Cyclocrinitids from the Lower Palaeozoic Tethyan sequence of Spiti,India

Well preserved cyclocrinitids (calcareous green algae) are reported from early Palaeozoic deposits of Spiti, Himachal Pradesh, India. Casts of the algal fossils are preserved in calcareous grey siltstone unit of the Takche Formation (Late Ordovician–Early Silurian) which appears rusty/earthy brown due to weathering. The assemblage includes Cyclocrinites favus, Cyclocrinites pyriformis, Cyclocrinites cf. welleri, Cyclocrinites sp. and Cyclocrinites globosus. Both Cyclocrinites cf. welleri and Cyclocrinites globosus are reported for the first time from the entire Tethyan Himalaya, India. The described algal flora basically denotes relatively shallow marine depositional setting and low to moderate hydrodynamic conditions.     

Middle Ordovician (Llanvirn) ungulate brachiopods and conodonts from the Malyi Karatau Range,Kazakhstan

A new middle Ordovician fauna including conodonts and brachiopods is described from the early Llanvirn Zhyrykaus Formation, Malyi Karatau Range, southern Kazakhstan. The fauna includes the lingulate brachiopodsHyperobolus fragilis n. sp. andTalasotreta apollonovi n. gen. n. sp., as well as the conodontsCordylodus? cf.horridus, Drepanoistodus? sp.,Erraticodon sp.,Parapaltodus simplicissimus, Prioniodus (Baltoniodus) sp.,Protopanderodus cf.varicostatus, andWalliserodus sp. s. f. It represents the first record of Llanvirn conodonts and Ungulate brachiopods from southern Kazakhstan.     

Discovery of Anticostia uniformis from the Xiazhen Formation at Zhuzhai,South China and its stratigraphic implication

The Xiazhen Formation is an Upper Ordovician lithostratigraphic unit in the Jiangshan-Changshan-Yushan (JCY) area, which contains series of Late Ordovician reef successions. The reef successions of the Xiazhen Formation at Zhuzhai are critical for evaluation of the Late Ordovician marine diversity and palaeoecology. However, their age has long been uncertain and generally is regarded as of upper Katian, based on the occurrences of shelly fossils and correlation with the stratigraphic equivalent Changwu Formation. The newly discovered graptolite species Anticostia uniformis, in the Xiazhen Formation, together with the combined evidence of brachiopods and sedimentology, indicates an age range for the graptolite locality from the Dicellograptus complanatus Biozone to the Diceratograptus mirus Subzone of late Katian, but the graptolites do not rule out the possibility that it is Hirnantian.     

Discovery of a Late Ordovician Foliomena fauna in the Tarim desert,Northwest China

A Foliomena fauna is reported for the first time from the Tarim paleoplate, and stratigraphically from the Yinpingshan Formation (upper Katian, Upper Ordovician) of Querqueke, Kuruktag region, northeastern Tarim, southern Xinjiang, Northwest China. The fauna includes seven species of brachiopods, amongst which three are new and four indeterminate: Anomaloglossa? sp., Orbiculoidea? sp., Foliomena xinjiangensis n. sp., Sericoidea minuta n. sp., Kassinella tarimensis n. sp., Rostricellula? sp., and Anazyga? sp. These species formed a Sericoidea-Kassinella Association, characterized by very small and well-preserved brachiopods, and well-developed laminations in its hosted mudstone, indicating a deep water environment (corresponding to lower BA5 to BA6). The faunal and sedimentological features suggest its affinity to the typical Foliomena faunal group of deep water origin. Numerical analyses show that the Foliomena fauna in late Katian time differentiated into two major paleogeographically related groups, and the Tarim association has a close faunal affinity to the representatives of this fauna in South China, indicating an active faunal exchange between Tarim and South China before the end-Ordovician mass extinction.     

Lopingian (Late Permian) brachiopods around the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary at the Meishan Sections C and D, Changxing, South China

The strata below the defined Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary GSSP are mostly covered and obscured by faulting at the Meishan Section D. Therefore, it is very difficult to collect fossils there. After an intensive excavation at Meishan Section C, a diverse fauna based on high-resolution biostratigraphy comprising brachiopods, ammonoids, conodonts, fusulinids and small foraminifers were found. Among these fossils, brachiopods are the most dominant. Eleven species of 10 genera based on more than 1300 specimens are identified. This brachiopod fauna is of late Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian of Lopingian (Late Permian) in age as well constrained by the associated ammonoid Pseudogastrioceras sp., Jinjiangoceras and Konglingites sp., the fusulinid Palaeofusulina and the conodont lineage from C. longicuspidata to C. wangi. In terms of the changes of brachiopod fauna composition around Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary, it clearly indicates a continuous transgression from the upper part of the Lungtan Formation to the lower part of the Changhsing Formation. A new species, Neochonetes (Huangichonetes) meishanensis, is described and some other species are discussed based on the new collection from Meishan Sections C and D.     

Middle–Late Ordovician brachiopods from Ningnan,southern Sichuan Province,Southwest China: Implications for macroevolution and palaeogeography

Middle to Late Ordovician brachiopods from the Huadan Formation (upper Darriwilian–Sandbian) of Ningnan County, southern Sichuan Province, are systematically documented here for the first time. The locality belongs to the western margin of the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China palaeoplate, and the brachiopod fauna includes one new genus and three new species as well as five other constituents: Hingganoleptaena sp., Acculina zhongliangziensis n. sp., Ningnanmena longisepta n. gen. n. sp., Kassinella (Trimurellina) minuta n. sp., Lepidorthis typicalis Wang, 1955, Protoskenidioides weixinensis Zhan and Jin, 2005, Porambonites transversus Xu, Rong and Liu, 1974, and Psilocamerella sp. Taxonomically it is a typical representative of a Middle to early Late Ordovician brachiopod fauna, and, together with some other evidence from other fossil groups like trilobites, conodonts, chitinozoans, a late Darriwilian–Sandbian age could be inferred for the horizon yielding this fauna. According to the richness of each constituent, this fauna is suggested to be called the Acculina-Ningnanmena fauna (ANF). Numerical palaeogeographical analysis shows that two broad palaeobiogeographic provinces could be recognized during this particular time interval, and, although the ANF is grouped into the South China cluster, it shares very little similarity with other representatives of that group except for two cosmopolitans. It further confirms that the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), in other words the Ordovician radiation, was actually manifested by the strong localization of major marine organisms such as brachiopods, trilobites, graptolites, etc.     

Ordovizium und Silur. Überschwemmungen,eine Eiszeit und die Eroberung des Festlandes

Ordovician and Silurian sediments are predominantly black shales formed from anoxic pelagic environments. Adjacent shallow marine areas are represented by reefs and well‐sorted sands deposited worldwide on continental shelves. Pelagic realms hosted a great variety of graptolite colonies which due to their rapid evolution are excellent index fossils besides a multitude of new species of trilobites and brachiopods. Reef builders were mainly bryozoans and tabulate corals. During the Ordovician, the earliest spores mark the beginning conquest of land by plants. A mass extinction at the end of the Ordovician was probably caused by a worldwide climatic change which is also evident from traces of a contemporaneous glaciation.     

Early Cambrian organophosphatic brachiopods from the Xinji Formation,at Shuiyu section,Shanxi Province,North China

Abundant and diverse small shelly fossils have been reported from Cambrian Series 2 in North China, but the co-occurring brachiopods are still poorly known. Herein, we describe seven genera, five species and two undetermined species of organophosphatic brachiopods including one new genus and new species from the lower Cambrian Xinji Formation at Shuiyu section, located on the southern margin of North China Platform. The brachiopod assemblage comprises one mickwitziid (stem group brachiopoda), Paramickwitzia boreussinaensis n. gen. n. sp., a paterinide, Askepasma toddense Laurie, 1986, an acrotretoid, Eohadrotreta cf. zhenbaensis Li and Holmer, 2004, a botsfordiid, Schizopholis yorkensis (Holmer and Ushatinskaya in Gravestock et al., 2001) and three linguloids, Spinobolus sp., Eodicellomus cf. elkaniiformis Holmer and Ushatinskaya in Gravestock et al., 2001 and Eoobolus sp. This brachiopod assemblage suggests a late Age 3 to early Age 4 for the Xinji Formation and reveals a remarkably strong connection with coeval faunas from East Gondwana, particularly the Hawker Group in South Australia. The high degree of similarity (even at species level) further supports a close palaeogeographic position between the North China Platform and Australian East Gondwana during the early Cambrian as indicated by small shelly fossil data.     

A NEW FOSSIL ALGA FROM THE SILURIAN OF MICHIGAN

The record of Paleozoic algal diversity is strongly biased toward calcareous and stromatolitic types due to the general paucity of well preserved compression fossils of other taxa. A new genus, Thalassocystis (type species T. striata) is described on the basis of compression fossils in middle Silurian dolomite from the northern peninsula of Michigan. The plant is characterized by a short branched thallus, each branch terminated by an enlarged bladder-like structure. The plants were deposited in a tropical, shallow water marine environment but whether they were benthic, adventive to the pelagic zone, or completely pelagic cannot be determined from the evidence available.     

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.     

Phaenocompsopogon pustulatus n.gen.n. sp., a calcareous alga from the lacustrine rotliegend of the Saar-Nahe Basin (SW-Germany)

Summary Phaenocompsopogon pustulatus n. gen. n. sp. is a calcareous freshwater alga, probably of rhodophycean affinity. The fossils are mainly known from one locality in the Lower Permian of the Saar-Nahe Basin. The algal remains form a packstone in the Reckweilerhof-Bank of the Altenglan Formation. The simple thallus branches irregularly y-shaped and is covered with abundant pustules. An axial canal is characteristic, as are distinct cell features of an inner and outer cortex surrounding a structureless medulla. Most fossils are silicified and often three-dimensionally preserved. The algae lived in a wave-dominated environment, probably in offshore shallow water. The limited occurrence suggests special ecological restrictions.     

Non-calcified macroalgae from the lower Famennian (Upper Devonian) of the Holy Cross Mountains,Poland

Non-calcified algal remains were collected from the lower Famennian deposits at the Kowala quarry in the Holy Cross Mountains, central Poland. Each specimen is represented solely by vegetative organs. On the basis of the material collected, a new algal genus and species has been formally erected. Vittella dixii nov. gen., nov. sp. (Order ?Bryopsidales) includes thalli consisting of long bundles of hair-like filament structures arranged in parallel fashion to the thallus length. Some other algal remains are regarded as Inocaulis-like forms. They possess long, flat blades with entire margins, and are ornamented with very dense, hair-like projections. The rest of the specimens found so far has been illustrated and tentatively classified as probably belonging to either Bryopsidales or Dasycladales algae. The exceptional preservation of the non-calcified algal thalli investigated suggests that special taphonomic conditions have prevailed during sedimentation of the lower part of the Famennian Kowala section. These may have involved rather rapid burial in oxygen-restricted (dysoxic and anoxic) sea-bottom environment, inhibiting the activities of scavengers and bioturbators, as well as oxidative degradation. The preservation of the algae, together with sedimentological and geochemical characteristics of the host rocks indicate that they rather represent parautochthonous assemblage, buried close to their natural habitat.     

The importance of shore height and host identity for amphipod assemblages

The spatial distribution of organisms associated with marine intertidal macroalgae may be a direct result of their tolerance to air exposure or an indirect consequence of the distribution of their host. We compared amphipod assemblages from five intertidal macroalgae to investigate their relationship with algal identity. To test the effect of height regardless of algal characteristics, we transplanted coralline algal turfs to three different levels within the intertidal zone and compared amphipod assemblages after 1 and 14 days. Interstitial volume was positively correlated to the abundance of amphipods, suggesting that this attribute may correspond better to the potential space for their occupation when compared to algal biomass, thallus volume or the ratio between thallus and interstitial volume. Algal level determined the structure of the amphipod assemblages. Upper-level (Acanthophora spicifera and Caulerpa racemosa) and intermediate-level (coralline) algae host similar amphipod assemblages dominated by Apohyale media, but different from lower-level algae (Padina gymnospora and Sargassum cymosum), which were dominated by Hyale niger. Ten of the 15 amphipod species reported from natural communities were found in the transplanted plots. Distinct pools of amphipod species colonized coralline transplants at upper and lower levels after 1 day. However, regardless of the position on the shore, transplanted coralline turfs supported similar assemblages after 14 days, indicating that algal identity is also important for species assemblages. Our results suggest that both height on the shore and host identity combine to determine the vertical structure of amphipod assemblages in the rocky intertidal.     

Deep-water trace fossils in the Ilfjellet rift basin (Middle Ordovician), central Norwegian Caledonides

The late Early to early Middle Ordovician Fjellvollen Formation, Central Norwegian Caledonides, is a part of the Ilfjellet Group volcano-sedimentary succession formed in a rift basin that opened along the Laurentian margin. Depositional facies and trace fossils indicate the Nereites ichnofacies, typically found in distal turbidites and deep marine deposits. The recovered trace fossils include ?Alcyonidiopsis, Chondrites, Dictyodora, Gordia, Helminthoidichnites, Macaronichnus, Monomorphichnus, Nereites, Oikobesalon, Palaeophycus, Protovirgularia and Treptichnus. No body-fossils have been reported from the Fjellvollen Formation, but the trace fossils indicate the presence of varied epi- and infaunas of arthropods, bivalves, gastropods and polychaets. The abundance of meandering and looping trace fossils is comparable to what is found in the inferrably time-equivalent Vuddudalen Group farther north, although lack of graphoglyptids like Megagrapton in the Fjellvollen Formation may indicate more proximal, unstable depositional conditions in fan-fringe and adjacent basin-plain settings.     

Facies distribution patterns of some marine benthic faunas in early paleozoic platform environments

Worldwide Late Cambrian—Silurian lithofacies patterns indicate that the platforms of that time were sites of accumulation of two essentially different rocks suites: the platform carbonate rocks and the platform terrigenous rocks. Most of the platform rocks accumulated as sediments in shallow marine environments similar to those of the present but far more widely spread.Present-day marine benthic faunas are distributed in depth zones which are primarily controlled by temperature. Faunas tend to occur in substrate-related discrete clusters (communities) within each life zone; similar substrates in different depth zones commonly have different faunal associations. Individual phyletic stocks may encounter environmental optimum or near-optimum conditions in certain areas, that commonly are revealed by an abundance of species and individuals within species in each stock. Environmental optimum conditions depend upon availability of food that may be utilized, modes of feeding of the animals present, water motion, and substrate, among other factors. Organisms in past seas were distributed in patterns similar to those of the present.Carbonate platforms were particularly widespread during the latest Cambrian—Early Ordovician. Intertidal environments spread widely across those platforms during that time and characteristic faunal associations developed in them. Saukiid and related tribolites dominated latest Cambrian carbonate platform intertidal faunas. The Early Ordovician carbonate platform intertidal was dominated by archeogastropod-nautiloid cephalopod faunas. These animals were joined by tabulate corals and certain brachiopods during the latter part of the Ordovician and Silurian as prominent faunal elements in the carbonate platform intertidal—shallow subtidal. Cruziana and related trace fossils, bivalves, and certain tribolites (notably homalonotids and dalmanitids) dominated most terrigenous platform intertidal—shallow subtidal faunas of the Ordovician and Silurian.Articulate brachiopods (primarily orthoids, strophomenoids, and rhynchonelloids) appear to have been relatively prominent during the Early Ordovician in shallow subtidal environments on both carbonate and terrigenous platforms and to have spread down the bathymetric gradient into increasingly deeper subtidal areas of both platforms during the latter part of the Ordovician. Tribolites dominated faunas in relatively moderate to deep subtidal environments on both platforms during the early part of the Ordovician. They were gradually replaced by brachiopods in first the shallower, and later the deeper subtidal as dominant members of the faunas. Brachiopods (primarily pentameroids and spiriferoids) dominated nearly all Silurian warm-water subtidal environments from the shallow subtidal to the edges of the platforms.Platform uplifts in the Middle Ordovician and glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations in the Late Ordovician caused environmental changes across the platforms that were accompanied by marked replacements among marine benthic faunas in all environments. The distribution of Ordovician carbonate platforms and glacial deposits suggests that an Ordovician polar region may have been close to present-day equatorial Africa and that Ordovician warm temperate-tropical regions lay close to the present-day North Pole.     

Taxonomic note on some paleozoic marine algae (Uzbekistan, Central Asia)

The paleozoic marine algae of Central Asia were recently investigated and attributed to warm-water and Tethyan microflora. If the majority of the taxa (114 out of 117) were already described from other basins, a few elements merit attention. Two chlorophyte species are new (Atractyliopsis nuratauensis nov. sp., Amarellina moscoviensis nov. sp.) and a new Hoeegonites sp. is left in open nomenclature. The flora also contains representatives of the puzzling Moniliporelleae, a rhodophyte family only reported from Kazakhstan with the genus Furcatoporella. An unusual in situ cluster of calcispheres is also illustrated.     

Miliolipora species (Foraminifera,Miliolina) from the Rhaetian Dachstein Limestone of Karavanke Mts (Slovenia): Palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographic implications

The Carnian-Rhaetian genus Miliolipora (Soritoidea, Milioliporidae) is characterised by a coarsely perforated porcelaneous wall and a quinqueloculinoid arrangement of semi-tubular chambers. Miliolipora tamarae nov. sp. has been documented in the Rhaetian Dachstein reef limestone of Mt. Begunj??ica (Karavanke Mts., northern Slovenia). This new species differs from Miliolipora cuvillieri Brönnimann and Zaninetti in its costate outer chambers and evolute coiling. Both species are abundant in an oncoid rudstone/grapestone facies located immediately behind the central reef zone. In this depositional context, Miliolipora spp. were subjected to mechanical sorting and are believed to have been transported a short distance from their habitat. The costae and the overall less rounded shape of the test helped to stabilize M. tamarae nov. sp. on the sea floor. Both species were widely spread in the Tethyan realm confirming the broad palaeobiogeographic distribution of the Late Triassic foraminifera.     

The role of macroalgae in epiphytism of the toxic dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus (Dinophyceae)

Populations of the toxic, epiphytic dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus Adachi et Fukuyo are asSociated closely with Jania sp. on Hitiaa and Papara fringing reefs in Tahiti. Small populations were also observed to be asSociated with Amphiroa sp. and Halimeda opuntia (L.) Lamouroux. The cells attached themselves to the thallus by means of a short thread. When the thalli were irradiated, the cells began to detach from them and swim around the branches. The swimming cells stopped and attached to substrata when a disturbance occurred. The attached cells began to swim within a short time under light conditions when the thallus of Jania sp. were placed near the attached cells. Amphiroa sp. and H. opuntia also induced this re-commencement of swimming of the attached cells. These observations suggest that G. toxicus usually swims around macroalgal thalli on coral reefs. When sudden disturbance or strong water motion occurs, they attach to the surface of macroalgae and are not dispersed. Soon after water motion becomes slow, the cells begin to swim into the water around the thalli. The epiphytism of G. toxicus is different from epiphytic pennate diatoms, most of which adhere to the thallus all the time. The population of G. toxicus is maintained as an asSociation to a limited number of species of macroalgae which support the re-commencement of swimming after disturbance.     

Molecular Detection of Epiphytic Acaryochloris spp. on Marine Macroalgae

A molecular method for detecting the epiphyte community on marine macroalgae was developed by using PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. Selective amplification of 16S rRNA gene fragments from either cyanobacteria or algal plastids improved the detection of minor epiphytes. Two phylotypes of Acaryochloris, a chlorophyll d-containing cyanobacterium, were found not only on red macroalgae but also on green and brown macroalgae.