A second varanopseid skull from the Upper Permian of South Africa: implications for Late Permian 'pelycosaur' evolution

Late Permian terrestrial faunas of South Africa and Russia are dominated taxonomically and ecologically by therapsid synapsids. On the basis of a single specimen from the Upper Permian of South Africa, the varanopseid Elliotsmithia longiceps is the sole basal synapsid ('pelycosaur') known from Gondwana. Recent fieldwork in the Upper Permian of South Africa has produced a second varanopseid specimen that is referrable to Elliotsmithia . Data from both this specimen and the holotype suggest that Elliotsmithia forms a clade with Mycterosaurus from the Lower Permian of North America and Mesenosaurus from the Upper Permian of Eastern Europe. That postulate is supported by the three most parsimonious trees discovered in a new analysis of varanopseid phylogeny. However, the available data cannot resolve the interrelationships of these three genera. The new phylogenetic results contrast with earlier work identifying Elliotsmithia as the basal member of a clade that includes the North American taxa Aerosaurus , Varanops , and Varanodon . The new trees reduce the stratigraphic debt required by the latter scenario, and the one with the least stratigraphic debt identifies Elliotsmithia and Mesenosaurus as sister taxa. Two new taxa are erected, Mycterosaurinae and Varanodontinae, for the two varanopseid subclades.     

Rotafolia songziensis gen. et comb. nov., a sphenopsid from the Late Devonian of Hubei, China

A sphenopsid from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Xiejingsi Formation, south-western Hubei Province, China, previously named as various species in Sphenophyllum , Hamatophyton , Bowmanites and Sphenophyllostachys , is now reinvestigated and assigned to a new taxon, Rotafolia songziensis gen. et comb. nov. Its ribbed axes are anisotomous and possess slightly expanded nodes. Lateral axes are inserted at nodes on main axes. Whorls of much divided vegetative leaves are attached at nearly right angles to nodes of basal axes, and at acute angles to nodes of terminal axes. There are six leaves per whorl. The terminal strobilus includes a central axis and verticils of fertile units. Each fertile unit consists of a bract and numerous sporangia. The margin of the elongate-cuneate bract bears a distal and many lateral elongate segments. Clusters of elongate sporangia are abaxially attached to the base of the bract at the same level. The axis has an actinostele, composed of a three-ribbed, exarch primary xylem and radial secondary xylem. Although Rotafolia songziensis closely resembles Hamatophyton verticillatum in axis character, leaf morphology and primary xylem type, they are quite different in strobilar structure. Taxonomically, Rotafolia is placed in the order Sphenophyllales by three well-defined characters: 1) whorled appendages; 2) ribbed protosteles; 3) exarch primary xylem maturation.  © 2005 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 2005, 148 , 21–37.     

中国二叠系的底界

牙形刺是二叠系生物地层的主导门类,地叠系的三统九阶的界线层型（ＧＳＳＰ）都将用牙形刺定义。我国石炭－二叠系（Ｃ／Ｐ）的分界应采用与国际上一致的标准,即用牙形刺Ｓｔｒｅｐｔｏｇｎａｔｈｏｄｕｓ ｉｓｏｌａｔｕｓ的首次出现定义二叠系的底界。Ｓ．ｉｓｏｌａｔｕｓ在我国华南、华北均有分布,可精确地确定二叠系的底界。华北太原组应归下二叠统Ａｓｓｅｌｉａｎ阶,我国Ｃ／Ｐ界线地层和Ｓｔｒｅｐｔｏｇｎａｔｈｏｄｕ     

Gymnosperm trees from the Permian of Antarctica: An anatomically preserved trunk of Kaokoxylon sp.

Anatomically preserved gymnosperm axes are relatively abundant in Permian localities of Antarctica, but their anatomy has rarely been studied in detail, which limits comparison with other Gondwanan morphotaxa. Here we describe a silicified trunk collected from the Upper Permian Buckley Formation at Coalsack Bluff, in the central Transantarctic Mountains. The trunk has a small heterogeneous pith approximately 4 mm in diameter containing conspicuous sclerotic nests, endarch primary xylem maturation, paired leaf traces, and secondary xylem of the Araucarioxylon type. Comparison with contemporaneous gymnosperm axes from Antarctica indicates that the Coalsack Bluff trunk represents a new Permian morphotaxon for the region. The anatomical characters of the pith and secondary xylem suggest an affinity with the genus Kaokoxylon Kräusel, previously reported from Permian and Triassic localities of Southern Africa, South America, India, and Australia.     

烟叶大羽羊齿Gigantopteris nicotianaef olia Schenk的时空分布和相关地层的对比

烟叶大羽羊齿Gigantopteris nicotianae f olia Schenk是地质和古生物工作者熟知的植物化石。由于Halle（1927）曾将单网羊齿的种误归并于这一种内,致使它一度成为广见于华夏古植物区二叠纪陆相地层的植物化石。后来的研究表明（Guand Zhi,1974;姚兆奇,1983;Glasspool et al．,2004）,除了河南平顶山的可疑标本外（Sze,1954）,此种可作为华南冷坞期的标志性植物。最新资料证实（杨关秀等,2006）,产自河南禹州和临汝上石盒子组（云盖山组）的标本完全显示了G．nicotianaefolia的特征,说明了这个种在华北的存在,从而扩大了这种植物的分布区。根据烟叶大羽羊齿的时空分布规律,文章认为河南的上石盒子组完全可与江苏龙潭组和江西乐平组老山段下亚段的含煤层位对比,时代应属瓜德鲁普世冷坞期（Capitanian）。文中较详细阐述将河南上石盒子组的时代定为冷坞期而不是晚二叠世早期（吴家坪期）的观点,并引证磁性地层方面证据,支持这一结论。     

Rainforest conifers of Eocene Patagonia: Attached cones and foliage of the extant Southeast Asian and Australasian genus Dacrycarpus (Podocarpaceae)

? Premise of the study: Eocene caldera-lake beds at Laguna del Hunco (LH, ca. 52.2 Ma) and Río Pichileufú (RP, ca. 47.7 Ma) in Argentine Patagonia provide copious information about the biological history of Gondwana. Several plant genera from these sites are known as fossils from southern Australia and New Zealand and survive only in Australasian rainforests. The potential presence of Dacrycarpus (Podocarpaceae) holds considerable interest due to its extensive foliage-fossil record in Gondwana, its remarkably broad modern distribution in Southeast Asian and Australasian rainforests, its high physiological moisture requirements, and its bird-dispersed seeds. However, the unique seed cones that firmly diagnose Dacrycarpus were not previously known from the fossil record. ? Methods: I describe and interpret fertile (LH) and vegetative (LH and RP) material of Dacrycarpus and present a nomenclatural revision for fossil Dacrycarpus from South America. ? Key results: Dacrycarpus puertae sp. nov. is the first fossil occurrence of the unusual seed cones that typify living Dacrycarpus, attached to characteristic foliage, and of attached Dacrycarpus pollen cones and foliage. Dacrycarpus puertae is indistinguishable from living D. imbricatus (montane, Burma to Fiji). Dacrycarpus chilensis (Engelhardt) comb. nov. is proposed for Eocene vegetative material from Chile. ? Conclusions: Modern-aspect Dacrycarpus was present in Eocene Patagonia, demonstrating an astonishingly wide-ranging paleogeographic history and implying a long evolutionary association with bird dispersers. Dacrycarpus puertae provides the first significant Asian link for Eocene Patagonian floras, strengthens the biogeographic connections from Patagonia to Australasia across Antarctica during the warm Eocene, and indicates high-rainfall paleoenvironments.     

Fertile pinnules of Danaeites rigida Gu and Zhi (Marattiales) from the Upper Permian of south China

Recently collected specimens of Danaeites rigida Gu and Zhi from the Upper Permian of south China have been subjected to detailed morphological investigations in order to reveal features of their fertile pinnules. The specimens are preserved as compression/impressions and possess pecopteroid-type pinnules with a single row of synangia on either side of the pinnule midvien. Individual synangia are bilaterally symmetrical, sessile, and their bases are embedded in the tissues of the pinnules. Synangia possess 18–24 sporangia that are laterally fused to one another throughout their entire length. Sporangial dehiscence is through a longitudinal slit and sporangia contain trilete spores with a granular ornamentation, referable to the dispersed spore Cyclogranisporites. This combination of characters is unique in specimens preserved by compression/impression although they are similar to those known in permineralized marattialean fertile fronds. However, anatomical details salient to the identification of these permineralized taxa are not identifiable in impression/compression fossils such as Danaeites. The taxonomic and phylogenetic implications of these findings are considered in detail and we conclude that Danaeites has closer links with Marattia than with Danaea.     

贵州早泥盆世刺镰蕨的新观察

刺镰蕨在早泥盆世是一种广布于世界的植物,尽管报道自许多地点,但远未完全地了解它,其主要原因是能育材料罕见。我们观察的标本采自贵州早泥盆世的丹林组。它显示具柄的孢子囊侧生于靠近叶腋的轴上,我们的标本近似球形的孢子囊和它的形态略小于雷诺的肾形孢子囊外,其它方面如：带状的营养轴上具有疏螺旋排列的镰刀状叶,具短柄的孢子囊侧生于轴上以及管胞具穿孔壁等性状与雷诺修订后的刺镰蕨完全一致。我们同意雷诺的观点,将镰蕨目升为纲,与工蕨纲和石松纲并列。它的系统位置是介于工蕨纲和石松纲之间。其下包含一目、一科三个属——镰蕨属、巴拉格瓦纳彻属和星木属。这种植物的生殖部分在中国尚属首次报道。     

A new microsporangiate organ from the Lower Carboniferous of the Novgorod Region,Russia

A new species of the genus Telangiopsis, T. nonnae O. Orlova et Zavialova, was described on the basis of a microsporangiate organ from the Lower Carboniferous deposits of the Novgorod Region. The morphology of branching fertile axes, synangia, and sporangia was thoroughly studied. The three-dimensional system of fertile axes branches monopodially; ultimate axes bear numerous connivent bunches of synangia, which consist of three to six basally fused elongated ovate sporangia. The morphology and ultrastructure of prepollen grains were studied, which were extracted from the rock matrix surrounding the sporangia. The two-layered exine includes a well-developed endexine and an alveolate ectexine, with one-three rows of large thin-walled alveolae. The new species was compared with other Early Carboniferous microsporangiate organs.     

New Observations on Drepanophycus spinaeformis from the Lower Devonian of Guizhou,China

Drepanophycus spinaeformis Goeppert is a plant of world-wide distribution in the Lower Devonian. Although this species has been reported from numerous localities, it is far from being understood well, because the fertile material is rare. Observation on specimens from the Danlin Formation of Guizhou showed that the sporangia were borne on short stalks attached laterally to the axes near the leaf axil, nearly sphaeroid, and smaller than Rayner’ kidney sporangia. Howerer, other character, e. g. banded nutritive axis bearing spiral drepanoid leaves, perforated tracheid wall, are the same as those described by Rayner. We agree with Rayner in raising Drepanophycales to the status of class, Drepanophycopsida, parallel with Zosterophyllopsida and Lycopsida. The systematic position of Drepanophycopsida is in between Zosterophyllopsida and Lycopsida. The class includes one order, one family and three genera (Drepanophycus, Baragwanathia and Asteroxylon).The fertile parts of the plant are reported for the first time in China.     

Observations on Nothia aphylla Lyon ex Høeg

Naked branched axes associated with sporangia, originally described by Kidston and Lang (1920) as the probable fertile region of Asteroxylon mackiei, were later shown by Lyon (1964) to belong to an unknown plant which he named Nothia aphylla. The name was validated by Høeg in 1967. Nothia aphylla is described here in greater detail from new material collected from the Rhynie locality. The sporangia are lateral in terminal branched spikes. Their arrangement ranges from spiral to semiverticillate. The fertile axes terminate in clusters of 2–5 sporangia. The stalked sporangia are rather reniform with a distal transversely-extended dehiscence slit. Systematically Nothia has similarities to both Zosterophyllophytina and Rhyniophytina.     

Small Celastraceae and Polygonaceae twigs from the Upper Cenozoic (Ituzaingó Formation) of the La Plata Basin,Argentina

Two new wood types from the Late Cenozoic of the Ituzaingó Formation, La Plata Basin, Northeast Argentina add to our knowledge of South American Cenozoic plants. The materials were preserved by siliceous cellular permineralization, and they were prepared for microscopic examination by surface polishing and in thin sections. The anatomy of these new species was described. The relationship and comparison with the nearest living relatives (NLRs) are discussed. Maytenoxylon perforatum Franco gen. and sp. nov. is described as the first fossil wood referable to Celastraceae from South America. This new fossil species is related to extant Maytenus Molina. The other fossil twig, Ruprechtioxylon breae Franco sp. nov., has features of the Polygonaceae family and particularly resembles the extant specie Ruprechtia laxiflora Meisn. The occurrence of these fossil woods in south-eastern South America suggests that a relatively warm and dry to seasonally dry climate prevailed over this region of Gondwana during the Upper Cenozoic. It also provides new evidence for the hypothesis of the more wide distribution of Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF) during the Upper Cenozoic.     

古木蕨——云南早泥盆世一植物新属

本文报道了滇东南文山地区下泥盆统坡松冲组(西根阶)地层中一陆生植物新属、种——曲轴古木蕨(Gumuia zyzzata gen.et sp.nov.)。植物矮小,匍匐或直立生长,二叉分枝。能育轴上孢子囊侧出,居于顶端或侧部位置,后者呈亚对生、交互对生或互生在曲折能育轴的折点上。孢子囊圆至横椭圆形,无柄或极短柄,成熟时通常切线垂直茎轴着生,并沿远端开裂。在系统分类上,依据新植物孢子囊侧出的性状,它暂被归人工蕨类,这有待于解剖结构的进一步证实。文中还对合轴分枝这一重要性状的发生做了探讨。     

MILLAYA GEN. N., AN UPPER PALEOZOIC GENUS OF MARATTIALEAN SYNANGIA

Anatomically preserved fertile marattialean pinnules from the Lower Permian (Wolfcampian) Bursum Formation in Tularosa, New Mexico, and isolated synangia from the Upper Pennsylvanian (Missourian) Stanton Formation near Tyro, Kansas, are described. The sessile synangia are partially sunken into the pinnule lamina and arranged abaxially in a single row on each side of the midrib. Comparisons are made with other fossil and modern marattialeans and the evolutionary significance considered.     

Parataxonomy and palaeobiogeographic significance of dinosaur eggshell fragments from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the Cauvery Basin,South India

Abstract

In the past, fossilised dinosaur eggshells have been extensively documented from the Upper Cretaceous Lameta Formation of Central India and as many as nine oospecies are known at present from this formation. Compared to this, only one dinosaur oospecies has been described from the Cretaceous succession of the Cauvery Basin. However, the first fossil egg from India, identified as a chelonian egg, was documented from the Aptian – Albian Karai Formation of the Cauvery Basin in 1957. Following this, a solitary titanosaurid dinosaur egg was described from the Upper Cretaceous (Lower Maastrichtian) Kallankuruchhi Formation, Cauvery Basin in 1996. More recently, we have recovered isolated eggshell fragments from the marine part of the Upper Cretaceous (Late Maastrichtian) Kallamedu Formation. Based on eggshell morphology, microstructure and ultrastructure, these eggshell fragments are assigned to the oospecies Fusioolithus baghensis. The new find from the Cauvery Basin is important from palaeobiogeographic point of view as the oofamily Fusioolithidae is found in the Upper Cretaceous strata of India, France, Argentina and Morocco. Based on the common occurrence of similar oospecies in South America, Africa, Europe and India, a Late Cretaceous palaeobiogeographic connection between India and South America as well as Europe via Africa is suggested.     

Gumuia gyzzata A New Plant from the Lower Devonian of Yunnan,China

A new genus and species, Gumuia zyzzata is found in the Posonchong Formation of the Lower Devonian (Siegenian) from Wenshan district of Yunnan, China. It has both lateral and terminal sporangia. Successive sporangia develop on alternate sides of short axes near the hases of preceding sporangia, producing a zigzag fertile organization. The author supposes that it is a sympodium Opposite sporangia are suppositionally referred to the result from condensation of the axis between alternate sporangia. The new plant is tentatively referred to a putative zosterophyll.     

云南西冲组的一种细小植物—兼论华南中泥盆世晚期植物组合

研究我国云南中泥盆世晚期西冲组的一种细小植物Psilophyton striatum sp.nov.,它具有二歧分叉光滑轴和生殖枝,生殖枝由三次等二歧分叉枝系和族生孢子囊组成,枝系末端对生两对直立孢子囊,根据对已有材料的分析,宜将华南中泥盆世晚期植物组合改名为Lepidodendropsis arborescense-Minarodendron cathaysiense Eocladoxylon minutum(LME)组合,它以石松类植物为主,共生有“真蕨植物”和三枝蕨类,分为小形树状植物和地面植物两个生态系统,同时,与世界上同期植物群进行了对比。     

Rhacophyton from the Upper Devonian of West Virginia

A new species of Rhacophyton, R. ceratangium , is described from Upper Devonian rocks of West Virginia, U.S.A.; this is synonymous with R. incertum (Dawson) Krausel and Weyland but reasons are cited to indicate that the latter species name is not appropriate.
The collections include: stems up to 2 cm in diameter bearing bipinnate, non-laminate vegetative fronds; abundant well preserved fertile fronds that show clearly the distinctive morphology of their sterile and fertile pinnae; fragments of axes with woody tissues petrified.
The sporangia are particularly distinctive with their long slender tip; they dehisced longitudinally and contained several hundred spores; all available evidence indicates that the plant was homosporous. All petrified axes have a slender bar-shaped strand of primary wood swollen at either end and surrounded by strongly developed secondary wood consisting of scalariform tracheids and rays.
R. ceratangium is closely related to the Belgian R. zygopteroides Leelercq. A comparison with other Devonian and Carboniferous pteridophytes suggests that Rhacophyton is probably a primitive member of the Progymnospermopsida or immediately ancestral to that group.     

March Flies from an African Cretaceous springtime

These are the first known fossil Diptera from sub-Saharan Africa. They are early Upper Cretaceous in age, and were collected from Botswana with fossil angiosperms. They are assigned to the extant family Bibionidae. The association of Diptera and angiosperms at this time in the fossil record suggests that the former played an important part in the evolution of the flower.