Revision and description of water boatmen from the Middle-Upper Jurassic of Northern and Northeastern China (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Corixidae)

Four adult and immature water boatmen from the Middle Jurassic and uppermost Middle Jurassic or lowermost Upper Jurassic Jiulongshan, Haifanggou and Daohugou formations in the northern and northeastern China are described as Yanliaocorixa chinensis (Lin, 1976), Jiulongshanocorixa genuina gen. et sp. nov., and Daohugocorixa vulcanica gen. et sp. nov., referred to the extinct subfamily Velocorixinae, and Karataviella popovi sp. nov., referred to the extant subfamily Diaprepocorinae. All the forms have previously been identified as one species, Yanliaocorixa chinensis. This species, found only in the Haifanggou Formation, is absent from the Jiulongshan Formation and other sites in China. The systematic position of corixids recorded earlier from the Mesozoic of China is reviewed and reassessed. Assemblages of dominant aquatic insects from various Jurassic nonmarine sedimentary basins in northern and northeastern China are described for the first time. They are entirely different between the Jiulongshan, Haifanggou, and Daohugou formations. The first formation is probably older than the other two.     

The oldest Jurassic cyathophorid coral (Scleractinia) from siliciclastic environments of the Kachchh Basin, western India

Cyathophora Michelin, 1843, hitherto well known from the Upper Jurassic and Cretaceous, has been found in the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) of the Kachchh Basin, western India. Eleven specimens ofCyathophora bourgueti (Defrance, 1826) from the Babia Cliff Sandstone member of the Kaladongar Formation, exposed along the northern scarp of the Kala Dongar, Pachchham Island, Kachchh, are described and illustrated as the earliest Jurassic record of the family CyathophoridaeVaughan & Wells, 1943. It is suggested that the monospecific occurrence ofCyathophora bourgueti was controlled by salinity.      

A chroniosuchid from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan and analysis of chroniosuchian relationships

A nearly complete skull and associated osteoderms from the Middle/Upper Triassic Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan are referred to a new chroniosuchid genus and species. The new taxon is characterized by a parabolic skull outline, pustular ornamentation, tabular‐squamosal contact, marked postparietal embayments, and the lack of an antorbital fontanelle. The palate is only preserved in part, showing broad palatines and ectopterygoids. Presence of a preorbital fenestra and characteristic osteoderm morphology are synapomorphies shared with all other chroniosuchids. According to the phylogenetic analysis performed, the new chroniosuchid nests with Chroniosaurus, with which it shares the wide, transversely extended osteoderms and pustular ornamentation. The chroniosuchians are robustly supported as a natural group, but their position within the reptiliomorph (stem‐amniote) clade is not adequately understood. Whereas the parasphenoid is similar to that of anthracosaurs, most other characters support a higher nesting of chroniosuchians within the stem‐amniotes. © 2010 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 160 , 515–530.     

Sunosuchus (Archosauria, Crocodyliformes) from the Toutunhe Formation (Middle Jurassic) of the Southern Junggar Basin (Xinjiang, NW-China)

A new specimen of the widespread Middle Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous Asian gonipholidid crocodilian genus Sunosuchus is described on the basis of a partial skeleton from the Upper Toutunhe Formation (Middle Jurassic, ?Bathonian-Callovian) of Liuhonggou, SW of Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. The specimen is represented by a partial mandible, teeth, vertebrae, limb and girdle bones and osteoderms. It can be distinguished from other nominal species of the genus by a unique combination of characters: slightly heterodontous dentition, strongly sculptured posteroventral part of the mandible, short fenestra mandibularis, convex dorsal surface of the retroarticular process, keeled cervical vertebral centra and ventral osteoderms with a distinctive sculpture of wide pits and narrow ridges. The heterodontous dentition is a potential autapomorphy of this form. The new specimen is closest in morphology to material described recently from the Callovian of Kirghisia as Sunosuchus sp. It represents the second Middle Jurassic record of the genus, the first crocodile from the Toutunhe Formation, the first substantial crocodile find from the Mesozoic of the Southern Junggar Basin, and the first Middle Jurassic record of Sunosuchus from China. This extends both the paleobiogeographical distribution of the genus in Asia and its stratigraphic distribution in China considerably.     

New taxa of snipe flies (Diptera: Brachycera: Rhagionidae) in the Daohugou Biota,China

Three impressions of snipe flies from the uppermost Middle Jurassic or lowermost Upper Jurassic Daohugou Formation in northeastern China are described as Protorhagio parvus sp. nov. and Lithorhagio megalocephalus get. et sp. nov. Protorhagio parvus is the first record of the genus Protorhagio Rohdendorf, 1938 outside the Karatau-Mikhailovka locality (Kazakhstan), which has implications for biostratigraphic correlation of the formations, in which they are found. The taxonomic position of Lithorhagio gen. nov. is discussed. Although Orsobrachyceron Ren, 1998 demonstrates some resemblance in form to the new genus, it probably belongs to Xylomyidae rather than Rhagionidae.     

A revision of the sauropod dinosaur genus ‘Bothriospondylus’ with a redescription of the type material of the Middle Jurassic form ‘B. madagascariensis’

Abstract: The sauropod dinosaur ‘Bothriospondylus’, originally named on the basis of Late Jurassic remains from England, is demonstrated to be invalid, and the characters used to diagnose it are shown to be obsolescent features which are widespread throughout Sauropoda. Material referred to this genus spans a temporal range from the Middle Jurassic until the early Late Cretaceous and has been described from five different countries, across three continents. These remains represent a wide array of sauropod groups, comprising non‐neosauropod eusauropods, a macronarian, titanosauriforms (including at least one definite brachiosaurid) and a rebbachisaurid. The type material of the Middle Jurassic ‘B. madagascariensis’ represents a derived non‐neosauropod eusauropod and possesses two potential autapomorphies. However, as a result of the fragmentary nature of the material and the uncertainty surrounding its association, a new taxon is not erected. Of the numerous specimens referred to ‘Bothriospondylus’, however, several remains are considered diagnostic: Ornithopsis hulkei (Early Cretaceous, UK), Lapparentosaurus madagascariensis (Middle Jurassic, Madagascar) and Nopcsaspondylus alarconensis (early Late Cretaceous, Argentina). At least three types of sauropod were present in the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of north‐west Madagascar, with a basal eusauropod (Archaeodontosaurus), a more derived eusauropod (‘B. madagascariensis’) and a titanosauriform (Lapparentosaurus) all approximately contemporaneous. Palaeocontinental reconstructions suggest that Middle Jurassic Madagascan sauropods would still have been capable of global biotic interchange, and this is perhaps reflected in their diverse assemblage. Re‐evaluation of these Malagasy forms has shed new light on this important time period in sauropod evolution.     

A new pleuropholid, Gondwanapleuropholis longimaxillaris n. g., n. sp. (Actinopterygii: Teleostei) from the Jurassic of north east Brazil

A basal teleost fish is described for the first time from the Upper Jurassic Pastos Bons Formation, Parnaíba Basin, northeastern Brazil. This new material is identified as a new genus and a new species, Gondwanapleuropholis longimaxillaris. This taxon shares a number of synapomorphies with the pleuropholids. The family Pleuropholidae is confirmed as member of the Teleostei.     

The non-avian theropod track Jialingpus from the Cretaceous of the Ordos Basin,China, with a revision of the type material: Implications for ichnotaxonomy and trackmaker morphology

Deposits from the Ordos Basin of mid-western China are rich in body fossils and ichnofossils of Early Cretaceous vertebrates. Thousands of Early Cretaceous sauropod, theropod and bird tracks described since 1958 have been found at several localities in the basin. We report two new sites (Dijiaping and Bawangzhuang) in the Luohe Formation of the Ordos Basin, Shaanxi Province, which contain small theropod footprints that are here referred to the ichnogenus Jialingpus. The assignment is based on pad configurations including (1) the large metatarsophalangeal area positioned in line with the axis of digit III, (2) the subdivision of this part into a small pad behind digit II, which in some specimens is close to the general position of the hallux (digit I), and a large metatarsophalangeal pad behind digit IV, and (3) a distinct inter-pad space between metatarsophalangeal pads and proximal phalangeal pads of digits II and III. We re-describe the type material of the type ichnospecies Jialingpus yuechiensis from the Upper Jurassic Penglaizhen Formation of Sichuan Province, proposing a largely amended diagnosis for this ichnotaxon. The presence of a digit I trace in the holotype, indicating a relatively long hallux, and the large metatarsophalangeal area positioned in line with digit III distinguishes Jialingpus from the ichnogenus Grallator and similar tracks that all lack these features. The only difference between Jialingpus specimens from the Cretaceous of the Ordos Basin and those of the Jurassic Penglaizhen Formation is the larger digit divarication in the Cretaceous taxon. This is the fourth record of Jialingpus in China and the second in Cretaceous strata, with the first being those from the Huangyangquan locality in Xinjiang, China.     

A New Pterosaur from the Jurassic of Cuba

Cacibupteryx caribensis gen. et sp. nov. is a new pterosaur of the family Rhamphorhynchidae found in western Cuba, in rocks of the Jagua Formation (Middle–Upper Oxfordian). The holotype, a skull and part of the left wing, is one of the few Jurassic pterosaurs that is well preserved in three dimensions. The new taxon shares characters with early and late Jurassic pterosaurs, and is one of the few late Jurassic taxa from western Laurasia and Gondwana. Furthermore, Cacibupteryx joins Nesodactylus hesperius Colbert from Cuba, and Sordes pilosus Sharov, from Kazakhstan as the most complete pterosaur recorded from the Middle–Upper Oxfordian. Cacibupteryx caribensis is one of the largest Jurassic pterosaurs known, and its skull possesses several distinct characters, including relatively broad roof elements (mainly frontal and parietal bones), a jugal with a prominent recess, occipital table trapezoidal in shape with the maximum width between the quadrate bones, and a small fenestra located in the posterior part of the pterygoid bones. In the Oxfordian, the Caribbean Corridor separated Laurasia and western Gondwana. The diversity of the marine herpetofauna found in the Jagua Vieja Member (Jagua Formation), and of teleostean fish, confirms that the corridor was an effective seaway over which flew at least Nesodactylus and Cacibupteryx .     

A basal sphenodontian (Lepidosauria) from the Jurassic of Patagonia: new insights on the phylogeny and biogeography of Gondwanan rhynchocephalians

Herein we describe a new rhynchocephalian taxon from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina, representing the first Jurassic record of the group in South America. The new taxon, consisting of a complete dentary, is ascribed to Sphenodontia based on the presence of a deep and wide Meckelian groove, long posterior process, well‐developed coronoid process, and acrodont teeth showing dental regionalization including successional, alternate hatchling, and additional series. This allocation is reinforced by a phylogenetic analysis that places the new taxon in a basal position within a clade of sphenodontians that excludes Diphydontosaurus and Planocephalosaurus. Additionally, the new taxon clusters within a Gondwanan clade with the Indian Godavarisaurus from the Jurassic Kota Formation, sharing the presence of recurved and relatively large posterior successional teeth that are ribbed and bear a peculiar anterolingual groove. This sister‐group relationship is intriguing from a palaeobiogeographical viewpoint, as it suggests some degree of endemism during the initial stages of the breakup of Pangaea. We also discuss the ontogenetic stage of the new taxon and provide insights on the evolution of successional dentition in rhynchocephalians. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 166 , 342–360.     

Associations of corals and boring bivalves since the late cretaceous

Summary The fossil record of coral and boring mytilid bivalves IS investigated. Middle Miocene associations from Austria, Hungary, and Turkey are described. As host corals,Montastrea, Porites, Siderastrea, Solenastrea, andTarbellastraea can be noted. Eocene (Waschberg Zone) and Upper Cretaceous (Gosau Formation) examples are presented from Austria only. As host corals,Favia andMontastrea, respectivelyAstrocoenia and an unidentified branching coral are recorded. The associated bivalve species are all mytilidLithophaga, includingL. laevigata (Quoy & Gaimard) inTarbellastraea, a new Middle Miocene species inMontastrea, andL. alpina (Zittel) inAstrocoenia, the latter two from Styria, Austria. Thecharacteristic features of the coral-bivalve relationships include (in massive corals): Boreholes more or less in the direction of coral growth, radially arranged, elongate boreholes, produced by keeping pace with coral growth. Bivalves were not only present near the surface, but deep inside the skeleton, representing successive generations in the same host colony. After the death of borers, their tunnels were closed by coral overgrowth. Cup-shaped false floors in the boreholes are correlated to reduced coral growth, indicating individual longevity of bivalves. The spacing of the floors mirrors the growth rate of the host coral (like its density bands), their number representing the minimal age of the respective bivalve. In branching corals, boreholes of the associated smallsizedLithophaga tended to turn into the axes of branchlets, when space was limited. Elongated boreholes and false floors were usually not developed, as bivalve growth obviously exceeded lateral growth of branchlets and specimens were rather short-lived. References to probable associations of coral and mytilid boring bivalves are given. It is quite likely that they have occurred since Jurassic times and probably since the Upper Triassic. So far, they have been ascertained since the Upper Cretaceous in massive and branching corals.     

A description of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Bathonian of the UK and the relationships of Middle Jurassic theropods

Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria: Theropoda), the oldest named dinosaur taxon, from the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic) of England, is a valid taxon diagnosed by a unique character combination of the lectotype dentary. Abundant referred material is described and several autapomorphies are identified: ventral surfaces of first and third to fifth sacral centra evenly rounded, ventral surface of second sacral centrum bearing longitudinal, angular ridge; dorsally directed flange around midheight on the scapular blade; an array of posterodorsally inclined grooves on the lateral surface of the median iliac ridge; anteroposteriorly thick ischial apron with an almost flat medial surface; and complementary groove and ridge structures on the articular surfaces between metatarsals II and III. A new phylogenetic analysis focuses on basal tetanurans and includes 41 taxa, six of which have never been included in a cladistic analysis, and 213 characters, 29 of which are new. This is the first phylogenetic analysis to focus on basal tetanuran relationships, and it reveals several new results. Megalosauroidea (= Spinosauroidea) includes two clades, basal to the traditional content of Megalosauridae + Spinosauridae. These comprise Xuanhanosaurus, Marshosaurus, Condorraptor + Piatnitzkysaurus and Chuandongocoelurus + Monolophosaurus. Almost all large‐bodied Middle Jurassic theropods are megalosauroids, but Poekilopleuron is an allosauroid. Megalosauroids show geographical differentiation among clades, indicating the development of endemic theropod faunas across Pangaea during the Middle Jurassic. Notably, megalosaurids are not known from outside of Europe during this epoch. Megalosauroids are less diverse and abundant during the Late Jurassic, when most theropods are neotetanurans and allosauroids dominate the large‐bodied predator niche. This indicates faunal turnover between the Middle and Late Jurassic. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2010, 158 , 882–935.     

The earliest fossil evidence of bone boring by terrestrial invertebrates,examples from China and South Africa

We report the oldest fossil evidence of osteophagia by terrestrial invertebrates on both the Asian and African continents. Bones attributable to the Middle Jurassic dinosaur Chuanjiesaurus (Dinosauria: Sauropoda) were found with post-mortem insect modification in the Chuanjie Formation, Yunnan Province, China. The morphology of the borings closely matches the ichnogenus Cubiculum. Based on the lack of bioglyphs observed in Cubiculum ornatus, a new ichnospecies is proposed here. The new trace fossil, Cubiculum inornatus isp. nov., is interpreted to have been constructed for pupation by an unknown taxon of insect. Additionally, we report even older borings from Early Jurassic dinosaur bones of the Elliott Formation in the Karoo Basin, which represent the second oldest occurrence of insect traces in bone from continental settings. Both trace fossils sites have palaeogeographic implications for the origins and dispersal of osteophagia amongst terrestrial invertebrates during the Mesozoic. These discoveries push back the antiquity of pupation in animal bones by more than 100 million years to the Middle Jurassic, indicating that this behaviour, and osteophagy more generally, originated early in the Mesozoic, roughly comparable with the origination of insect pupation in woody substrates (Late Triassic).     

Fossil coniferous wood from the Middle Jurassic of Liaoning Province, China

Silicified coniferous wood was collected from the Lanqi Formation (late Middle Jurassic in age) at Shebudaigou Village, Liaoning Province, China. Three taxa are identified, namely Pinoxylon dacotense Knowlton, Xenoxylon phyllocladoides Gothan, and Araucariopitys sp. Based on these new data, and those of other fossil plants reported previously from the same formation, we consider the climate during the deposition of the Lanqi Formation was subtropical, humid and seasonal. In this respect the Lanqi flora differs from the coeval Shimengou and Longmen floras from North China. The Longmen flora was deposited during more humid, subtropical conditions, while the Shimengou Formation indicates that the climate was warm temperate and dry. Our data would suggest that the Late Jurassic climatic pattern was initiated as early as the late Middle Jurassic.     

A large pholidosaurid in the Phu Kradung Formation of north‐eastern Thailand

In the early 1980s, the remains of a large crocodilian, consisting of a nearly complete lower jaw, were referred to a distinct species of Sunosuchus, S. thailandicus. The specimen was recovered from a road‐cut near Nong Bua Lamphu, north‐eastern Thailand, in the upper part of the continental Phu Kradung Formation, and then considered Early to Middle Jurassic in age. Since then, this age has been revised and most of the formation is now considered Early Cretaceous, although a Late Jurassic age is possible for its lowermost part. Here, we report for the first time cranial elements associated with mandibular remains assignable to ‘S’. thailandicus. An attribution to Pholidosauridae is proposed on the basis of premaxillary morphology, and the original referral of this taxon to the goniopholidid Sunosuchus is discarded. A new genus name Chalawan now designates the originally described material of S. thailandicus. Nevertheless, the newly described specimen shares a characteristic with both ‘traditional’ Goniopholididae and Pholidosauridae: the presence of a depression located on the lateral wall of the maxilla and jugal. A phylogenetic analysis confirms the inclusion of both Goniopholididae and Pholidosauridae into a common clade, Coelognathosuchia tax. nov. Although the new Thai skull is much fragmented, its original shape is reconstructed and is compared with other pholidosaurid genera, namely Elosuchus, Meridiosaurus, Oceanosuchus, Pholidosaurus, Sarcosuchus and Terminonaris. The presence of the genus Sunosuchus being highly questionable in Thailand, it cannot be used as evidence to link the Chinese and Indochinese blocks. Instead, the recognition of a freshwater pholidosaurid in a continental formation of the Indochinese block suggests that early in their evolutionary history, these crocodilians, already known from Europe, Africa and South America, were more widely distributed along the northern margin of the Tethys than previously recognized.     

A late Burdigalian gobiid fish,<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gobius brevis</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">Agassiz</Emphasis>, 1839), in the Upper Hydrobia Beds in the middle Upper Rhine Graben (W-Germany)

Gobius brevis (Agassiz, 1839) was hitherto exclusively based on articulated skeletons. It first appears in the late Early Miocene (late Burdigalian, Karpatian) and is widespread throughout the Middle Miocene. Its previously known zoogeographical distribution was the western Paratethys and the Styrian Basin in Austria. We here report on articulated skeletons ofG. brevis with otoliths in situ from a temporary outcrop at Edenkoben, located in the middle Upper Rhine Graben, Germany. The strata are assigned to the basal part of the Upper Hydrobia Beds. The otoliths in situ are identical with those ofGobius latiformis Reichenbacher, 1992, which is an otolith-based species occurring in the Karpatian and Middle Miocene of the western Paratethys; henceG. latiformis has to be regarded as a younger synonym ofG. brevis (Agassiz, 1839). The skeletons ofG. brevis from Edenkoben differ from other articulated freshwater or brackish water MioceneGobius species in the number of vertebrae, more elongate body shape, and number of fin rays. Also the otoliths ofG. brevis differ in their overall shape from these species. However, the in situ preserved otoliths ofG. brevis in the Edenkoben locality show a more primitive evolutionary stage than the Middle Miocene otoliths ofG. brevis (formerly described asG. latiformis). Thus, the gobiid fishes from Edenkoben belong to the oldest representatives ofG. brevis and must be late Burdigalian in age.Gobius brevis probably migrated into the middle Upper Rhine Graben from the Paratethys area.      

First Thyreophoran Type Tracks from the Middle Jurassic Chuanjie Formation of Yunnan Province,China

Two tridactyl footprints from the Chuanjie Formation (Middle Jurassic) of Yunnan Province, China are morphological characteristics of thyreophoran tracks. They show some similarities to Shenmuichnus, known from the Early Jurassic strata of both Shaanxi and Yunnan provinces, but are somewhat larger, thereby resembling the ichnogenus Stegopodus. Based on their general morphology and size being congruent with this ichnogenus, they are tentatively assigned here to cf. Stegopodus. This is the fourth report of large ornithischian (probably thyreophoran) tracks from the Lower-Middle Jurassic of China that indicates relatively large trackmakers that were likely to be taxonomically distinct from much smaller and gracile Anomoepus trackmakers, also of ornithischian affinity. The larger tracks indicate a hitherto unreported abundance, size range and diversity of track types attributed to this group. The parallel orientation of the two best preserved trackways may indicate gregariousness.