Additional thylacocephalans (Arthropoda) from the Lower Triassic (upper Olenekian) Osawa Formation of the South Kitakami Belt,Northeast Japan

The Lower Triassic Osawa Formation in the South Kitakami Belt, Northeast Japan, consisting mostly of mudstone of shallow-marine environment, was deposited during the late Olenekian (ca. 250 Ma), and is an important unit through which to examine the biotic recovery process after the end-Permian mass extinction. The Osawa Formation is the only unit in Japan that yields thylacocephalans (Arthropoda). Three species belonging to three genera have been reported before: Ankitokazocaris bandoi, Kitakamicaris utatsuensis and Ostenocaris sp. In addition to the known species, some thylacocephalans, including one new genus and three new species, are described in the present paper: Ankitokazocaris tatensis n. sp., Concavicaris parva n. sp., Miyagicaris costata n. gen. n. sp. and Ostenocaris? sp. Although Thylacocephala have a rather long stratigraphic range (from Silurian to Cretaceous) and are known from a wide geographical region, there are only about thirty genera in this group. The Osawa thylacocephalan fauna comprises at least five genera, making it one of the most diverse in the world at the generic level. During the Triassic Period, the Thylacocephala diversified and spread widely throughout low-latitude regions.     

New species of Thylacocephala (Arthropoda) from the Spathian (Lower Triassic) of Chaohu,Anhui Province of China

We describe a new species of Thylacocephala, Ankitokazocaris chaohuensis sp. nov., from the Upper Spathian (Early Triassic) of Chaohu, Anhui Province, China. It is diagnosed by its unique outline of the carapace, small size, and the narrow and asymmetrical anterior notch. Fine preservation reveals at least 14 posterior appendages, traces of gills and raptorial appendages, and remains of trunk segments and muscles in Ankitokazocaris for the first time. This is the first report of Thylacocephala from the Early Triassic of China, confirming the wide distribution of this group in the Tethys. The new species is closer to the type species of Ankitokazocaris, which is stratigraphically somewhat older, than to a recently described almost coeval species from Japan.     

New Genus and Species from the Cretaceous of Lebanon Links the Thylacocephala To the Crustacea

A continuing study of a collection of marine arthropods from the Upper Cretaceous of Sahel Alma in Lebanon has uncovered a new genus and species of the problematic arthropod group Thylacocephala. The apparent presence of two pairs of antennae constitutes the first available morphological evidence for a close relationship between this species and, by association, all thylacocephalans, and the Crustacea.     

Parafurnishius,an Induan (Lower Triassic) conodont new genus from northeastern Sichuan Province,southwest China and its evolutionary implications

A fundamental aspect of taxonomy at the generic level, critical to understand Early Triassic conodont evolution, is the composition of the multielement apparatus. In this paper, we document a platform-bearing new conodont genus, Parafurnishius n. gen., as well as its multielement apparatus from the Griesbachian Feixianguan Formation (Lower Triassic) in Xuanhan County, northeastern Sichuan Province, southwest China. The new conodont genus is characterized by numerous robust and irregularly distributed conical denticles with variable platform morphology that has a possible affinity with the P₁ elements of Furnishius. These genera have apparatuses similar to those of Ellisonia and are classified with the family Ellisoniidae. The strong intraspecific variation of P₁ elements and the growth series within the entire sample population suggest that Parafurnishius may have evolved from the Griesbachian Isarcicella by developing random denticle positioning away from the platform centre, and then possibly evolved into younger Triassic Furnishius by developing a stable blade configuration. This preferred interpretation implies an ellisonid apparatus for Isarcicella. Alternatively, Parafurnishius may have evolved from Ellisonia and developed a homeomorphic P₁ element with Isarcicella. This new taxon has strong intraspecific variation of denticle growth orientation during the Early Triassic.     

First Jurassic occurence of Enoploclytia M’Coy, 1849 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Erymidae)

Among the Erymidae Van Straelen, 1925, known as early as the Late Permian (Changhsingian) and widespread in the Jurassic, the genus Enoploclytia M’Coy, 1849 seems to have a late appearance because of its lack before the Cretaceous. Until now, the oldest representative was E. augustobonae Devillez, Charbonnier, Hy?ný and Leroy, 2016 from the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) of the eastern Paris basin (France). However, a new fossil collected in Normandy (France), showing the typical carapace groove pattern of Enoploclytia, attests the presence of the genus in the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian).     

Annalepis, a pioneering lycopsid genus in the recovery of the Triassic land flora in South China

Fossil plants are scarce in the Earliest Triassic marine deposits of western Guizhou and eastern Yunnan. Only Annularia shirakii, Lobatannularia sp., Paracalamites stenocostatus, Gigantopteris sp., Pecopteris sp. were reported from the base of the Kayitou Formation dated as Early Induan by marine fauna. Recently, we discovered numerous representatives of the genus Annalepis in the same Lowermost Triassic beds: A. latiloba, A. brevicystis, A. angusta, Annalepis spp. occur associated with a basal Triassic marine fauna. This discovery fills the biostratigraphic gap between the Late Permian “Gigantonoclea guizhouensis-Ullmannia cf. bronnii-Annularia pingloensis” and the late Lower Triassic “Neuropteridium–Albertia–Voltzia” assemblages reported from South China. It represents an important datum dealing with the very beginning of a new terrestrial flora installation after the Permian flora disappearance following the Permian–Triassic boundary mass extinction. This “starting point” of a new vegetal cover in South China is to be taken into account in reconstructing through space and time the settlement process of the Mesozoic floristic provinces.     

The decapod community from the Early Pliocene (Zanclean) of “La Serra” quarry (San Miniato,Pisa, Toscana,central Italy): sedimentology,systematics, and palaeoenvironmental implications

We report an unusual and rich decapod crustacean assemblage from the early Pliocene (Zanclean), recently collected during the excavations of the “La Serra” quarry, located in La Serra, near San Miniato, Pisa (Toscana, central Italy). The studied specimens have been assigned, as follows: Axius sp., Callianassa chalmasii Brocchi, 1883, and Calliaxina cf. C. punica ( de Saint Laurent and Manning, 1982) (infraorder Axiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979); Gebiacantha tuscia Garassino, Pasini, De Angeli and Charbonnier sp. nov. (infraorder Gebiidea de Saint Laurent, 1979); Pagurus alatus Fabricius, 1775, and Pagurus sp. (infraorder Anomura MacLeay, 1838); Dromia neogenica Müller, 1978, Dromia sp., Medorippe cf. M. ampla Garassino, De Angeli, Gallo and Pasini, 2004, Ilia nucleus ( Linnaeus, 1758), Ristoria pliocaenica (Ristori, 1891), Pisa armata ( Latreille, 1803), Macropodia sp., Maja squinado (Herbst, 1788), Derilambrus angulifrons ( Latreille, 1825), Atelecyclus undecimdentatus (Herbst, 1783), Liocarcinus sp., Thalamita italica Garassino, Pasini, De Angeli and Charbonnier sp. nov., Pilumnus cf. P. hirtellus (Linnaeus, 1761), Eriphia cocchii Ristori, 1886, Goneplax rhomboides ( Linnaeus, 1758), Goneplax sacci Crema, 1895, (infraorder Brachyura Linnaeus, 1758). Moreover, two specimens have been assigned to callianassideans sensu lato and 13 specimens to indeterminate axiideans. Calliaxina Ngoc-Ho, 2003, Gebiacantha Ngoc-Ho, 1989, Ristoria Garassino, Pasini, De Angeli and Charbonnier gen. nov., and Macropodia Leach, 1814, are reported for the first time in the fossil record and the extant Pagurus alatus, Ilia nucleus, Pisa armata, Derilambrus angulifrons, and Pilumnus cf. P. hirtellus, are reported in the fossil record from the Pliocene. Everywhere “La Serra” quarry bio-community is very important, representing one of the richest and most diversified crustacean faunas from the Pliocene reported to date in the Mediterranean basin and worldwide, increasing notably the knowledge on the decapod populations and distribution during the early Pliocene. This community is indicative of a palaeoenvironment of shallow sublittoral water, with sandy-muddy and alternate hard shell bottom, partially covered or in proximity of seagrass, similar to the extant Mediterranean Posidonia beds, mainly inhabited by fossorial and benthonic decapods.     

First 'Rauisuchian' archosaur (Pseudosuchia,Loricata) for the Middle Triassic Santacruzodon Assemblage Zone (Santa Maria Supersequence), Rio Grande do Sul State,Brazil

The ‘Rauisuchia’ are a group of Triassic pseudosuchian archosaurs that displayed a near worldwide distribution. In Brazil, their fossils are found only in the Santa Maria Formation (Paraná Basin) of the Rio Grande do Sul State, specifically in the Middle Triassic Dinodontosaurus assemblage zone (AZ) and the Late Triassic Hyperodapedon AZ (Rauisuchus tiradentes). Between these two cenozones is the Santacruzodon AZ (Middle Triassic), whose record was, until now, restricted to non-mammalian cynodonts and the proterochampsian Chanaresuchus bonapartei. Here we present the first occurrence of a rauisuchian archosaur for this cenozone, from the Schoenstatt outcrop, located near the city of Santa Cruz do Sul and propose a new species, based on biostratigraphical evidence and a comparative osteological analysis.     

Pleuromeia discovered from the Middle Triassic Linjia Formation of Benxi,Northeast China

A new species Pleuromeia shaolinii Zhang et Wang n. sp. was established under the family Pleuromeiaceae, based on eight specimens of stems and leaves, cones, rhizophores, and adventitious roots that were recently collected from the Middle Triassic Linjia Formation in Benxi, Northeast China. P. shaolinii n. sp. is similar to the type species P. sternbergii, in the morphology of the stem and rhizophore, but differs from it by the transversely rounded sporophylls organized in a heterosporous cone, and the two conspicuous triangular scars present on both sides of the vascular bundle scar. The Linjia flora, an only reliable Middle Triassic flora in Northeast China, was discovered 40 years ago. Although the Linjia Formation can be compared with the Middle Triassic Ermaying Formation from another area of the North China plate, its age was questionable due to the absence of the Early to Middle Triassic index fossil Pleuromeia. Based on the flora similarity, the zircon dating, lithologic characteristics, presence of a disconformity, and the occurrence of the Middle Triassic–Early Cretaceous insect fossil Sogdoblatta, the age of the Linjia Formation can be confirmed as Middle Triassic. The new species not only supplements our knowledge in biology and taxonomy of Pleuromeia, but also supports the Middle Triassic age assignment of the Linjia flora.     

New species of Lenticulina (Foraminifera) from the Upper Triassic of Kotelnyi Island,New Siberian Islands,Russia

Late Triassic foraminifers of Kotelnyi Island (New Siberian Islands) are studied. Four new lenticuline species (Lenticulina kotelnensis sp. nov., L. triassica sp. nov., L. septentrionalis sp. nov., and L. sakhaensis sp. nov.) are described. Their distribution in the Upper Triassic deposits of Kotelnyi Island is discussed.     

A New Species of Garjainia Ochev, 1958 (Diapsida: Archosauriformes: Erythrosuchidae) from the Early Triassic of South Africa

A new species of the erythrosuchid archosauriform reptile Garjainia Ochev, 1958 is described on the basis of disarticulated but abundant and well-preserved cranial and postcranial material from the late Early Triassic (late Olenekian) Subzone A of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone of the Burgersdorp Formation (Beaufort Group) of the Karoo Basin of South Africa. The new species, G. madiba, differs from its unique congener, G. prima from the late Olenekian of European Russia, most notably in having large bony bosses on the lateral surfaces of the jugals and postorbitals. The new species also has more teeth and a proportionately longer postacetabular process of the ilium than G. prima. Analysis of G. madiba bone histology reveals thick compact cortices comprised of highly vascularized, rapidly forming fibro-lamellar bone tissue, similar to Erythrosuchus africanus from Subzone B of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone. The most notable differences between the two taxa are the predominance of a radiating vascular network and presence of annuli in the limb bones of G. madiba. These features indicate rapid growth rates, consistent with data for many other Triassic archosauriforms, but also a high degree of developmental plasticity as growth remained flexible. The diagnoses of Garjainia and of Erythrosuchidae are addressed and revised. Garjainia madiba is the geologically oldest erythrosuchid known from the Southern Hemisphere, and demonstrates that erythrosuchids achieved a cosmopolitan biogeographical distribution by the end of the Early Triassic, within five million years of the end-Permian mass extinction event. It provides new insights into the diversity of the Subzone A vertebrate assemblage, which partially fills a major gap between classic ‘faunal’ assemblages from the older Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (earliest Triassic) and the younger Subzone B of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone (early Middle Triassic).     

Liverwort fossils from the Late Triassic of Baiyin City,Gansu Province,and their geological significance

Although liverworts are widely distributed around the world with a large number of extant species, reliable fossil records are relatively rare. Here, we report a new species, Ricciopsis baojishanensis Han and Yan, n. sp. (Ricciaceae) and an unnamed species, Hepaticites sp. from the Late Triassic Nanying’er Formation in Baojishan Basin, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, Northwest China. The generic designation is based on detailed comparison of the gross morphology with related fossil and extant species. The new species is characterized by its rosette-forming thallus, dichotomous branching, ribbon-like segments and entire margins. The current fossils represent the first record of liverwort from the Late Triassic in Baojishan Basin, Gansu Province. Based on the different fossil records of the Ricciaceae, we suggest that these taxa were widely distributed during Late Triassic to Oligocene worldwide, mainly in warm temperate and tropical environments, similar with their current distribution. The discovery of the present fossils indicates that the climate of Baojishan Basin in Late Triassic is warmer and more humid than that of today.     

The Kuehneotheriidae (Mammaliaformes) from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (Upper Triassic,France): a Systematic Review

The origin and first diversification of mammals in the Upper Triassic remain poorly understood, in part because many fossil discoveries are not fully studied, and in part because the material remains poor. The Saint-Nicolas-de-Port quarry (Rhaetian, France) is the second most important locality that yielded remains of Kuehneotherium, after the fissure-fillings of the Glamorganshire (Lower Jurassic, Wales). This study identifies one new species of Kuehneotherium, K. stanislavi, sp. nov., and a new genus of Kuehneotheriidae, Fluctuodon necmergor, gen. et sp. nov. For these two new species, lower and upper molars are described and the first reconstructions of the postcanine row are proposed. Comparisons with material of Kuehneotherium from other Upper Triassic sites (Syren in Luxembourg, Emborough in England, and Jameson Land in Greenland) suggest two distinct Upper Triassic specific kuehneotheriid assemblages, respectively, west and east of the London Brabant Massif. They also suggest that the extinction event during the Triassic/Jurassic transition did not have a great impact on Kuehneotherium.     

Ladinian radiolarian fauna from West Sichuan, China

A poorly preserved, but diversified radiolarian fauna was recovered from thin-bedded cherts occurring in the southeast of Daofu, Sichuan Province, southwestern China. Twenty-two radiolarian species belonging to 10 genera are identified and three new species (Paroertlispongus daofuensis n. sp., Falcispongus heinzi n. sp., Falcispongus pauliani n. sp.) are described. Falcispongus heinzi represents a transitional species between genera Oertlispongus inaequispinosus Dumitrica, Kozur and Mostler and Falcispongus Dumitrica. The fauna is divided into two assemblages, namely Muelleritortis cochleata and Oertlispongus inaequispinosus assemblages, which can be well correlated with the Ladinian radiolarian zones from Europe. The fauna indicates that basaltic rocks occurring in the Xianshuihe Belt were formed mainly during the Middle Triassic. Our results thus extend the previously known geological age of the Xianshuihe Belt to the Middle and Late Triassic interval.     

Palaeobiology of Triassic procolophonids,inferred from bone microstructure

Procolophonoidea represent the most successful radiation of Parareptilia that lived during the Permo-Triassic. They are one of the few vertebrate groups that survived the end-Permian extinction and are thus important for studying the recovery of the post-extinction terrestrial ecosystem. Here, we investigate the palaeobiology of three Triassic procolophonid parareptiles, namely Sauropareion anoplus, Procolophon trigoniceps and Teratophon spinigenis, from the Karoo Basin of South Africa, inferred from histological analyses of their limb bones. Results reveal that all three taxa exhibit parallel-fibered bone tissue. Growth rings are absent in the Early Triassic Sauropareion and Procolophon whereas annuli are present in the Middle Triassic Teratophon, even during early ontogeny, suggesting a difference in life histories. Morphology and bone histology imply fossorial lifestyles for all three taxa, suggesting that burrowing may have played an important role in their survival during the harsh post-extinction Triassic environment.     

Taxonomic study of the tetrahedral, pentagonal and hexagonal spongy spumellarian Radiolaria from the middle Carnian (Late Triassic) of the Köseyahya nappe (Elbistan, SE Turkey) and other Triassic localities

This article is a taxonomic study of all spongy radiolarian taxa with five to six coplanar and four tetrahedrally disposed spines or spongy arms occurring in the middle Carnian from the Köseyahya section, near the town of Elbistan, SE Turkey. This fauna is characteristic of the Tetraporobrachia haeckeli radiolarian Zone, and comes from an 8 m thick succession of clayey–cherty limestones occurring at the lower part of the section. In addition, a few species from the Middle and Upper Triassic from other areas have been also included in this study to improve some generic diagnoses and to better understand the diversity and evolutionary trends of some genera, subfamilies and families. The taxonomy at the generic and suprageneric levels is based primarily on the types of microsphere. This new approach allowed new taxonomic arrangements of genera and suprageneric units, and suggested new and unexpected phylogenetic relationships among these radiolarians and between them and younger radiolarians. The authors discuss and describe 42 species, of which 36 are new, and 12 genera of which three are new (Charlottalum, Pentaspongodisculus, and Trimiducaella). The genera Pseudohagiastrum Pessagno, Natraglia Pessagno, Cantalum Pessagno and others are reinterpreted. All the genera studied, except Charlottalum, are assigned to three subfamilies, of which two (Pseudohagiastrinae and Trimiducinae) are new, and to two families (Angulobracchiidae and Relindellidae). The genus Charlottalum is described to replace the genus Cantalum, which has been erroneously used until present for Late Triassic pantanelliids with four tetrahedrally disposed three-bladed spines.     

A new brittle star (Ophiuroidea: Ophiodermatina) from the Early Triassic Paris Biota (Bear Lake County,Idaho, USA)

Knowledge on the morphology of Early Triassic ophiuroids is very limited, in spite of the relatively high number of described species. This hampers attempts to use morphology-based phylogenetic analyses in order to explore the early diversification of the ophiuroid modern clades between the latest Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic. Here, a new ophiuroid from the Early Triassic of southern Idaho (USA) is described and assigned to the new taxon Shoshonura brayardi Thuy nov. gen., nov. sp. It is part of an exceptional Early Triassic faunal assemblage recently described as the Paris Biota. On account of the arm morphology and the shape of the arm spines and arm spine articulations, Shoshonura brayardi nov. gen., nov. sp. is considered a basal member of the suborder Ophiodermatina.