Ostracodes limniques de la Formation d'Irbzer, Crétacé terminal du Moyen-Atlas, Maroc : taxonomie, biostratigraphie, paléoécologie, paléobiogéographie

An association of limnic ostracodes has been discovered in the upper part of the Irbzer Formation, of Maastrichtian age, in the Moroccan Middle-Atlas. A new species is described, Gomphocythere achloujensis nov. sp. Paracandona occitanica, which is very common in terminal Cretaceous non-marine deposits of southern Europe (France, Spain), is found for the first time on the south Tethyan margin.     

Sur l'origine du genre Microceratina Swanson, 1980 (Ostracoda, Eucytherurinae) et sa présence téthysienne dès le Jurassique supérieur

The discovery in the uppermost Jurassic of Lebanon of a species of the ostracod genus Microceratina Swanson, 1980 (Eucytherurinae), of which the oldest known species was until now of Maastrichtian age, confirms the Tethyan origin of this genus. Two new species are created: Microceratina bhannesensis nov. sp. from the Upper Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Lebanon, and Microceratina azazoulensis nov. sp. from the Cenomanian of Morocco. The genera Chapmanicytherura Weaver, 1982 and Erratacytheridea Herrig et al., 1997, are considered as probable junior synonyms of Microceratina. An exhaustive bibliographical analysis allowed to identifying several other Cretaceous species susceptible to be assigned to the genus Microceratina.     

Ostracods from the marginal coastal Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of the Central Tunisian Atlas (North Africa): Paleoenvironment,biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography

This work provides the first detailed taxonomic study of ostracod species from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) marginal coastal deposits of the Central Tunisian Atlas, the Kebar Formation, as well as biostratigraphic, paleoecological and paleobiogeographic implications. The ostracod fauna provides new insights into the depositional environment and biostratigraphic framework of the Kebar Formation, and is represented mainly by freshwater and brackish-water species among them, Perissocytheridea tunisiatlasica nov. sp., is newly described. The environmental setting of this formation comprises marginal-littoral conditions in its lower part, thus not exclusively non-marine/continental as assumed previously. The ostracod associations from the studied locality, Jebel Ksaïra, indicate a minimum age of Early Aptian as recently attributed to the lower member of the Kebar Formation based on charophytes (presence of Late Barremian to Early Aptian Globator maillardii var. biutricularis Vicente and Martín-Closas, 2012), whereas an Early Albian age had been previously assigned to the Jebel Kebar site. The relative sea-level fall documented in the lower member of the Kebar formation at Jebel Ksaïra might correspond to the 3rd order cycle major eustatic sea-level fall event starting at the base of the Aptian. Paleobiogeographically, the non-marine ostracod fauna newly discovered in the Kebar Formation shows some affinities to contemporaneous faunas of southern and western Europe, e.g. that of the uppermost Weald Clay Group of southern England (Cypridea fasciata subzone of Horne, 1995), West Africa, and possibly to eastern South America (Brazil). Hence, the studied ostracods further support the hypothesis of supraregional faunal exchange by passive ostracod dispersal during the Early Cretaceous – between Europe and Northern Africa on the one hand, and eastern South America/western Africa and North Africa on the other hand. This leads to the hypothesis that the Peri-Tethyan islands could have worked as effective bridges for non-marine ostracods to become widely dispersed passively by “island-hopping” of larger animals and thus, ultimately, facilitated intercontinental faunal exchanges between South America and Europe – potentially even Asia – via North Africa during the Early Cretaceous.     

Oldest known non-marine diatoms (Aulacoseira) from the uppermost Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds and Lameta Formation of India

Non-marine diatoms occur in the Deccan Intertrappean beds (Upper Cretaceous) of Mohgaon-Kalan, Chhindwara District, Madhya Pradesh and Pisdura, Lameta Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Maharashtra, India. This represents the oldest record of non-marine diatoms yet reported and the oldest from the Indian subcontinent. The diatoms were recovered from thin sections of chert and dinosaur coprolites by random fracturing. Solitary forms are the most common but colonial filaments up to five cells were also observed. Based on the morphological characters, the diatoms are identified as Aulacoseira Thwaites. The Lower Cretaceous marine diatom genus Archepyrgus Gersonde and Harwood also resembles Aulacoseira in general morphological characters and it seems that Aulacoseira evolved from Archepyrgus and migrated to the non-marine realm.     

The first find of chrysomelids (Insecta: Coleopetra: Chrysomeloidea) from Callovian-Oxfordian Daohugou biota of China

Tarsomegamerus mesozoicus nov. gen., nov. sp., an almost complete specimen of leaf beetle from the Callovian-Oxfordian of Daohugou Formation in Inner Mongolia, China is described. Tarsomegamerus mesozoicus is assigned to the Protoscelinae (Chrysomelidae, Coleoptera). This new leaf beetle represents the first record of chrysomeloids from Mesozoic of China and it extends the geographical distribution of Protoscelinae from central Asia into eastern Asia. This find provides new fossil material for studying the origin and evolution of Chrysomeloidea and by making a stratigraphic correlation of the correlative non-marine sedimentary rocks. Although the age of the Daohugou Formation is debatable it is most likely Callovian-Oxfordian (latest Middle Jurassic-earliest Late Jurassic) rather than early Middle Jurassic (late Aalenian-early Bajocian) or Early Cretaceous.     

Les ostracodes continentaux au Néogène en Aquitaine (Sud-Ouest France). Répartition spatio-temporelle : le point sur la question

A systematic research of the non-marine ostracodes from the Aquitaine Basin Neogene shows that these animals were locally well represented and able to indicate palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic data, comparable in quality with such data as from Recent continental environments. We provide a list of the taxa, and the stratigraphical distribution during the Lower and the Middle Miocene is indicated, as well as the geographical location in comparison with the estimated shorelines. The recent stratigraphical revisions of some Miocene deposits, mainly marine, from the central, southern and northern parts of the Aquitaine Basin are used. The studied microfauna contains about 20 genera and slightly more than 30 species. Most of the found genera correspond to fresh to brackish ostracodes (particularly Cytheridae and Candonidae). Several genera can indicate environmental characteristics: Candonopsis and Sclerocypris (Upper Aquitanian in age) are intertropical dwellers. Vecticypris from the Lower Miocene could indicate (in analogy with Metacypris) relatively cooler waters existing in these environments.     

Nouvelles données sur le genre Imerites Rouchadzé, 1933 (Ammonitida,Ancyloceratina) ; réponses et précisions apportées au travail de Bert,Delanoy et Canut, 2009

This work is mainly an answer to the work of Bert, Delanoy and Canut, on the genus Imerites Rouchadzé, and we add also some points to the knowledge of this genus. An answer is given for the implication of one of the authors (J.V.) of this present work, about the origin of the genus Imerites Rouchadzé, and some significant bibliographic references, not named in the 2009 work, are specified and placed in their context. The characteristics of the ornamental stage “Pseudoshasticrioceras” mainly defined by an oval and compressed section of the whorls and by regular ventrolateral clavi, well marked, which frame the venter in a typical way (Bert et al., p. 181), don’t allow to affirm the presence of this stage during the ontogeny of all species of the genus Imerites Rouchadzé, contrary to what Bert, Delanoy and Canut (p. 30, 31) wrote. The type-species of the genus Imerites Rouchadzé is made clear by the application of the rules of the I.C.Z.N. code. The article 23, with the paragraph 23.1 of the I.C.Z.N. code, imply the senior synonymy of Imerites cristatus (Orbigny) on Imerites giraudi (Kilian), even if the Kilian's species is still the type species of the genus Imerites Rouchadzé. The taxinomical validity of the species Imerites cristatus (Orbigny) is confirmed. Its morphological variability is clarified by the distinction of four referential morphotypes, Cristatus, Giraudi, Favrei and Raricostatum. Consequently, the assumption of a shape-dimensional dimorphism into the populations of the genus Imerites Rouchadzé is rejected, awaiting irrefutable proof. A new species, Imerites stephaniae sp. nov., is described. It was collected in the Gerhardtia sartousiana Zone, in the uppermost part of the Gerhardtia provincialis Subzone, and it is a probable ancestor of the cogeneric species of the Imerites giraudi Zone.     

Les foraminifères du Paléocène et de l'Éocène basal du sillon nord-pyrénéen (Aquitaine, France)

This paper presents for the first time the inventory of the Paleocene and Lower Eocene foraminifers located in the North Pyrenean trough, between the Atlantic Ocean and the neighbourhood of the town Pau. They have been studied from three outcrops. The Bidart Beach section shows the Lasseube Formation from the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary to the base of the P 3a zone. The Loubieng Quarry section, near Orthez, represents the upper P 3a zone and the lower P 3b zone as well as the Lasseube Formation / Pont Labau Formation boundary. The interval between the upper part of the P 3b zone and the upperest part of the P 5 zone crops out along the Gan - Rébénacq road with a hiatus located at the Paleocene / Eocene boundary, the whole interval belonging to the Pont Labau Formation. 394 taxons of foraminifers are present in this formations: 349 benthic and 45 planktonic species. The Velasco type benthic foraminifers show a middle bathyal depositional environment, with a paleobathymetry included between 500-600 m and 1000 m: Nuttallides truempyi, Osangularia velascoensis, Bulimina trinitatensis. The Midway type species which were transported by the turbidite currents from the lower to middle neritic environments are frequent as well as the Cretaceous reworked species. The species number is low: 29 in the iridium layer of the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (P 0 zone). Fauna grows rich quickly in the Pα zone reaching 129 species. The diversity grows up progressively from P α to the P 4a zone (NP 8). The disappearances are rare until his horizon, but their number is bigger than the number of appearances from the P 4b zone. It reaches their maximum between the P 4c zone and the P 5 zone. It shows that the decline of the Paleocene fauna begins around 2 million years before the thermal event of the Paleocene / Eocene boundary in the Aquitaine sections. The disappearances stay important in the Lower Eocene - Ypresian, but the appearance of lots of Eocene species show that the fauna renewal is located in this stage. The Cretaceous taxa dominate in the Paleocene benthonic fauna. The appearance or the disappearance of some species has a stratigraphic value in the Aquitaine region: the disappearance of Coryphostoma incrassata in the P 1b zone, the appearances of Plectina dalmatina, Elongobula grata (P α); Bulimina tuxpamensis (P 2); Tritaxilina cubensis, Thalmannita madrugaensis (P 3a); Svenia bulbosa (P 3b); Discorbis perovalis (P 4a/NP 7); Elongobula pulchra, E. pupa, Asterigerina bartoniana, Neorotalia gr. tuberculata (P 4a/NP 8); Bigenerina pannonica, Pentellina pseudosaxorum (P 5/NP 9-10).     

Étude de Pseudanogmius maiseyi gen. et sp. nov., poisson marin (Teleostei, Tselfatiiformes) du Crétacé supérieur du Kansas (États-Unis)

The osteology of Pseudanogmius maiseyi gen. and sp. nov., a marine teleost of the Upper Cretaceous of Kansas, is studied. This fish belongs to the order Tselfatiiformes and more particularly to the group with a more or less flat skull roof and with large, quadrangular and joined parietals. Pseudanogmius maiseyi, formerly named Anogmius sp. by Hay (1903), differs from Bananogmius and the other genera known in the order by three autapomorphies: an elongated and very narrow vomer, a peculiar relief of the toothed part of the parasphenoid, and transverse processes on the caudal vertebrae. Within the order, it shows a few evolved characters, such as the loss of the preural 1 hemal arch and of the sixth autogenous hypural and by the shortening of the preural 1 neural spine.     

Discovery of Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) Radiolaria from the sedimentary cover of the Vedi ophiolite (Lesser Caucasus,Armenia)

The Vedi ophiolite, situated southeast of Yerevan (Armenia), represents part of the Neotethyan oceanic lithosphere preserved in the Lesser Caucasus. This ophiolite unit constitutes a large tectonic klippe, a result of obduction during the Upper Cretaceous (Coniacian–Santonian). Relatively well-preserved Radiolaria extracted from radiolarites overlying ophiolitic lavas along the Vedi River consist of Middle Jurassic (Bajocian, U.A.Z. 3–4) species, typical of the Tethyan tropical bioprovince. Assemblages are dominated by Nassellaria and characterised by the presence of species Cyrtocapsa mastoidea, Hexasaturnalis hexagonus, Laxtorum (?) hichioense, Stichocapsa japonica and Striatojaponocapsa plicarum s.l. This microfauna provides evidence for the oldest age available so far for the sedimentary cover of the Vedi ophiolite.     

Lowermost occurrence of ostracod Cypridea species in East Asia and implications for the non-marine Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary

Cypridea Bosquet, 1852 is a non-marine ostracod genus of the Superfamily Cypridoidea, and the extinct Family Cyprideidae, which achieved high diversity in the Early Cretaceous. This genus plays an important role in the subdivision and correlation of strata, as well as in paleogeographic and paleoclimatic studies. Cypridea species are remarkably abundant and diverse, and are extensively distributed across East Asia. However, the lowermost occurrence of Cypridea species (LOOC) in East Asia is still being debated, varying from the Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous. Here, we aim to conduct a preliminary investigation of the Cypridea-bearing strata of East Asia (China, Mongolia, Korea and Japan), and attempt to update the strata correlation, based on new progress of the ostracod correlations, as well as the progress of other research methods on the relative Jurassic/Cretaceous (J/K) strata of these areas. Results show that the LOOCs in most basins of East Asia are documented in Lower Cretaceous (～Berriasian) strata. However, Cypridea species are extremely rare near the J/K boundary interval but flourish until Valanginian–Hauterivian in most basins of East Asia. Therefore, we propose that the LOOC in each corresponding basin of East Asia can be used as an auxiliary marker of the non-marine J/K boundary. Cypridea species may have travelled first from Africa (Kimmeridgian) to Europe (J/K period), and then East Asia (Early Cretaceous), which resulted in the LOOC in East Asia later than in the other continents.     

Révision des rudistes crétacés (Bivalvia) de la Paléontologiefrançaise d’Alcide d’Orbigny

In the volume IV of the “Paléontologiefrançaise”, A. d’Orbigny deals in particular with Cretaceous rudists. Numerous type specimens of Hippuritidae, Caprinidae, Radiolitidae, Caprotinidae, Requieniidae belonging to his collection and deposited in the Muséumnationald’histoirenaturelle, Paris. Among the 78 species that he has studied, A. d’Orbigny introduced 41 as new ones. This review presents a picture of all types with a comment on the original definition, and set the statute, and the precise stratigraphical level of illustrated forms. The present work gives rise to the designation of 40 lectotypes, two syntypes and three neotypes.     

Biostratigraphie,paléoécologie et zones d’acmé des foraminifères planctoniques au passage Crétacé-Paléogène dans la Téthys (Tunisie et Espagne) et l’Atlantique (France)

Biostratigraphical high-resolution analyses and quantitative data confirm that deposition is continuous across the K-Pg transition in several sections in Tunisia (El Kef, stratotype section) and Spain (Agost and Caravaca sections) located in the Tethyan realm and the Bidart sections in the Atlantic realm, without any relevant hiatus. The Upper Maastrichtian assemblages of planktic foraminifera from these sections are largely dominated by small biserial heterohelicids. They are associated to common species having planispiral test (i.e. globigerinelloids), trochospiral test (i.e. hedbergellids, rugoglobigerinids globotruncanids), to rare triserial heterohelicids (i.e. guembelitriids) and trochospiral species showing tubulospines (i.e. schackoinids). Stratigraphical ranges of these diverse taxa through the late Maastrichtian in the Tethyan and Atlantic realms show very few changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages and most of the species are present in the Abathomphalus mayaroensis biozone. By our high-resolution sampling and the intensive research for the A. mayaroensis index species in the uppermost Maastrichtian samples, we confirm that this species is omnipresent up to the top of the Maastrichtian. Therefore, A. mayaroensis is present in almost all samples which are late Maastrichtian in age, but this species became very scarce in the uppermost Maastrichtian samples. This scarceness could be due to a climate cooling. A sharp decrease in relative abundance of the deep dwellers species, like as Abathomphalus intermedius and A. mayaroensis as well as in other keeled globotruncanids is observed at the studied sections from the Tethyan realm (indicative of low latitude) across the latest Maastrichtian. At the K/Pg boundary, all the globotruncanids disappeared. They are considered specialists living in tropical-subtropical deep seawater habitat. At this boundary, large and ornate heterohelicids also disappeared. Therefore, all the studied sections show that about 90 % of the Maastrichtian species became extinct according to a catastrophic mass extinction pattern. Only about 10 % crossed the K/Pg boundary and survived during the earliest Danian. The minor difference in the number of disappeared taxa is related to their latitude location or environment paleodepth. The changes in the species relative abundance, observed in the successive planktic foraminiferal assemblages, make it possible to recognize the Acme-stage 0 typical of the upper Maastrichtian interval. It is characterized by the highest species richness of Globotruncanids and heterohelicids specialists of tropical to subtropical marine conditions, the Acme-stage 1 typical of the Guembelitria cretacea Zone, and in particular of the Hedbergella holmdelensis Subzone dominated by “opportunists” species belonging to Guembelitria, the Acme-stage 2 which corresponds to the Pv. eugubina Zone dominated mainly by specimens belonging to Palaeoglobigerina and Parvularugoglobigerina and the Acme-stage 3 which characterizes mainly the Ps. pseudobulloides Zone dominated by biserial species belonging to Chiloguembelina and Woodringina.     

Ostracodes de la Formation de Bhanness,Kimméridgien (Jurassique supérieur) du Liban central : taxonomie,paléoécologie et paléobiogéographie

A microfauna composed of 11 species of ostracodes belonging to 11 genera have been recovered from the Bhanness Formation of Kimmeridgian age, in Central Lebanon. Four species are new and are described herein: Ektyphocythere dahressawanensis nov. sp., Dicrorygma (Orthorygma) libanensis nov. sp., Citrella? elongata nov. sp. and Procytherura inflata nov. sp. From a palaeobiogeographical standpoint, this fauna characterizes the North Gondwana province which differs from the South Gondwana province, particularly by the presence of the genus Schuleridea and the absence of the genus Majungaella.     

Echinochara triplicata sp. nov. (Clavatoraceae,fossil Charophyta) from the Lower Albian of Tunisia

Echinochara Peck, 1957 is a poorly known charophyte genus from the Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous of the United States and Europe. Its fossil record is currently limited to two species, Echinochara spinosa Peck, 1957 and Echinochara peckii (Mädler, 1952) nov. comb. Grambast, 1956 emend. Schudack, 1993, which have obscure phylogenetic relationships. A third species of this genus, Echinochara triplicata nov. sp., is described here from the Lower Albian of Jebel Koumine (Central Tunisia) and is hypothesized to derive from the Barremian-Aptian morphotypes of Echinochara peckii. The new species represents the first record of the genus in Africa and its more recent record worldwide. It occurs along with the clavatoraceans: Clavator harrisii zavialensis and Atopochara trivolvis trivolvis and provides an additional tool for the biostratigraphic characterization of non-marine Albian of Europe and North Africa.     

Upper Cretaceous paleogeography of the Central Southern Pyrenean Basins (Catalonia, Spain) from microfacies analysis and charophyte biostratigraphy

The most extensive latest Cretaceous deposits of the Pyrenees are non-marine facies traditionally called “Garumnian”, which represent the first continentalization of the Pyrenean Foreland Basins. The age and paleogeography of the basal Garumnian facies in the different parts of the Pyrenean Basin has been a matter of debate. Charophyte biostratigraphy and microfacies analysis suggest that the continentalization was diachronous in the Central Southern Pyrenean basins, i.e., between the Àger and Tremp basins, and the emersion progressed from south to north. In the Àger Basin, to the south, the first Upper Cretaceous non-marine rocks are represented by the La Maçana Formation. This unit is mainly formed by freshwater lacustrine limestones organized into hundreds of shallowing-upwards sequences ranging from deeper lacustrine facies, through marginal, well-illuminated environments dominated by characean meadows, and finishing with lakeshores dominated by clavatoracean meadows. The charophyte assemblage from the La Maçana Fm is mainly formed by Peckichara cancellata, P. sertulata, Microchara cristata, M. parazensis, Platychara caudata, and Clavator brachycerus, which belong to the Peckichara cancellata charophyte biozone (Late Campanian). In contrast, in the Tremp Basin, located to the north, the beginning of the non-marine sedimentation is organized into a few cycles of the well-known La Posa Fm. These cycles begin with brackish deposits formed by thick marls with euryhaline molluscs at the base, followed by lignite and brackish to freshwater limestones. The brackish facies are dominated by porocharaceans. The charophyte assemblage of the La Posa Formation is formed by Feistiella malladae, Peckichara sertulata, Microchara cristata, and Clavator brachycerus, which belong to the Septorella ultima charophyte biozone (Early Maastrichtian).     

Succession des peuplements d’échinides du Crétacé inférieur dans le Haut Atlas atlantique (Maroc) ; révision systématique et intérêt stratigraphique

The rich echinoid fauna from the Lower Cretaceous of the Agadir, Haha and Essaouira basins has been revised taxonomically, based on new and abundant collections. Forty-seven species have been identified, of which 20 are reported for the first time from this region and a further three represent new species left in open nomenclature. Their stratigraphic ranges have been determined accurately by reference to the regional ammonite zonation. However, it is also possible to use a local biostratigraphical scheme based on the echinoid succession, where ammonites are rare. The Toxasteridae, which are very abundant and underwent rapid evolution, are the most useful biostratigraphically. The genus Toxaster appears in the Lower Berriasian and continues until the Gargasian passing through the following succession: T. africanus, T. granosus, T. kiliani, T. lorioli, T. obtusus, T. exilis, T. retusus, T. maurus, T. peroni, T. collegnoi. The presence of Eoholaster, Macraster, Douvillaster, Palhemiaster, Heteraster and Pygopyrina is signaled for the first time in the Atlantic High Atlas region.     

Variations morphologiques des Toxaster (Echinoida : Spatangoida) en regard des fluctuations spatiales (Arc de Castellane, SE France) et temporelles (Valanginien-Hauterivien) du milieu sédimentaire : expression d'un potentiel adaptatif restreint

The impact of sedimentary conditions on the settlement, growth, and morphology of primitive spatangoid sea urchins of the genus Toxaster from the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian and Hauterivian of the Provencal platform) is analyzed. The analyses concern spatial and temporal patterns of variation. The spatial approach is based on six isochronous populations of Toxaster granosus kiliani (424 specimens in total) dated from the Verrucosum biozone, and distributed along a proximo-distal gradient. The temporal approach concerns a reference section (Carajuan) ranging from the Lower Valanginian to the Upper Hauterivian, and involving the species T. granosus kiliani and T. gibbus. Sedimentary environments have been characterized by a factorial analysis of five characteristics of facies. Sea urchin morphology has been described with seven measures allowing the computation of two angles (α and β), and of six shape indices analyzed through a principal components analyses. The spatial approach shows that the adult mean size (> 20 mm) increases distally, and that morphology changes significantly across localities. However, only variations in α and β are sequentially organized along the proximo-distal gradient (they correspond to a forward migration of the peristome and to an expansion of the plastronal area). The stratigraphic survey of facies variation along the 369 beds analyzed in Carajuan shows a clear change in sedimentary conditions: from unstable with bioclastic events (Valanginian), to homogeneous with a low content in bioclasts (Hauterivian). Most Toxaster specimens are concentrated in three stratigraphic units (Campylotoxus and Verrucosum biozones for T. granosus kiliani; Sayni biozone for T. gibbus), their abundance being related to the macrofaunal presence and diversity and to burrowing activity. The adult mean size is only significantly related to facies variation, for the T. granosus kiliani from the Verrucosum biozone, increasing with textural gradient and bioclastic content. Shape - facies relationships have been identified for T. granosus kiliani in both Campylotoxus and Verrucosum intervals. However, the morphological variables and facies characteristics involved differ between the two biozones. The synthesis of all significant relationships between size or shape and facies characteristics demonstrates that the response of Toxaster to environmental changes was limited, and varied in space as well as for the different periods of time considered. The only recurring impact of sedimentary changes involved sea urchin abundance, that is, their ability to settle. The low adaptive potential of Toxaster is discussed in the context of the early radiation of the Spatangoida.     

A new odonatan (Stenophlebiidae) from the Lower Cretaceous Sinuiju Formation of North Phyongan Province,the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

A new fossil species, Stenophlebia ryonsangensis n. sp. (Stenophlebiidae), collected from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine Sinuiju Formation, North Phyongan Province, has the following forewing characters: preserved wing slender and longer than 47.1 mm; Cr long, with three cells below it, and well aligned with distal part of ScP; Sn shorter than Cr, one cell long; supplementary veinlet below Sn aligned with RP2 and about two cells long; base of IR1 five cells distal of base of RP2. This well preserved material is the first odonatan reported in the DPRK. Congeneric species has previously been found in the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of western Liaoning Province, Northeast China, thus the new discovery of Stenophlebia ryonsangensis n. sp. may contribute to evaluating the distribution and migration of Stenophlebidae and may further indicate the close relationship of the fossil layer with the famous Jehol Biota in Northeast China.     

Zapalasaurus bonapartei, un nuevo dinosaurio saurópodo de La Formación La Amarga (Cretácico Inferior), noroeste de Patagonia, Provincia de Neuquén, Argentina

An incomplete skeleton from Puesto Morales (Neuquén Province, Argentina) is described as a new species of sauropod, Zapalasaurus bonapartei. The unit that yielded the holotype of this dinosaur is the Piedra Parada Member of the La Amarga Formation, whose age is regarded as Barremian-lower Aptian. Several characters are interpreted as autapomorphies of Zapalasaurus bonapartei: cervical vertebrae with a lamina uniting the prezygapophysis and the zygapophyseal portion of the postzygodiapophyseal lamina, cervical vertebrae with the diapophyseal portion of the postzygodiapophyseal lamina reduced, cervical vertebrae with poorly developed spinoprezygapophyseal laminae, mid and posterior caudal vertebrae with anteroposteriorly elongated neural spines, whose anterodorsal corners are higher than their posterodorsal ones, and caudal centrum length doubles over first 20 vertebrae. Zapalasaurus bonapartei is considered as the sister group of the other diplodocoids (excluding Haplocanthosaurus). Diplodocoids were abundant in the Early Cretaceous, becoming extinct by the early Late Cretaceous. The record of Zapalasaurus bonapartei shows that, at least in the Neuquina Basin, basal diplodocoids were more diverse than previously thought.