bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Protorthacean brachiopods from the Middle Cambrian of Morocco
Authors: Geyer Gerd , Mergl Michal
Published: August 2016

Protorthacean brachiopods from the Middle Cambrian of the Moroccan Atlas regions are described in terms of morphology and systematic affinities. The superfamily Protorthacea is revised to include both Protorthidae and Bohemiellidae. Newly introduced is the protorthid genusSaesorthis,the morphologic characteristics as well as the significance of which are discussed in detail together with their bearing on early phylogeny of the Orthacea. A reinvestigation ofBrahimorthis antiqualed to the recognition of additional morphologic peculiarities and enhances understanding of its stratigraphic occurrence. Additional descriptions and discussions deal with informally described protorthid and bohemiellid species.BohemiellaandJamesellaare reported from Africa for the first time.
The first occurrence of the Burgess Shale demosponge Hazelia palmata Walcott, 1920, in the Cambrian of Utah
Authors: Rigby J. Keith , Gunther Lloyd F. , Gunther Freida
Published: August 2016

A single specimen of Hazelia palmata Walcott, 1920, was collected from the Middle Cambrian Marjum Formation near Marjum Pass, in the central House Range, western Utah. This is a first occurrence of the species outside the Burgess shale region of British Columbia, Canada. The flattened oval impression of the monaxonid demosponge shows characteristic tufts and spicule structures of the species.
Attempted predation and shell repair in Middle and Upper Ordovician gastropods from Sweden
Authors: Ebbestad J. O. R. , Peel J. S.
Published: August 2016

Repaired shell injuries are reported in 11 specimens including six genera and eight species of gastropods from the upper Middle Ordovician (Caradoc) Kullsberg Limestone and the Upper Ordovician (Ashgill) Boda Limestone, Siljan district, Sweden. The specimens are of different sizes and morphologies, including one isostrophic, three low-spired, and six moderately high-spired turbinate forms. Single and repeated episodes of shell damage and subsequent repair are preserved, the breaks ranging from simple arcuate or scalloped fractures to removal of large sections of the apertural margin. Both early and late growth stages show damage, but the injuries are usually restricted to only one whorl. No shell repairs were discovered on the 65 more or less complete specimens of the subulitids, although the smooth shell makes observation difficult. Injuries in the Siljan samples are found in both microgastropods and large specimens, but the sample is too small for meaningful quantification. The shell repair frequency is about 7 percent, based on examination of 404 specimens (54 from Kullsberg Limestone and 350 from Boda Limestone). Most of the repaired injuries are attributed to failed predation, adding significantly to the Lower Paleozoic documentation of predation on gastropods. The gastropod shells are morphologically weak by modern standards, but do show some architectural strengthening features such as narrow apertures, collabral or spiral threads, and other ornamentation. The identity of the predator(s) is unknown.
Additional Mollusca (Bivalvia and Rostroconchia) from the Suri Formation, Early Ordovician (Arenig), western Argentina
Authors: Sánchez Teresa M.
Published: August 2016

The bivalve molluscs Colpomya? sp. and Goniophorina (Cosmogoniophorina)? tenuicostata Harrington are recorded for the first time in the Arenigian Suri Formation (Famatina Range, western Argentina), and the new taxa Suria ovalis new genus and new species, and Redonia riojana new species are proposed. Additionally, the rostroconchid Ribeiria spinosa Babin and Branisa is also described. Some taxa shared with the Acoite Formation (Cordillera Oriental, Northwestern Argentina) and the Sella Formation (Cordillera Oriental, Bolivia) suggest that the Suri Formation was geographically related to these basins, and consequently, it could likewise be considered as a peri-Gondwanan area.
The Placentian Series: appearance of the oldest skeletalized faunas in southeastern Newfoundland
Authors: Landing Ed , Myrow Paul , Benus Alison P. , Narbonne Guy M.
Published: August 2016

The lowest Cambrian of Avalon, or Placentian Series, is a relatively thick sequence (1,400 m) in southeastern Newfoundland. A newly proposed body fossil zonation supplements an existing trace fossil zonation of the lower part of the Placentian Series and includes strata to the top of the sub-trilobitic Lower Cambrian.

TheSabellidites cambriensisZone brackets the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary and comprises peritidal and wave-influenced subtidal facies deposited during deepening through the lower part of the Chapel Island Formation. Younger “Ladatheca”cylindricaZone strata include the deepest facies of the Chapel Island Formation. The base of the overlyingWatsonella crosbyiZone (a post-Nemakit Daldyn and pre-Tommotian equivalent) is significantly diachronous because the diagnostic mollusks were preferentially preserved in pyritiferous offshore muds rather than in coeval nearshore muds. High diversity, upperWatsonella crosbyiZone faunas (18 species) are limited to peritidal limestones of member 4 and are dominated by calcareous small shelly fossils. A thick interval (ca. 430 m) without body fossils and an important episode of block faulting that led to 750 m of differential erosion preceded deposition of the lower part of the Bonavista Group (=Sunnaginia imbricataZone, an interval considered to be largely older than the Tommotian). Although much Early Cambrian time may be lost as a result of erosion at Random Formation–Bonavista Group unconformities, manyWatsonella crosbyiZone species reappear in theSunnaginia imbricataZone. Shoaling accompanied the immigration event defining the base of theCamenella balticaZone, and an unconformity following regional offlap marks the top of the Placentian Series.

Calcareous, and not phosphatic, composition is most common in earliest Cambrian shelly remains. Little evidence suggests that a global, Precambrian–Cambrian boundary interval “phosphogenic” event either resulted in deposition of local phosphate deposits in the Tethyan region or had a role in the appearance of mineralized skeletons.

Twenty metazoans and problematica and an alga are illustrated from the Chapel Island Formation.Bemella?vonbitteriLanding n. sp. andHalkieria stoneiLanding n. sp. are described. The monoplacophoranArchaeospira?avalonensisLanding n. sp. has right-and left-handed conchs comparable to those ofArchaeospira(=Yangtzespira) from China.Anabaritesis the senior generic synonym ofTiksitheca.
Taxonomy and paleoecology of Devonian rostroconch mollusks from Ohio
Authors: Hoare R. D.
Published: August 2016

Rostroconchs are a common faunal component in the Devonian rocks of Ohio, particularly in the Columbus and Dundee Limestones. Hippocardia cunea (Conrad) is the most abundant species. Also present are H. monroica (Grabau), H. ohioense (Meek), H. curta n. sp., and Bransonia? sibleyense (La Rocque).

Growth series of Hippocardia cunea show that the large hood and the rostrum begin to develop early in ontogeny. The rates of increase in the number of comarginal growth increments on the posterior or rostral face and radial ribs on the body of the shell are slow; most size increase of the shell occurred in the increasing widths of the ribs and the interspaces. The length/height ratio increases from young to juvenile specimens and then decreases in adult specimens. However, the length/width and height/width ratios show a general decrease from young to adult specimens. Considerable variation in shell lateral profile is present in H. cunea.

Three specimens of Hippocardia cunea show borings entering the posterior rostral portion of the shell, presumably made by Trypanites, a polychaete worm. In one instance, a boring caused disfiguration of the shell material indicating that the host was alive at the time of the boring. The orientation and location of the borings and the presence of one specimen believed to be preserved in life position provides the base for interpreting H. cunea as an infaunal deposit feeder.
Functional morphology and paleoecological implications of the platycrinitid column (Echinodermata, Crinoidea)
Authors: Riddle Steven W.
Published: August 2016

Flume studies conducted on models and specimens of the helically twisted columns from Mississippian platycrinitid crinoids revealed two unique hydrodynamic interactions. Water is deflected up the column from levels near the sediment-water interface where food particles are more abundant. Turbulence, both in the lee and on the upstream side of the column, removes nutrient-poor water and replaces it with nutrient-rich water from near the sediment-water interface. Subsequently, the nutrient-rich water would have been filtered through the feeding apparatus of the crinoid. An upward deflection of as little as 10 percent bottom water would have resulted in a substantial increase in food particle load. Thus, the form of platycrinitid columns gave the crinoid a feeding advantage over otherwise similar crinoids of the same time period. The most diverse and abundant group of Mesozoic–Cenozoic stalked crinoids shows similar column modifications which suggests that the morphology may impart some competitive advantage to the organism.
Echinoderms of the Somerset Shale Member, Salem Limestone (Mississippian), in Indiana and Kentucky
Authors: Feldman Howard Randall
Published: August 2016

The Somerset Shale Member (Mississippian: Valmeyeran) is a discontinuous shale at the base of the Salem Limestone in southern Indiana and central Kentucky. It is the only significant terrigenous unit within a thick sequence of shoaling carbonates deposited on the eastern side of the Illinois Basin over the Borden Delta siltstones. The Somerset Shale contains a diverse echinoderm fauna of blastoids (five species), crinoids (20 species), and echinoids (two species). Most of the species are known only from the Somerset or from carbonate rocks directly above and below the Somerset Shale. There remains a small number of species previously known mostly from terrigenous rocks (the Borden Delta) below the carbonates. This demonstrates that at least some of the faunal differences between the Borden crinoids and those of the overlying carbonates are the result of paleoecologic factors. The Somerset Shale may mark a useful biostratigraphic boundary defined by last occurrences of the generaBarycrinus, Cyathocrinites, andActinocrinitesand the base of the range ofBatocrinus. The speciesBatocrinus somersetensisn. sp.,Dizygocrinus calvusn. sp., andBarycrinus punctusn. sp. are described.
Shastasaurus altispinus(Ichthyosauria, Shastasauridae) from the Upper Triassic of the El Antimonio district, northwestern Sonora, Mexico
Authors: Callaway Jack M. , Massare Judy A.
Published: August 2016

New specimens ofShastasaurus altispinusMerriam are recognized from the Upper Triassic Antimonio Formation in the El Antimonio district of northwestern Sonora, Mexico. This represents the first occurrence of the species outside of its type locality in Shasta County, California, and the first known occurrence of Triassic ichthyosaurs from Mexico. Some remains are well preserved, but in general they are fragmented, structurally distorted, and incomplete; however, they enhance the current understanding of the morphology of a species that has been known hitherto only from an even more incomplete holotype. The material is the first from anyShastasaurusthat preserves the anterior portions of the skull and lower jaw and implanted teeth. Revised diagnoses for the genus and species are given on the basis of the new material. Biostratigraphic zonation furnishes an early Late Carnian age for the specimens, which is in accord with that for the holotype.
Lectotype designation for Stromatoporella subvesiculosum (Lecompte, 1951) (Stromatoporoidea)
Authors: St. Jean Joseph
Published: August 2016

Based on the lectotype specimen herein selected, Clathrodictyon amygdaloides subvesiculosum Lecompte is raised to species status and assigned to Stromatoporella. In Clathrodictyon amygdaloides subvesiculosum (1951, p. 143, PL 18, figs. 3, 3a, 3b), Lecompte thought that he had a specimen replicated by heteromorphic coenosteal lenses (“Les lentilles hétéromorphes”). Examination of his original slides in the collections of the Institute Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique reveals that the specimen consists of overgrowths of several laminar coenostea demarcated by eroded coenosteal surfaces and, in places, intercalated matrix sediment (vertical sections). The coenostea belong to two different genera: Actinostroma, as indicated by its Y-shaped pillars and laminae composed of a transversely fibrous microfabric, and Stromatoporella, as demonstrated by the presence of ring-pillars and ordinocellular laminae.
On the costs of journal subscriptions
Authors: Feldmann Rodney M.
Published: August 2016

University librarians are raising an increasingly loud cry of anguish as a result of the soaring costs of scientific journals. Recently, this problem has been forcefully driven home by a spate of articles (Holden, 1987; Parmater, 1988; Ruschin, 1988; Turner, 1989) in a variety of sources suggesting that one of the primary consequences of this increasing cost must be cancellation of library subscriptions. As a long-time member of a geology departmental library committee and as an ex-editor of the Journal of Paleontology, I feel it is appropriate to comment on this problem and to offer some suggestions regarding approaches to ameliorate the problem.
Actinocamax cobbanin. sp. from the Coniacian of Montana and Wyoming and the occurrence of Late Cretaceous belemnites in North America and Greenland
Authors: Christensen Walter Kegel
Published: August 2016

Actinocamax cobbani, a new belemnitellid species from the middle Coniacian of Montana and Wyoming, is described, including univariate and bivariate biometric analyses. The species is stout and medium sized, lanceolate or strongly lanceolate in ventral view, and has adorally a low cone-shaped alveolar fracture. It may be granulated. It is compared to species ofActinocamaxMiller andGonioteuthisBayle from the North American and North European paleobiogeographic provinces. The importance of various morphological characters, such as the shape of the guard and the structure of the adoral end, are discussed. The majority of the belemnitellids of the North American Province are endemic and the stratigraphic distribution is punctuated during the Late Cretaceous, suggesting short-lived migrations of populations from the North European Province.
Selachians from the Greenhorn Cyclothem (“Middle” Cretaceous: Cenomanian–Turonian), Black Mesa, Arizona, and the Paleogeographic distribution of Late Cretaceous selachians
Authors: Williamson Thomas E. , Kirkland James I. , Lucas Spencer G.
Published: August 2016

Black Mesa in northeastern Arizona exposes sediments of late Cenomanian–Turonian age deposited during the transgressive–regressive Greenhorn cyclothem. These sediments contain a diverse selachian fauna that consists of 21 taxa:Hybodussp.,Ptychodus whipplei, P. decurrens, P.cf.P. mammillaris, Chiloscyllium greeni, Chiloscylliumsp.,Scapanorhynchus raphiodon, Cretodus semiplicatus, Cretolamna appendiculata, C. woodwardi, Cretoxyrhina mantelli, cf.Leptostyraxsp.,Squalicorax falcatus, Rhinobatossp.,Pseudohypolophus mcnultyi, Protoplatyrhina hopiin. sp.,Ischyrhiza schneideri, I. avonicola, Onchopristis dunklei, Ptychotrygon triangularis, P. rubyaen. sp., and five types of dermal denticles. Two selachian assemblages, a nearshore and a deeper water assemblage, are present in this fauna. Though there is some provincialism in North Africa, Europe, and North America during the Greenhorn marine cycle, the wide dispersion of some shark taxa and the great similarities between widely separated selachian faunas are striking.
Error-weighted maximum likelihood (EWML): a new statistically based method to cluster quantitative micropaleontological data
Authors: Fishbein Evan , Patterson R. Timothy
Published: August 2016

The advent of readily available computer-based clustering packages has created some controversy in the micropaleontological community concerning the use and interpretation of computer-based biofacies discrimination. This is because dramatically different results can be obtained depending on methodology. The analysis of various clustering techniques reveals that, in most instances, no statistical hypothesis is contained in the clustering model and no basis exists for accepting one biofacies partitioning over another. Furthermore, most techniques do not consider standard error in species abundances and generate results that are not statistically relevant. When many rare species are present, statistically insignificant differences in rare species can accumulate and overshadow the significant differences in the major species, leading to biofacies containing members having little in common.

A statistically based “error-weighted maximum likelihood” (EWML) clustering method is described that determines biofacies by assuming that samples from a common biofacies are normally distributed. Species variability is weighted to be inversely proportional to measurement uncertainty. The method has been applied to samples collected from the Fraser River Delta marsh and shows that five distinct biofacies can be resolved in the data. Similar results were obtained from readily available packages when the data set was preprocessed to reduce the number of degrees of freedom. Based on the sample results from the new algorithm, and on tests using a representative micropaleontological data set, a more conventional iterative processing method is recommended. This method, although not statistical in nature, produces similar results to EWML (not commercially available yet) with readily available analysis packages. Finally, some of the more common clustering techniques are discussed and strategies for their proper utilization are recommended.
Oldest representative of the family Palaeozygopleuridae (Gastropoda) with notes on its higher taxonomy
Authors: Frýda Jiří
Published: August 2016

The oldest representative of the family Palaeozygopleuridae (Loxonematoidea, Gastropoda),Palaeozygopleura chlupacin. sp., from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian,Monograptus uniformisZone) of Bohemia is described. Also, its higher taxonomic position and the relationship of the families Loxonematidae and Palaeozygopleuridae are discussed. The diagnoses of both families give no unambiguous criteria for their distinction and their revision is necessary. The gradual disappearance of the deep, asymmetrical sinus in the apertural lip during the phylogeny of loxonematoidean gastropods could probably occur by two different modes and it could be produced by other changes in the mantle cavity rather than by progressive loss of the right-hand ctenidium. The family Palaeozygopleuridae is considered to be polyphyletic and, thus, is an artificial group.
New Lower Cambrian olenelloid trilobite genera Cirquella and Geraldinella from southwestern Canada
Authors: Fritz W. H.
Published: August 2016

The genus Cirquella is erected for small, smooth nevadiid trilobites that lack genal spines. The type species, C. nummularia, is associated with taxa in the Dogtooth Mountains, British Columbia, that belong to the Nevadella Zone. A second species, C. espinata, is described from the southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, where it is associated with the new archaeaspid genus Geraldinella. Strata in the latter locality can be physically correlated to documented strata of the Nevadella Zone. The same zone in Nevada contains C. nummularia?.
The Kladognathus apparatus (Conodonta, Carboniferous): homologies with ozarkodinids, and the prioniodinid Bauplan
Authors: Purnell Mark A.
Published: August 2016

The midgut of a new specimen of Typhloesus wellsi (Melton and Scott) from the Bear Gulch Member (Namurian, Montana) contains a complete, well-preserved apparatus of Kladognathus Rexroad. The apparatus comprises 2 Pa, 2 Pb, 1 Sa, 4 Sb, 4 Sc, and 2 M elements. Kladognathus and Oulodus angulatus (Hinde) are the only members of the Prioniodinida of which complete, well-preserved bedding plane assemblages are known. The arrangement of elements in these assemblages suggests that the prioniodinid Bauplan was similar to that of ozarkodinids.
A redescription of a Maastrichtian lobster Hoploparia antarctica Wilckens, 1907 (Crustacea: Decapoda), from Chubut, Argentina
Authors: Aguirre-Urreta M. B. , Olivero E. B. , Medina F. A.
Published: August 2016

The discovery of beautifully preserved specimens of a macruran decapod provides the basis for redescription of Hoploparia antarctica Wilckens, a hitherto poorly known species from the Campanian–Maastrichtian of the Austral basin of Southern Patagonia. Analyses of the associated molluscan fauna, trace fossils, and sedimentary structures indicate that the material is mostly preserved in calcareous sandstones and coquinas deposited in shallow, well-oxygenated environments. These new findings of H. antarctica in Maastrichtian deposits of the Lefipán Formation of Chubut expand the geographic distribution of the species and add a new element for the comparison of the Lefipán fauna with that of the austral Wedellian Province.
Middle Ordovician (Whiterockian) trilobites from the Sunblood Formation, District of Mackenzie, Canada
Authors: Tremblay James V. , Westrop Stephen R.
Published: August 2016

In the South Nahanni River area of the District of Mackenzie, the Middle Ordovician Sunblood Formation comprises mainly limestones and dolostones of intertidal and shallow-subtidal origin, as indicated by the presence of desiccation polygons, fenestral fabric, and oncolites. Faunas of well-preserved, silicified trilobites from a low-diversity, nearshore, Bathyurus-dominated biofacies are compositionally distinct from faunas in correlative strata around North America that represent different shelf to upperslope biofacies. A temporal biostratigraphy applicable to nearshore biofacies through much of the Whiterockian Series consists of five zones, in ascending order: Bathyurus mackenziensis, B. sunbloodensis, B. margareti, B. nevadensis, and B. granulosus. Twenty-six species are assigned to 18 genera, of which Ludvigsenella is new. Three new species of Bathyurus are B. mackenziensis, B. sunbloodensis, and B. margareti.
Systematics and biogeography of the “Malvinella group,” Calmoniidae (Trilobita, Devonian)
Authors: Lieberman Bruce S. , Edgecombe Gregory D. , Eldredge Niles
Published: August 2016

Phylogenetic parsimony analysis forms a basis for classification of the Siegenian–Eifelian “Malvinella group,” a monophyletic taxon within the “Metacryphaeus group” of the family Calmoniidae. Fifty-one exoskeletal characters for Metacryphaeus Reed and 12 taxa of the “Malvinella group” yield a shortest length cladogram with a consistency index of 0.51. A classification based on retrieving the structure of this cladogram recognizes six genera: Malvinella Wolfart, Vogesina Wolfart, Palpebrops n. gen. (type P. donegalensis n. sp.), the sister taxa Parabouleia Eldredge and Bouleia Kozlowski, and Plesiomalvinella n. gen. [type P. pujravii (Wolfart)]. Palpebrops is more closely related to Vogesina than to Malvinella; Amazonian species are nested within this group as sister taxa to Andean or Amazon/Andean clades. Bolivian Belén Formation Malvinella buddeae n. sp. is an allopatric species distinct from Icla Formation M. haugi (Kozlowski). “Metacryphaeus” of recent revisions is a paraphyletic grade group including primitive species of the “Malvinella group.” Metacryphaeus australis (Clarke), M. tuberculatus (Kozlowski), and M. caffer (Salter) are endemic to the Paraná Basin, Andean Bolivia–Parnaíba Basin, and South Africa, respectively.
Calcareous algae from Cretaceous carbonates of Egypt, Sinai, and southern Jordan
Authors: Kuss J. , Conrad M.-A.
Published: August 2016

Calcareous algae are frequent constituents in the shallow-marine limestone intercalations of late Aptian–Maastrichtian strata of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, the Sinai, and southern Jordan. A total of 18 species of green algae (among them 16 dasycladaceans withPraturlonella hammudain. comb. andPraturlonella jordanican. sp., two udoteaceans) and eight species of red algae (among them two gymnocodiaceans, three solenoporaceans, and one squamariacean) are described and compared with algae from several Tethyan occurrences. The stratigraphic distribution is calibrated by 10 assemblage-zones based on the associated foraminiferids and compared with 10 ammonite assemblage-zones.

The algal contents vary within the different strata: their total contents and diversities increase from the late Aptian–Albian carbonates to the Cenomanian and decrease to the Turonian–Coniacian; no algae were proved in the Santonian–Campanian. The Maastrichtian occurrences are limited to one outcrop.
Crinitograptus, a new genus of Ludlow (Silurian) graptoloid
Authors: Rickards R. B.
Published: August 2016

Monograptus crinitusWood is made the type species of a new genus,Crinitograptus; a slender,nilssoniBiozone, Ludlow graptolite typified by unusual lidded thecae. Chemically isolated material from North Germany, previously placed in the generaBarrandeograptusandPomatograptusare placed in synonymy withC. crinitus, a rare, but relatively widely recorded form.Crinitograptus crinitusis an integral part of the globally recognized Ludlow burst of evolution in the graptoloids, and it probably evolved from anilssoniBiozone lobograptid.
Early Devonian conodonts from a limestone horizon in the Caballos Novaculite, Marathon Uplift, west Texas
Authors: Barrick James E. , Noble Paula J.
Published: August 2016

Early Devonian (Lochkovian; eurekaensis Zone) conodonts occur in discontinuous limestone beds in the Caballos Novaculite at five localities in the northwestern half of the Marathon uplift, west Texas. Similar conodont faunas at all five localities indicate that the limestone beds lie at one biostratigraphic horizon within the Caballos. The upper novaculite member directly overlies the limestone horizon at one locality, giving the upper novaculite a maximum age of Lochkovian. The limestone beds are dominantly skeletal calcarenites that represent shallow-water carbonate material transported into a deeper water setting by gravity processes. Restriction of the limestones to the northwestern margin of the uplift and provenance of reworked clasts and redeposited Ordovician and Silurian conodonts suggest a North American shelf source and are evidence of the close proximity of some strata exposed in the Marathon uplift to North America in the Early Devonian. Icriodus gravesi n. sp. is described from the limestone fauna.
A new heteromorph ammonite from the Barremian (Cretaceous) of California
Authors: Murphy Michael A. , Rodda Peter U. , Embree Patrick
Published: August 2016

The fauna of the lower Chickabally Member of the Budden Canyon Formation, a part of the Cretaceous Great Valley Sequence in the Cottonwood District (Figures 1, 2) of northern California, was described by Murphy (1975). At that time, two specimens of the species described here were known, but they were not complete enough to be identified or classified. Recently, Embree collected three additional specimens from the same horizon that enable us to classify the taxon with the Heteroceratidae. However, the rate of whorl expansion of the cross section of the conch and the open coiling are different from all other Heteroceratidae and we regard it, like much of the associated fauna, as a genus and species endemic to California.
The first record of spiral coprolites from the Dinosaur Park Formation (Judith River Group, Upper Cretaceous) southern Alberta, Canada
Authors: Coy Clive E.
Published: August 2016

Spiral coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of North America are poorly known. Enterospirae (fossilized intestines) reported from the Upper Cretaceous Niobrara Formation of western Kansas (Stewart, 1978) were disputed by McAllister (1985), who felt they represented spiral coprolites similar to those described from the Permian by Neumayer (1904). Previously described coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous of Alberta are small, unstructured, ellipsoidal forms thought to derive from a crocodilian or terrestrial, carnivorous reptile of necrophagic or piscivorous habits (Waldman, 1970; Waldman and Hopkins, 1970).
Devonian bryozoan diversity, extinctions, and originations
Authors: Horowitz Alan S. , Pachut Joseph F. , Anstey Robert L.
Published: August 2016

Observed diversity of bryozoans within Devonian stages is not significantly different from range-through values for species because very few species have ranges longer than a single stage. Generic diversity differs significantly between observed stadial and stadial range-through values except for the diverse Givetian faunas. Among families, observed stadial and range-through comparisons differ significantly in the lower diversity Early and Late Devonian but are not significant in the taxonomically diverse Middle Devonian. The patterns of Devonian generic and familial diversity are apparently robust proxies for specific diversity.

Givetian specific and generic extinctions, based on generated bootstrap distributions, are significantly higher than the other six Devonian stages even when modifications for different stage durations are considered. Based on present data, we conclude that a major change in Devonian diversity occurred between the Givetian and the Frasnian stages. Givetian specific and generic extinctions are not “smeared” with respect to adjacent stages and should qualify as a mass extinction among bryozoans pending more accurate data on bryozoan ranges and more precision in radiometric dating of Devonian stadial boundaries. Devonian bryozoan familial extinctions are not numerous and do not exhibit a significant number of extinctions for any stage. The Givetian extinction, which for the time being ranks as the largest bryozoan extinction in the Phanerozoic, is a global event with a marked local effect in the Hamilton-Tully fauna of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ontario.

Givetian specific originations are significantly higher than bootstrap distributions for both raw data and data modified for stadial durations. A Givetian generic high in originations for raw data is not significant when modified for stadial durations and only Eifelian familial originations are significantly higher than bootstrapped distributions.
Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Coniacian through MaastrichtianAnchura(Gastropoda: Aporrhaiidae) of the North American Pacific Slope
Authors: Elder William P. , Saul L. R.
Published: August 2016

North American Pacific Slope deposits of Coniacian to Maastrichtian age have yielded eight biostratigraphically useful species ofAnchura: A. (Helicaulax?) popenoeinew species, Coniacian;A. halberdopsisnew species, early Campanian;A. callosaWhiteaves, 1903, early Campanian;A. falciformis(Gabb, 1864), late early to middle Campanian;A. phabanew species, middle to late Campanian;A. ainiktanew species, middle to late Campanian;A. gibberaWebster, 1983, late Campanian to early Maastrichtian;A. baptosnew species, late Maastrichtian to early Danian. In addition, two other possible species areA. nanaimoensis(Whiteaves, 1879), middle to late Campanian, andAnchura?new species, late Maastrichtian. These species together with two additional Turonian species,A. (Helicaulax) tricosaSaul and Popenoe, 1993, andA. (H.) condonianaAnderson, 1902, allow the definition at least eight Late CretaceousAnchurazones for the Pacific Slope. These zones have durations of 1.5 m.y. to 4 m.y.

Anchura (H.?) popenoeifrom northern California appears most closely related toA. (Helicaulax) tricosaSaul and Popenoe, 1993, of Turonian age from southern California.Anchura callosa, A. falciformis, A. nanaimoensis, andA. phabaappear to be closely related based on sculptural elements, as doesA. gibberadespite having an anterior spur on the wing. However, these species appear to belong to two latitudinally differentiated faunal provinces. Species having a northern range includeA. callosa, A. falciformis, andA. nanaimoensis, whereasA. phabaandA. gibberaare from more southern deposits, as are alsoA. halberdopsis, A. ainikta, andA. baptos.
Two new crabs, Graptocarcinus maastrichtensis, and Caloxanthus kuypersi (Crustacea, Decapoda), from the type Maastrichtian of the Netherlands
Authors: Fraaye René H. B.
Published: August 2016

A new species of Graptocarcinus is the stratigraphically youngest known member of the genus; it is here described together with a new species of the genus Caloxanthus from the late Maastrichtian of The Netherlands. The known stratigraphic distribution and paleobiogeography of both genera are discussed. The range of Graptocarcinus is extended from the Aptian to the late Maastrichtian.
A protocetid cetacean from the Eocene of South Carolina
Authors: Albright L. Barry
Published: August 2016

Kellogg (1936, p. 242) described “an imperfectly preserved dorsal vertebra” from Texas, which he assigned to the primitive cetacean genusProtocetus. McLeod and Barnes (1990), however, were the first to report unequivocal protocetid remains from the Atlantic Coastal Plain. Since then, Hulbert and Petkewich (1991) and Hulbert (1993) have noted a well-preserved skeleton of a protocetid cetacean from middle Eocene deposits in Georgia. The purpose of this note is to report the recent discovery of additional protocetid remains from the coastal plain of South Carolina and to discuss their stratigraphic and biostratigraphic context.
An upper Miocene hexactinellid sponge from the Puente Shale, Orange County, California
Authors: Rigby J. Keith , Albi Yvonne
Published: August 2016

Well-preserved, laterally flattened, farreid hexactinellid sponges of the new speciesFarrea rugosahave been recently discovered in the upper Miocene Puente Shale in the Peralta Hills in southeastern Anaheim, Orange County, California. This is the first farreid sponge reported from the Miocene of California and is one of the few Miocene sponges reported from North America. The cluster is of upward bifurcating, moderately complex sponges in which branches are regularly rugose and skeletons are each a single layer of dictyid net, with aborted proximal and distal rays in the otherwise laterally fused quadruled skeleton of original silica. The sponges occur in pinkish brown sandy siltstone in the limited exposure beneath older alluvium that blankets much of the local area.
Iheringinucula,a new genus of the family Nuculidae (Mollusca: Bivalvia) from the Tertiary of Patagonia (Argentina)
Authors: del Río Claudia J. , Camacho Horacio H.
Published: August 2016

Iheringinucula,a new Tertiary genus of the family Nuculidae, is proposed. This taxon is known only from the Patagonian region (Argentina), and its range is from the late Eocene to the early Miocene. Two species are known:Iheringinucula tricesima(Ihering) from the Monte León Formation (upper Oligocene-lower Miocene) andIheringinucula crassirugatanew species from the San Julián Formation (upper Eocene-lower Oligocene?) and the Monte León Formation.
Late Paleozoic edrioasteroids (Echinodermata) from the North American Midcontinent
Authors: Sumrall Colin D.
Published: August 2016

A new classification is proposed for late Paleozoic Edrioasteroidea (Echinodermata), separating forms with the advanced clavate thecal design from those with the ancestral pyrgate thecal design, and a new Subfamily Discocystinae is erected to receive the clavate agelacrinitid edrioasteroids. Lepidodiscus Meek and Worthen is restricted to the pyrgate type species L. squamosus (Meek and Worthen) and two unnamed species, whereas the clavate L. laudoni (Bassler) is assigned to Clavidiscus, new genus. The clavate Discocystis priesti Strimple and three new species, Hypsiclavus kinsleyi, new genus and species, Hypsiclavus huntsvillensis, new genus and species, and Hypsiclavus guensburgi, new genus and species, are placed in Hypsiclavus, new genus. Bostryclavus, new genus, is erected to receive Echinodiscus sampsoni Miller. A redescription of Discocystis kaskaskiensis (Hall) and a diagnosis of Spiraclavus Sumrall are included for completeness.
Variations in salamander trackways resulting from substrate differences
Authors: Brand Leonard R.
Published: August 2016

As part of a study of vertebrate trackways in the cross-stratified Coconino Sandstone (Permian) of northern Arizona, trackways made by living salamanders under different substrate conditions were compared. The sample of 230 trackways of the western newt,Taricha torosa,included ten combinations of the following substrate characteristics: 1) sediment: muddy or of fine sand; 2) attitude: level or sloped (25 degrees); 3) moisture content: dry, damp, wet, or submerged.

Trackways in wet mud produced the most accurate representation of the number of toes per foot and the arrangement of toes. All other conditions studied yielded a reduced average number of toes per foot, and a large sample was needed before the data had the potential to indicate the true structure of the trackmaker's feet. Trackways made on sloped, submerged mud or sand, sloped, dry sand, and sloped, damp sand rarely included the full complement of toes. The positions and orientations of the toe marks were distorted if the animals were walking underwater or on sloped, damp sand. Trackways on the slopes of cross-stratified deposits make reliable identification of the trackmaking animals exceptionally difficult.
New marsupial from the Fort Union Formation, Swain Quarry, Wyoming
Authors: Johanson Zerina
Published: August 2016

Previously described upper and lower molars from the Fort Union Formation (Swain Quarry, Wyoming) are referred to Swaindelphys cifellii new genus and species. This taxon is assigned to the subfamily Herpetotheriinae, family Didelphidae. These molars were originally referred to a new, unnamed species of Peradectes (subfamily Peradectinae), with similarities to P. pusillus (now Thylacodon pusillus) and P. elegans. However, upper molars differ from these taxa in being dilambdodont, in possessing more strongly developed stylar cusps, especially on M2 and M3, and in having a protocone that is shifted anteriorly. These characters suggest similarity to taxa such as Peratherium (subfamily Herpetotheriinae, family Didelphidae), rather than Peradectes. The assignment of the lower molars from Swain Quarry is more problematic: these molars are similar to the holotype Thylacodon pusillus in that the entoconid and hypoconulid separated by a strong notch; however, the Swain Quarry lower molars differ in being smaller overall and possessing an anteroposteriorly shorter talonid. These lower molars are similar to didelphid lower molars in having a hypoconulid that is lower than the entoconid (these are subequal in height on lower molars of Peradectes), but differ from didelphid lower molars in that the hypoconulid does not form a low, posteriorly projecting shelf. Nevertheless, the upper and lower molars from Swain Quarry are considered to belong to a single taxon, and with the assignment of the Swain Quarry materials to the subfamily Herpetotheriinae, the geological range of this subfamily is extended from the early Eocene back into the middle Paleocene (Torrejonian, or To3).
Unusual oak leaf galls from the middle Miocene of northwestern Nevada
Authors: Waggoner Benjamin M. , Poteet Mary F.
Published: August 2016

Distinctive galls have been found on a fossil oak leaf from the Miocene Gillam Springs Flora of Washoe County, Nevada. The described galls are located on the leaf surface ofQuercus hannibaliDorf, an analogue of the modern speciesQ. chrysolepisLiebmann. Similar galls are found on extantQuercus,but the fossils seem distinctive enough to warrant description asAntronoides schorninew genus and species. The occurrence ofAntronoides schornicoincides with a rapid episode of change from a mesic to a more xeric habitat, with a concomitant shift from an oak-dominated to a conifer-dominated paleoflora. Recent work suggests that speciation and radiation of galling insects is highest in xeric environments, possibly due to decreases in rates of parasitism and disease. This pattern has been documented for modern galling insects and fits the qualitative fossil evidence we present. These galls also support the hypothesis that cynipids in theAntrongroup originated in Nevada or eastern California and migrated from their point of origin to their current range in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges.
Epibiont communities: Recruitment and competition on North American Carboniferous brachiopods
Authors: Lescinsky Halard L.
Published: August 2016

Shell-encrusting assemblages have uniquely high ecological fidelity among paleocommunities because adjacent epibionts coexisted in ecological time, and the abundances and spatial relationships of the various members are accurately preserved. This study presents a quantitative reconstruction of communities on brachiopod shells (Composita and alate spirifers) from the Carboniferous of North America. Thirty-one epibiont communities, comprised of a total of 1180 encrusted brachiopods, are analyzed in terms of epibiont abundance (e.g., percent areal cover), ecological diversity (e.g., Shannon-Wiener Index), and the role of larval recruitment and spatial competition in structuring the communities.

Mississippian epibiont communities contain from seven to 14 encrusting taxa that occupy up to 25 percent of host shell surfaces. These communities are spatially dominated by trepostome bryozoans, but also include common lower Paleozoic epibionts, such as encrusting ctenostome bryozoans, hederellids, cornulitids, and edrioasteroids. Pennsylvanian epibiont communities contain between eight and 16 epizoan taxa that occupy up to 34 percent of shell surfaces. They are dominated by fistuliporoid or trepostome bryozoans and increasing proportions of erect bryozoans (e.g., fenestellids), encrusting foraminiferans, and articulate brachiopods.

Carboniferous epibionts, like their modern counterparts, exist in loosely organized ecological communities that vary widely in abundance and composition in space and geological time. There is little evidence for tight controls on community structure. Much of the variation is attributed to vagaries in the magnitude and selective nature of larval recruitment. Evidence of competition between community members is rare, except where a high percentage of the shell surface is covered. In these cases, sheetlike bryozoans are usually most abundant. Solitary epibionts are surprisingly successful competitors in one-on-one encounters, but apparently lose areal cover to longer-lived colonial encrusters during ecological succession.
Upper Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) ammonites from the Marshalltown formation-Mount Laurel boundary beds in Delaware
Authors: Kennedy W. J. , Cobban W. A.
Published: August 2016

New collections from the Marshalltown Formation and basal Mount Laurel Sand along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Delaware clarify the ammonite dating of the interval. The Marshalltown Formation yieldsPachydiscus(Pachydiscus) sp.,Menuites portlocki(Sharpe, 1855)complexus(Hall and Meek, 1856), a subspecies restricted to theBaculites gregoryensisandBaculites scottizones in the Western Interior of the United States, andDidymoceras binodosum(Kennedy and Cobban, 1993a) known only from theB. scottizone of the Western Interior and correlatives in Arkansas and Texas. The basal part of the Mount Laurel Sand contains a complex assemblage preserved as phosphatic molds:Nostoceras(Nostoceras)monotuberculatumKennedy and Cobban, 1993a,Nostoceras(N.) sp.,Didymoceras platycostatum(Kennedy and Cobban, 1993b),D. stevensoni(Whitfield, 1877) (previously thought to be from the Marshalltown) andExiteloceras jenneyi(Whitfield, 1877). The last two are index species of their eponymous zones in the Western Interior. This sequence is compatible with ammonites from the Wenonah Formation, which lies between the Marshalltown and Mount Laurel to the north and contains ammonites indicative of theBaculites scottizone, and the fauna from higher in the Mount Laurel Sand, which includes elements of theDidymoceras cheyennenseandBaculites compressuszones of the Western Interior sequence.
Middle Mississippian disparid crinoids from the midcontinental United States
Authors: Ausich William I. , Kammer Thomas W. , Meyer David L.
Published: August 2016

Systematic restudy of Lower Mississippian disparid crinoids from the midcontinental United States results in the recognition of nine valid species and one left in open nomenclature. Although disparid crinoids are not diverse, they may be locally abundant and be the dominant crinoids in certain settings. The following species are considered valid:Catillocrinus tennesseeaeShumard,Catillocrinus wachsmuthi(Meek and Worthen),Eucatillocrinus bradleyi(Meek and Worthen),Halysiocrinus bradleyi(Meek and Worthen),Halysiocrinus cumberlandensisnew species,Halysiocrinus springeriBrower,Halysiocrinus tunicatus(Hall),Synbathocrinus blairiMiller, andSynbathocrinus swalloviHall. Several species are placed into synonymy.Catillocrinus shumardiSpringer andC. turbinatusare considered junior synonyms ofC. tennesseeae. Halysiocrinus granuliferusandH. perplexusare regarded as junior synonyms ofH. tunicatus. Synbathocrinus angularisMiller and Gurley,S. granulatus(Wood),S. granuliferusWetherby,S. robustusShumard, andS. troosti(Wood) are deemed junior synonyms ofS. swallovi.The youngest (Meramecian) North American calceocrinids,Halysiocrinussp., are reported, herein, from the Harrodsburg and Salem Limestones of Indiana.
The jugum and salinity tolerance of Greenfieldia (Brachiopoda: Late Silurian)
Authors: Boucot A. J. , Alvarez Fernando , Leibold Arthur
Published: August 2016

While preparing the part of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology dealing with Greenfieldia, Alvarez had problems with the absence of information regarding its jugum. GRABAU (1910, in Grabau and Sherzer) described the smooth, subequally biconvex, small shell Greenfieldia whitfieldi, the type species of his Greenfieldia, from the Late Silurian Greenfield Dolomite of northern Ohio. Grabau (1910, p. 149) remarked that the brachidium was unknown, with only the presence of laterally directed spiralia (Grabau, Pl. XXX, fig. 9) being indicated but not discussed in the text. Grabau (1910) considered a questionable assignment of Greenfieldia to the meristelloid Hindella. Boucot et al. (1965, p. H662), Berry and Boucot (1970, p. 155) and Berdan (1972, p. 16) all illustrated the difficulty in discriminating between the Late Silurian Protathyris, whose jugum is known and athyroid in type, and Greenfieldia with its unknown jugum. Jones (1978, p. 10) further emphasized the difficulty in discriminating between Protathyris and Greenfieldia owing to ignorance of the latter's jugum. Modzalevskaya (1979, fig. 7) described a jugum from a form assigned to Greenfieldia. The complex form of the jugum she illustrated, featuring a number of recurving branches, is entirely unlike that of Greenfieldia although relatively similar to that of Protathyris.
Bryozoa of the Murdock Mountain Formation (Wordian, Permian), Leach Mountains, northeastern Nevada
Authors: Gilmour Ernest H. , McColloch Miriam E. , Wardlaw Bruce R.
Published: August 2016

A thin limestone tongue in the upper part of the Murdock Mountain Formation of northeastern Nevada contains abundant bryozoans of earliest Wordian age. This bryozoan fauna is close to the Kungurian-Kazanian boundary in Russia. These bryozoans are younger than those found in the Kaibab Formation of southern Nevada and slightly older than those in the Gerster Limestone of northern Nevada. This limestone tongue, herein referred to as the Stenodiscus beds, lies below the Thamnosia beds described by Wardlaw in the Murdock Mountain section of the Leach Mountains. This bryozoan-rich limestone tongue serves as a marker unit for mapping the Murdock Formation in the Leach Mountains.

Nine new species of bryozoans occur in the Stenodiscus beds of the Murdock Mountain Formation: Hinganella felderi, Neoeridotrypella schilti, Stenopora parvaexozona, Stenodiscus murdockensis, Dyscritella acanthostylia, Pseudobatostomella irregularis, Streblotrypa (Streblotrypa) elongata, Morozoviella praecurriensis, and Thamniscus erraticus, Hinganella felderi, Neoeridotrypella schilti, Dyscritella acanthostylia, and Streblotrypa (Streblotrypa) elongata are very similar to species described from Russia.