Annelids from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian, Rhenish Massif, Germany)

Abstract:  Four new genera and species of annelid, Hunsrueckochaeta hohensteini , Ewaldips feyi , Crocancistrius lutzi and Scopyrites magnus , are described from the Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian) of Germany, as well as new material of Bundenbachochaeta eschenbachensis   Bartels and Blind, 1995 . The specimens preserve details of the appendages and other aspects of the morphology as a result of pyritization. A phylogenetic analysis using the morphological data matrix of Rouse and Fauchald places four of the five genera basal to the Aciculata; the fifth Ewaldips falls within the Scolecida. The diversity of annelids represented in the Hunsrück Slate is similar to that in the other major Palaeozoic Konservat-Lagerstätten that yield them, including the Cambrian Burgess Shale and the Late Carboniferous Mazon Creek biota.     

Record of Lower Gondwana megafloral assemblage from Lower Kamthi Formation of Ib River Coalfield, Orissa, India

Recent investigations carried out in the Ib River Coalfield, Mahanadi Master Basin, Orissa, identified some fossiliferous beds in the Lower Gondwana deposits. Two exposures of the Lower Kamthi Formation yielded diverse and abundant plant remains, which includeNeomariopteris, Vertebraria, and a scale leaf along with 14Glossopteris species otherwise mapped as Barren Measures and Upper Kamthi formations.Glossopteris indica dominates the flora (22.78%) followed byG. communis (17.72%) andG. browniana (13.92%). Based on megafloral assemblages, different beds exposed at Gopalpur and Laxamanpur Pahar are assigned here to the Lower Kamthi Formation (Late Permian). The floristic composition suggests that a warm and humid climate prevailed during the Late Permian. The status of the Kamthi Formation in the Ib River Coalfield has been redefined in the present study.     

New arthropods from the Lower Devonian Hunsru¨ck Slate (Lower Emsian, Rhenish Massif, western Germany)

Four new genera and species of arthropod, Cambronatus brasseli Wingertshellicus backesi Eschenbachiellus wuttkensis and Magnoculus blindi , are described from the Hunsru¨ck Slate (Lower Emsian) of Germany. All four occur in the Wingertshell Member in the vicinity of Bundenbach. They preserve remarkable details of the ventral morphology, including the appendages, as a result of pyritization. In each case the body consists of just two tagmata, a cephalon and a large number of similar trunk somites. Both Cambronatus Wingertshellicus have fluke-like appendages making up a tail fan. The affinities of these arthropods lie with the Crustacea, apart from Magnoculus , which is an arachnomorph, but they do not fall within those clades with modern representatives. They show that morphologies other than those represented by trilobites and modern arthropod groups persisted long after the Cambrian, at least in muddy bottom marine settings.     

Lower Permian bivalves from central Patagonia, Argentina

The earliest Permian faunal successions of central Patagonia show compositional changes that probably reflected the environmental warming at the end of the Gondwana glaciations. Bivalves of Asselian to probably Early Tastubian age are described. A new genus,Sueroa, is proposed to reunite a previously known species and a new species,Sueroa andreisi n. sp. Another five new species:Parallelodon? quichaurensis n. sp.,Heteropecten cortignasi n. sp.,Etheripecten saraviae n. sp.,Streblopteria montgomeryi n. sp. andPraeundulomya moreli n. sp. are described. Two previously known species:Malimania patagoniensis (González) andEuchondria sabattiniae González are revised and new occurrences are reported. A further eleven species are described, but they are left in open nomenclature being because they are insufficiently known; these are:Phestia? n. sp.,Modiolus sp.,Palaeoneilo sp.,Stutchburia sp.,Schizodus sp.,Vacunella? sp.,Edmondia sp.,Myonia? n. sp.,Myonia? sp. andPachymyonia? n. sp.     

Lower Middle Devonian,Eifelian, crinoids from central Guangxi,South China

The extensive Devonian marine deposits of South China have yielded few articulated crinoid cups or theca. Two Eifelian specimens, from the Gupa Member, are the first ones reported from the Yingtang Formation, Eifelian, from the Ma’anshan section, Guangxi, South China. The new taxon Guangxicrinus xiangzhouensis n. gen. n. sp. is the first report of a marsupiocrinid in China, extending the paleogeographic range of the family into the Paleotethys and the stratigraphic range of the family upward from the upper Silurian into the lower Middle Devonian, Eifelian. The occurrence of Halocrinites sp. is the third occurrence of a cupressocrinitid in China and extends the paleogeographic range from Yunnan to Guangxi.     

Lower Devonian Polyplacophora from New South Wales, Australia

Silicified polyplacophorans are common in the Lower Devonian Garra Formation in New South Wales. Four taxa occur within the lower 237 m of the formation at 14 horizons associated with an abundant and diverse fauna. Chelodes calceoloides Etheridge ranges through the section. New taxa are Chelodes cordatus sp. nov., Acutichiton depressolatus sp. nov., and Jugochiton patulus gen. and sp. nov. A single plate of an indeterminate genus occurs in the lower portion of the Camelford Limestone.     

Enigmatic Fossils from the Lower Carboniferous Shrimp Bed,Granton, Scotland

The Lower Carboniferous (Visean) Granton Lagerstätte (Edinburgh, Scotland) is principally known for the discovery of the conodont animal, but has also yielded numerous crustaceans and other faunas. Here we report on small branching colonies, reaching 10 mm in length. They are small, erect, arborescent, and irregularly branched with predominant monopodial and dichotomous growth. They bud in a single plane. In one specimen the wall microstructure is well preserved and it is composed of evenly spaced, linear fibers, running parallel to the axis of the stems, and connected by transverse bars. We discuss possible biological affinities of these organisms; we consider algal, poriferan, hydrozoan and bryozoan affinities. The general pattern of branching, presence of fan-like structures (interpreted here as possible gonophores) and microstructure suggests affinity to Hydrozoa, affinity to non-calcifying algae is less likely. Assuming hydrozoan nature; the microstructure might suggest affinities with the extant family Solanderiidae Marshall, 1892 that possess an internal chitinous skeleton. The EDS analysis shows that fossils discussed here are preserved as phosphates. The skeletons were probably not mineralized, the presence of phosphorus suggests that the colonies were originally composed of chitin. We describe these organisms as Caledonicratis caridum gen. et sp. nov. (Solanderiidae?, Capitata?). Colonies of C. caridum gen et. sp. nov. sometimes encrust the exuviae of crustaceans, which very probably lived in fresh to brackish water thus indicating a likely habitat of Caledonicratis.     

Chondrichthyans from the Lower Carboniferous of Yakutia,Russia

Paleontological Journal - Teeth of Cladodoides cf. wildungensis (Jaekel), fin spines of Ctenacanthus cf. angulatus Newberry et Worthen and Ctenacanthus sp. occur in the Lower Carboniferous Emyaksin...     

Lower auricular malformations: their representation, correction, and embryologic correlation

Seventy-seven lower auricular malformations in 74 patients treated during the last 6 years were analyzed. Sixty cases (77.9 percent) were of malformations involving the earlobe; 54 cases involved the earlobe alone, and 6 cases were of complex deformities involving the earlobe and adjacent helix and/or tragus. Cleft earlobe was the most common lower auricular malformation (49 cases, 63.6 percent); four subtypes and their corrective methods are described. Cases of complex earlobe malformations, corrected by fabricated costal cartilage and expanded skin flap, are presented. A question mark ear (5 cases, 6.5 percent), a malformation with an ectopic anthelical fold (5 cases, 6.5 percent), and a malformation with a lower conchal stria (5 cases, 6.5 percent) are considered to be major lower auricular malformations. An attempt has been made to correlate the presented malformations with the embryologic-fetal development of the auricle. It is suggested that "clefting" ear malformations such as the cleft earlobe, the question mark ear, and the ectopic anthelical fold deformity may provide clues to understanding the embryologic-fetal development of the human auricle. It appears that hillocks 1 and 6 produce the earlobe and that hillock 4 or 5 produces the anthelix or helix.     

Lower Cretaceous Plants from Pingquan,Hebei Province and Beijing,China

The present paper describes the fossil plains found from Pingquan district, northern Hebei and Beijing. Those were collected from the Jiufotang formation of Pingquan include the following species: Acanthopteris gothani Sze, Acrostichopteris pingquan- ensis sp. nov., Acrostichopteris sp., Cladophlebis serrulata Samylina, Cladophlebis sp., Neozamites denticulatus (Kry. et Pry.) Vachrameev, Baiera gracilis Bunbury, whereas those were obtained from the Xinzhuang formation and Lushangfen formation of Tuoli group of Beijing are Condopteris bur ejensis (Zalessky) Seward, Onychiopsis elongata (Geyler) Yokoyama, Acrostichopteris sp., Ginkgo sibirica Heer and Podoza. mites rcinii Geyler. Thus, these formation (Jiufotang, Xinzhuang and Lushangfen) are believed to be of Early Cretaceous age.     

Upper Tremadoc–Lower Arenig? Anisograptid–Dichograptid fauna from the Cabitza Formation (Lower Ordovician,SW Sardinia,Italy)

The discovery of the anisograptid graptolite Araneograptus murrayi (Hall, 1865), the dichograptids Clonograptus (Clonograptus) cf. rigidus (Hall, 1858) and Clonograptus (Clonograptus) cf. multiplex (Nicholson, 1868) and of two unassigned species of Didymograptus in the Late Tremadoc–Early Arenig? sediments of the Fluminese area (SW Sardinia) adds new data on the biostratigraphy and palaeoecological setting of the Cabitza Formation, as well as on the paleobiogeographical distribution of these taxa.     

Lower Devonian vertebrates, arthropods and brachiopods from northern Vietnam

Additional vertebrates and ostracods from the bituminous shale of the Khao Loc Formation at Tong Vai, Ha Giang Province, northern Vietnam, corroborate its correlation with the upper part of the Xishancun (Xiaxishancun) Formation and the lower part of the Xitun and Lianhuashan formations of South China, and its Middle to Late Lochkovian age. The variations in morphology and ornamentation of the galeaspid Polybranchiaspis liaojaoshanensis from Tong Vai are discussed and regarded as possibly size and growth-related. A new acanthothoracid placoderm with a very deep dorsal process is described from Tong Vai and the specific distinction between the antiarchs Minicrania lissa from Tong Vai and M. lirouyii from Yunnan is supported by additional characters. Petalichthyid placoderms are recorded from this locality for the first time, and the skull of a juvenile youngolepidid sarcopterygian is described. Eurypterid fragments and a phyllocarid crustacean are also recorded from the Khao Loc Formation. A new species of the chonetid brachiopod genus Tulynetes, endemic to northern Vietnam, is described from the Pragian Mia Le Formation at Cu Le, Bac Kan Province, a new locality which yields a large diversity of taxa with outstanding preservation.     

Lower Jurassic corals from the Pamir Mountains,Central Asia

The paper describes new Lower Jurassic corals from the South-Eastern Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan) and interprets their relationships with contemporaneous West Tethyan corals. Taxonomic similarities with Pliensbachian European and North African faunas indicate a Pliensbachian age for this fauna, which was previously considered to be of Hettangian/Sinemurian age. Together with the taxa earlier described from the Pamirs, this fauna consists of 30 species of 25 genera, including Triassic holdover genera such as Stylophyllopsis, Phacelostylophyllum and Eocomoseris. The bulk of the fauna represents new Jurassic genera: Alichurastrea, Eomicrophyllia, Guembelastreomorpha, Gurumdynia, Pinacomorpha, Protostephanastrea, Psenophyllia, Sedekastrea and Stylimorpha. Earlier coral studies of the region concerned the genera: Archaeosmilia Melnikova, 1975, Archaeosmiliopsis Melnikova, 1975, Cylismilia Roniewicz, 1988, Pachysmilia Melnikova, 1989, and Prodonacosmilia Melnikova in Melnikova and Roniewicz, 1976. Two species that were considered to belong to the genus Cylismilia, are redescribed and reclassified in the genera Psenophyllia, and Archaeosmilia Melnikova, respectively.     

福建漳平下二叠统的小有孔虫

福建漳平岭兜下二叠统地层发育良好,序列清楚,与ting类共生的小有孔虫化石丰富。根据化石群垂直分布特点,可分为三个小有孔虫组合,自下而上为Geintzina-Pachyphloia组合,Langella-Pseudoglandulina longa组合及Hemigordius qinglongensis-Cribrogenerina celebrata组合。这三个小有孔虫组合在福建均属首次发现。这发现为下二叠统的地层时代归属又提供一佐证。     

Brain, Gut and Skin Peptide Hormones in Lower Vertebrates

Understanding of peptide hormone evolution rests primarily onstructural information, either direct or inferred. We summarizestudies of fishes and amphibians to provide initial informationwithin the vertebrate lineage for selected peptides which exhibitvarying structural heterogeneity. For these peptides, thyrotropin-releasinghormone, somatostatin, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormoneand cholecystokinin related peptides manifest increasing diversification.Members of these peptide families are found distributed amonga variety of tissues (e.g., brain, gut, skin, retina, sympatheticnervous system), yet the number of genes encoding for individualtypes of peptides is presently uncertain. We emphasize the needfor additional structural information, for a more thorough anddiverse taxonomic investigation within the vertebrate lineage,and for specification of those genetic elements which ultimatelydetermine evolutionary opportunities for peptide evolution.     

Comparative Phylogeography in Rainforest Trees from Lower Guinea,Africa

Comparative phylogeography is an effective approach to assess the evolutionary history of biological communities. We used comparative phylogeography in fourteen tree taxa from Lower Guinea (Atlantic Equatorial Africa) to test for congruence with two simple evolutionary scenarios based on physio-climatic features 1) the W-E environmental gradient and 2) the N-S seasonal inversion, which determine climatic and seasonality differences in the region. We sequenced the trnC-ycf6 plastid DNA region using a dual sampling strategy: fourteen taxa with small sample sizes (dataset 1, mean n = 16/taxon), to assess whether a strong general pattern of allele endemism and genetic differentiation emerged; and four taxonomically well-studied species with larger sample sizes (dataset 2, mean n = 109/species) to detect the presence of particular shared phylogeographic patterns. When grouping the samples into two alternative sets of two populations, W and E, vs. N and S, neither dataset exhibited a strong pattern of allelic endemism, suggesting that none of the considered regions consistently harboured older populations. Differentiation in dataset 1 was similarly strong between W and E as between N and S, with 3–5 significant F _ST tests out of 14 tests in each scenario. Coalescent simulations indicated that, given the power of the data, this result probably reflects idiosyncratic histories of the taxa, or a weak common differentiation pattern (possibly with population substructure) undetectable across taxa in dataset 1. Dataset 2 identified a common genetic break separating the northern and southern populations of Greenwayodendron suaveolens subsp. suaveolens var. suaveolens, Milicia excelsa, Symphonia globulifera and Trichoscypha acuminata in Lower Guinea, in agreement with differentiation across the N–S seasonal inversion. Our work suggests that currently recognized tree taxa or suspected species complexes can contain strongly differentiated genetic lineages, which could lead to misinterpretation of phylogeographic patterns. Therefore the evolutionary processes of such taxa require further study in African tropical rainforests.     

Lower Cretaceous gastropods from the Qayen area,Eastern Iran

Four gastropod genera are newly recorded from Lower Cretaceous deposits of the Qayen area, Eastern Iran. Based on the paleoecological interpretation of the faunal assemblage and especially on the newly identified gastropods, a shallow temperate marine environment is suggested for the fossil-bearing carbonate rocks. The gastropod assemblage shows a typically Tethyan composition comparable to those already reported from the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.     

Two new brachiopod genera from the Lower Pragian (Lower Devonian,Soda Creek Limestone) of west-central Alaska

New strophomenid and rhynchonellid (Brachiopoda) taxa are described from the Lower Pragian (Soda Creek Limestone) of west-central Alaska: Harperoides gen. nov. with type species H. alaskensis sp. nov. (subfamily Mesodouvillinae Harper et Boucot) and Pedderia gen. nov. with type species P. fragosa sp. nov. (family Pygmaellidae Baranov).