrinus, Strotocrinus, andUperocrinus: Mississippian camerate crinoids (Echinodermata) from the stratotype region
Authors: Ausich William I. , Kammer Thomas W.
Published: August 2016

Systematic revisions and revised stratigraphic occurrences are made toAorocrinus, Dorycrinus, Macrocrinus, Paradichocrinus, Strotocrinus, andUperocrinusfrom the Osagean and Meramecian stratotype region in Iowa and Missouri. Systematic revisions include the assignment ofBatocrinus procerusMiller and Gurley as a junior synonym ofMacrocrinus mundulus. Batocrinus heteroclitusMiller and Gurley,B. vicinusMiller and Gurley, andB. stelliformisMiller and Gurley are assigned toUperocrinus heteroclitusn. comb. The concept ofAorocrinus spinosulus(Hall) did not match characteristics of the holotype. Consequently, the appropriate name for this concept isAorocrinus kelloggi(Worthen) n. comb., andA. spinosulusis assigned toDorycrinus mississippiensisas a junior synonym.Batocrinus strenuusis assigned toAorocrinus strenuusn. comb.?; andStrotocrinus glyptusis regarded as the valid name for the only species recognized in this genus.

These systematic revisions result in the restriction ofStrotocrinus glyptusto the middle Osagean Burlington Limestone, and extension ofAorocrinus, Dorycrinus, Macrocrinus, andUperocrinusinto the Meramecian upper Warsaw Formation.
Albian ophiuroids from Cerro de Cristo Rey, Dona Ana County, New Mexico
Authors: Cornell William C. , Lemone David V. , Norland William D.
Published: August 2016

Fossil ophiuroids (Echinodermata) have been recovered from rocks of the Comanche Series (Albian, Early Cretaceous) at Cerro de Cristo Rey, New Mexico. This is the first report of fossil ophiuroids from Mesozoic rocks in New Mexico.
Temporal data in phylogenetic systematics: an example from the mammalian fossil record
Authors: Thewissen J. G. M.
Published: August 2016

A method of phylogenetic inference is proposed for taxa that are known from large samples spaced closely in time. The method employs elements of cladistic and stratophenetic methods, and consists of four steps. 1) Morphologically homogeneous clusters are recognized within temporally and geographically constrained samples. 2) Temporally disjunct and geographically dispersed taxa are recognized, and their anagenetic evolution and geographic variation documented. 3) A character matrix is constructed for the taxa and analyzed cladistically. 4) Resulting cladograms are used to construct a phylogenetic tree with additional input from temporal, morphological, ecological, and geographical data. This method supplements the use of cladistically analyzed morphological data with data that are not suited for cladistic analysis, and thus reduces the amount of unused data.
The nonmarine mollusks of the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene Cabbage Patch fauna of western Montana. I. Geologic setting and the family Pupillidae (Pulmonata: Stylommatophora)
Authors: Pierce Harold G. , Rasmussen Donald L.
Published: August 2016

A large, diverse, and well-preserved fauna of nonmarine mollusks has been recovered from the late Oligocene to early Miocene (Arikareean) fluviatile and lacustrine sediments that accumulated in four intermontane structural basins of western Montana. The Pupillidae are represented by 10 species, with nine new species and one new subgenus among three extant genera. The Gastrocopta are very diverse, with one new subgenus Ameralbinula represented by three new species, G. obesa, G. russelli, and G. oviforma, while three new species, G. tavennerensis, G. leonardi, and G. conica, are referred to the extant subgenus Vertigopsis Sterki, 1893. Gastrocopta miniscula cannot be referred to a subgenus with certainty. The remaining new species, Vertigo whitei and Pupoides montana, are referred confidently to extant subgenera. Vertigo arenula (White, 1876) is the only previously described species and its description is emended based on new material. The mammalian biostratigraphy of the Cabbage Patch beds is presented.
Early Silurian (Llandovery) encrinurine trilobites from the Mackenzie Mountains, Canada
Authors: Edgecombe Gregory D. , Chatterton Brian D. E.
Published: August 2016

Llandovery Encrinurinae from the Whittaker Formation in the central Mackenzie Mountains includeCromus canorusn. sp.,Distyrax cooperin. sp.,Distyraxn. sp. A,Perryus bartlettin. sp., andEncrinurusn. sp. Additional diversity ofDistyraxLane, 1988, demands a revised generic diagnosis with emphasis on pygidial homologies; new species are described from the Llandovery of Newfoundland and Ontario. Several characters suggest a sister group relationship betweenDistyraxandEncrinuruss.s. A lectotype is designated for the Llandovery speciesEncrinurus elegantulusBillings, 1866.Cromus canorusn. sp. is closely allied to other northern Laurentian Llandovery species. Synapomorphies ofCromusare inclusive forEncrinuraspisas revised by Snajdr, 1985. The long stratigraphic range and morphological conservatism ofCromusare correlated with occurrence in distal mudstone facies. Ontogenetic material forDistyraxn. sp. A,Cromus canorus, andPerryus bartlettiis described, with consideration of librigenal spine homologies in Encrinurinae.HumaencrinuroidesNan, 1985, is a pliomerid of the new subfamily Quinquecostinae, and not a subgenus ofEncrinuroidesReed.
Caulerpa-like marine alga from Permian strata, Palo Duro Basin, West Texas
Authors: Gustavson Thomas C. , Delevoryas T.
Published: August 2016

A fossil counterpart to ths extant marine noncalcareous green algal genus Caulerpa was recovered from Permian (Wolfcampian) marine sediments of the Palo Duro Basin, a part of the larger Permian Basin, West Texas. These fossil algal remains were recognized in core from the Department of Energy/Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation No. 1 Zeech well (Figure 1). The fossil form is described and compared to a morphologically similar extant species of Caulerpa. The geologic setting of the Palo Duro Basin is also briefly described as is the environment in which the modern algal genus Caulerpa lives.
The Silurian Ilionia prisca, oldest known deep-burrowing suspension-feeding bivalve
Authors: Liljedahl Louis
Published: August 2016

The type material of Ilionia prisca (Hisinger) is redescribed. This species shows several basic morphological characteristics typical of Recent Lucinacea, including an anteriorly expanded shell with conspicuous diagonal sulci, a hypertrophied anterior adductor muscle scar, and a nonsinuate pallial line. It is believed to have been a suspension feeder provided with a posterior exhalant siphon and capable of forming an anterior inhalant mucus tube in the sediment. Ilionia prisca lived in a habitat unfavorable for most other bivalves, deeply buried in a soft, oxygen-poor and sulphur-rich mud, in which it oriented itself obliquely against the direction of water movement. Probably it lived in symbiosis with chemoautotrophic bacteria. It is suggested that Ilionia prisca is the oldest known deep-burrowing suspension-feeding bivalve.
A flexible crinoid from the Llandovery (Silurian) of western Ireland
Authors: Donovan Stephen K. , Doyle Eamon N. , Harper David A. T.
Published: August 2016

“Complete” crinoids are rare fossils in the lower Paleozoic of Ireland. Cryptanisocrinus kilbridensis n. gen. and sp., from the Upper Llandovery (Telychian) Finny School Beds of the upper Kilbride Formation, County Mayo, is an anisocrinine homalocrinid and the first Irish lower Paleozoic flexible crinoid. The unique holotype is an external mold without counterpart that does not retain the anal series. Cryptanisocrinus kilbridensis has a kylixiform dorsal cup, a low but prominent, infrabasal circlet, low, triangular basals, arms that branch isotomously at least three times, and two interprimibrachial plates in each interray, the lower of which is the larger.
Vogelgnathus Norby and Rexroad (Conodonta): new species from the Lower Carboniferous of Atlantic Canada and northern England
Authors: Purnell Mark A. , von Bitter Peter H.
Published: August 2016

Four new species are assigned to Vogelgnathus Norby and Rexroad because of the close similarity of their Pb and ramiform elements to those of the type species, V. campbelli (Rexroad). Recognition of the four new species requires that the generic diagnosis, based almost exclusively on the morphology of V. campbelli, be modified, chiefly to accommodate greater variation in Pa element morphology. Vogelgnathus dhindsai n. sp., V. gladiolus n. sp., V. kyphus n. sp., and V. pesaquidi n. sp. all possess abbreviated, carminiscaphate Pa elements. Spathognathodus postcampbelli Austin and Husri is reassigned to the genus.

The origins of Vogelgnathus are uncertain but V. gladiolus first appeared in the early Viséan and gave rise to V. pesaquidi. The latter species appears to represent the rootstock from which V. kyphus, V. campbelli, and V. dhindsai evolved. Vogelgnathus postcampbelli evolved from V. campbelli during the late Viséan.

Vogelgnathus campbelli and, to a lesser extent, V. postcampbelli have a wide geographic distribution; the four new species, however, are currently known only from Atlantic Canada, northern England, and southwest Scotland.
On the age of the Hungry Hollow Formation
Authors: Sparling Dale R.
Published: August 2016

In the paper by J. Keith Rigby (1991) in the January issue of the Journal, the Hungry Hollow Formation of southwestern Ontario is correlated with the basal Ludlowvillian Centerfield Limestone of New York. The new species of heteractinid sponge described in the paper was thus considered to be older than the designated type species of his new genus Gondekia, which is from the middle Ludlowvillian Wanakah Shale. The correlation was referred to as that of Rickard (1984) and was consistent with others going back several decades. It was also included in subsequent correlations based on conodont biostratigraphy (Johnson et al., 1985; Sparling, 1985) that are otherwise largely at odds with Rickard's conclusions. However, Brett and Baird (1985) provided convincing evidence that the Centerfield is a regressive unit between shales representing deeper water sedimentation, whereas the Hungry Hollow appears to be the basal unit of a transgressive sequence of strata and thus unlikely to be of the same age. Evidence for this was supplied by Landing and Brett (1987), who described a previously unrecognized disconformity beneath the Hungry Hollow and noted its regional significance. They also reported finding a single specimen of the conodont Polygnathus timorensis in the Hungry Hollow. This is the guide fossil for the Lower varcus Subzone, to which the Centerfield has been assigned, so placement of both units in at least the same conodont subzone was justified at that time.
A partial articulated polyplacophoran from the Devonian of Pennsylvania
Authors: Petzold Daniel D. , Clark Christopher , Malin Matthias , Owens Robert , Perry Elisabeth
Published: August 2016

During the course of field work for the invertebrate paleontology class at Bucknell University, part of an articulated polyplacophoran was discovered. Because these fossils are rare and because there are only two reports of North American Devonian polyplacophorans (Smith and Hoare, 1987), it is felt that this specimen should be described and illustrated.
A reexamination ofWaikalasma(Cirripedia: Thoracica) and its significance in balanomorph phylogeny
Authors: Buckeridge John S. , Newman William A.
Published: August 2016

Whenwaikalasmawas first recorded from early Miocene strata in New Zealand (Buckeridge, 1983) it was described as possessing eight compartmental plates but lacking basal whorls of imbricating plates. However, subsequent study and comparison of the holotype with extantChionelasmushas shown that the remnants of several small plates remaining at the base of the rostrum represent the remains of two or three basal whorls (Figure 1). Furthermore, new evidence concerning the structure of the wall of the Chionelasmatinae has indicated not only that the true or median latus has been replaced by the carinolatus in balanomorphs, but that an additional or secondary carinolatus has been added in higher balanomorphs (Yamaguchi and Newman, 1990). The structure of the wall inWaikalasmacan now be reinterpreted in light of these findings (Figure 2). It turns out, in terms of current phylogeny, thatWaikalasmashould be placed amongst the most primitive of the balanomorph barnacles, representing an important step in balanomorph evolution rather than simply an evolutionary offshoot as envisaged by Buckeridge (1983) and Foster and Buckeridge (1987) (Figure 3).
A new genus and species of scalpellomorph cirriped from the Fairport Member, Carlile Shale (middle Turonian) of Kansas
Authors: Hirt David S.
Published: August 2016

A proposed new genus of scalpellomorph cirriped,Tetrinisn. gen., based onT. serenuportusn. sp., is known from three Kansas localities in the middle part of the Fairport Member of the Carlile Shale where it is epizoic on the bivalveInoceramus cuvieri. The stalked cirripedStramentum eleganscoexisted withT. serenuportusand the bryozoanProboscinasp. was epizoic onS. elegansbut not onT. serenuportus. The genus is readily distinguished from all other scalpellomorph cirripeds in the character of the capitulum, which comprises 28 slightly overlapping plates arranged in four whorls.Tetrinis serenuportusdisplays a large rostrum and an upper latus that is situated low in the capitulum between the scutum and tergum, allowing the two latter plates to touch. All umbos are apical except for that of the scutum, which is subapical and closer to the apex than to the base. The new form apparently has a narrow stratigraphic range and has potential as a biostratigraphic marker.
Advanced cladid crinoids from the Middle Mississippian of the east-central United States: primitive-grade calyces
Authors: Kammer Thomas W. , Ausich William I.
Published: August 2016

Species of the late Osagean and early Meramecian advanced cladid crinoid genera (suborder Poteriocrinina)Armenocrinus, Bollandocrinus, Corythocrinus, Cosmetocrinus, Culmicrinus, Cydrocrinus, Histocrinus, Hypselocrinus, Lebetocrinus, Ophiurocrinus, Poteriocrinites, Scytalocrinus, Springericrinus, andUlrichicrinusfrom Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri are redescribed and redefined from study of type material. Nomenclatural and systematic acts include the following: 1)Poteriocrinus tenuidactylusWorthen, 1882, is a senior synonym ofScaphiocrinus obscurusWachsmuth and Springer, 1886, and is assigned toArmenocrinus; 2)P. verusMiller and Gurley, 1890, is assigned toCulmicrinus; 3)P. mammaeformisWortheninMiller, 1889, is questionably assigned toCulmicrinus; 4)Cydrocrinus coxanus(Worthen, 1882) is a junior synonym ofC. concinnus(Meek and Worthen, 1870); 5)Decadocrinus stellatusLane and Howell, 1986, is questionably assigned toHistocrinus; 6)P. crawfordsvillensisMiller and Gurley, 1890, is a junior synonym ofHypselocrinus hoveyi(WortheninWorthen and Meek, 1875); 7)Hypselocrinus boonvillensis(Miller, 1891) andH. neglectus(Miller and Gurley, 1896) are junior synonyms ofH. arcanus(Miller and Gurley, 1890); 8)Hypselocrinus vansantin. sp. is described; 9)Hypselocrinus indianensis(Meek and Worthen, 1865) is a nomem dubium; 10)Poteriocrinus arachnaeformisWorthen, 1882, is a valid species ofPoteriocrinites; 11)P. cantonensisMiller and Gurley, 1890, is assigned toScytalocrinus; 12)Ulrichicrinus coryphaeus(Miller, 1891),P. amoenusMiller, 1891, andP. brittsiMiller, 1891, are junior synonyms ofU. agnatus(Miller, 1891); and 13)P. illinoisensisWorthen, 1882, is questionably assigned toUlrichicrinus.

Bollandocrinus? sp. from the Keokuk Limestone might represent the first report of the genus from North America, being previously known only from the lower Carboniferous of Great Britain.Ophiurocrinussp. from the Keokuk Limestone is the first report of this genus from the Osagean, being previously known only from the Chesterian of North America and the upper Carboniferous of Europe.
First occurrence of the genus Bicarinatina (Brachiopoda, Inarticulata) from the Middle Devonian in North America (Alaska)
Authors: Popov Leonid Y. , Blodgett Robert B. , Anderson Arlene V.
Published: August 2016

The lingulid brachiopod species Bicarinatina kongakutensis n. sp. is recorded here from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) Ulungarat unit in Arctic Alaska. A restudy of the type species, Bicarinatina bicarinata (Kutorga) from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of Eastern Europe, suggests close affinities to the Ordovician genus Pseudolingula and gives good reason to assign Bicarinatina to the family Pseudolingulidae. There are no important points of difference in the morphologies of Bicarinatina and the Early Carboniferous lingulid genus Liralingua and, thus, both genera have been synonymized.
GONIAT, a computer-retrieval system for Paleozoic ammonoids
Authors: Korn Dieter , Kullmann Jürgen , Kullmann Peter S. , Petersen Morris S.
Published: August 2016

GONIAT is designed as tool for investigations on the systematics of the Paleozoic ammonoids, their paleogeographic distribution, and their biostratigraphic range. This data base management system provides not only determinations based on morphological characteristics, but also information on occurrence, duration, literature, and phylogenetic relationships of every taxon of family, genus, and species levels. GONIAT is a relational data base. It consists of six independent data bases connected by three link information files: TAX for taxonomy, MORPHA and MORPHB for all distinctive morphological characters in adult or early and middle growth stages, LIT for literature, LOC for localities, and BOUND for biostratigraphy. In order to provide relevant time planes that can be used on a worldwide scale, radiometric dates as well as biostratigraphic names are used.
Lyelliceratidae and Flickiidae (Ammonoidea) from the Upper Albian of the Helvetic Shelf (western Alps, France and Switzerland)
Authors: Kennedy W. J. , Delamette M.
Published: August 2016

The condensed Upper Albian to Lower Cenomanian deposits of the Helvetic Shelf of France and Switzerland yield diverse ammonite faunas including representatives of the family Lyelliceratidae, subfamily Stoliczkaiinae that is the origin of the Upper Cretaceous Acanthoceratidae and its descendants, as well as representatives of the dwarf stoliczkaiine offshoot, the family Flickiidae, subfamily Salaziceratinae. The following are described and referred to the Upper AlbianMortoniceras inflatumZone:Neophlycticeras(N.)brottianum(d'Orbigny, 1841),N.(N.)rhodanenseDelamette, 1983,N.(Protissotia)itierianum(d'Orbigny, 1841), andZuluscaphites helveticusn. sp. From the Upper AlbianStoliczkaia disparZone comeNeophlycticeras(N.)blancheti(Pictet and Campiche, 1859),N.(Paradolphia)priscumCasey, 1965,Stoliczkaia(5.)notha(Seeley, 1865),S.(S.)tenuisRenz, 1968,S.(Lamnayella)tetragonaNeumayr, 1875,Cenisella bonnetianaPictet, 1847,Zuluscaphites orycteropusiVan Hoepen, 1955,Salaziceras(S.)salazacense(Hébert and Munier-Chalmas, 1875), andS.(S.)breistrofferiScholz, 1979. The Lower CenomanianMantelliceras mantelliZone,Neostlingoceras carcitanenseSubzone yieldsStoliczkaia(Stoliczkaia)villoutreysiCasey, 1965,S.(Lamnayella)tetragonaNeumayr, 1875, andS.(Shumarinaia)hashimotoiMatsumoto and Inoma, 1975.
Skeletal morphology and paleontological significance of the stem of extant Phrynocrinus nudus A. H. Clark (Echinodermata: Crinoidea)
Authors: Donovan Stephen K. , Pawson David L.
Published: August 2016

The stem (column plus attachment structure) of the extant, Pacific bourgueticrinine crinoid Phrynocrinus nudus A. H. Clark is described, and some notes provided on the crown. The attachment structure is a simple, terminal discoidal holdfast, typical of an obligate encruster of hard substrates and probably derived neotenously from the attached larval stage of an ancestral isocrinid. The column is long and composed of robust columnals. Unlike isocrinids, the mesistele, rather than the proxistele, is the most flexible part of the column. The proximale columnal has an inflexible articulation with the basals; a new proximale grows irregularly between these ossicles. Articulation between the proximale and columnal 2 is synostosial, but all more distal articulations are synarthrial. Proximally and in the dististele, articular facets are rounded, but for much of the column facets are strongly elliptical with offsets approaching 90° in many columnals. However, offset of fulcra is variable between columnals, indicating that it is not a consistently useful criterion for separating species in the bourgueticrinines.
Reorganization of the collections at the Paleontological Research Institution
Authors: Allmon Warren D.
Published: August 2016

The paleontological Research Institution (PRI) was founded in 1932 by Gilbert Dennison Harris (1864-1952), professor of geology at Cornell University from 1894 to 1934. Approaching retirement, Harris was concerned about the fate of his large fossil collections and library, as well as the continuation of his two journals, Bulletins of American Paleontology (begun in 1895) and Palaeontographica Americana (begun in 1916). He therefore founded his own scientific enterprise, built a building for it behind his house, and received a charter as an educational institution from the State of New York in 1936. The Institution moved to its current location across Cayuga Lake from Cornell in 1968.
The Last Word
Authors: Steinker Don C.
Published: August 2016

The editor has the final word. Here it is. It generally has been a pleasure to serve as Associate Editor (1986-1988) and as Managing Editor (1989-1994) of the Journal of Paleontology these past nine years. I am grateful to the members of the editorial staff, the authors, the reviewers, the Council of The Paleontological Society, and the staff at Allen Press for their assistance and support.
Causality and Cope's Rule: evidence from the planktonic foraminifera
Authors: Arnold Anthony J. , Kelly D. C. , Parker W. C.
Published: August 2016

A literature-based compilation of phylogenetic relationships and biometric measurements of 342 Cenozoic planktonic foraminiferal species suggests that the group shows a net increase in size through the Cenozoic, thus appearing to follow Cope's Rule of phyletic size increase. However, when the data are corrected for size-related biases, they do not support the hypothesis that this apparent trend is driven by an organismal adaptive advantage of larger size.

When the planktonic foraminifera return to their “primitive” globigerine morphology during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, there is no indication of size-dependent origination or extinction; however, when the extinction signal is decomposed into pseudoextinctions and true lineage terminations, a differential pulse of pseudoextinction is observed among the smaller forms. This observation suggests that smaller bodied species, rather than surviving stressful times with static morphologies, may evolve their way through times of crisis and go on to found lineages which, by virtue of their initial small size, are stochastically likely to increase in mean size during subsequent diversification. Thus, one general explanation for Cope's Rule might be that smaller bodied species are more adaptively responsive due to their tendency to have shorter generation times. During times of stress, this adaptive responsiveness may give them an advantage that is correlated with, but causally unrelated to, their size.
Invertina, a new Middle Devonian atrypid brachiopod genus from south China
Authors: Copper Paul , Yuanren Chen
Published: August 2016

Givetian species of Chinese brachiopods previously assigned to the genus Spinatrypa or Spinatrypina reveal an internal structure characteristic of other species referred to the Eifelian genus Kerpina and the cosmopolitan Frasnian genus lowatrypa. Serial sections clarify the nature of the Middle Devonian Chinese species, which are described here as a new genus, Invertina (type species, Atrypa aspera var. sinensis Kayser, 1883). The internal structure of the Late Devonian type species of Iowatrypa, Atrypa owenensis Webster, 1921, is illustrated for the first time for comparison. These three genera, as well as three other genera, are referred to a new Devonian (Emsian-Frasnian) subfamily, the Invertininae, allocated to the family Atrypidae.
New trigonioid bivalves from the Albian (Early Cretaceous) of Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula: systematics, paleoecology, and austral Cretaceous Paleobiogeography
Authors: Kelly Simon R. A.
Published: August 2016

Newly discovered trigonioid bivalves are systematically described from the Late Albian of the Fossil Bluff Group of Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula. The fauna includesNototrigonia(Nototrigonia)ponticulaSkwarko,N.(Callitrigonia)offsetensisn. sp.,Eselaevitrigonia macdonaldin. sp.,Pterotrigonia(Pisotrigonia)capricornia(Skwarko), andPacitrigonia praenuntiansn. sp. It represents the first Albian trigonioid fauna described from the Antarctic. It is also the first published record of the Nototrigoniinae (excludingPacitrigonia) outside Australasia. Paleoecologically, this fauna represents the shallowest and highest energy molluscan assemblage from the Fossil Bluff Group and occurs near the base of a significant transgressive unit, the Mars Glacier Member of the Neptune Glacier Formation. The paleogeography of Austral Cretaceous trigonioids is reviewed. Endemic centers are identified in India–east Africa, southern South America, and Australasia. Only one trigonioid genus,Pacitrigonia, had its origin in the Antarctic. During the earliest Cretaceous, cosmopolitan trigonioid genera occurred in Antarctica. In the mid-Cretaceous faunal similarity of Antarctica with Australasia was strong, and in the latest Cretaceous affinity with southern South America increased.
Revision of the Middle Cambrian trilobiteAgnostus acadicusHartt
Authors: Robison Richard A.
Published: August 2016

Agnostus acadicusHartt (inDawson, 1868) was the first agnostoid trilobite to be described from Middle Cambrian strata in North America. It was later designated the type species ofAcadagnostusKobayashi, 1939. The original description ofA. acadicuswas based on two specimens, a cephalon and a pygidium, which are illustrated for the first time with photographs. These are interpreted to represent separate species, each belonging to a different genus. The holotype cephalon is reassigned asPeronopsis acadica, which is judged to be a subjective senior synonym ofAgnostus fallaxLinnarsson, 1869, and several other species-group taxa. Consequently,Acadagnostusis suppressed as a subjective junior synonym ofPeronopsis. Agnostus fallaxis the type species ofAxagnostusLaurie, 1990, which also is suppressed as a subjective junior synonym ofPeronopsis.The pygidium on which the original description ofA. acadicuswas based is reassigned toHypagnostus parvifrons(Linnarsson, 1869).

Peronopsis acadica, as emended, is a common, cosmopolitan agnostoid in open-marine lithofacies. It has an observed stratigraphic range from thePtychagnostus praecurrensInterval-zone to thePtychagnostus punctuosusInterval-zone.
A new ichnospecies of Spongeliomorpha from the Pleistocene of Sicily
Authors: D'Alessandro Assunta , Bromley Richard G.
Published: August 2016

A branched, scratch-ornamented burrow system is described from early Pleistocene sediments of Sicily, Italy. The trace fossil occurs in a bed of volcanic ash beneath a shallow marine silty unit and is remarkable in possessing enlarged, ovoid chambers above the multiple branching points of a maze. The structure, named Spongeliomorpha sicula, was probably produced by crustaceans. A likely interpretion is as an agrichnion, in which microbial gardening took place in the chambers.
The hexactinellid spongeCyathophycusfrom the Lower-Middle Ordovician Vinini Formation of central Nevada
Authors: Rigby J. Keith
Published: August 2016

The new speciesCyathophycus pseudoreticulatusand a fragment ofCyathophycus reticulatus? Walcott, 1879, are described and reported from the lower part of the Upper Member of the Vinini Formation from black shale of late Whiterockian age. The sponges were collected from the north fork of Vinini Creek, in the north-central part of the Roberts Mountains, Eureka County, Nevada.
Taxonomy, evolution, and biostratigraphy of theOrthograptus quadrimucronatusspecies group (Ordovician, Graptolithina)
Authors: Goldman Daniel
Published: August 2016

TheOrthograptus quadrimucronatusspecies group currently comprises 22 taxa, which, with the exception ofO. ruedemanni, are distinguished from other orthograptids by the presence of paired apertural spines on their thecae. A detailed morphometric analysis of this group indicates that these taxa comprise four basic morphotypes that actually represent only six distinct species:O. pageanus, O. quadrimucronatus, O. spinigerus, O. ruedemanni, O. eucharis, andO. rivai.

Specimens ofOrthograptus pageanushave a rapidly widening rhabdosome with elongated spines on the first two or four thecae.Orthograptus pageanusis divided into two chronological subspecies, an older, smaller form,O. pageanus pageanus, and a younger, larger form,O. pageanus maximusn. subsp. Specimens ofO. spinigerushave elongated spines on one or two thecal pairs between the sixth and thirteenth thecal pairs, a very narrow proximal end, and a rapidly widening rhabdosome. Specimens ofO. quadrimucronatushave a more parallel-sided shape and no unusually long spines. The subspeciesO. quadrimucronatus richmondensisis differentiated by the absence of both a median septum and a th 12spine.Orthograptus ruedemanni, O. rivai, andO. eucharisare all dwarf forms.

Within a chronostratigraphic framework based on K-bentonite bed correlations the pattern and process of evolutionary change in the members of theO. quadrimucronatusspecies group is examined. Morphometrically, each species remains a coherent entity through time, occupying its own distinct morphospace. Each speciation event probably occurred rapidly, precluding the preservation of intermediates, and the new species retained their basic morphology throughout their existence. Within these lineages, phyletic changes were either absent or encompassed only changes in size, even when accumulated for much longer intervals than would be expected for speciation events. These patterns appear to be consistent with the evolutionary model of punctuated equilibrium.
Apodosia, an enigmatic new genus of micromorphic brachiopod from the Cretaceous of Crimea, Ukraine, and the Jurassic of England
Authors: Smirnova T. N. , Mackinnon D. I.
Published: August 2016

The morphology of Argyrotheca lorioli Smirnova, 1972, from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) of Crimea, Ukraine, was reinvestigated using SEM, found to be impunctate, and reassigned as the type species of a new genus Apodosia, new family Apodosiidae, order ?Rhynchonellida. Another micromorphic brachiopod, Spiriferina? oolitica (Moore, 1855) from the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) Inferior Oolite of Somerset, England, is also reassigned to the new genus.
Balizoma and the new genera Aegrotocatellus and Perirehaedulus: Encrinurid trilobites from the Douro Formation (Siluiran, Ludlow) of the central Canadian Arctic
Authors: Adrain Jonathan M. , Edgecombe Gregory D.
Published: August 2016

Species of two new genera of Encrinuridae occur in the Ludlow Douro Formation at Goodsir Creek, Cornwallis Island, Gamier Bay, Somerset Island, and Prince Alfred Bay, Devon Island. The encrinurine Aegrotocatellus n. gen. includes four highly autapomorphic species, and is most closely related to Balizoma Holloway, 1980. Separate taxa are recognized at low and high stratigraphic intervals at Goodsir Creek (the type species, Aegrotocatellus jaggeri n. gen. and sp., and Aegrotocatellus n. sp. A, respectively), at Gamier Bay (Aegrotocatellus n. sp. B), and at Prince Alfred Bay (Aegrotocatellus nankerphelgeorum n. gen. and sp.). Perirehaedulus n. gen. is a coronocephaline most closely related to the Chinese upper Llandovery taxon Kailia Chang, 1974. The type species, Perirehaedulus caprus (Thomas in Thomas and Narbonne, 1979) from Goodsir Creek, is distinct from P. richardsi n. gen. and sp. at Garnier Bay. The upper Wenlock–Ludlow range of Balizoma is extended into the Arctic by Balizoma aff. B. variolaris (Brongniart, 1822) from Homerian rocks of the Cape Phillips Formation near Abbott River, Cornwallis Island, and by Balizoma sp., from the late Ludlow Douro Formation at Goodsir Creek.
Dendrocrinid crinoids from the Ordovician of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota
Authors: Brower James C.
Published: August 2016

Plicodendrocrinusn. gen. is erected for dendrocrinids with solid pentalobate columns, strong stellate ridges on the aboral cup plates, and highly plicate anal sac plates. Five species are assigned: Middle Ordovician;P. proboscidiatus(E. Billings, not W. R. Billings) n. comb., from the Trenton of Canada and the Dunleith of Iowa and Minnesota. Upper Ordovician;P. casei(Meek) n. comb., from the Richmond and Gamachian of the midcontinent;P. rugocyathus(Ramsbottom) n. comb., from the Ashgill of England;P. collapsus(Donovan) n. comb.; andP. granditubus(Ramsbottom) n. comb., from the Ashgill of Scotland.

The Middle Ordovician dendrocrinids from the Dunleith Formation (Trentonian) of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota areP. proboscidiatus(E. Billings),Dendrocrinus acutidactylusE. Billings, andQuienquecaudex springeri(Kolata). All species are also known from the Middle Ordovician of Ontario and Quebec. In addition,O. springeri(Kolata) is recorded from the Platteville Group of Illinois. Biogeographically, the Dunleith dendrocrinids are most similar to those of the northern Appalachians.

Plicodendrocrinus casei(Meek) ranges widely in the midcontinent and has been obtained from the Maysvillian and Richmondian Maquoketa Formation of Iowa and Minnesota, several Richmondian units in the Cincinnati area, and the Gamachian Girardeau Limestone of Illinois and Missouri.

A quantitative cladistic analysis of Ordovician cladid and flexible crinoids produces five groups: primitive forms includingAethocrinus, Compagicrinus, Ottawacrinus, andGrenprisia; cyathocrinids withCarabocrinus, Palaeocrinus, Illemocrinus, andPorocrinus; merocrinids withArchaetaxocrinus, Merocrinus, Praecupulocrinus, Polycrinus, andAithriocrinus; dendrocrinids withEsthonocrinus, Eoparisocrinus, Dendrocrinus, Quienquecaudex, Plicodendrocrinusand perhapsEopinnacrinus; andCupulocrinusand the flexibles,Protaxocrinus, Clidochirus, andProanisocrinus.These groups are not consistent with the present taxonomy and several suggestions for restructuring are presented, notably grouping flexibles with cladids and adjusting the taxonomic level of cyathocrinids. The cladograms for early cladids and flexibles are poorly correlated with stratigraphic position because of numerous unfilled range zones for the taxa or their ancestors. Thus, the cladograms generate predictions that can be tested by later finds in the Lower and the lower part of the Middle Ordovician. The overall evolutionary trends are highly mosaic with numerous parallelisms and reversals.