Dasycladalean algae distribution in ammonoid-bearing Middle Triassic platforms (Dolomites, Italy)

This paper gives an account of distribution of Dasycladales in ammonoid-bearing Middle Triassic carbonate platforms of the Dolomites. A ca. 600-m-thick section was investigated within the Latemar platform interior and Dasycladales from correlated ammonoid-bearing samples of the Marmolada platform were studied for comparison. At Latemar, the dense sampling allowed, with some confidence, the identification of the first occurrences of Diplopora nodosa and Gyroporella ladinica, and the last occurrences of D. annulatissima and D. comelicana. Their stratigraphic range was found to be in agreement with literature. Other first or last occurrences could not be reconciled with known distributions, and were considered as environmentally or palaeogeographically controlled. All four algal events occur within a narrow interval of two Illyrian (Upper Anisian) ammonoid subzones (avisianum and crassus subzones). This study demonstrates the biostratigraphic potential of Dasycladales in platform settings, and highlights the necessity of detailed stratigraphic studies to determine their distribution.     

The Genera Haplocytheridea Stephenson, 1936 and Cytheridea Bosquet, 1852 (Subphylum Crustacea, Class Ostracoda) from the Early Miocene Pirabas Formation, Brazil

The genera Haplocytheridea and Cytheridea have Tethyan origins and a wide paleobiogeographic and stratigraphic distribution, ranging from the Cretaceous to Recent. Both of them have been recorded in northern South America, but only Cytheridea has been found in the northern Cretaceous basins of Brazil. The genus Haplocytheridea is recorded, for the first time, in the Early Miocene deposits of the Pirabas Formation of northern Brazil, from a 20 m-thick succession of carbonate and argillaceous rocks deposited in lagoonal and restricted platform environments. Among the ten Haplocytheridea species identified, four are new: H. variopunctata n. sp., H. sandbergi n. sp., H. pirabasensis n. sp. and H. sinuosa n. sp. In addition, three new species of Cytheridea are also described: C. coimbrai n. sp., C. pirabasensis n. sp. and C. purperae n. sp. The highest frequencies and abundances of both genera, in the studied section, are thought to be associated with nearshore to brackish water settings.     

The reefal margin and slope of a Middle Triassic carbonate platform: the Latemar (Dolomites, Italy)

The Latemar is a mainly aggrading platform, but shows repeated backstepping during its entire development. The behaviour of the slope does not reflect accommodation changes and lateral consistencies of the lagoonal interior; the Latemar contemporaneously reveals different, even contrasting depositional characteristics. The slope of the late stage platform evolution corresponds at least partially to the base-of-slope apron model. Controlling factors on slope evolution are of tectonic (proximity of the Stava Line) and autocyclic (repeated oversteepening) nature. Other factors are insignificant and/or overprinted. The reef-facies at Latemar reveals a complex facies pattern; it varies along and across the margin and is rich in encrusting sponges, corals, biogenic crusts and Microproblematica. Some biota or fossil assemblages—e.g. foraminifers (Abriolina mediterranea, Turriglomina scandonei) or Tubiphytes multisiphonatus thrombolites—have not been described in the Dolomites before. Biostratigraphic evidence from the uppermost reef-facies confirms a mainly Anisian age of the outcropping platform interior.     

New Viséan and Serpukhovian ammonoids from the Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section, eastern slope of the South Urals

Viséan and Early Serpukhovian ammonoids from the Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section (South Urals, Bashkortostan) are discussed. The ammonoid assemblages include taxa that have not been previously recorded from this region and are probably connected with the open shelf settings of the eastern subregion of the South Urals. For the first time in the South Urals, we were able to recognize the succession of the ammonoid genozones Goniatites → Hypergoniatites-Ferganoceras → Uralopronorites-Cravenoceras within the same section that can be correlated with the synchronous zonations of Western Europe, North Africa, and North America. New records allow interpretation of the evolution of the family Goniatitidae in the Ural Paleocean in the terminal Viséan. Two new species, Goniatites altus sp. nov. and Platygoniatites integer sp. nov. are described.     

Des serpents (Reptilia,Squamata) de type nord-américain dans le Miocène Français. Évolution parallèle ou dispersion?

The French Miocene (Orleanian and Astaracian) yielded five new species of snakes referable to four genera from the Neogene or Recent of North America: Texasophis meini nov. sp., Paleoheterodon arcuatus nov. sp., Neonatrix europaea nov. sp., Neonatrix crassa nov. sp. (Colibridae) and Micrurus gallicus nov. sp. («Elapidae). It is suggested that Micrurus and the previously described boid snake Albaneryx from the French Miocene probably represent lineages that originated in North America and reached Europe by way of Asia. Paleoheterodon and Neonatrix could have originated in Asia and subsequently reached Europe on one hand and North America on the other. Texasophis may have originated in North America and followed the same route as Micrurus and Albaneryx, but an alternative hypothesis is that it originated in Asia and spread toward Europe and North America in the same manner as Paleoheterodon and Neonatrix.     

Pliensbachian gastropods from Venetian Southern Alps (Italy) and their palaeobiogeographical significance

Abstract: The Pliensbachian gastropods described by De Toni in 1912, coming from an isolated boulder at the foot of Mt Vedana (eastern margin of Trento Platform, Venetian Southern Alps, Italy) are revised. The fauna consists of 13 species representing nine families and eight superfamilies. Despite the low number of species, the assemblage represents the most diverse Early Jurassic gastropod fauna known for the Venetian Southern Alps. The boulder yielding the material was thought to derive from the upper part of the Early Jurassic Calcari Grigi Group, a carbonate platform unit extensively cropping out in the Mt Vedana area. The sedimentological analysis indicates a prevalently bioclastic wackstone‐floatstone, reflecting a lime‐muddy deposit undergone to an early consolidation. This and the high content of ammonoids, which is unusual for the Calcari Grigi Group, are typical aspects of a condensed pelagic sediment, presumably a fissure filling at the top of the carbonate platform succession. Palaeobiogeographical comparisons show that the fauna is composed of species occurring exclusively in pelagic limestones of the western Tethys. By contrast, it shows no relationships with the coeval faunas of the adjacent Trento platform and of the other western Tethyan carbonate platforms. These lines of evidence and the facies analysis would testify to the Pliensbachian drowning of the eastern margin of the Trento platform. In the wider context of the palaeobiogeographical history of Early Jurassic western Tethyan gastropods, the species from Vedana belong to a faunal stock which is typical for pelagic, mainly postdrowning sediments. Thus, appearance and diffusion in space and time of this stock were probably regulated by the direction, rate and pattern of the Neotethyan rifting. A new subgenus, Proarcirsa (Schafbergia) subgen. nov., and three new species, namely Ataphrus (Ataphrus) cordevolensis sp. nov., Guidonia pseudorotula sp. nov. and Proarcirsa (Schafbergia) zirettoensis sp. nov. are erected.     

New Late Viséan and Early Serpukhovian ammonoids in the Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section (Eastern Slope of the South Urals)

New Late Viséan and Early Serpukhovian ammonoids are described from the Verkhnyaya Kardailovka section (South Urals, Bashkortostan). The ammonoid assemblages allow the recognition of the Hypergoniatites?Ferganoceras Genozone and a correlation with the synchronous zonations of North Africa, Spain, and China. The new species Ferganoceras constrictum sp. nov., Dombarites clemens sp. nov., and Hypergoniatites kardailovkensis sp. nov. are described.     

New members of the family flemingitidae (Ammonoidea) from the Lower Triassic of South Primorye

New species of flemingitid ammonoids (Flemingites trikamnyaensis sp. nov., F. alexanderi sp. nov., Rohillites? ambiguus sp. nov., Euflemingites extremus sp. nov.) from the Olenekian of South Primorye are described. The shell interior of flemingitid ammonoids is studied for the first time based on Ussuriflemingites abrekensis Shigeta et Zakharov. The usefulness of the early-ontogenetic morphological test (EMT) for substantiation of ammonoid taxa at the family level is discussed.     

Early Cambrian organophosphatic brachiopods from the Xinji Formation,at Shuiyu section,Shanxi Province,North China

Abundant and diverse small shelly fossils have been reported from Cambrian Series 2 in North China, but the co-occurring brachiopods are still poorly known. Herein, we describe seven genera, five species and two undetermined species of organophosphatic brachiopods including one new genus and new species from the lower Cambrian Xinji Formation at Shuiyu section, located on the southern margin of North China Platform. The brachiopod assemblage comprises one mickwitziid (stem group brachiopoda), Paramickwitzia boreussinaensis n. gen. n. sp., a paterinide, Askepasma toddense Laurie, 1986, an acrotretoid, Eohadrotreta cf. zhenbaensis Li and Holmer, 2004, a botsfordiid, Schizopholis yorkensis (Holmer and Ushatinskaya in Gravestock et al., 2001) and three linguloids, Spinobolus sp., Eodicellomus cf. elkaniiformis Holmer and Ushatinskaya in Gravestock et al., 2001 and Eoobolus sp. This brachiopod assemblage suggests a late Age 3 to early Age 4 for the Xinji Formation and reveals a remarkably strong connection with coeval faunas from East Gondwana, particularly the Hawker Group in South Australia. The high degree of similarity (even at species level) further supports a close palaeogeographic position between the North China Platform and Australian East Gondwana during the early Cambrian as indicated by small shelly fossil data.     

A remarkable short-snouted horned dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian) of southern Laramidia

The fossil record of centrosaurine ceratopsids is largely restricted to the northern region of western North America (Alberta, Montana and Alaska). Exceptions consist of single taxa from Utah (Diabloceratops) and China (Sinoceratops), plus otherwise fragmentary remains from the southern Western Interior of North America. Here, we describe a remarkable new taxon, Nasutoceratops titusi n. gen. et sp., from the late Campanian Kaiparowits Formation of Utah, represented by multiple specimens, including a nearly complete skull and partial postcranial skeleton. Autapomorphies include an enlarged narial region, pneumatic nasal ornamentation, abbreviated snout and elongate, rostrolaterally directed supraorbital horncores. The subrectangular parietosquamosal frill is relatively unadorned and broadest in the mid-region. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that Nasutoceratops is the sister taxon to Avaceratops, and that a previously unknown subclade of centrosaurines branched off early in the group''s history and persisted for several million years during the late Campanian. As the first well-represented southern centrosaurine comparable in age to the bulk of northern forms, Nasutoceratops provides strong support for the provincialism hypothesis, which posits that Laramidia—the western landmass formed by inundation of the central region of North America by the Western Interior Seaway—hosted at least two coeval dinosaur communities for over a million years of late Campanian time.     

A new basal hadrosauroid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan and the early radiation of duck-billed dinosaurs

Levnesovia transoxiana gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous (Middle–Late Turonian) of Uzbekistan, is the oldest well-documented taxon referable to Hadrosauroidea sensu Godefroit et al. It differs from a somewhat younger and closely related Bactrosaurus from Inner Mongolia (China) by a tall sagittal crest on the parietals and the absence of club-shaped dorsal neural spines in adult specimens. Levnesovia, Bactrosaurus and possibly Gilmoreosaurus represent the earliest radiation of Hadrosauroidea, which took place during the Cenomanian–Turonian and possibly in North America. The second, Santonian-age radiation of Hadrosauroidea included Aralosaurus, Hadrosauridae and lineages leading to Tanius (Campanian) and Telmatosaurus (Maastrichtian). Hadrosauridae appears to be monophyletic, but Hadrosaurinae and Lambeosaurinae originated in North America and Asia, respectively.     

Vuilleminia erastii sp. nov. (Corticiales), an amphi-Beringian species and revision of the occurrence of Vuilleminia comedens in North America

Vuilleminia is a basidiomycete genus the species of which have resupinate, corticioid fruiting bodies. It is apparently a North Hemisphere genus, and the majority of its species are distributed in Europe and western Asia. In North America, there are two reports of Vuilleminia comedens. Detailed study of North American specimens and comparisons with additional collections led to the conclusion that they belong to a new lineage named Vuilleminia erastii sp. nov., whose distribution extends from western North America to East Asia, Siberia, and Finland. The species is recognized by the decorticating fruiting bodies with preference for species of Betulaceae in the boreal zone, relatively small allantoid basidiospores, and little-developed cystidia with apical appendix.     

Ammonoids and nautiloids from the earliest Spathian Paris Biota and other early Spathian localities in southeastern Idaho,USA

Intensive sampling of three earliest Spathian sites represented by the Lower Shale unit and coeval beds within the Bear Lake vicinity and neighboring areas, southeastern Idaho, yielded several new ammonoid and nautiloid assemblages. These new occurrences overall indicate that the lower boundary of the Tirolites beds, classically used as a regional marker for the base of the early Spathian, and therefore the regional Smithian/Spathian boundary, must be shifted downward into the Lower Shale unit and coeval beds. Regarding ammonoids, one new genus (Caribouceras) and two new species (Caribouceras slugense and Albanites americanus) are described. In addition, the regional temporal distribution of Bajarunia, Tirolites, Columbites, and Coscaites is refined, based on a fourth sampled site containing a newly reported occurrence of the early Spathian Columbites fauna in coeval beds of the Middle Shale unit. As a complement to ammonoids, changes observed in nautiloid dominance are also shown to facilitate correlation with high-latitude basins such as Siberia during this short time interval, and they also highlight the major successive environmental fluctuations that took place during the late Smithian–early Spathian transition.     

Découverte de charophytes de l’Albien dans la Formation Kebar (Tunisie centrale) : implications paléoécologiques et paléobiogéographiques

In Tunisia, in the platform domain, the Aptian-Albian transition is associated with a major stratigraphic gap not precisely dated, which is related to the subaerial exposure of the Aptian Orbata platform. Locally, in central Tunisia (Jebel Kebar), this gap is substituted by the sedimentary records of the Kebar Formation. This formation provided a rich association of fossil charophytes, formed by Atopochara trivolvis trivolvis, Clavator harrisii zavialensis and Sphaerochara verticillata which allows attributing it to the late Aptian–early Albian interval (most probably early Albian). In addition, a new variety, Sphaerochara verticillata var. kebariensis, is described. The charophyte assemblage shows significant biogeographic affinities with a coeval flora found in the Iberian Peninsula. The Kebar Formation was previously regarded as exclusively nonmarine, but the presence of the assemblage of charophytes and associated ostracods described rather indicates a fluctuation between margino-littoral (lagoonal) and continental environments.     

Givetian Stringocephalid brachiopods from eastern Yunnan of Southwest China with notes on global distribution of the family Stringocephalidae

Stringocephalid brachiopods are widely known in the Givetian, but little knowledge is obtained concerning their palaeobiogeographical patterns globally, therefore further studies with new updates and details are required. In this paper, we describe two new stringocephalid brachiopod genera: Yangirostra asiatica n. gen. n. sp. (subfamily Stringocephalinae) and Chinellirostra rara n. gen. n. sp. (subfamily Bornhardtininae), and a new species Stringocephalus sinensis n. sp., together with an indeterminate species Parastringocephalus sp., from the Givetian (late Middle Devonian) of eastern Yunnan, Southwest China. Moreover, with information of the stringocephalides from North Africa, Alaska, North America, Europe and Northeast Eurasia, we compile a dataset of family Stringocephalidae containing 32 genera in 7 subfamilies globally. Based on our data, subfamily Stringocephalinae brachiopods show cosmopolitism and considerably wide distribution from Siberia to the northern Gondwana margins (i.e., North Africa and Australia). Nevertheless, the Boreal Realm and Palaeotethyan Realm are depicted in this paper at the subfamily level, which is much different from the previous palaeobiogeographical schemes in the Givetian. Furthermore, palaeobiogeographical links between Siberia, the Urals and western North America (Alaska, Canada, Nevada and Sonora) are confirmed by diversification of the subfamilies Omoloninae and Rensselandiinae. Whereas in Eurasia (i.e., western and eastern Europe, North and South China), many endemic species of the subfamilies Bornhardtininae and Geranocephalinae are present, as well as the Kaplexinae and Leioseptathyridinae.     

A review of mites of the subfamily Picobiinae Johnston & Kethley, 1973 (Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) from North American birds

The fauna of ectoparasitic mites of the subfamily Picobiinae (Acari: Syringophilidae) associated with birds of the North America is revised. A new genus, Charadriineopicobia n. g. is proposed for two quill mite species, Ch. calidris n. sp. from Calidris alba (Pallas) (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae) and Ch. leucophaeus (Skoracki, Hendricks & Spicer, 2010) n. comb. from Leucophaeus atricilla Linnaeus (Charadriiformes: Laridae). The new genus differs from the closely related Neopicobia Skoracki, 2011 by the presence of one pair of setae in pseudanal series and by clearly discernible chambers in each lateral branch of the peritremes, in both sexes. Additionally, a new species of Picobia Haller, 1878, P. hylocichlae n. sp., parasitising Hylocichla mustelina (Gmelin) (Passeriformes: Turdidae), is described. The species of picobiine mites presently recorded from North America are summarised.     

Permian ammonoids of the Kolyma-Omolon Region: Ogonerian association

The Ogonerian association of Early Permian ammonoids from the Upper part of the Munugudzhakian Formation (upper part of the Ogonerian Horizon) contains Uraloceras omolonense Bogoslovskaya et Boiko, U. kolymense Bogoslovskaya et Boiko, Neoshumardites munugudzhensis sp. nov., N.? nassichuki sp. nov., and Bulunites gracilis sp. nov. These taxa suggest the Sakmarian-Artinskian boundary beds examined are geochronologically older than the level with Neoshumardites triceps Ruzhencev in the South Ural Mountains.     

Revised correlation of Silurian Provincial Series of North America with global and regional chronostratigraphic units and δ13Ccarb chemostratigraphy

Cramer, B.D., Brett, C.E., Melchin, M.J., Männik, P., Kleffner, M.A., McLaughlin, P.I., Loydell, D.K., Munnecke, A., Jeppsson, L., Corradini, C., Brunton, F.R. & Saltzman, M.R. 2011: Revised correlation of Silurian Provincial Series of North America with global and regional chronostratigraphic units and δ¹³C_carb chemostratigraphy. Lethaia, Vol. 44, pp. 185–202. Recent revisions to the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic assignment of strata from the type area of the Niagaran Provincial Series (a regional chronostratigraphic unit) have demonstrated the need to revise the chronostratigraphic correlation of the Silurian System of North America. Recently, the working group to restudy the base of the Wenlock Series has developed an extremely high‐resolution global chronostratigraphy for the Telychian and Sheinwoodian stages by integrating graptolite and conodont biostratigraphy with carbonate carbon isotope (δ¹³C_carb) chemostratigraphy. This improved global chronostratigraphy has required such significant chronostratigraphic revisions to the North American succession that much of the Silurian System in North America is currently in a state of flux and needs further refinement. This report serves as an update of the progress on recalibrating the global chronostratigraphic correlation of North American Provincial Series and Stage boundaries in their type area. The revised North American classification is correlated with global series and stages as well as regional classifications used in the United Kingdom, the East Baltic, Australia, China, the Barrandian, and Altaj. Twenty‐four potential stage slices, based primarily on graptolite and conodont zones and correlated to the global series and stages, are illustrated alongside a new composite δ¹³C_carb curve for the Silurian. Conodont, graptolite, isotope, New York, Ontario, series, Silurian, stage.