Taxonomic significance of short forms of middle Permian Pseudoalbaillella Holdsworth and Jones, 1980 (Follicucullidae,Radiolaria)

Middle Permian Pseudoalbaillella from the Xiaodong area in South China were studied using fossil morphology. Short forms of Pseudoalbaillella fusiformis (Holdsworth and Jones), Pseudoalbaillella internata Wang, and Pseudoalbaillella monacantha (Ishiga and Imoto), characterized by a short and skirt-like pseudoabdomen, were confirmed. We conclude that the short forms were derived from their respective species by breaking off during disruptive processes. If this is true, there may be structurally weakened parts in the pseudoabdomen.     

A new species of the marattialean fern Scolecopteris (Zenker) Millay from the uppermost Permian of Guizhou Province, south-western China

Several isolated marattialean synangia and sporangia are reported from coal balls collected from Coal Seam No.1 (C605) in the uppermost Permian Wangjiazhai Formation in Guizhou Province, south-western China. The synangia are radially symmetrical with diameters between 0.8 and 1.2 mm and are 1.7 mm long, consisting of 3–4 elongate sporangia that are fused basally, free distally and possess a pointed apex. The outer-facing sporangial wall is 4–5 cells thick and conspicuously differentiated. Spores are trilete, have a granular ornamentation and are nearly round equatorially with a diameter of 55–60 µm. Comparisons with other anatomically preserved Palaeozoic marattialean synangia from the Euramerican and Cathaysian floras permit their assignment to the genus of Scolecopteris (Zenker) Millay. In this species the thick, outer-facing sporangial walls and large trilete spores are features consistent with those of the Oliveri Group within Scolecopteris , a group that has previously been considered primitive within this genus. Distinctions from all other previously recognized species within the Oliveri Group lead to the creation of a new species, S. guizhouensis sp. nov. This species is the youngest of the reported species of Scolecopteris recognized from the Euramerican and Cathaysian floras, and provides important evidence on the organization of marattialean ferns from the Upper Permian strata of south China.  © 2006 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2006, 151 , 279–288.     

Cameral membranes in prolecanitid and goniatitid ammonoids from the Permian Arcturus Formation, Nevada, USA

We describe cameral membranes in prolecanitid and goniatitid ammonoids from the Lower Permian Arcturus Formation, Nevada, USA. The membranes are preserved as phosphatic sheets and were originally composed of organic material such as conchiolin. Because the phragmocones are filled with micritic calcite, the cameral membranes can be exposed by etching with weak acetic acid. The membranes are associated with the siphuncle and also coat the septal faces and chamber walls. The siphuncular membranes are much more extensive in the prolecanitids than in the goniatites. These membranes appear in the prolecanitids at the beginning of the third whorl, corresponding to a shell diameter of 3-4 mm, and become more complex through ontogeny. Additional membranes, called transverse membranes, appear in some of the septal saddles on the ventrolateral side. The siphuncular membranes in prolecanitids are very similar to those in the Ceratitina plus Mesozoic Ammonoidea, suggesting that such membranes are widely distributed in this group. However, the origin and function of these membranes are unclear. We argue that the siphuncular membranes were sequentially secreted by the rear mantle during forward movement of the body and were not produced by desiccation of cameral liquid after the formation of the chambers. The most compelling arguments for this interpretation are the abrupt appearance of these membranes at a shell diameter of approximately 3-4 mm in prolecanitids, ceratites, and ammonitids, coincident with the end of the neanic stage, and the uniform increase in complexity of the membranes through ontogeny. The shape of the siphuncular membranes in prolecanitids suggests the presence of an invagination on the dorsal side of the siphuncle during part of the chamber formation cycle. Cameral membranes may have served a variety of functions including stabilizing the cameral liquid to reduce rocking motion during swimming, anchoring the siphuncle to the chamber wall, and facilitating cameral liquid removal, permitting a faster rate of growth.     

山东新汶煤田太原组小有孔虫动物群及石炭-二叠系界线的探讨

通过对山东新汶煤田太原组小有孔虫动物群的系统研究,共鉴定出小有孔虫化石24属66种,根据小有孔虫在太原组中的垂向分布和含量的变化,自下而上分为3个小有孔虫组合：1．Brad yina samarica- Palaeotextularia angusta elongata组合,2．Nodosaria sinensis- Tetrataxis组合,3．Geinitzina postacarbonica组合。通过与邻区及华北部分地区的对比,本区太原组小有孔虫动物群的地质时代应归属于早二叠世,其层位大致相当于华北各地太原组(ting)类的Pseudoschwagerina带。     

幕府山(竹/蜓)(Mufushanella)在西藏申扎地区中二叠统的发现

Mufushanella是陈旭教授 1964年创立的,以侧坡内凹、外部壳圈具列孔区别于Nankinella。该属成立与否曾有多人讨论过,争论焦点在于建属时所谓列孔是否与隔壁孔一样,有待进一步证实。采自西藏申扎地区的标本证实了确实是列孔。而且在外部壳圈两列孔之间发育有类似拟旋脊状暗色物质聚集,可能是拟旋脊的“雏形”。并建立新种Mufushanellanankinellaeformissp.nov.     

δO and δC of Permian brachiopods: A record of seawater evolution and continental glaciation

Two hundred sixty-four δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C values of Permian articulate brachiopod shells were analyzed and 81 of these values were characterized as well preserved and biostratigraphically well defined. These were then utilized for construction of baseline oxygen and carbon isotope curves for the Permian interval. In addition, 21 δ¹³C whole rock values are reported for the Wordian and Capitanian.The early Permian, Asselian to Artinskian, times are characterized by ∼ 2.5‰ decrease in oxygen isotope values, from ∼ − 0.7‰ to − 3.3‰ (V-PDB). This is attributed to a ∼ 4-7 °C increase in temperature in the Southern Urals, concomitant with the retreat of the Permo-Carboniferous ice sheets and return of the ¹⁸O-depleted melt water into the oceans. The Late Permian samples from Iran (Jolfa at Kuh-e-Ali-Bashi) and China (Meishan) yield δ¹⁸O values, and presumably temperatures, similar to those that followed the termination of the large-scale glaciation in the Lower Permian. In between, the upper Kungurian to Capitanian samples from the Delaware Basin (Guadalupe Mountains) are enriched in ¹⁸O, at − 1.5‰ to − 3‰. We have no definitive explanation for these data, but tentatively suggest that the “anomaly” can potentially be a result of evaporative enrichment of seawater in ¹⁸O, due to intracratonic arid setting of the basin. The ¹⁸O-enriched nature of the Zechstein samples (− 1.2‰ to + 2.5‰), on the other hand, is in all probability a reflection of the high evaporation rates in the Zechstein sea.The Permian interval is characterized by a relatively constant δ¹³C, at about 4‰. The exceptions are again the brachiopods from the Delaware Basin (Guadalupe Mountains), which show ∼ 1.6‰ increase in the Guadalupian, to values of up to 5.9‰ in the Wordian. A tentative explanation, as in the case of oxygen, is based on the proposition that the semi-enclosed Delaware Basin was likely stratified, with sequestration of the ¹³C-depleted carbon to the deeper water layers and a complementary ¹³C enrichment in the upper oxygenated layer. The coeval open ocean water DIC may have been similar to that of the remainder of the Permian interval, at ∼ 4‰, as indicated by whole rock carbonate samples from Oman, Sicily, and Iran. In the latest Permian, the trend mimics the well-known δ¹³C drop at the Permian/Triassic boundary.     

Permian and Triassic Radiolaria from Northwest Thailand: paleogeographical implications

Well-preserved radiolarians were recovered from seven sections in the Mae Hong Son-Mae Sariang area, northwestern Thailand. 51 species assigned to 34 genera are identified, including 1 new species (Triassospongosphaera erici Feng sp. nov.) and 19 unidentified species. They are divided into the Late Permian, late Ladinian and middle Carnian radiolarian assemblages. Newly identified radiolarian assemblages, together with the published radiolarian biostratigraphic data from this region, indicate that there was a pelagic basin during the Late Paleozoic and Triassic. This basin was joined to the Chiang Dao and Changning-Menglian oceanic basins, and they represent the main oceanic basin of the Paleotethyan Archipelago Ocean. This main oceanic basin was situated in the traditional “Shan-Thai Block”. Therefore, “the Shan-Thai Block” was not a single block during that stage, but composed of the Paleotethyan Ocean and two continental terranes that were affiliated with the Gondwana and Cathaysian domains, respectively.     

Biologic response to environmental stress in tropical reefs: Lessons from modern Polynesian coralgal atolls and Middle Permian sponge and Shamovella-microbe reefs (Capitan Limestone USA)

Despite prejudices that comparisons of paleoecological patterns in modern and fossil reef communities are of doubtful validity, we compare the biologic response of living coralgal reefs in French Polynesia to environmental stress with an exceptionally well exposed Middle Permian sponge reef and Shamovella-microbial reef of the Capitan Limestone in New Mexico. In the western Tuamotu Archipelago, reef margins are characterized by depth-related changes of biodiversity. The subtidal basic reefbuilding community contains the highest diversity (23 coral and 6 calcareous algal species). With decreasing water depth and increasing environmental stress, diversity reaches a minimum of five taxa on the reef flat. The Capitan consists of two reef stages. Reefbuilders of the lowermost exposed part of Stage 1 formed a cement-rich sponge reef with 42 taxa (28 sponge species). Decreasing water depth along the reef face is accompanied by loss of five taxa, variations in the gross morphology of sponges and changes in framework architecture. Stage 2, dominated by Shamovella obscura, one bryozoan species and microbes, is sandwiched between two unconformities suggesting much shallower water and higher environmental stress. Despite differences in shelf profile and taxonomy, both the modern and Permian reefbuilders respond to increasing environmental stress with diversity impoverishment and dominance of binders.     

A new diverse shark fauna from the Wordian (Middle Permian) Khuff Formation in the interior Haushi‐Huqf area,Sultanate of Oman

Abstract: Chondrichthyans are newly reported from the autochthonous Wordian Khuff Formation (middle Permian), cropping out in well‐exposed, low‐palaeolatitude sections in the interior Haushi‐Huqf area of Oman. The shark remains comprise isolated teeth, dermal denticles and fin spines and have been recovered by processing limestone in buffered acetic acid from bulk rock samples. The fauna consists of mainly ctenacanthiform and hybodontiform taxa, identified as Glikmanius cf. myachkovensis, Glikmanius culmenis sp. nov., Omanoselache hendersoni gen. et sp. nov., Omanoselache angiolinii gen. et sp. nov., cf. Omanoselache sp., Reesodus underwoodi gen et sp. nov., Teresodus amplexus gen. et sp. nov., Gunnellodus bellistriatus, Khuffia lenis gen. et sp. nov., Khuffia prolixa gen. et sp. nov. and Euselachii sp. indet. Additional specimens include rare teeth of the lonchidiid cf. ‘Palaeozoic Genus 1’ sp., of the neoselachian Cooleyella cf. fordi and a further indeterminate neoselachian, of an indeterminate petalodont and of the holocephalan Deltodus aff. mercurei and Solenodus cf. crenulatus. Fin spines add a further two taxa, Nemacanthus sp. and Amelacanthus cf. sulcatus, which have neoselachian affinities and therefore an unclear relationship to the recovered teeth. The occurrence of Nemacanthus within this Wordian fauna represents the oldest record of this taxon and its only known occurrence in the Palaeozoic. Of the remaining genera, Glikmanius has previously been recorded from the Wordian, whereas for all the others, this study represents their youngest known stratigraphic occurrence and first occurrence in Guadalupian (middle Permian) strata. This adds significantly to our knowledge of the global diversity of chondrichthyans preceding the end‐Guadalupian biotic crisis. Palaeogeographically, for all taxa, this study represents the first record from the western fringe of the marine Neotethyan basin, and only Cooleyella was previously known from the southern (Gondwanan) part of the Pangaean continental margin.