Scorpionid Resting Trace from The Lower Permian of Southern New Mexico,USA

We describe an arthropod body impression associated with arthropod trackways of the ichnogenus Stiaria from the Lower Permian (upper Wolfcampian) Robledo Mountains Formation (Hueco Group) in the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument of southern New Mexico. The probable producer of these traces was a scorpion, and we name the likely scorpionid resting trace Alacranichnus braddyi, new ichnogenus and ichnospecies. There are no prior reports of scorpionid body impressions from terrestrial settings in the fossil record.     

Ichnology of an ephemeral lacustrine/alluvial plain system: Jurassic East Berlin Formation,Hartford Basin,USA

A trace fossil assemblage from the Lower Jurassic East Berlin Formation of the Newark Supergroup, Hartford Basin, New England, USA, includes: Scoyenia gracilis, Skolithos ichnosp., Palaeophycus striatus, Planolites montanus, Fuersichnus ichnosp., fusiform burrows, pelleted material, an escape structure, and large burrows.

This assemblage is assigned to the Scoyenia ichnofacies. Specific lebensspuren are not limited to specific lithofacies; instead, their initial distribution seems to have been influenced principally by water availability within an ephemeral lacustrine/alluvial plain system. Other factors in distribution may have included amounts of organic matter, patterns of sedimentation, sediment grain size, biotic factors (settling from invertebrate drift, competition), and additional abiotic factors (wind deflation, waves, currents, desiccation, soft‐sediment deformation, evaporite formation, pedoturbation).

Extreme environmental conditions within the original depositional setting strongly influenced the availability of water which, in turn, strongly influenced the paleoecology of burrowing invertebrates in this nonmarine system.     

New Permian Pteronites (Bivalvia, Pinnidae) from the Lower Permian of the Omolon Massif, northeastern Asia

Distribution of members of the thermophilic genus Pteronites in the Upper Paleozoic beds of northeastern Asia is briefly considered. A new species, Pteronites magnus sp. nov., from the Lower Permian of the Omolon Massif is described.     

The oldest record of a boring foraminifer: Early Permian of New Mexico,USA

The bioeroding foraminifer Troglotella incrustans Wernli and Fookes (Bolletino della Societa Paleontologica Italiana 31, 1992, 95), is widely reported from Bajocian?, and Oxfordian to Lower Cenomanian (with a Late Jurassic acme) shallow‐water limestones of the Tethyan realm. A single specimen of a boring foraminifer, assigned to T. incrustans, has now been observed from the Lower Permian (Sakmarian) Community Pit Formation of the Doña Ana Mountains, New Mexico, USA. Surviving the end‐Permian mass extinction, T. incrustans might be a Lazarus taxon that persisted in refuges. This finding represents the oldest record of a foraminifer exhibiting an euendolithic way of life. Boring foraminifera have not been previously recorded from strata older than the Jurassic. Boring traces of potentially foraminiferan origin, however, have been already reported from the Lower Carboniferous (?Ordovician).     

Crouching Theropods in Taxonomic Jungles: Ichnological and Ichnotaxonomic Investigations of Footprints with Metatarsal and Ischial Impressions

Tracks and traces of crouching theropods are rare, known from only three specimens from the Lower Jurassic of New England and the Lower to ?mid Jurassic of China. The New England specimens reveal manus, metatarsal and sub-crescentic ischial callosity impressions associated with Grallator-like tracks. The Chinese traces reveal metatarsal traces and a sub-triangular ischial callosity impression associated with Eubrontes-like tracks. All reveal symmetrical crouching postures. Theropod crouching traces should not be confused with ornithopod crouching traces, often assigned to Anomoepus. The ichnotaxonomy surrounding all these traces and associated footprints is very complex, and over split. Suggestions for simplification allow recognition that the North American and Chinese ichnofaunas have many similarities. The ichnotaxonomy is not as complex and confused as it may at first appear.     

Miofloral succession and interpretation of the base of the permian system in the Eastern Shelf of North Central Texas,U.S.A.

The study includes palynological investigation of the Pennsylvanian (Upper Carboniferous) and lowermost Permian (Wolfcampian) strata of Texas, with special emphasis on the Pennsylvanian and Permian systemic boundary in the Eastern Shelf of north central Texas. The following palynozones have been recognized: (1) Grumososporites-Simozonotriletes Zone (Atokan); (2) Torispora-Thymospora Zone (Demoinesian); (3) Cristatisporites—Cadiospora arcuata Zone (Missourian); (4) Crucisaccites americanus Zone (Early Virgilian); (5) Guptaesporites honakerensis Zone (Late Virgilian); and (6) Nuskoisporites crenulatus-Hamiapollenites saccatus Zone (Early Wolfcampian). The base of the Permian Wolfcampian Stage has been placed at the base of Nuskoisporites crenulatus-Hamiapollenites saccatus Zone, which approximately coincides with the base of the Coleman Junction Limestone Member of the Putnam Formation of the Wichita Group. This conclusion may appear to be contradictory to fusulinid evidence because it places the base of the Permian System 182.88 m above the so-called fusulinid boundary. It also disagrees with the paleobotanical boundary. The discussion concludes that fusulinid and paleobotanical evidence is inconclusive.     

The response of meiofauna and microphytobenthos to engineering effects of fiddler crabs on a subtropical intertidal sandflat

Fiddler crabs are key bioturbators on tidal flats. During their intense bioturbation process, they manipulate large amounts of sediment, altering the physical state of existing materials. We investigated whether different types of sediment bioturbation produced by fiddler crabs modulate meiofaunal assemblages and microphytobenthic content. We hypothesized that sedimentary structures produced by burrowing (the burrow itself and the excavation pellets) and feeding (feeding pellets) generate different microenvironments compared with areas without apparent signs of fiddler crab disturbance, affecting both meiofauna and microphytobenthos, independent of the sampling period. Our results indicate that the engineering effects of burrow construction and maintenance and the engineering effects of fiddler crab foraging modulate meiofaunal assemblages in different ways. Overall, meiofauna from burrows and excavation pellets was more abundant and diverse than at control sites, whereas feeding pellets contained poor meiofaunal assemblages. By contrast, only foraging effects were detected on microphytobenthos; independent of the sampling period, Chl a and phaeopigment content were higher in the feeding pellets, but similar among burrows, excavation pellets and control sites. The present study demonstrates that the different engineering effects of fiddler crabs are an important source of habitat heterogeneity and a structuring agent of meiofaunal assemblages on subtropical tidal flats.     

Revision of the family Epideigmatidae (Insecta: Grylloblattida)

The family Epideigmatidae is revised. New members of this family from the Lower Permian of Russia: Vilvaptera permyakovae, gen. et sp. nov. (Vilva locality, Artinskian Stage, Perm Region) and Tshekardeigma rasnitsyni, gen. et sp. nov. (Chekarda locality, Kungurian Stage, Perm Region) are described. Paraphenopterum unicolor Storozhenko, 1992 (Soyana locality, Kazanian Stage, Arkhangelsk Region) is redescribed. The family Stenoneuritidae is regarded as a synonym of Epideigmatidae; the genera Fayoliella Meunier, 1908 (Upper Carboniferous of France), Fabreciella Carpenter, 1934 (Upper Carboniferous of the USA), and Turbopterum Kukalová, 1964 (Lower Permian of the Czech Republic) are transferred to Epideigmatidae. Fabreciella allegheniensis Carpenter, 1934 is synonimized under F. pennsylvanica Carpenter, 1934.     

Permian macroburrows as microhabitats for meiofauna organisms: an ancient behaviour common in extant organisms

Meiofaunal organisms are indirectly influenced by the activity of benthic macroinvertebrates within the sediment, which plays a role in modifying physical and chemical characteristics of the habitat. The association of meiofaunal organisms and macroburrows is well known in modern environments, but the record of this relationship in the geological record is still incipient. This study documents diminutive burrows (Helminthoidichnites tenuis) associated with the surface of macroburrows (Palaeophycus tubularis) in Early Permian deposits. The cylindrical shape and meandering to loop trajectory of the diminutive burrows indicate that they were produced by small free‐living meiofaunal nematodes. Apparently, P. tubularis (open burrow) constituted a favourable microhabitat for nematodes, providing the following: (1) protection against erosive processes and meiofauna predators; (2) oxygen access to more in‐depth layers within the sediment; (3) temperature stabilization; and (4) food supply due to mucus impregnation in the macroburrow walls by the Palaeophycus tracemaker. The association between H. tenuis and P. tubularis constitutes the first fossil record of a symbiotic relationship between meiofaunal nematodes and macrobenthic organisms (polychaetes). It also suggests that ecological strategies such as mutualism or commensalism, which are common between extant nematodes and macrobenthic invertebrates, were available in the behavioural programme of these organisms since the Early Permian.     

Taphonomic pathways and comparative biofacies and taphofacies in a Recent intertidal/shallow shelf environment

The development of taphonomic approaches to facies analysis requires a foundation in facies-based actualistic studies. Modern intertidal and shallow shelf environments at Provincetown Harbor. northern Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA) provide an opportunity to compare pattcrns and controlling factors in molluscan biofacies and taphofacies distributions. Variation in faunal composition, ecologic variables, and taphonomic attributes of molluscan death assemblages produce distinct patterns of environmental zonation: (1) Faunal composition (biofacies) primarily tracks variation in substrate type among environments (sand, rock, peat, and Zostera marina beds). (2) Ecologic variables (equitability, infauna: epifauna ratio, gastropod:bivalve ratio, and predation on M. mercenaria) appear to reflect tidal exposure time. (3) Taphononic attributes (fragmentation, abrasionm, corrosion, bioerosion, and encrustation) of the common bivalve M. mercenaria track environmental energy, in particular its effects on the stability and reworking of hardparts at the sediment surface. Shells in different environments proceed along different taphonomic pathways - the order of acquisition of taphonomic features by hardparts. An encrustation/bioerosion-dominated pathway characterizes low energy environments; the upper intertidal and deeper subtidal. An abrasion-dominated pathway characterizes the high energy lower intertidal and shallow subtidal. Contrasting pathways produce distinct proportions of taphonomic attributes in time-averaged samples; proportions that delineate taphofacies. Integrated taxonomic, ecologic and taphonomic data provide a more complete picture of environmental processes than any approach alone. Taphonomic data not only furnish information not readily provided by other approaches, but free paleoecology from the constraints of taxonomic uniformitarianism. □Taphonomy, comparative taphonomy, taphofacies, biofacies, cluster analysis, multidimensional scaling, taphonomic pathways, Recent, actualism, intertidal, molluses.     

New and little known blattogryllidae (Insecta: Grylloblattida) from the Permian and Triassic of Russia,Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan

New members of the family Blattogryllidae are described, including Permoblattogryllus praecox gen. et sp. nov. from the Middle Permian Soyana locality in Russia, Protoblattogryllus nedubrovensis from the Lower Triassic Nedubrovo locality in Russia, Madygenocephalus micropteron gen. et sp. nov. (the second known case of brachyptery in grylloblattids), and Costatoviblatta similis sp. nov. from the Middle Triassic Madygen locality in Kyrgyzstan. Protoblattogryllus zajsanicus Storozhenko, 1990 from the Upper Permian Karaungir II locality in Kazakhstan is redescribed. The genus Microblattogryllus Storozhenko, 1990 from Madygen is considered to be a synonym of Protoblattogryllus Storozhenko, 1990. Protoblattogryllus abruptus Storozhenko, 1990 from the Madygen locality is transferred to the genus Mesoblattogryllus Storozhenko, 1990.     

Lower Cambrian trace fossil evidence for predation on trilobites

Predation upon trilobites previously has been inferred from large coprolites containing trilobite fragments, and from specimens of trilobites with healed wounds. The discovery of large burrows ( Dolopichnus gulosus , n. ichnogen., n. ichnosp.) in micritic quartz arenite of the Lower Cambrian Poleta Formation in Esmeralda County, Nevada, suggests that sea anemones preyed upon trilobites. Dolopichnus n. ichnogen., vertical cylindrical burrows with a central cylindrical core, is interpreted as dwelling burrows of sea anemones. In the specimens studied, the core contains coarser-grained material, and in one series of burrows, is composed of trilobitc fragments and micrite pellets. cemented with sparite. The central cylinder is interpreted to be a cast of the sea anemone's coelenteron, which in some specimens contains stomach contents.     

Territorial Pheromones of Female Red-backed Salamanders

Pheromones provide an important source of communication during social interactions of caudate amphibians. To further examine their use in territorial defense, we performed a laboratory experiment to test the hypothesis that non-courting female red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) deposit pheromones in or on fecal pellets, as males are known to do during territorial advertisement. Four conditions were tested: (1) a burrow marked with a female's own pellet vs. a burrow marked by a conspecific female's pellet, (2) own vs. unmarked burrows, (3) conspecific vs. unmarked burrows, and (4) paired unmarked burrows as a control. Females nose-tapped (for olfactory cues) their own and conspecific pellets about equally. However, they spent significantly more time in both threat and submissive behavior toward the conspecific pellets and spent significantly more time in their own marked burrows. We infer that female P. cinereus do deposit pheromones in or on fecal pellets and that these pellets may be used to advertise territories. The behavioral responses of females toward pellets of other females were more aggressive than those of males (in a previous study) toward pellets of other males.     

ECHINOID AND CRUSTACEAN BURROWS AND THEIR DIAGENETIC SIGNIFICANCE IN THE MAASTRICHTIAN-DANIAN OF STEVNS KLINT, DENMARK

The increase in species and specimens of fossils in the uppermost part of the Maastrichtian White Chalk is interpreted as a result of reduced depth. The absence of bryozoans, brachiopods, and regular echinoids in the Cerithium Limestone indicates sedimentation in tidal pools. After sedimentation of the Cerithium Limestone, burrowing activity followed. A burrow of Brissopneustes danicus similar to burrows of the recent Echinocardium cordatum is described. Callianassa and its burrows are found in the Upper Danian calcarenite but not in the Lower Danian or Maastrichtian of Denmark. The dominant type of burrows along the Maastrichtian-Danian boundary has presumably been formed by the crustacean Ctenocheles.
The early post-Maastrichtian burrowing activity was succeeded by (1) induration of the bottom sediment and a slight abrasion (2) dissolution of aragonite shells and siliceous sponges, (3) offshore sedimentation and filling of the burrows with Lower Danian chalk mud, bryozoan fragments and other fossil remains, and (4) settling in the deeper part of the soft chalk sediment and precipitation of flint in or around burrows near the surface of the sediment.     

MILLAYA GEN. N., AN UPPER PALEOZOIC GENUS OF MARATTIALEAN SYNANGIA

Anatomically preserved fertile marattialean pinnules from the Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) Bursum Formation in Tularosa, New Mexico, and isolated synangia from the Upper Pennsylvanian (Missourian) Stanton Formation near Tyro, Kansas, are described. The sessile synangia are partially sunken into the pinnule lamina and arranged abaxially in a single row on each side of the midrib. Comparisons are made with other fossil and modern marattialeans and the evolutionary significance considered.     

Living foraminifera and total populations in salt marsh peat cores: Kelsey Marsh (Clinton, CT) and the Great Marshes (Barnstable, MA)

Common species of intertidal agglutinated benthic foraminifera in salt marshes in Massachusetts and Connecticut live predominantly at the marsh surface and in the topmost sediment (0–2.5 cm), but a considerable part of the fauna lives at depths of 2.5–15 cm. Few specimens are alive at depths of 15–25 cm, with rare individuals alive between 25–50 cm in the sediments. Specimens living between the sediment surface and 25 cm deep occur in all marsh settings, whereas specimens living deeper than 25 cm are restricted to cores from the lower and middle marsh, and have an irregular distribution-with-depth. Lower and middle marsh areas are bioturbated by metazoa, suggesting that living specimens reach these depths at least in part by bioturbation. High-marsh sediments in New England consist of very dense mats of Spartina patents or Distichlis spicata roots and are not bioturbated by metazoa. In this marsh region bioturbation by plant roots and vertical fluid motion may play a role in moving the foraminifera into the sediment. The depth-distribution of living specimens varies with species: living specimens of Trochammina inflata consistently occur at the deepest levels. This suggests that species have differential rates of survival in the sediment, possibly because of differential adaptation to severe dysoxia to anoxia, or because of differing food preferences. There is no simple correlation between depth-in-core and faunal diversity, absolute abundance, and species composition of the assemblages. It is therefore possible to derive a signal of faunal changes and thus the environmental changes that may have caused them from the complex faunal signal of fossil assemblages.     

Early Middle Jurassic vertebrate microremains from the Three Gorges area,southern China

Vertebrate microremains were collected from the Middle Jurassic freshwater deposits of the Lower Member of the Xietan Formation in the Three Gorges area, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China. They include remains of hybodont sharks (Hybodus aff. “H.” parvidens, Hybodus sp., cf. Parvodus sp., Polyacrodus sp. and Hubeiodus ziguiensis gen. et sp. nov.), an actinopterygian fish, and a crocodyliform. The diversity of hybodont sharks in the Xietan Formation and the appearance of a peculiar pattern of tooth morphology in Hubeiodus ziguiensis suggest the adaptive radiation of these sharks in freshwater systems in China during the Middle Jurassic. This diversification led to the rich endemic hybodont faunas of the Lower Cretaceous in Asia.     

Application of morphologic burrow interpretations to discern continental burrow architects: Lungfish or crayfish?

A methodology for trace fossil identification using burrowing signatures is tested by evaluating ancient and modern lungfish and crayfish burrows and comparing them to previously undescribed burrows in a stratigraphic interval thought to contain both lungfish and crayfish burrows. Permian burrows that bear skeletal remains of the lungfish Gnathorhiza, from museum collections, were evaluated to identify unique burrow morphologies that could be used to distinguish lungfish from crayfish burrows when fossil remains are absent. The lungfish burrows were evaluated for details of the burrowing mechanism preserved in the burrow morphologies together forming burrowing signatures and were compared to new burrows in the Chinle Formation of western Colorado to test the methodology of using burrow signatures to identify unknown burrows.

Permian lungfish aestivation burrows show simple, nearly vertical, unbranched architectures and relatively smooth surficial morphologies with characteristic quasi‐horizontal striae on the burrow walls and vertical striae on the bulbous terminus. Burrow lengths do not exceed 0.5 m. In contrast, modern and ancient crayfish burrows exhibit simple to highly complex architectures with highly textured surficial morphologies. Burrow lengths may reach 4 to 5 m.

Burrow morphologies unlike those identified in Gnathorhiza aestivation burrows were found in four burrow groups from museum collections. Two of these groups exhibit simple architectures and horizontal striae that were greater in sinuosity and magnitude, respectively. One of these burrows contains the remains of Lysoro‐phus, but the burrow surface reveals no reliable surficial characteristics. It is not clear whether Lysorophus truly burrowed or merely occupied a pre‐existing structure. The other two groups exhibit surficial morphologies similar to those found on modern and ancient crayfish burrows and may provide evidence of freshwater crayfish in the Permian.

Burrows from the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation in western Colorado exhibit simple to moderately complex architectural morphologies, ranging from predominantly vertical, unbranched, with little or no chamber development to predominantly vertical, few branches, and with minor chamber development. Surficial burrow morphologies are moderate to highly textured. The burrows have scrape marks, scratch marks, mud and lag‐liners, knobby surfaces, pleopod striae, and body impressions.

Although no fossil remains of the burrowing organism were found within or associated with the Chinle burrows from western Colorado, the similarity of architectural and surficial burrow morphologies to those in the Chinle of Canyonlands, Utah and to modern crayfish burrows, clearly indicates that the Colorado burrows are the product of burrowing crayfish rather than lungfish. Evaluation of burrowing signatures preserved in the architectural and surficial burrow morphologies is a very useful tool to compare and contrast Chinle burrows from different regions on the Colorado Plateau. Documentation of crayfish burrows in the Chinle of Utah and Colorado strongly suggests that other large‐diameter Chinle burrows elsewhere on the Colorado Plateau and in stratigraphically equivalent units may also be the product of crayfish activity.     

Arachniden-Neufunde im mitteleuropäischen Unterkarbon bis Perm — Beitrag zur Revision der Familie AphantomartidaePetrunkevitch 1945 (Arachnida, Trigonotarbida)

On the basis of rich new material covering a broad time span from the Lower Carboniferous (Viséan) to the Lower Permian (Asselian), the trigonotarbid family AphantomartidaePetrunkevitch 1945 is revised. According to investigations presented here it includes only one genus,Aphantomartus Pocock 1911, with two species,A. pustulatus (Scudder 1884) undA. areolatus (Pocock 1911). Many synonyms that existed in the literature until now, the stratigraphic occurrence, palaeobiogeographic distribution as well as taphonomic aspects are discussed. Besides some newly found as well as newly investigated specimens both the oldest and the youngest (the youngest trigonotarbid hitherto known) representatives of the family are presented.