Armored dinosaurs(Ornithischia: Ankylosauria)) from the Middle and Upper Jurassic of England

Hitherto the earliest positive record of ankylosaurs(armored dinosaurs) has been from beds well up in the Lower Cretaceous; in fact, however, specimens referable to the ankylosaurian family Nodosauridae are present in the Middle and Upper Jurassic of England: from the Middle Callovian [partial mandible Sarcolestes leedsiLydekker]], the Upper Oxfordian [femur Cryptodraco eumerus (Seeley)), maxilla Priodontognathus phillipsii (Seeley))], and the Upper Tithonian [caudal vertebra, tooth]. The Tithonian tooth and those of Priodontognathus are large and similar to those of the nodosaurids Priconodon and Sauropelta (Lower Cretaceous, U.S.A.). The incomplete mandible of Sarcolestes is similar to that of Sauropelta with a dermal scute fused to the lateral surface, and a tooth row extending to the anterior end of the jaw; an unusual feature is the caniniform first tooth. The quadrupedal ankylosaurs and stegosaurs probably represent separate evolutionary lines that extend back at least into the Lower Jurassic, and both lines probably evolved from ornithopod dinosaurs that were bipedal. Nodosaurid ankylosaurs occur in Europe from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous and probably reached North America via a filter route in the early Cretaceous.     

Valdosaurus, a hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and Africa

Material of the hypsilophodontid dinosaur Valdosauruscanaliculatus (Ornithischia: Ornithopoda) is described from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) of southern England and a new species is recognized from the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian) of Niger, West Africa. This occurrence of Valdosaurus in Europe and Africa provides evidence of a land connection between these continents across Tethys sometime in the early Cretaceous.     

A large iguanodont from the Upper Barremian of the Paris Basin

The remains of an ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Barremian (Lower Cretaceous) of Auxerre (Burgundy, France) are described. They consist of several vertebrae and a fragmentary scapula. Despite obvious morphological and dimensional affinities with the species Iguanodon bernissartensis, the state of the specimen does not allow any identification more precise than Iguanodontia indet. Reappraisal of the French Upper Barremian record of medium and large-sized ornithopods reveals that no specimen can be definitely determined to the specific level.     

Stratigraphic distribution of shallow-water benthic foraminifera from the Lower Cretaceous Taft formation,Central Iran (Yazd Block), with evidence for the importance of hiatuses

In this contribution, two stratigraphic sections are described through the Lower Cretaceous shallow-water platform sediments (Taft formation) from the northern Tethys, which are located in the Yazd Block, Central Iran. Benthic foraminifera are used to propose a biostratigraphy for these successions. They are grouped around several assemblage zones, and several genera and species are reported from the Yazd Block basin for the first time (e.g., Arenobulimina cochleata, A. meltae, Belorusiella sp., Bolivinopsis cf. labeosa, Decussoloculina barbui, Martinotiella jucunda, Myncina bulgarica, Novalesia cornucopia, Sabaudia briacensis, Simplorbitolina manasi). Their presence can provide a better understanding for the paleogeographic reconstruction of the Tethyan seaways. Furthermore, they represent candidates as potential index fossils in the Lower Cretaceous stratigraphy of the Yazd Block. The new biostratigraphic data allow to date the Lower Cretaceous successions between the probable Valanginian and the late Aptian. Based on the absence of early Barremian indicators and also late Aptian markers, two hiatuses are recognized through the Taft formation. This formation also displays a diachrony in ages at its base and top, which suggests the effect of long-term subsidence in the Yazd Block during the Early Cretaceous, following the Cimmerian phase of orogeny.     

Cretaceous (Albian to Turonian) radiolarians from chert blocks of the Moni Mélange (Southern Cyprus)

Well-preserved Cretaceous (Albian–Turonian) radiolarians were extracted from radiolarian-bearing chert olistoliths of the Monagroulli Member within the Moni Mélange (Campanian-Maastrichtian, Southern Cyprus). Four assemblages were distinguished: Middle Albian–Lower Cenomanian (Thanarla spoletoensis Zone), Upper Albian–Lower Cenomanian (Thanarla spoletoensis Zone, Dorypyle? anisa Subzone), lowermost Turonian (base of Alievium superbum Zone) and Lower Turonian (Alievium superbum Zone). The radiolarian assemblages are diverse and have taxonomic composition similar to coeval assemblages of Italy and Spain. The sediments of the Monagroulli Member differ from coeval rocks of the Mamonia Complex (western Cyprus) by the more common presence of radiolarian cherts and may have been formed in the distal part of a continental margin with less input of clastic material. A new spicular radiolarian genus Cyprothamnus with 2 new species (C. multifurcatus and C. moniensis) is described from the Lower Turonian strata.     

Isorthid AE (Brachiopoda) du dévonien inférieur du massif armoricain

Three species of Isorthidae are described in the Lower Devonian of the Armorican Massif. Two of them were hitherto badly known, being never adequately described nor figured: Isorthis (Protocortezorthis) miloni from the Gahard Formation (Gedinnian) and Isorthis (Protocortezorthis) trigeri from the Saint-Céneré Formation (Gedinnian-Siegenian). Isorthis oehlertiSolle, 1976 is considered as a synonym of Isorthis (Protocortezorthis) trigeri. The geographic distribution of these species allows to corroborate that until the top of the Lower Devonian (top of Le Faou Formation), two provinces with different faunal associations exist in the Armorican Massif.     

The heteromorph ammonite genus Ancyloceras (Ancyloceratidae) in the Paris Basin (lower Aptian,Lower Cretaceous,NE France)

In the present work, we examine a sample of 54 specimens of the heteromorph ammonite genus Ancyloceras d’Orbigny, 1842 from the Argiles à Plicatules Formation (lower Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) of the eastern Paris Basin (NE France). The results are as follows: (1) the sample is regarded as monospecific and assigned to the well-named species Ancyloceras varians d’Orbigny, 1842; (2) its variability is continuous and concerns as well as adult size, coiling and shell ornamentation. Adult size varies by a factor of two from one individual to another. The angle between the proversum and the retroversum is variable. The ornamentation on the spiral and the proversum varies between robust morphotype with trituberculate strong ribs separated by few smooth intercalaries ribs and slender morphotype with feebly tuberculate ribs. There are no arguments in favor of sexual dimorphism in Ancyloceras varians.     

Les métapodes d'Equus sensu lato (Mammalia,Périssodactyla)

Biometrical study of the metapodials of modern wild species (E. grevyi, E. burchelli boehmi, E. zebra hartmannae, E. africanus, E. hemionus and E. przewalskii) and some fossil forms (E. stenonis vireti and cf. vireti from the Villafranchian of France and Spain; E. tabeti and E. mauritanicus from the Lower and Middle Pleistocene of Northern Africa; E. mosbachensis from the Middle Pleistocene of Germany). Classical functional and evolutive interpretations of some characters are discussed: development of the distal keel, of the distal supra-articular and articular widths, of the proximal widths and antero-posterior diameters.     

The beetle-like Palaeozoic and Mesozoic roachoids of the so-called “umenocoleoid” lineage (Dictyoptera: Ponopterixidae fam. nov.)

The position of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic roachoids and their relationships to crown-group Dictyoptera is an unresolved problem of insect systematics since Hennig's time. This contribution presents new data based on the wing venation of the Early Cretaceous group Cratovitismioidea (so-called “Umenocoleoidea”) supplemented with the discovery of the first Late Palaeozoic representative. As Umenocoleus, type genus of the Umenocoleidae, is considered as a Coleopterida, the roachoids currently included in the Umenocoleidae are transferred to the new family Ponopterixidae, in the new superfamily Cratovitismioidea. Permoponopterix lodevensis, a new ponopterixid genus and species, is described as the oldest representative of this superfamily, from the Middle Permian of the South of France. A new species Ponopterix burkhardi is described from the Lower Cretaceous of Crato Formation in Brazil. Convergent adaptations of tegmina in Coleopterida, Protelytroptera and Cratovitismioidea are discussed.     

Les primates hominoides du Vallésien de Macédoine (Grèce). Étude de la machoire inférieure

The locality of the Ravine of the Rain is located in Lower Macedonia (Greece); it has yielded an important mammalian fauna of Vallesian age (Upper Miocene). An hominoid Primate is present with a lot of well preserved jaws. It is one of the better set of specimens never found in the same locality. His features and caracters are described and compared with those of the others tertiary Hominoids. This is a species which is near of Sivapithecus, Bodvapithecus and Ramapithecus and also it is very near of the ancestry of Gigantopithecus. All these Primates have had a particular ecology and this is probably the set in which we shall find the root of the plio-pleistocen Hominids.     

New data on crinoid assemblages from the oldest sedimentary rocks of the Polish Outer Carpathians (Jurassic-Cretaceous)

Crinoids (Crinoidea) preserved in the so-called Cieszyn Beds (Tithonian-Hauterivian; southern Poland) are relatively numerous, especially in some levels, but not highly diversified. They are absent in the Lower Cieszyn Shale (Tithonian) and the Upper Cieszyn Shale (Valanginian-Hauterivian). The Lower Cieszyn Limestone (Tithonian) yielded crinoid remains classified as Isocrinus cf. amblyscalaris (Thurmann) and Isocrinida indet. In the Upper Cieszyn Limestone (Berriasian) crinoids are much more numerous and diversified. The following taxa are recorded: Isocrinus? annulatus (Roemer), Balanocrinus subteres (Münster), B. cf. smithi Hess and Gale, and Hemicrinus sp. The presence of specimens resembling Isocrinus amblyscalaris (Thurmann) in the Tithonian strata is surprising since the last occurrence of this taxon was reported from the Kimmeridgian. The Lower Cieszyn Limestone crinoidal assemblage is dominated by isocrinids (Isocrinida). This probably reflects the much shallower sedimentary environment of these sediments compared to that of the Upper Cieszyn Limestone, where excepting isocrinids, hemicrinids (Hemicrinidae, Cyrtocrinida) typical for deep marine environments were found. It is consistent with the analytical results from the foraminiferal assemblages, among which the benthic forms known from shelfal and paralic epicontinental environments first dominated, and then were supplanted by deep-sea taxa at the turn of the Jurassic and Cretaceous.     

Cuvillierinella salentina (Foraminifera,Rhapydioninidae) and its kinship in the Western Mediterranean area during the Campanian–Maastrichtian

Cuvillierinella salentina Papetti and Tedeschi, 1965 and its related species of the Rhapydioninidae family are widely distributed in the Western Mediterranean region by Campanian–Maastrichtian time. C. salentina, the type species of the genus, is studied in rich populations from its Italian type locality, and several other spots from Greece and Spain. It shows great variability: the well-known type coexists with streptospiral tests almost devoid of endoskeleton and wholly planispiral tests with fine mesh-like endoskeleton, as well as many intermediates. Such populations reflect the large capacity of evolution of at least the group of miliolids from which these populations are derived, if not the species itself. The genera Murciella and Cyclopseudedomia are probably the most direct offshoots, but other taxa appear to arise from this species or at least from the same stock of origin. In the same genus and at the same time (middle part of Campanian age, “CsB6a” zone), two new species are described, both hesitating between the streptospiral and planispiral coiling: – C. fluctuans nov. sp., from Greece, A tests being either streptospiral or planispiral, with primary and secondary chamberlets taking the aspect of polygonal isodiametric network and – C. perisalentina nov. sp., from Italy, with persistent streptospiral coiling and disordered arrangement of secondary chamberlets which allow us to consider its relation with species of the genus Pseudochubbina, hitherto of completely enigmatic origin. Assigned to the same genus, from Upper Campanian–Lower Maastrichtian time (“CsB6b” zone), C. aff. pylosensis, probably related to C. pylosensis, is studied from several populations, and constitutes, with the above mentioned species, what is called C. gr. salentina. Based on material from the CsB6b zone, the new genus Metacuvillierinella nov. gen. is introduced; M. decastroi nov. sp., type species of the new genus, known from Greece and Italy, shows characters common to C. gr. salentina, such as milioline to streptospiral nepionic coiling, large endoskeleton mesh, associated with some original characters, such as the unusual conjunction of the advolute coiling and absence of any final unrolling together with very low dimorphism of generation; this results in flat tests, often sigmoid shaped in axial section, very rare in the family. Thus, the genus Cuvillierinella, and especially C. salentina, appears as a possible source, or at least not far from the origin, of a number of taxa related to one another, constituting a large part of the Rhapydioninidae family. They are gathered together inside the new subfamily Cuvillierinellinae, distinct from the subfamily Rhapydionininae sensu stricto (comprising Rhapydionina and Fanrhapydionina) which makes a different and parallel branch, from Upper Campanian (CsB6b zone) to the end of Cretaceous time (CsB7 zone).     

Early Cretaceous calcareous algae from central Iran (Taft Formation, south of Aliabad, near Yazd)

A rich association of calcareous algae is described from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian–? Lower Aptian) deposits of the Taft Formation, located south of Aliabad (in the vicinity of Yazd, central Iran). The association mainly consists of dasycladaleans and bryopsidales (udoteaceans and gymnocodiaceans); additionally, rare “solenoporaceans” and cyanophyceans are present. Three new species are described: two are dasycladaleans (Pseudoactinoporella? iranica and Holosporella farsica) and one is an udoteacean (Boueina minima). Many of the described and illustrated algae are mentioned for the first time from Iran.     

New jewel beetles (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) and similar beetles from the Cretaceous and Early Paleogene of Asia

A new genus and two new species of jewel beetles are described, Andakhudukia ponomarenkoi gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia and Metabuprestium ustkivdense sp. nov. from the lowermost Paleogene of the Amur Region. In addition, four new monotypic genera that share some features with jewel beetles are described: Cretoelaterium kazanovense gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous of Eastern Transbaikalia and Cretopoena gratshevi gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia have been referred to the families Elateridae and Eucnemidae; Cretofalselaterium baiankhongoricum gen. et sp. nov. from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia and Cretogermen turonicum gen. et sp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous of Kazakhstan have been erected for isolated elytra and placed in Coleoptera incertae sedis.     

A new phylogeny of Stegosauria (Dinosauria,Ornithischia)

The stegosaurs are some of the most easily recognizable dinosaurs, but are surprisingly rare as fossils. Consequently much remains unknown about their palaeobiology, and every new stegosaurian find contributes to our understanding of the evolution of the clade. Since the last attempt to examine the evolutionary relationships of Stegosauria, new specimens have come to light, including the most complete individual of Stegosaurus ever found, new taxa have been described and, perhaps most importantly, new methods for analysis of cladistic datasets have been produced. In the light of these new data and technological advances, the phylogenetic relationships of the stegosaurs and basal armoured dinosaurs are investigated. The inclusion of continuous data results in much better resolution than was previously obtained, and the resulting single most parsimonious tree supports re‐erection of the genera Miragaia and Hesperosaurus, which had previously been synonymized with Dacentrurus and Stegosaurus respectively. The recently described genus Alcovasaurus is resolved as a basal thyreophoran, but this is most likely a consequence of a very high degree of missing data and the questionable ontogenetic stage of the specimen. Examination of the effects of continuous data on the analysis suggest that while it contains a phylogenetic signal congruent with that of discrete data and provides better resolution than discrete data alone, it can affect topologies in unpredictable ways, particularly in areas of the tree where there are large amounts of missing data. The phylogeny presented here will form the basis for future work on the palaeobiology of the plated dinosaurs.     

A second hadrosauroid dinosaur from the early Late Cretaceous of Zuoyun,Shanxi Province,China

A second basal hadrosauroid dinosaur, Zuoyunlong huangi gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the early Late Cretaceous Zhumapu Formation in Zuoyun County, Shanxi Province, northern China. Zuoyunlong preserves a partial right ilium and ischium and is unique in having a very short postacetabular process 50% as long as the iliac central plate. Our cladistic analysis recovers Zuoyunlong as the most basal Late Cretaceous hadrosauroid, with a sister taxon relationship with Probactrosaurus from the late Early Cretaceous of Inner Mongolia. Including Zuoyunlong, four Cenomanian basal hadrosauroids have been recorded, and the two taxa in North America (Eolambia and Protohadros) represent the earliest known hadrosauroids outside of Asia. In the light of the proposed phylogenetic topology and biogeographic data, the discovery of Zuoyunlong indicates that the first dispersal of hadrosauroids from Asia to North America probably happened around the boundary between the Early and Late Cretaceous.     

The tiny horned dinosaur Gobiceratops minutus gen. et sp. nov. (Bagaceratopidae, Neoceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia

A new horned dinosaur, Gobiceratops minutus gen. et sp. nov. (Bagaceratopidae, Neoceratopsia), from the Upper Cretaceous Baruungoyot Formation of the Khermin Tsav locality (southern Mongolia) is described based on a 3.5-cm-long skull. The nasal included in the orbital border suggests relationship between the new taxon and Bagaceratops rozdestvenskyi. It is proposed that, unlike other neoceratopsian families, the family Bagaceratopidae is of Paleoasiatic origin.     

The heteromorph ammonite genus Ammonitoceras Dumas, 1876 (Ancyloceratidae) in the lower Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) of the Les Ferres Aptian Basin (southeastern France)

Ammonitoceras Dumas, 1876 is a genus of heteromorph ammonites characterized by the presence of a peculiar ontogenetic stage in its inner whorls: the Ammonitoceras stage. But in spite of its wide paleogeographic and biostratigraphic extension throughout the Aptian (Lower Cretaceous), this genus remains poorly known. In the present work we study specimens of Ammonitoceras from the lower Aptian Deshayesites multicostatus (Deshayesites deshayesi Zone) to Dufrenoyia furcata (Dufrenoyia furcata Zone) subzones of the Les Ferres Aptian Basin (southeastern France). The results are as follows: (1) representatives of Ammonitoceras from this area are regarded dimorphic with criocone macroconchs and ancylocone microconchs, (2) their ontogenetic sequence is described, (3) their intraspecific variability is significant and concerns the adult size and the duration of the ontogenetic stages, especially the Ammonitoceras stage, (4) two species are recognized: the earlier Ammonitoceras ucetiae Dumas, 1876, characterized by a brief Ammonitoceras stage on average, and the latter Ammonitoceras lahuseni (Sinzow, 1906), characterized by a longer Ammonitoceras stage on average. The sample of the Deshayesites grandis Subzone (Deshayesites deshayesi Zone) is composed of specimens too fragmentary to be identified at species level.     

A new species of Tingidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from the Lower Cretaceous of Transbaikalia

A new species of lace-bug Sinaldocader ponomarenkoi sp. nov. (Tingidae: Phatnomatini) is described from the Lower Cretaceous Transbaikalian locality Baissa. The new species differs from the type species S. drakei Popov, 1989 from the Lower Cretaceous of Mongolia in the well-developed lateral carinae of pronotal disc and in the details of hemelytral venation.