Epitoniids (Gastropoda: Epitoniidae) from the late Eocene of Kazakhstan and Ukraine

Epitoniid assemblages from the Chegan Formation of Kazakhstan and the Mandrikovka Beds of Ukraine are revised. Members of five subfamilies, seven genera, and at least 14 species (nine in the Mandrikovka Beds and at least seven in the Chegan Formation) are recorded. A new species, Acirsa aralica sp. nov., from the Chegan Formation is described. Most of the other species are provided with the data on distribution, comparisons, remarks, and figures.     

New species of the genus Acar (Bivalvia) from the Eocene of Ukraine

New bivalve species of the genus Acar from the Upper Eocene of Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine) are described. The differences in ontogenetic development of these species from the close genus Barbatia are discussed.     

A new species of Pseudotorellia florin (Ginkgoales) from the Middle Jurassic of Eastern Mangyshlak (Kazakhstan)

A new species of Pseudotorellia Florin, Pseudotorellia papillata sp. nov., from the Middle Jurassic of Eastern Mangyshlak (Western Kazakhstan, Tonasha Formation) is described. The main distinction of the new species from the other species of this genus is the relief cutinization of periclinal walls of cells of the lower epidermis, especially within stomatal bands, expressed in prominent cuticular ridges and papillae of irregular shape.     

Triphorids (Gastropoda: Triphoridae) from the Upper Eocene of Ukraine

The history of the study of triphorids and the principles of their systematics are discussed. The specific and generic identifications of five forms from the Mandrikovka beds of the Dnieper-Donets depression are considered. Subviriola vermiculoides gen. et sp. nov. is described. It seems plausible that “Triforis” vermicularis Koenen, 1891 from the Latdorfian of Germany also belongs to this new genus.     

New Species of the Genus Chelotia (Pleurotomariidae,Gastropoda) from the Middle Eocene of Ukraine

Paleontological Journal - new species of the genus Chelotia, C. pervicina sp. nov., from Middle Eocene deposits of the southern outskirts of the town of Krivoi Rog (Ukraine) is described. This...     

New species of caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) from the Rovno amber,Eocene of Ukraine

A new genus and seven new species of the caddisfly families Philopotamidae, Polycentropodidae, Ecnomidae, Hydroptilidae, and Leptoceridae (Wormaldia nasticentia sp. nov., Holocentropus flexiflagrum sp. nov., Electrocyrnus perpusillus gen. et sp. nov., Archaeotinodes reveraverus sp. nov., Agraylea electroscientia sp. nov., Triplectides palaeoslavicus sp. nov., and Leptocerus solifemella sp. nov.) from the Rovno amber (Upper Eocene, Ukraine) are described     

New stoneflies (Insecta: Perlida = Plecoptera) from Eocene Rovno amber,Ukraine

A new genus, Rovnocapnia gen. nov., with new species R. atra sp. nov. and R. ambita sp. nov., from the family Capniidae, and a new genus and species Palaeoleuctra acuta gen. sp. nov., from the family Leuctridae, of the suborder Nemourina (Euholognatha), are described from Late Eocene Rovno amber. Familial assignment of one additional specimen (suborder Perlina, infraorder Perlomorpha (Systelognatha)), represented by a nymphal skin, is obscure due to its incomplete preservation.     

Methane consumption in (hyper) saline habitats of Crimea (Ukraine)

Abstract: This paper documents methane utilization in (hyper)saline environments. Methane consumption in the Crimea basins, exhibiting salinities of 8% to 33%, was as much as 1200 pmol cm⁻³ d⁻¹. This process was mainly associated with the upper layer of sediment (microbial mat), although substantial activity was also located in adjacent water. Studies of the influence of NaCl levels on the methane consumption revealed a positive correlation between optimal salt concentration and the natural salinity of the samples selected.     

Vertebrae of sea snakes from the Eocene of the Crimea

A sea snake vertebra from the Middle Eocene (Kuma Horizon) of the vicinity of the town of Bakhchisarai (Crimea) is referred to Palaeophis nessovi Averianov, 1997, which was previously recorded in the Middle and Upper Eocene of northern and western Kazakhstan. P. udovichenkoi Averianov, 1997 described from the Crimea based on the material from the Prolom locality (Bartonian-Priabonian?) is a junior subjective synonym of P. nessovi. A vertebra from the Belaya Skala locality (Middle Eocene, outskirts of the town of Belogorsk) is determined as Palaeophis sp.     

Thrips (Thysanoptera, Insecta) from the Rovno amber, Eocene of Ukraine

Seventy-six thrips were discovered in Rovno amber. Among these, 67 were identified to suborder, 52, to family, 45, to genus, and 41, to species level. In total, five species, six genera, five families, and two suborders are recorded. No undescribed taxa have been found so far. All the identified thrips, except those of the genus Phloeothrips, belong to fossil taxa, previously known only from the Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers. However, the composition of species in the Rovno amber is highly unusual due to domination of Praedendrothrips avus Priesner, 1924. This species, rare in the Baltic amber, constitutes 49% of all the Rovno records. Thus, the Rovno amber, in contrast to the Baltic and Bitterfeld ambers, is characterized by poor taxonomic diversity of thrips and presence of a clearly dominant species.     

New species of planktonic foraminifers of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Liuenella</Emphasis> from the Middle-Upper Turonian of the Crimea,Ukraine

Two new species of the genus Liuenella Georgescu, 2010 from the Middle-Upper Turonian of the Crimea are described. A distinctive feature of Liuenella is the crater-like shape of pores on the shell surface. Based on characters of the new species, the diagnosis of the genus Liuenella, its stratigraphic range, and paleobiogeographical distribution are supplemented.     

On a tomistomine crocodile (Crocodylidae,Tomistominae) from the Middle Eocene of Ukraine

A dentary fragment and osteoderm of the crocodile Tomistominae indet. from the Middle Eocene (Early Lutetian) Ikovo locality (Lugansk Region, Ukraine) is described.     

Records of elasmobranchian teeth in the Bartonian of the northern Caucasus (Russia) and Crimea (Ukraine)

Teeth of 14 shark species belonging to ten genera are recorded in the Middle Eocene (Kuma Horizon, Bartonian) bony fish localities of the northern Caucasus (Pshekha River) and Crimea (vicinity of Bakhchisarai). Most of the taxa are typical for the tropical Tethys.     

Two new records of Telenominae (Hymenoptera, Scelionidae) from the Rovno amber (Eocene of Ukraine)

Two new scelionid species of the subgenus Telenomus, genus Telenomus, subfamily Telenominae are described: Telenomus (Telenomus) oculus sp. nov. and T. (T.) tetragonus sp. nov. Brief morphological characterizations of the new taxa are given, and comparative analysis of the inclusions described and members of the recent fauna is provided.     

Seven new species of caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera) from the Rovno amber (Eocene of Ukraine)

Seven new caddisfly species of the families Polycentropodidae, Psychomyiidae, and Lepidostomatidae are described from the Late Eocene Rovno amber: Holocentropus kobodok sp. nov., H. zhiltsovae sp. nov., Plectrocnemia nastigermania sp. nov., P. ucrainica sp. nov., Nyctiophylax terreusbos sp. nov., Lype essentia sp. nov., and Lepidostoma quasitypica sp. nov.     

Forest snail faunas from Crimea (Ukraine), an isolated and incomplete Pleistocene refugium

The land snail faunas of 26 forest sites and two open rocky sites in the Crimean Mountains were sampled in 2011. Of the 40 species found within the forests (about half the known fauna of Crimea as a whole), 28 were species with wide western Palaearctic distributions, and only eight were endemic to Crimea. While there were significant differences in the faunas of different sampling areas, these seemed to be a consequence of ecological differences among them rather than a product of geographical isolation and differentiation. Endemic species were large, and not entirely restricted to forest; known endemics not found in these forests are mainly typical of more open habitats. There is no local radiation of small species living in damp forest litter, as with Leiostyla species in the Transcaucasian forest refugium, and families such as the Clausiliidae with many endemic forest species in both Transcaucasia and the Carpathians are sparsely represented. The one endemic clausiliid genus, Mentissa, occurs in open as well as in wooded habitats. The present faunas are rather poor considering the soil conditions and climate, and the forests hold widespread species often associated with open habitats elsewhere. While there is evidence that these mountains provided a refuge for many animals and plants during glacial episodes further north, the forest snail fauna suggests that full forest cover did not survive throughout the Pleistocene. Rather, the present fauna contains endemics that survived in other habitats and widespread species with good powers of passive dispersal. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109 , 424–433.