Fossils and lithostratigraphy

It is proposed that any future revision of the International Stratigraphic Guide should explicitly approve the use of characteristic faunal and floral assemblages in the definition of lithostratigraphical units, providing that the fossils are readily observable and identifiable in the field and assist in the mapping of the rocks.     

Fossils and Strata

Jessen, H. L.: Schultergürtel und Pectoralflosse hci Actinopterygiern. [Shoulder girdle and pectoral fin in actinopterygians.] Fossils and Strata , Number 1, pp. 1–101, Pls. 1–25. Oslo, 5th May 1972.
The anatomy of the shoulder girdle and pectoral fin is investigated in adults and larvae of Asperser, Amia, Lepisosteus, Elops, Salmo , and Polypterus . In comparison with similar structures in other gnathostomian fishes these studies yielded certain conclusions as concerns the interrelationships of the recent actinopterygian groups and the affinities of the hrachiopterygians, the latter by this evidence belonging to an evolutionary line of their own. With regard to actinopterygian phylogeny, a comparison with the shoulder girdle and pectoral fin in fossil forms, including Chondrosteus, Moythomoasia, Palaeoniscus, Pteronisculus, Pachycormus, Catarus, Hypsocormus , and Birzeria , shows that teleosteans presumably are closer to chondrosteans than holosteans, and that holosteans seem to have branched off comparatively early from the actinopterygian stem.     

三峡库区二级阶地发现的东方剑齿象化石及其环境与考古学意义

本文记述的象化石产自三峡库区长江右岸二级阶地。该二级阶地沉积物可分为两个沉积单元:由下部含化石的砂砾层和上部具乌木的土状堆积组成。显然,这些沉积物反映不同的古环境。据铀系法测定,下部沉积的年代约为距今6.4万年前,而上部堆积层的14C测年值为距今约8 000年。依二级阶地上、下层间呈不整合接触和测年数据,下部沉积之后曾有较长时间的沉积间断。下部埋藏阶地的砂砾石层被钙质胶结的现象表明,该地区在二级阶地形成后有一段气候干燥而寒冷的时期。迄今三峡库区已发现了55处旧石器地点,大多数位于二级阶地中,但缺乏化石和测年的可靠证据。这次埋藏阶地象化石的发现为三峡地区二级阶地的旧石器遗址提供了可资对比的地层和时代依据,对古人类在该地区生存行为演变的阐释及旧石器分期提供了重要参照。     

我国某些苏铁类生殖器官化石的发现兼论苏铁类起源

本文对苏铁类化石的系统分类作了概要的介绍。重点报道了笔者在近廿年来所采集的苏铁类生殖器官化石,各别是中晚石炭世的一枚苏铁大孢子叶化石的发现,将苏铁类起源的时间大大地推前了,并指出其起源地应在中国西北的甘肃地区。所有这些生殖器官的发现将推动苏铁化石生殖生物学的发展,对其起源、分布、演化和苏铁植物区系的形成和发展提供了极为重要的材料。     

Miocene Trace Fossils from Borneo

In the Miocene Belait formation of northern Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah burrows ofOphiomorpha Lundgren were found, described here asOphiomorpha borneensis n. ichnosp. A few associated spiral tunnels of theXenohelix-type were also found. Two species ofHäntzschelinia Vialov occurred on Labuan Island. A third type of structure was found in Brunei and it probably represents castings of an unknown lamellibranch. The burrows and castings were made in a brackish water environment, probably in the littoral zone of an embayment or delta.     

Fossils, sediments, tectonics

Tectonic displacement and small-scale tsunamis apparently affected deposition of the Kolymbia limestone, Cape Vagia, Rhodes, Eastern Mediterranean. Coarse beds interrupt the sequential build-up of this Pliocene–Pleistocene bryomol limestone. Celleporid bryozoans, bivalves, and brachiopods dominate these beds. The palaeoecology of the thicket-forming Celleporaria palmata is re-evaluated and subsequently revised. The limestone comprises two parasequences in a transgressive systems tract, and deposition occurred at palaeodepths between 30 and 120 m. At intervals, tectonic movements lowered relative sea level and sent slumps of shallow-water fauna downslope. The depositional history was validated using independent sets of data: sediment structure and grain size, palaeobathymetry using bryozoan growth forms and occurrences of modern representatives of bryozoans and other taxa, basin configuration, and regional tectonics. Concordance of these lines of evidence provides a means of evaluating confidence in palaeoenvironmental inferences.     

Fossils and seed plant phylogeny reanalyzed

In a cladistic analysis of Recent seed plants, Loconte and Stevenson (1990) obtained results that conflict with our 1986 analysis of both extant and fossil groups and argued that fossil data had led us to incorrect conclusions. To explore this result and the general influence of fossils on phylogeny reconstruction, we assembled new “Recent” and “Complete” (extant plus fossil) data sets incorporating new data, advances in treatment of characters, and those changes of Loconte and Stevenson that we consider valid. Our Recent analysis yields only one most parsimonious tree, that of Loconte and Stevenson, in which conifers are linked with Gnetales and angiosperms (anthophytes), rather than with Ginkgo, as in our earlier Recent and Complete analyses. However, the shortest trees derived from our Complete analysis show five arrangements of extant groups, including that of Loconte and Stevenson and our previous arrangements, suggesting that the result obtained from extant taxa alone may be misleading. This increased ambiguity occurs because features that appear to unite extant conifers and anthophytes are seen as convergences when fossil taxa are interpolated between them. All trees found in the Complete analysis lead to inferences on character evolution that conflict with those that would be drawn from Recent taxa alone (e.g., origin of anthophytes from plants with a “seed fern” morphology). These results imply that conclusions on many aspects of seed plant phylogeny are premature; new evidence, which is most likely to come from the fossil record, is needed to resolve the uncertainties.     

Analysis of Form and Function in Fossils

SYNOPSIS. Paleontology and the fossil record contribute an historicalperspective on the form-function relationship that is essentialto an understanding of the particular range of biological formsand functions that exist in the living world. The record containsrich evidence of forms and functions that do not exist in themodern world and provides a context for exploring arenas oftheoretical possibility and impossibility for organisms. Althoughthe basic data of the fossil record are static forms and patternsin the rocks, paleontologists have developed methods of inferringfunction. Analogy is the most important source of hypothesesfor the function of extinct organisms and enigmatic structures.Paleontological analogy frequently extends beyond biologicalform and structure to engineering solutions in familiar simplemachines and a variety of other human artifacts. Three tools have proved especially useful in the analysis andinterpretation of form in fossils. The paradigm method is auseful procedure for rigorous evaluation of alternative functionalpossibilities for enigmatic structures in a predominantly adaptivecontext. Constructional morphology reaches beyond the adaptivecontext to provide a conceptual framework for understandingthe full range of factors that contribute to organic form. Theoreticalmorphology provides the basis for examining the range of formsand functions that have actually evolved against possible morphologicaland functional space. This essay is structured to provide applicationsof these paleontological tools and to encourage incorporationof paleontological data and perspective into instruction inintroductory biology courses.     

Paleozoic shell-Boring Annelids and their Trace Fossils

Polychaete shell-borings are widespread but not often commonin Paleozoic strata of most continents, occurring in pelecypod,gastropod, cephalopod, coral, stromatoporoid, crinoid, brachiopod,ectoproct, and calcareous algal skeletons of Ordovician to Permianage. Four genera are known: Vermiforichnus (Spionidae), Ordovicianto Permian; Caulostrepsis (Spionidae) , Devonian to Oligocene;Myzoslomites (Myzostomidae), Ordovician to Jurassic: and possiblyConchotrema, Devonian to Permian. The Silurian Citonia siphois a worm-boring, not a calcareous worm tube, referable to Vermiforichnus. An exceedingly well preserved Devonian fossilized polychaete,Vermiforafacta rollhisi, with complex setigerous parapodia,dorsal cirri, peristomial cirri, prostomium, and tentacle-likepalps, occurs entombed in an agglutinated tube-lined worm-boring(Vermiforichnus) . It may have been a shell-borer consideringits many similarities to the spionid, Polydora, which apparentlyecologically replaced it. Like Polydora, Vermiforafacta probably filtered food and sedimentfrom sea water and constructed agglutinated tubes which linedits borings. In bivalves, borings parallel valves and are usuallyperpendicular to commissures; in massive skeletons, they radiateoutward and laterally. Distorted later growth and "blisters"indicate that the host was often alive. Commensal to pathogenicparasitism existed and worms benefited from their hosts's feedingcurrents and protective shells. One polychaete nestler is reported.Life positions of hosts are sometimes indicated.     

Identification of Immunoreactive Material in Mammoth Fossils

The fossil record represents a history of life on this planet. Attempts to obtain molecular information from this record by analysis of nucleic acids found within fossils of extreme age have been unsuccessful or called into question. However, previous studies have demonstrated the long-term persistence of peptides within fossils and have used antibodies to extant proteins to demonstrate antigenic material. In this study we address two questions: Do immunogenic/antigenic materials persist in fossils? and; Can fossil material be used to raise antibodies that will cross-react with extant proteins? We have used material extracted from a well-preserved 100000-300000-year-old mammoth skull to produce antisera. The specificity of the antisera was tested by ELISA, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. It was demonstrated that antisera reacted specifically with the fossils and not the surrounding sediments. Reactivity of antisera with modern proteins and tissues was also demonstrated, as was the ability to detect evolutionary relationships via antibody-antigen interactions. Mass spectrometry demonstrated the presence of amino acids and specific peptides within the fossil. Peptides were purified by anion-exchange chromatography and sequenced by tandem mass spectrometry. The collagen-derived peptides may have been the source of at least some of the immunologic reactivity, but the antisera identified molecules that were not observed by mass spectrometry, indicating that immunologic methods may have greater sensitivity. Although the presence of peptides and amino acids was demonstrated, the exact nature of the antigenic material was not fully clarified. This report demonstrates that antibodies may be used to obtain information from the fossil record.