白垩纪放射虫"Turbocapsula costata"带和藏南雅鲁藏布缝合带硅质岩系的时代问题

西地中海地区早白垩世阿普特期"costata亚带"(O’Dogherty,1994)的带化石"Turbocapsula costata( Wu)",源自藏南赛诺曼期冲堆组的Tricapsula costata Wu。2002年,Matsuoka等把藏南下鲁硅岩层位最高的放射虫带与"costata亚带"对比,称为"Turbocapsulacostata"带,并认为冲堆组时代也应为阿普特期。但西地中海区的"Turbocapsula costata( Wu)"和冲堆组的Tricapsula costata Wu,虽然壳体外形相似,但壳体结构却有重要差别,不是相同属种。前者种名和相应的化石带名都需重新命名。下鲁硅岩的"Turbocapsula costata(Wu)",据图版所示特征,应为Tricapsula costata。下鲁硅岩顶部的时代为晚白垩世赛诺曼期。     

Adaptive origins of primates revisited

Interpretation of the adaptive profile of ancestral primates is controversial and has been constrained for decades by general acceptance of the premise that the first primates were very small. Here we show that neither the fossil record nor modern species provide evidence that the last common ancestor of living primates was small. Instead, comparative weight distributions of arboreal mammals and a phylogenetic reconstruction of ancestral primate body mass indicate that the reduction of functional claws to nails -- a primate characteristic that had up until now eluded satisfactory explanation - resulted from an increase in body mass to around 1000 g or more in the primate stem lineage. The associated shift to a largely vegetarian diet coincided with increased angiosperm diversity and the evolution of larger fruit size during the Late Cretaceous.     

A review of selected triassic to Early Cretaceous ferns

After becoming nearly extinct during the Permian, the ferns began a slow recovery during the Triassic as the climate of the earth moderated. As a result, a considerable number and variety were present and widely distributed during the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. However, with the rapid expansion of the angiosperms during the Late Cretaceous, the ferns once again became reduced in variety and greatly restricted in distribution. Some of the Mesozoic ferns are rather primitive and obviously are closely related descendants of Paleozoic taxa. Such ferns are assigned mostly to the Marattiaceae, Guaireaceae, Osmundaceae, and Gleicheniaceae. The majority of the Mesozoic ferns, however, are distinctive and appear to have originated during that era. These fossil ferns generally fit into modern orders and families such as the Matoniaceae or the Dipteridaceae. In some cases, it is difficult to clearly distinguish some of the Mesozoic ferns from living genera. A portion was presented as an invited paper to the symposium: Evolution of pteridophytes and gymnosperms at the XV International Botanical Congress, Yokohama, Japan (1993).     

Recognising angiosperm clades in the Early Cretaceous fossil record

Studies of the earliest Cretaceous angiosperms in the 1970s made only broad comparisons with living taxa, but discoveries of fossil flowers and increasingly robust molecular phylogenies of living angiosperms allow more secure recognition of extant clades. The middle to late Albian rise of tricolpate pollen and the first local dominance of angiosperm leaves mark the influx of near-basal lines of eudicots. Associated flowers indicate that palmately lobed ‘platanoids’ and Sapindopsis are both stem relatives of Platanus, while Nelumbites was related to Nelumbo (also Proteales) and Spanomera to Buxaceae. Monocots are attested by Aptian Liliacidites pollen and Acaciaephyllum leaves and Albian araceous inflorescences. Several Albian–Cenomanian fossils belong to Magnoliidae in the revised monophyletic sense, including Archaeanthus in Magnoliales and Virginianthus and Mauldinia in Laurales, while late Barremian pollen tetrads (Walkeripollis) are related to Winteraceae. In the basal ANITA grade, Nymphaeales are represented by Aptian and Albian flowers and whole plants (Monetianthus, Carpestella and Pluricarpellatia). Epidermal similarities of lower Potomac leaves to woody members of the ANITA grade are consistent with Albian flowers assignable to Austrobaileyales (Anacostia). Aptian to Cenomanian mesofossils represent both crown group Chloranthaceae (Asteropollis plant) and stem relatives of Chloranthaceae and/or Ceratophyllum (Canrightia, Zlatkocarpus, Pennipollis plant and possibly Appomattoxia).     

DISCOVERY OF LATE CRETACEOUS PALYNOFLORA FROM FILDES PENINSULA, KING GEORGE ISLAND, ANTARCTICA AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

This paper makes an analysis and study on altogether 8 palyniferous samples from the volcano-sedimentary rock series in the Half Three Point area of the Fildes Peninsula, King George Island, Antarctica, the rock series being grey tuffaceous siltstone in lithological characters, about 5m in thickness. Only after making a number of analyses, could we find the relatively abundant sporopollen fossils from 4 samples (Nos. GWP 4—7). But the fossils are poorly preserved, and most of them can hardly be identifi...     

Enigmatic teeth from the Jurassic–Cretaceous transition of Morocco: The latest known non-mammaliaform cynodonts (Synapsida,Cynodontia) from Africa?

Two tooth morphotypes corresponding to one or two tetrapod species from the Late Jurassic or Earliest Cretaceous locality of Ksar Metlili (KM), Anoual Syncline (eastern Morocco), are reported and described. These teeth cannot be related to any of the identified vertebrate major groups of this site. They are tricusped and uniradiculate, with a high and large main central cusp mesio-distally surrounded by two smaller accessory cusps. Their morphology is reminiscent of several taxa such as pterosaurs, notosuchians and mammals, with which they are compared here. These morphotypes are tentatively referred to cf. Cynodontia indet. They would be the most recent non-mammaliaform cynodonts reported in Africa and among the latest described. The KM specimens display remarkable plesiomorphic dental features with respect to known contemporaneous non-mammaliaform cynodonts. They might indicate the survival of a relict lineage in a North African refugium.     

Tertiary dinosaurs in South America? A reply to some of Van Valen's assertions

The discussion of the age of some South American Late Cretaceous fossil vertebrate localities by Van Valen led this author to admit the possible persistence of Dinosaurs at the base of the Paleocene. Van Valen's arguments resting on the selachians are reviewed and it can be asserted that the selachian‐bearing localities of the El Molino Formation of Bolivia are Cretaceous and not Tertiary.     

New Data on Therangospodus oncalensis from the Berriasian Fuentesalvo Tracksite (Villar del Río,Soria, Spain): An Example of Gregarious Behaviour in Theropod Dinosaurs

Therangospodus oncalensis is a Berriasian theropod ichnotaxon from the Cameros Basin (Soria Province, Spain). We discovered new trackways assigned to this ichnotaxon during cleaning and conservation works at the type locality (Fuentesalvo), enabling us to describe it more precisely. Therangospodus oncalensis was made by a medium-sized theropod dinosaur and is characterized by a single tapering pad on each toe, a rounded heel impression and a narrow trackway. In addition to having similar morphometric characteristics, most of the trackways at the Fuentesalvo site show comparable size and biometric features. This indicates that, in terms of size and age, a homogeneous population of a single theropod species could have produced these tracks. Moreover, the similar orientation (lying within a range of only 15°) and estimated speed suggested by most of the trackways, lend weight to the hypothesis that the trackmaker of Therangospodus oncalensis was able, at least at times, to move in structured packs displaying gregarious behaviour. Furthermore, this is the first structured pack of theropods to be described.     

Representatives of the family Bochianitidae (Ammonoidea) from the Lower Cretaceous of the Crimean Mountains

The heteromorph ammonites of the family Bochianitidae from the Lower Cretaceous of the Crimean Mountains are revised. The validity of the genus Janenschites, separated from the genus Bochianites is confirmed. The species Bochianites neocomiensis (d’Orbigny), B. goubechensis Mandov, B. levis sp. nov. and B. crymensis sp. nov. are described from the Berriasian and the species Janenschites oosteri (Sarasin et Schöndelmayer) and J. incisus sp. nov. are described from the Lower Barremian. The family Bochianitidae first appeared at the beginning of the Berriasian in the southern regions (Africa and the Crimea), and spread to the northern regions of western Europe in the Valanginian-Hauterivian.     

Sauropod Trackway Reflecting an Unusual Walking Pattern from the Early Cretaceous of Shandong Province,China

The trackway of a quadrupedal dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous (Albian) Qingquan tracksite (Tancheng, Shandong Province) is redescribed, and the trackmaker is identified as a sauropod. The trackway makes a slight turn towards the northwest and is characterized by an extremely narrow gauge pattern and an unusual configuration, i.e., a conspicuous difference between the position of the left and right manus tracks with respect to the position of the preceding pes track. Left manus tracks are located on the inside of the trackway, very close (and sometimes even in connection) to the opposite right pes tracks. So far, the Qingquan trackway is possibly the only extremely narrow-gauge sauropod trackway known from China. However, it is not clear to what extent this extremely narrow gauge pattern is related to the turning or a special behavior, or even linked to an injury (“limping trackway”). We tentatively attribute the Qingquan trackway to cf. Parabrontopodus, even though it has a rather low heteropody that is significantly lower than in Parabrontopodus and not typical for narrow-gauge sauropod trackways, but occurs in the wide-gauge ichnotaxon Brontopodus. Because of this discrepancy, the Qingquan trackway cannot readily be attributed to a more basal sauropod, which is generally considered the producer of narrow-gauge trackways. Therefore, the identification of a distinct sauropod group is not possible presently. The only skeletal remains of sauropods from the Lower Cretaceous of Shandong Province belong to the large titanosauriform, Euhelopus zdanskyi.