Epidermal anatomy of Barthelopteris germarii from the Upper Carboniferous and Lower Permian of France and Germany

The epidermal anatomy of Barthelopteris germarii, a late Paleozoic seed fern, is described on the basis of material from the Upper Stephanian of Central France. A number of features are described for the first time for this species. Some have never been reported for late Paleozoic pteridosperms. Although our material is in most respects very similar to previously described material of B. germarii from Germany, there are also some striking differences, especially the peltate glandular trichomes that are very common in the French but completely absent in the German material. Their presence is most probably an ecological adaptation as in many modern plants. This and other epidermal and gross-morphological features (e.g., the presence of papillae on subsidiary cells of the stomata, anastomosing venation) indicate that B. germarii was well adapted to stressed conditions. Of more general interest is the preservation of the material. There appears to exist a clear relationship between the preservation of anticlinal walls and the thickness of the parenchymatic mesophyll; anticlinal walls are very well preserved where parenchyma was thin. Therefore, the absence of anticlinal walls in fossil cuticles, which has often been used as a taxonomic character, is not necessarily a primary feature.     

The gliding reptiles of the Upper Permian

The skeleton of a long-ribbed reptile from the Upper Permian Marl Slate of north-east England is described. The animal is assigned to the genus Weigeltisaurus , previously recorded from the Kupferschiefer of West Germany. Long-ribbed reptiles from the Upper Permian of Madagascar are also considered. Daedalosaurus Carroll, 1978 is a junior synonym of Coelurosauravus Piveteau, 1926. The European and Madagascan genera can be accommodated within a single family Coelurosauravidae, Infraclass Eosuchia. The skull is diapsid with an incomplete lower temporal arcade. Comparison with the modern Draco and the Upper Triassic kuehneosaurids supports the conclusion that the coelurosauravids were effective gliders.     

An Odontogriphid from the Upper Permian of Australia

A problematic organism, Bowengriphus perphlegis gen. et sp. nov., is described based on two specimens from the Late Permian Rangal Coal Measures of eastern central Queensland. It displays a double-looped feeding apparatus bearing small conical elements, considered homologous with that of the supposed lophophorate Odontogriphus omalus Conway Morris, 1976, from the Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale of British Columbia, Canada. Odontogriphids are thus interpreted as a group that survived through the Palaeozoic and made the transition from marine to freshwater environments. Recent proposals that odontogriphids are stem-group chordates are not well established.     

The first gliding reptiles from the upper Permian of Russia

Two new gliding reptiles from the Late Permian Kul’chumovo-A locality (Orenburg Region), Rautiania alexandri gen. et sp. nov. and R. minichi sp. nov., are described and assigned to the family Weigeltisauridae. These finds substantially expand the knowledge of the morphology of this group and suggest the climax state of terrestrial tetrapod communities of eastern Europe in the pre-Triassic Time, which resulted in the development of ecological niches not typical of earlier terrestrial vertebrate faunas.     

The Upper Permian articulate Phyllotheca australis from South Africa

RAYNER, R. J., 1992. The Upper Permian articulate Phyllotheca australis from South Africa. The taxonomic position of two fossil articulates, which form an important element of the Permian Gondwana flora, is examined in the light of recent collections from South Africa. Vegetative and fertile axes, dispersed and attached sporangia, in-situ spores, isolated and attached whorls of leaves, rhizomes bearing roots and branches, naked axes and a permineralized axis are all assigned to Phyllotheca australis. The large numbers of axes with attached sporangia allow a reinterpretation of the fertile structure and the specific diagnosis is emended. Although it is recognized that the fossils assigned to this taxon may represent a species complex, there exist no clear morphological discontinuities between the material previously assigned to P. australis and P. indica from widely separated Gondwanan localities. Phyllotheca australis was common throughout Gondwana, and is a reliable index fossil of the Upper Permian.     

Pollen in the guts of Permian insects: first evidence of pollinivory and its evolutionary significance

Uniquely preserved pollen was extracted from intestines of fossil insects from the Lower Permian of the Urals. A species of Hypoperlidae, an extinct family ancestral to bark-lice, bugs and plant-hoppers, and two species of Grylloblatida, a predominantly Permian group with a few extant representatives related to stoneflies, contain protosaccate taeniate grains of several pollen genera well known as dispersed microfossils and occasionally found in sporangia of conifers, peltasperms and glossopterids. This is so far the earliest direct evidence of pollinivory, a major factor of plant-insect coevolution. The partly digested pollen grains reveal infratectal reticulum and other structural details of evolutionary significance. It is suggested that the peculiar taeniate pollen of worldwide distribution in the Permian might simultaneously evolve in several groups of Paleozoic seed plants in relation to pollinivory that, by altering the rnicropyle load and thereby the pollen/ovule ratio, could also affect ovuliferous structures. Thus pollinivory might impel rapid diversification of gymnosperms in the Permian. The pollinivorous Hypoperlidae, which have evolved in the direction of ovulivory, might initiate insect pollination in the process.     

Ostracodes from the Upper Permian Khivach formation in Kolyma-Omolon Basin

Ostracodes Healdianella splendida Belousova, Paraparchites ganelini sp. nov., Paraparchites? hivachensis sp. nov. and Arcibairdia vodopadniensis sp. nov. are described from the Upper Permian deposits of the Khivach Formation (Kolyma-Omolon Basin, Eastern Siberia). Paraparchites species most closely resemble ancient Paleozoic ostracodes of the Boreal province. Valve morphology of Healdianella and Acribairdia points to their similarity to ostracodes from the upper levels of the Upper Permian of the Tethyan realm.     

Aragonitic dasycladalean algae from the Upper Permian of Sichuan, China

Exceptionally well-preserved specimens of Mizzia yabei (Karpinsky) were discovered in bituminous packstone intercalations of the early Upper Permian Maokou Formation of Anxian County (Sichuan, China). Staining techniques and x-ray diffraction reveal that the organic encrustation around the central stem and the lateral branches consists of aragonite. Average aragonite contents range between 27% and 40%. The bulk of the remaining 60–73% calcite represents cement. The total Sr-content is 3, 400 ppm, indicating 8,000–10,000 ppm for the aragonite fraction. The organically precipitated aragonite was deposited as closely packed fibres, 10–20 μm long and 0.5–1 μm wide. The fibres are arranged in clinogonal (water-jet) fascicles, which diverge towards the central (spar-filled) stem. This microstructure shows that the mineralization of the mucilage started at the periphery of the extracellular encrustation and progressed toward its interior. Diagenetic alterations of the original aragonite include various stages of breakdown of the fibres into 0.5–1 μm large granules (micritization), minor syntaxial growth of the fibres and local transformation of acicular aragonite into neomorphic calcite. The dasycladaleans from the Permian of Sichuan appear to be by far the oldest representatives of this order with preserved aragonitic mineralogy and microstructure. Comparably well-preserved examples are only known from Eocene and younger deposits.     

A new basal dicynodont from the Upper Permian of South Africa

The skull of a small anomodont therapsid, from the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone (Abrahamskraal Formation, Beaufort Group, Upper Permian) in Northern Cape Province, South Africa, represents a new basal dicynodont and is described in detail. Colobodectes cluveri gen. et sp. nov. is distinguished from other dicynodonts by an anteroposteriorly extensive caniniform process, parietals that were broadly overlapped posterolaterally by posterodorsal processes of the postorbitals, diverging anterior palatal ridges, and a dorsoventrally low foramen magnum. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that Colobodectes is the basalmost member of a dicynodont clade that excludes Eodicynodon . This position is not particularly strong, as two additional steps are needed to make Colobodectes and Eodicynodon oosthuizeni exchange places on the most parsimonious tree. Another discovery of the phylogenetic analysis is that there is little basis for recognizing Eodicynodon oelofseni as the closest relative of E. oosthuizeni . The former species is identified as the sister taxon of a clade that includes the latter and all other dicynodonts.     

Biodamage on Phylladoderma leaves from the Upper Permian of the Pechora Basin

A new insect damage type on leaves Phylladoderma arberi Zalessky, 1913 from the Upper Permian of the Pechora Basin (Adz’va River, Russia) is described. These are punctures about 120 μm in diameter surrounded by circular spots with a dark rim. We suppose that these feeding traces were made by palaeodictyopteroid nymphs.     

A New Basal Lystrosaurid Dicynodont from the Upper Permian of South Africa

A new genus and species of late Permian dicynodont, Kwazulusaurus shakai , is described on the basis of a complete skull from the late Permian Dicynodon Assemblage Zone of the South African Beaufort Group. It is an advanced form which shows characters, such as the shape of the snout and the loss of the ectopterygoid, that link it to the early Triassic genus Lystrosaurus. Kwazulusaurus represents the most basal member of the lystrosaurian lineage. The phylogeny of progressive pristerodontian dicynodonts is discussed. It appears possible that the Kannemeyeriiformes and Lystrosauridae do not form a monophylum, as previously assumed. Instead a sister-group relationship between lystrosaurids and dicynodontids plus kannemeyeriiforms is suggested.     

The Feature of Fossil Plants from the Lower Cangfanggou Group of Upper Permian,Northern Xinjiang

This paper deals with the Fossil Plants from Upper Permian in Northern Xinjiang. These plants include 25 species of 15 Genus. Five new species is all described in this paper. These are: ?Supaia serrata sp. nov. Tychtopteris densinervis sp. nov., Ty. obesa sp. nov., Comia Cangfanggouensis sp. nov. and Lepeophyllum ovatum sp. nov. These are all new to science, found in the Lower Cangfanggou Group in Northern Xinjian, of Late Permian in age. Some fossils Lobatannularia multifolia Ken'no, Sphenopteris rotunda Sze and Alethopteris huiana Lee found in this group are known in the Cathaysian Flora. Others are common in the Angara Flora, such as Stellotheca sehtchurowskii (Schmal.) Surange et Prakash, Sphenopteris, adzvensis Zal., Tychtopteris cuneata (Schmal.) Zal. Noeggerathiopsis sp., ect. That indicates in the Lower Cangfanggou Group is a transitional zone between the Angara and the Cathaysian floras.     

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.     

The first Whaitsiid (Therocephalia,Theromorpha) from the terminal Permian of eastern Europe

The first representative of the family Whaitsiidae, Megawhaitsia patrichae gen. et sp. nov., from the terminal Permian of eastern Europe is described. This is a very large predator that appeared in the Vyazniki Tetrapod Assemblage in conditions of large predatory biomorph deficiency.     

New insects (Insecta: Trichoptera,Eoblattida) from the Lower Permian of Russia

The insect fauna of the Lower Permian Tyulkino locality in the Perm Region of Russia is considered. New members of the orders Trichoptera and Eoblattida are described. Members of the primitive family Microptysmatidae (suborder Protomeropina) are typical of the Lower and Middle Permian deposits of Eurasia and are represented by the two genera: Microptysmella Kukalová-Peck et Willmann, 1990 and Kamopanorpa Martynov, 1928. Kamopanorpa tyulkiana sp. nov. and K. tamarae sp. nov. (Trichoptera, Microptysmatidae) and Parakhosara kamica sp. nov. (Eoblattida, Megakhosaridae) are described.     

Gryllolattids (Insecta, Grylloblattida) from the Upper Permian of South Africa

A Late Permian fauna of grylloblattid insects (Insecta; Grylloblattida) from the KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa) is considered. New taxa, Liomopterites ulterior sp. nov. and L. meridionalis sp. nov. (family Liomopteridae); Normandienoptera serotina gen. et sp. nov. and Afrogrylloblattus disputabilis gen. et sp. nov. (Skaliciidae), are described. Mioloptera stuckenbergi Riek, 1973 and Mioloptoides andrei Riek, 1976 of the family Liomopteridae are redescribed.     

Fossil insects of the middle and upper Permian of European Russia

Fossil insects of European Russia from the Urzhumian to Vyatkian stages are reviewed, new taxa are described, and dynamics of insect taxonomic diversity around the Permian-Triassic boundary in light of the Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundary global extinction problem is analyzed. Traces of interactions between arthropods and plants are analyzed. Insect-bearing deposits of the Late Paleozoic found in the northern and eastern areas of the East European Platform are unique on the global scale in their completeness and continuity, allowing us to trace especially comprehensively the biotic processes that occurred around the boundary described as the time of the greatest biotic catastrophe of the Phanerozoic. A total of 28 genera and 111 species are newly described. Within the range from the Urzhumian to the Permo-Triassic boundary, 15 representative successive assemblages, including 112 families, are recognized (seven in the area in question and eight in other regions of Asia, Australia, and Africa). New tools are developed for the analysis of the dynamics of diversity. These tools show an approximately equilibrium (slightly positive) dynamics in the Urzhumian and Severodvinian and a drop in diversity during the Vyatkian Age. It is shown that Permian insect assemblages acquired a substantially post-Paleozoic pattern much earlier than the end of the Paleozoic. The character of changes that took place in the Induan and Olenekian remains uncertain, but a large-scale extinction event did not occur here: most families that have not been recorded at the beginning of the Triassic are recorded again in the Middle and Upper Triassic. Nevertheless, a biotic crisis probably actually took place, but was reduced to reorganization of the biota’s structure, which provided enormous growth of biodiversity over subsequent hundreds of millions of years, rather than resulted in catastrophic extinction. This study is intended for entomologists, stratigraphers, and all readers interested in the biotic events that took place around the Permian-Triassic boundary.     

An enigmatic actinopterygian (Pisces: Osteichthyes) from the Upper Permian of China

A new actinopterygian fish Yaomoshania minutosquama gen. & sp. nov., from the Upper Permian of the Dzungaria [Junggar] Basin in China is described. The material consists of two very fragmentary specimens showing almost exclusively scale rows. The arrangement of the scale rows of the holotype resembles the reversion lines of acanthodian caudal fins and of cheirolepids. The size and shape of the scales, and the diminishing size of the scales along the rows, is similar to those of acanthodians and those actinopterygians with small scales such as Cheirolepis. However, the histology of the scales demonstrates features that are found in more advanced actinopterygians: superimposed ganoine lamellae, the arrangement of dentine tubules and pulp canals, buried odontodes stacked on each other to make the ornamental ridges, and an asymmetric pattern of growth achieved by extensive remodelling (resorption and redeposition) of all layers of the scale. Yaomoshania minutosquama is proposed as a small-scale bearing, basal actinopterygian, different from Cheirolepis , but characterized by advanced histological characters.