Kissinella-Christiania Associations in the early Ashgill Foliomena brachiopod fauna of South China

A new ecological unit within the well-documented late Ordovician brachiopod Foliomena fauna is defined on the basis of assemblages from Northern Cuizhou and southern Sichuan. Southwest China. The Kassinella-Chrisriania Association, from the lower Ashgill Linhsiang and Chientsaokou formations, is dominated by the eponymous genera together with species of mainly Dedzetina, Sericoidea and Kozlowskites Foliomena is rare or absent. To date, the Foliomena fauna has been documented only from deep-water environments however, the new association apparently occupied shallower depths, probably in lowermost Benthic Assemblage Zone 3 and uppermost Benthic Assemblage Zone 4, presumably at the shallow end of the depth range of the Foliomere fauna. The incursion of the Foliomena fauna into relatively shallow-water environments may have been encouraged by abnormally low oxygen levels and sparse nutrients together with persistent soft substrates across this part of the Yangtze Platform during the early Ashgill. *** Ordovician, Ashgill, China, brachiopods. F oliomena fauna.     

Early Ordovician bivalves from Dali, West Yunnan, China

A bivalve fauna of Early Ordovician (late Arenig) age is described from the Hsiangyang Formation of the eastern part of West Yunnan, China. The fauna contains elements in common with Early Ordovician faunas of southern Gondwanan areas such as the Montagne Noire and Morocco and with those of Avalonia, together with several previously undescribed taxa. The following taxa are new: Biseriodonta simplex gen. et sp. nov.; Glyptarca sinensis sp. nov.; Trigonoglyptarca magna gen. et sp. nov.; Erhaiconcha xiangyangensis gen. et sp. nov.; Fasciculodonta impressa gen. et sp. nov.; Yunnanoredonia laevis gen. et sp. nov.; Daliella gen. nov.; Goniophorina ( Goniophorina ) contracta sp. nov.; Haidongoconcha radialis gen. et sp. nov.; Eopterinea aequiconcha gen. et sp. nov. The bivalve fauna includes the most diverse glyptarcid fauna and the earliest nuculanid and paracyclid known hitherto.   Eastern West Yunnan belonged to the Indochina terrane and it is concluded that the bivalve fauna represents a high-latitude assemblage and that the Indochina terrane should be considered a component part of the Peri-Gondwanan continent in the Ordovician; its bivalve faunas contrast with those of neighbouring terranes which have affinities with those of lower latitudes.     

The oldest known occurrence of the Foliomena fauna in the uppermost Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) of South China

The oldest Foliomena fauna was, until now, known from the middle–upper Miaopo Formation (Nemagraptus gracilis Biozone, lower Sandbian, basal Upper Ordovician) of South China. In this study, the oldest record of the fauna is set back to the latest Darriwilian (upper Hustedograptus teretiusculus Biozone), represented by Foliomena jielingensis and some typical constituents of the Foliomena fauna from the basal Miaopo Formation at Jieling, northern Yichang, western Hubei Province, central China. The Miaopo Formation is characterized by its organic‐rich dark‐grey shale facies, unique in its localized distribution on the Yangtze Platform, and distinguished by its rich and diverse benthic and graptolitic faunas. This suggests an origin of the Foliomena fauna in periodically oxygen‐starved local depressions on the Yangtze Platform during the Middle–Late Ordovician transition.     

LATE ORDOVICIAN BRACHIOPODS FROM THE DULANKARA FORMATION OF THE CHU-ILI RANGE, KAZAKHSTAN: THEIR SYSTEMATICS, PALAEOECOLOGY AND PALAEOBIOGEOGRAPHY

Abstract:  Brachiopods from the late Ordovician (late Caradoc) Dulankara Formation of the Chu-Ili Range, Kazakhstan, are reviewed. Those from the upper two members of the formation, the Degeres and Akkol members, are systematically described. New genera from the Dulankara Formation are Nikitinamena (Plectambonitoidea: Leptellinidae), with type species Nikitinamena bicostata sp. nov., and Weberorthis (Orthoidea: Plectorthidae), with type species Mimella brevis Rukavishnikova. Another new genus is Glyptomenoides (Strophomenoidea: Glyptomenidae), with type species Rafinesquina girvanensis Salmon from the Caradoc of Girvan, Scotland. Other new species from the Dulankara Formation are Holtedahlina orientalis , Platymena tersa , Christiania proclivis , Leangella ( Leangella ) paletsae , Metambonites subcarinatus , Ogmoplecia nesca and Plectorthis licta . The ecology and assemblages of all three members of the Dulankara Formation are identified or reviewed, and their palaeogeographical significance assessed: the Chu-Ili Terrane (on which the Dulankara Formation was situated during the Ordovician) formed part of the relatively low-latitude peri-Gondwanan complex of terranes, and was probably not far from North and South China. The faunal links suggested between the Dulankara brachiopods and contemporary faunas from Australia are now perceived to be weaker than previously thought.     

A new Miocene fauna of snakes from eastern Siberia,Russia.: Was the snake fauna largely homogenous in Eurasia during the Miocene?

Togay, a locality from Ol’khon Island, Baykal Lake, Russia, has yielded a fauna of snakes of Late Middle or early Late Miocene age. It is located in a broad area from which no Neogene snake has been reported; therefore, it represents an important landmark. The fauna includes a non-erycine boid, two or three colubrids, a viperid of the ‘oriental complex’ of Vipera, and perhaps another viperid. This assemblage is astonishingly reminiscent of the snake faunas from the late Early and early Middle Miocene from western and central Europe, it being understood that Miocene faunas are practically unknown in the geographically intermediary area. It may be entertained whether a homogenous snake fauna inhabited Eurasia (except the southern part of the continent) during the Miocene.     

Latest Ordovician brachiopod and trilobite assemblage from Yuhang,northern Zhejiang,East China: a window on Hirnantian deep-water benthos

A moderately diverse brachiopod and trilobite assemblage, the Leangella–Dalmanitina (Songxites) Assemblage, occurs in the upper Yankou Formation (Hirnantian, probably equivalent to the Normalograptus persculptus Biozone) at Shizi Hill, Yuhang, west of Hangzhou, northern Zhejiang, E China. The brachiopods are rare, characterised by minute, thin shells with very small body cavities, preserved in mudstones as moulds. They may have inhabited quiet, deep-water and dysaerobic slope environments with low levels of nutrients, equivalent to Benthic Assemblage 5. Most genera were adapted for life in deep water and either remained there or alternatively migrated into relatively shallower habitats to evade perturbations during the first phase of the end Ordovician extinctions. The slope environments were recolonised from outer shelf and upper slope communities during the early Hirnantian, but isolated biotas may also have survived in deeper-water habitats by reducing their population size and diversity during the crisis. The Leangella–Dalmanitina (Songxites) Assemblage provides an unique Hirnantian window through which we can monitor the changes in the deep-water biofacies following the first phase of the extinctions. Significantly, parts of the deep water marine environment may have survived intact, the end Ordovician extinctions.     

扬子区中、晚奥陶世和兰多维利世四射珊瑚起源、扩散及生物古地理关系

扬子区中奥陶世—志留纪兰多维利世四射珊瑚产出丰富 ,尤以兰多维利世最为繁盛。目前已报道的1 2 3属 (包括中奥陶世 4属 ,晚奥陶世 2 5属 ,兰多维利世 94属 )中 ,有 30属最早出现在扬子区 ,尔后扩散到欧洲、北美和其它邻区。例如 :Calostylis最早出现在川南的中奥陶世 (Llandeilo)地层中 ;Aphyllum和Cantrillia最早出现在浙西的晚奥陶世中Ashgill地层 ;扭心珊瑚类Briantelasma ,Pycnactis和Tunguselasma等 ,最早出现在黔东北晚Ruddanian地层 ;柱珊瑚类Ceriaster、Stauria、Amplexoides、Synamplexoides等 ,泡沫珊湖类Maikottia ,Rhizophyl lum等均最早出现在黔东北的中兰多维利统 (MiddleLlandovery)。根据这些资料 ,我们认为扬子区应该是奥陶纪和志留纪四射珊瑚起源中心之一。文中论述扬子区中奥陶世—兰多维利世四射珊瑚动物群特征及其生物古地理关系。该区中奥陶世珊瑚以穿孔珊瑚类的Calostylis和Yohophyllum为特征。下扬子区浙西晚奥陶世三衢山组 (中Ashgill)四射珊瑚群有某些澳大利亚分子Hillophyllum和Bowanophyllum ;而上扬子区晚Ashgill观音桥层的四射珊瑚动物群与北欧同期珊瑚群有高度的相似性。这表明扬子区当时与欧洲具有较密切的古生物地理关系。扬子区兰多维利世四射珊瑚群与西伯利亚。     

EARLY CAMBRIAN BRACHIOPODS FROM NORTH-EAST GREENLAND

Abstract:  A diverse assemblage of late Early Cambrian brachiopods is described from the Bastion and Ella Island formations of North-East Greenland. The fauna includes nine species, representing all three extant brachiopod subphyla in addition to the stem group brachiopod Mickwitzia cf. occidens . Four linguliforms: Eoobolus priscus , Botsfordia caelata , Micromitra bella , Vandalotreta sp., three rynchonelliforms: Obolella crassa , Kutorgina reticulata , and an unidentified chileid plus a possible craniiform species occur. The fauna shows similarities to late Early Cambrian (Dyeran Stage) brachiopod faunas of eastern Canada and the United States, but also to faunas from the late Early Cambrian (Botomian–Toyonian equivalent) of Australia, Antarctica and Siberia.     

An Unusually Diverse Llandovery (Silurian) Diplograptid Fauna from the Southern Urals of Russia and Its Evolutionary Significance

This vesiculosus Biozone assemblage of chemically-isolated graptolites from the Orenburg District of Russia was obtained from limestones associated with pillow lavas of the Sakmara Formation of Silurian–Early Devonian age. It comprises 30 species, of which 24 are described. Nine are new, one is a new subspecies, and eight are left under open nomenclature. The assemblage is unique in its diversity of minute biserial graptolites referable to the genera ' Glyptograptus ', Normalograptus , Sudburigraptus , and Metaclimacograptus ; and is unusual in that well-preserved graptolite faunas are rare at this stratigraphical level, which is fixed by the occurrence of Cystograptus vesiculosus (Nicholson) s.l. and Paraclimacograptus innotatus (Nicholson). The following new forms are described: ' Glyptograptus ' tamariscus praecursor subsp. nov., G. mazovoensis sp. nov., G. nikitini sp. nov., G. pavlinovi sp. nov., G. telarius sp. nov., G. zimai sp. nov., Normalograptus legrandi sp. nov., N. melchini sp. nov., N. sobolevskayae sp. nov., and Metaclimacograptus bjerreskovae sp. nov. Five evolutionary lineages are defined within the ' Glyptograptus ' tamariscus (Nicholson) plexus, modifying and extending the pioneer work of Packham (1962). The diverse ' Glyptograptus ' faunas are considered to be a replacement for the Normalograptus fauna which peaked in the late Ordovician and early Silurian. Metaclimacograptus , although reasonably diverse in its speciation, exhibits a conservative style of evolution with little fundamental change throughout the Llandovery. It is suggested that cortical bandages have species-specific dimensions and micro-features. Some problematical micro- and ultrastructural features are described, notably fibrillar textures, parallel to the fusellar margins, in several species.     

Middle Ordovician Aporthophyla brachiopod fauna from the roof of the World,southern Tibet

A Darriwilian (late Middle Ordovician) brachiopod fauna from the Lower Formation of the Chiatsun Group at Jiacun, northern Nyalam, southern Tibet, consists of ten brachiopod species, forming a distinct Aporthophyla–Paralenorthis Association. Its taxonomic composition is typical of the Aporthophyla Fauna that occupied lower BA2 to upper BA3 benthic environments on sandy lime mud substrates. The occurrence of Paralenorthis in southern Tibet is confirmed for the first time, represented by P. costata sp. nov. Numerical analyses (PCA and CA) of 18 Darriwilian brachiopod faunas from ten palaeoplates or terranes indicate that: (1) the Aporthophyla Fauna was confined to a specific latitudinal belt although it had a wide lateral distribution from the large palaeocontinents of Gondwana to Laurentia; (2) the Saucrorthis Fauna, a typical late Middle Ordovician regional fauna, is limited to a much smaller area, marginal to the Gondwana supercontinent; (3) the strong provincialism persistent in the late Middle Ordovician contributed to increased gamma biodiversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.     

Tabulate Corals after the Frasnian/Famennian Crisis: A Unique Fauna from the Holy Cross Mountains,Poland

Famennian tabulate corals were very rare worldwide, and their biodiversity was relatively low. Here we report a unique tabulate fauna from the mid- and late Famennian of the western part of the Holy Cross Mountains (Kowala and Ostrówka), Poland. We describe eight species (four of them new, namely ?Michelinia vinni sp. nov., Thamnoptychia mistiaeni sp. nov., Syringopora kowalensis sp. nov. and Syringopora hilarowiczi sp. nov.); the whole fauna consists of ten species (two others described in previous papers). These corals form two assemblages—the lower, mid-Famennian with Thamnoptychia and the upper, late Famennian with representatives of genera ?Michelinia, Favosites, Syringopora and ?Yavorskia. The Famennian tabulates from Kowala represent the richest Famennian assemblage appearing after the F/F crisis (these faunas appear some 10 Ma after the extinction event). Corals described here most probably inhabited deeper water settings, near the limit between euphotic and disphotic zones or slightly above. At generic level, these faunas show similarities to other Devonian and Carboniferous faunas, which might suggest their ancestry to at least several Carboniferous lineages. Tabulate faunas described here represent new recruits (the basin of the Holy Cross mountains was not a refuge during the F/F crisis) and have no direct evolutionary linkage to Frasnian faunas from Kowala. The colonization of the seafloor took place in two separate steps: first was monospecific assemblage of Thamnoptychia, and later came the diversified Favosites-Syringopora-Michelinia fauna.     

STROPHOMENIDE BRACHIOPODS FROM THE CHANGWU FORMATION (LATE KATIAN, LATE ORDOVICIAN) OF CHUN'AN, WESTERN ZHEJIANG, SOUTH-EAST CHINA

Abstract:  Late Ordovician strophomenide brachiopods (superfamilies Strophomenoidea and Plectambonitoidea) from the upper Changwu Formation (mid Ashgill, late Katian) of Jianglütang, Chun'an County, western Zhejiang Province, consist of ten genera and 12 species. Five new species of three new genera are recognized: Chunanomena triporcata , Chunanomena sembellina , Cheramomena subsolana , Lateriseptomena modesta , and Lateriseptomena rugosa . The strophomenide brachiopods from the upper Katian strata described in this study and those from the border region of Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces reported in previous work contain 16 strophomenoid and 12 plectambonitoid genera, and most of the strophomenoids are endemic to South China. Numerical analysis of well-documented late Katian strophomenide brachiopod faunas indicates a strong provincialism, characterized by the highly distinct North American province (Laurentia), the South China-Kazakhstan province, and the Avalonia-Baltica province (Wales, Belgium and Sweden). Surprisingly, the Girvan district of Scotland, which was a peri-Laurentian terrane during the Ordovician, contains a late Katian brachiopod fauna that is more closely related to the contemporaneous brachiopods of Avalonia-Baltica than to those of North America.     

Early Ordovician bryozoans from north-western Russia

ABSTRACT. A bryozoan assemblage from the Billingen Stage of north-western Russia (Ingria) is apparently the oldest known in the world. It consists of six species distributed among the trepostomate genera Esthoniopora Dianulites, Revalotrypa Phragmophora and Hemiphragma . Two species are new: Phragmophora lavaense Pushkin, sp. nov. and Hemiphragma priscum Pushkin, sp. nov. The bryozoans are characteristic of the medium diversity benthic fauna of uncertain origin which migrated into the Baltic Basin during Billingen time (late Prioniodus elegans — early Oepikodus evae zones). The Billingen bryozoans have a close similarity to the late Arenig bryozoan faunas of Baltoscandia that are also dominated by trepostomates, but differ significantly from the low diversity late Arenig bryozoan assemblages of North America, Ireland, North China, Vajgach and Novaja Zemlja.     

新疆布尔津地区晚始新世哺乳动物化石的发现及其意义(英文)

1995年以来作者等人在新疆准噶尔盆地北缘乌伦古河地区开展了第三纪哺乳动物地层研究工作。在调查研究该区乌伦古河组地层同时 (叶捷等 ,2 0 0 1a ,b) ,为搞清乌伦古河组的区域分布 ,我们在 1 999年和 2 0 0 1年先后两次前往布尔津地区考察了那里的“乌伦古河组”。在布尔津县城西北 1 4km处额尔齐斯河北岸的一片新生代露头 ,长期被视为乌伦古河组 ,因而时代也被定为始新世至渐新世 ,但一直没有确凿的化石依据。 1 999年我们首次在该套地层中采集到哺乳动物化石 ( 990 2 7地点 ) ,2 0 0 1年再次在同一地点、同一层位采集到化石并实测了地层剖面。布尔津的该乌伦古河组地层可大致分为两段 ,下段为富含铁质的砂岩与泥岩互层 ,上段为浅灰绿色砂岩与杂色泥岩互层 ,整套地层的风化表面呈黄棕色。在乌伦古河组建组的乌伦古河流域 ,乌伦古河组则由一套浅灰绿色砂岩与棕灰色含砂泥岩构成 ,整套地层风化表面呈灰白色 (叶捷等 ,2 0 0 1a)。两个地区的乌伦古河组的岩性显然是不同的。野外追索证明 ,这两个地区的两套不同岩性的地层是两个不同沉积盆地的堆积物 ,这两个盆地在乌伦古湖附近 (E87°1 2′)被一由古生代地层构成的山岭隔开。作为地质体 ,这两套地层间没有联系 ,不应当归为同一岩石地层单位。因此 ,布尔津     

HIRNANTIAN (LATEST ORDOVICIAN) GRAPTOLITES FROM THE UPPER YANGTZE REGION, CHINA

Abstract:  The Upper Yangtze region yields a Hirnantian (latest Ordovician) graptolite fauna that includes 41 species assigned to 13 genera. This fauna is particularly important for understanding the Late Ordovician mass extinction event because it is the most diverse known from this interval. In addition, it records the survival, well into the Hirnantian, of many taxa of the Dicranograptidae-Diplograptidae-Orthograptidae (DDO) fauna, which was previously regarded as having gone extinct at the beginning of the Hirnantian. Taxa exhibiting six different astogenetic patterns, including taxa with reclined stipes, scandent, biserial, full-periderm and 'archiretiolitid' rhabdosome forms occur in the lower Normalograptus extraordinarius-N. ojsuensis Biozone. In contrast, in the upper N. persculptus Biozone only four genera remain, all but one of which are Normalograptidae: scandent and biserial taxa with Pattern H astogeny. Normalograptids are the dominant form of the succeeding, lower Rhuddanian, faunas. The Yangtze faunas also document the early expansion of normalograptids coeval with the decline of the DDO fauna. Many previously identified species considered endemic to China have been synonymized; 24 of the 41 species recorded here have been recognized elsewhere. No new taxa are described.     

Functional Convergence of Ecosystems: Evidence from Body Mass Distributions of North American Late Miocene Mammal Faunas

There is disagreement among ecologists as to whether ecosystem system behavior in general is the net result of all of the complex internal system interactions (bottom-driven) or if the behavior is driven by a limited number of key processes (top-driven). If ecosystems are primarily bottom-driven in nature, then it is unlikely that any two complex ecosystems will ever behaviorally converge as a simple matter of probability, or that their behaviors will ever be predictable. Conversely, evidence of ecosystem convergence would suggest that the systems are top-driven, with the corollary that their behaviors can be understood (and therefore in principle predicted) without a complete understanding of their internal workings. Research has demonstrated that body mass distributions of terrestrial animals broadly reflect ecosystem function. Thus, comparable but causally disconnected terrestrial ecosystems that demonstrate similar body mass distributions would suggest ecosystem convergence. To look for this possible convergence, I generated body mass distributions in a time series for late Miocene North American mammal faunas from the Gulf Coastal Plains, Great Plains, and Pacific coastal region, and compared them with data from the modern Serengeti savanna region. The data show that during the early late Miocene Gulf Coastal Plain faunas resembled each other but were distinctly different from that of the Serengeti, the Great Plains fauna resembled the Serengeti, while the Pacific Coast fauna showed no resemblance to any of the others. However, during the latest Miocene the Gulf Coastal Plain faunas were transformed so as to strongly resemble the Serengeti fauna. The resemblance with the Serengeti was maintained by the Great Plains faunas until at least the end of the Miocene, while the Pacific Coast faunas remained distinctly different from the others. These findings suggest that the late Miocene ecosystems of the Gulf Coastal Plain and Great Plains regions (but not the Pacific Coast region) converged with that of the Serengeti savanna fauna and thus that these ecosystems were/are top-driven rather than bottom-driven in nature.     

Note on Cyclostomatous Bryozoa from Eilat, Israel

Five species of cyclostomatous Bryozoa are reported in an assemblage from the Red Sea at Eilat, Israel. Tuhulipora samuelsoni sp.n. is described. The fauna is closely related to known Indo-Pacific faunas.     

Early Miocene reef- and mudflat-associated gastropods from Makran (SE-Iran)

A new gastropod fauna of Burdigalian (early Miocene) age is described from the Iranian part of Makran. The fauna comprises 19 species and represents three distinct assemblages from turbid water coral reef, shallow subtidal soft-bottom and mangrove-fringed mudflat environments in the northern Indian Ocean. Especially the reef-associated assemblage comprises largely new species. This is explained by the rare occurrence of reefs along the northern margin of the Miocene Indian Ocean and the low number of scientific studies dealing with the region. In terms of paleobiogeography, the fauna corresponds well to coeval faunas from the Pakistani Balochistan and Sindh provinces and the Indian Kathiawar, Kutch and Kerala provinces. During the early Miocene, these constituted a discrete biogeographic unit, the Western Indian Province, which documents the near complete biogeographic isolation from the Proto-Mediterranean Sea. Some mudflat taxa might represent examples of vicariance following the Tethys closure. The fauna also displays little connection with coeval faunas from Indonesia, documenting a strong provincialism within the Indo-West Pacific Region during early Miocene times. Neritopsis gedrosiana sp. nov., Calliostoma irerense sp. nov., Calliostoma mohtatae sp. nov. and Trivellona makranica sp. nov. are described as new species.     

Early Silurian (Rhuddanian) rugose corals and sponges from the Ak-Kerme Peninsula,Kazakhstan

An assemblage of earliest Silurian (Llandovery, Rhuddanian) fossils from South Kazakhstan (Ak-Kerme Peninsula, Lake Balkhash) contains solitary rugose corals (Calostylis denticulata, Streptelasma? sp., and Cystipaliphyllum sp.) and the demosponge Calycocoelia typicalis, which are described here. This assemblage occurs with previously described brachiopods and constitutes a post extinction survival fauna; such faunas are poorly known and this study fills a gap in our knowledge. All three genera of Rugosa were transitional across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary and are also reported from other parts of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan during the Llandovery. Streptelasma had already been present in Kazakhstan during the Ordovician, while during the Rhuddanian Calostylis immigrated from Baltica or China, and Cystipaliphyllum from the Australian part of Gondwana. Demosponges are rare during the Llandovery but probably had a cosmopolitan distribution. Calycocoelia typicalis marks the first Rhuddanian record of lithistid demosponges, and the first record of Silurian demosponges from Kazakhstan.