Dragastanella transylvanica n. gen. n. sp. is described. Its calcified skeleton contains numerous voids, partly related to the molds of soft parts of the alga, but also related to lack of calcification. Interpretation of these voids, especially their attribution to original structures (e.g., primary lateral versus reproductive organ), has important implications for the taxonomic position of the alga, even at the family level. Examination of key sections that include the boundary between sterile and fertile parts of the alga excludes the occurrence of external reproductive organs. Unusual, paired pores in the outer part of the mineralized skeleton reflect an asymmetry within the whorl, excluding the presence of secondary laterals. The alga is characterized by a cylindrical to club-shaped thallus bearing only phloiophorous primary laterals arranged in whorls and flaring outwards, forming a cortex. Mineralized lenticular reproductive organs containing cysts set in the equatorial plane (Russoella-type gametophores) occur inside primary laterals (cladosporous arrangement of the reproductive organs). These characters support establishment of the new genus Dragastanella. Dragastanella transylvanica n. gen. n. sp. resembles species previously referred to Zittelina (Zittelina hispanica and Zittelina massei) and Triploporella (Triploporella matesina and Triploporella carpatica). Except for Triploporella carpatica, whose mineralized skeleton does not permit confident attribution to either Triploporella or Dragastanella n. gen., the other species must be ascribed to Dragastanella n. gen. Therefore, the following new combinations are proposed: Dragastanella hispanica n. comb., Dragastanella massei n. comb., and Dragastanella matesina n. comb. Despite widely overlapping biometrical measurements, these species can be differentiated by the size and location of their reproductive organs, the pattern of calcification around the primary laterals, and relationships among structural parameters such as the size of laterals, number of laterals per whorl, and distance between whorls.

The new invertebrate trace fossil from paleosols of the Bijori Formation, Palliedaphichnium gondwanicum new ichnogenus new ichnospecies, which belongs to an upper Permian Gondwana sequence of India, makes a significant contribution to the meager records of invertebrate trace fossils from Permian and Indian paleosols. This trace fossil attributed to Diplopoda and composed of tunnels and chambers filled with pellets is also an important addition to the scarce record of Permian millipedes. The abundance of plant remains in the same paleosol indicates that these millipedes probably fed on leaf litter as other fossil and extant representatives. Chambers and abundant pellets in burrows indicate adverse conditions on the surface, at least seasonally. This finding contributes to the emerging scenario of invertebrate ichnofaunas from paleosols and points to a successive dominance of millipedes during the Paleozoic, crayfishes and earthworms in the Mesozoic, and insects in the Cenozoic.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/4378c739-9bd1-4382-b084-e2176045e209

New, distinctive, well-preserved and previously undescribed constituents of a Middle Ordovician (middle Darriwilian, Dw2) radiolarian assemblage from the Table Cove Formation in Newfoundland are described. Three-dimensional X-ray micro-computed tomography (μ-CT) facilitates detailed examination of key specimens revealing hitherto unknown details of the internal morphologies of key lower Paleozoic taxonomic groups, among which a lack of knowledge has previously impeded resolution of higher taxonomic rankings.

Twenty-seven archaeospiculid and entactinarian taxa are described and illustrated including six new species: Westernbrookia polygonata n. sp., Neopalaeospiculum piccadilliensis n. sp., Ramuspiculum laxum n. sp. Spongentactinia nazarovi n. sp., Aspiculum irregulare n. sp., and Nyfrieslandia ramosissima n. sp. The investigation extends the known ranges of the species: Pararcheoentactinia reedae Won and Iams, 2002; Sphaeroentactinia robusta Won and Iams, 2015; Varispiculum ectospiculatum Won and Iams, 2015; and Svalbardospiculum multifurcatum (Won, Iams, and Reed, 2005), together with the genus Echidnina to the mid-Darriwilian.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/74826b7b-bb86-45d5-ad23-e6e65e0706df.

Saetaspongia so far cannot be confidently assigned to any class-level crown group. Clarifying its phylogenetic position requires new information provided by more detailed studies of previously described and/or new material. Some sponge fossils with the typical skeletal architecture of Saetaspongia have recently been recognized in the Cambrian (Stage 4) Balang Biota of Guizhou, China, including S. jianhensis new species and S. cf. S. densa. The new taxon is characterized by the following features: spicules are fine monaxons and are inclined to be loosely to densely arranged into plumose arrays; skeleton is composed primarily of one major plumose bundle, with an uncertain number (perhaps two) of small plumose arrays; and primary skeleton is occasionally interspersed with some irregularly oriented individual spicules. An additional specimen consisting of large monaxons, with plumose structures and overlying irregular coarse monaxons, closely fits the description and illustrations of previously described S. cf. S. densa. By combining information from previous studies and the present research, fossil evidence indicates that the plumose architecture is a critical feature diagnostic of Saetaspongia and that there are no hexactine-based spicules in this genus. The new material from the Balang Biota further supports the notion that Saetaspongia has a protomonaxonid rather than a hexactinellid affinity. Fossil evidence suggests that Saetaspongia had a wide biogeographic distribution during the early Cambrian and the stratigraphic distribution of this genus extends up to Stage 4.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/e9ca5e4a-134c-4daa-9266-19085e32614f.

Hexangulaconulariids (Cambrian stages 1–2) are an extinct group of medusozoan polyps having a biradially symmetrical, fan-shaped periderm that is distinct from those of medusozoan polyps showing three-, four-, five-, or six-fold radial symmetry. Hexangulaconulariids exhibit substantial variation in gross morphology, including variation in the number of faces on each of the two major sides of the periderm. An intermediate taxon of hexangulaconulariids with ten faces (five on each major side) was expected. Here we describe a new hexangulaconulariid, Decimoconularia isofacialis new genus new species from Bed 5 of the Yanjiahe Formation (Cambrian Stage 2) in the Three Gorges area of Hubei Province, China. The new taxon differs from other hexangulaconulariids (Arthrochites, Hexaconularia, and Septuconularia) mainly in possessing a total of ten faces. The two lateral margins are each marked by a ridge in about the apertural half of the periderm and by a collinear furrow in about the apical half, while the five faces on each major side are bounded by a furrow in about the apertural half and by a collinear ridge in about the apical half. Among hexangulaconulariids, Decimoconularia and Septuconularia may be more closely related to each other than either genus is to Arthrochites or Hexaconularia.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/ca270a3b-25ee-4d1f-bdeb-91a963370e70

Few bryozoans have been described from the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (WIS), which is consistent with the low diversity of other typically stenohaline groups in this large expanse of relatively shallow marine water. Here we describe a new cheilostome bryozoan, Conopeum flumineum n. sp., based on well-preserved material from the Campanian Judith River Formation of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in north-central Montana. The new species shows strong morphological similarities with Conopeum seurati, a Recent species that is often categorized as brackish, but which is euryhaline and can also be found in marine and stenohaline environments. The new Campanian bryozoan species was found in a locality also containing fragmentary remains of dinosaurs and other terrestrial vertebrates, as well freshwater mollusks and terrestrial plant debris. The sedimentology and facies associations of the fossil-bearing site suggest that the depositional setting was a swamp or tidally influenced fluvial backwater on the Judith River coastal plain. The proximity of the site to the western shoreline of the WIS presumably made it susceptible to occasional marine flooding during storms or extreme tides. Previous occurrences of Conopeum in the Cretaceous of the Western Interior have also been associated with dinosaur remains, corroborating the very nearshore and at times even ‘upstream’ distribution of this euryhaline genus.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/bb1fdc8a-5017-44c5-9251-9e24ef3995e3.

We document and quantify one of the oldest predator–prey interactions between naticid gastropods and molluscan prey, on the basis of drill holes in shells, from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) beds of Kutch, western India. Previously, many workers recorded naticid-like drill holes on prey taxa from the Triassic and the Jurassic, but in the absence of associated naticid body fossils, they remained equivocal.

The present gastropod community is dominated by turritellines (98% of the sample) that form the turritelline-dominated assemblage, and the naticid drilling predation is restricted almost entirely to turritellines among gastropods. Confamilial naticid predation takes place occasionally. Within the bivalve community, corbulids and nuculids are most abundant and are drilled more often than other taxa. These observations indicate that prey selection was opportunistic and based solely on availability. Drilling intensities at both assemblage and lower taxon levels are low. Behavioral stereotypy of naticid predation in some cases is moderately high.

Turritellines are often the preferred prey of naticid gastropods since the late Early Cretaceous. These two groups form a recurrent association reflecting prey–predator interaction. Here we suggest that both turritellines and naticids evolved during the Jurassic, and the prey–predator interaction between them was established shortly thereafter. Among bivalves, corbulids also became important prey of naticids in the same spatiotemporal framework. Corbulids are older than naticids and first appeared during the Middle Jurassic. After their first encounter with naticids, corbulids evolved conchiolin layers within the valves to resist predation.

Five land snails and the borings of marine bivalves are reported from Hkamti (Khamti) amber whose age was recently uranium-lead dated to be ca. 110 Ma, in contrast to the nearby Kachin (‘Burmese’) amber considered to be ca. 99 Ma. Four of the snails belong to Cyclophoridae, and although their condition does not allow unambiguous identification or description of the species, one of them strongly resembles Archaeocyclotus plicatula Asato and Hirano in Hirano et al., 2019 from Kachin amber. The fifth snail, Euthema myanmarica n. sp. (Diplommatinidae), is a representative of a genus that was known exclusively from Kachin amber until now. The genus Euthema Yu, Wang, and Pan, 2018 is revised, with a new synonym, Xenostoma Bullis et al., 2020. The recently described ‘Truncatellina dilatatus’ Yu, 2020 from Kachin amber is placed in Euthema. A comparison of the distinguishing characters of the eight Euthema species is provided. The borings of bivalves in Hkamti amber correspond to the ichnospecies Teredolites clavatus Leymerie, 1842, associated with the bivalve genus Martesia Sowerby, 1824 (Pholadidae), and are common in Kachin amber. Similarity of the malacofauna from Hkamti and Kachin ambers, as well as the presence of numerous, similar Teredolites clavatus, indicates that these ambers were formed in very similar paleoenvironments. This indication suggests that forests with very similar conditions existed throughout the entire Albian to the early Cenomanian, or that the dating of at least one of these amber deposits is incorrect. In the latter case, it would mean that Kachin amber is at least 110 Ma or older.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/142f10a2-307f-4053-9b29-8aa18db66219

The genus Amaltheus, one of the representative late Pliensbachian ammonoids, has biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic significance in Japan. Four species, Amaltheus stokesi (Sowerby, 1818), A. margaritatus de Montfort, 1808, A. repressus Dagis, 1976, and A. orientalis new species, have been found in the Kuruma Group in central Japan; A. stokesi and A. margaritatus are also from the Toyora Group in southwest Japan. On the basis of taxonomic analysis of the genus Amaltheus, we distinguish two successive ammonoid biozones in the lower part of the Teradani Formation of the Kuruma Group: the Amaltheus stokesi–Amaltheus repressus and the Amaltheus margaritatus assemblage zones, in stratigraphic ascending order. This study also establishes the presence of the Amaltheus stokesi Assemblage Zone in the Higashinagano Formation of the Toyora Group. The stokesi–repressus and the stokesi assemblage zones correspond biostratigraphically to the Amaltheus stokesi Standard Subzone of the margaritatus Zone. The margaritatus Assemblage Zone is correlated with the Amaltheus subnodosus and Amaltheus gibbosus standard subzones. The Japanese early–middle late Pliensbachian ammonoid faunas are composed almost entirely of pan-Boreal and Arctic species of the genus Amaltheus. This faunal composition has an affinity with that of the Northeast Russian region, and thus suggests a strong paleobiogeographic relationship between East Asian and Northeast Russian faunas throughout this time interval.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/5F08121F-1DAF-4B24-BCBE-B08F7101CF29

The Early Ordovician (late Tremadocian; Stairsian) trilobite Gonioteloides Kobayashi has long been known from a small number of pygidia assigned to a single formally named species, and its affinities have not been assessed. Silicified material from western Utah and southeastern Idaho includes six distinct species assigned to the genus, one of which is the type species. Two others (G. moffitti and G. pankowskii) are new and formally named. An additional three species that are clearly new but known from sparse material are described in open nomenclature. Gonioteloides has a stratigraphic distribution through five consecutive trilobite zones in the mid-Stairsian Stage (upper Tremadocian). Although exoskeletal morphology of three species is almost completely known, the phylogenetic affinity of the taxon remains difficult to determine. It is tentatively assigned to Dimeropygidae Hupé.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/23257d6c-262b-4ef5-ae4e-cc431777e67e

Ichthyerpeton bradleyae (Huxley in Wright and Huxley, 1866) is one of the seven tetrapods originally described by Huxley from the Jarrow Assemblage (Pennsylvanian, Langsettian Regional Substage equated with the Bashkirian International Stage) in south-eastern Ireland. The holotype, one of only two specimens considered to represent the taxon, consists of the postcranial skeleton, which has been highly compressed and has undergone extensive replacement of bone by carbonaceous material. The holotype is studied using microcomputed tomography, which reveals that the vertebral column has at least 25 diplospondylous vertebrae with cylindrical centra. Neural arches and a haemal arch are described for the first time. Neural arches in the caudal region are paired and neural spines only contact one another dorsally. The hemal arch is fused and wraps around the ventral margin of the centrum. A stout femur and tibia are described. The morphology of the femur is unique for early tetrapods, with fibular and tibial condyles of similar length and lacking an adductor crest. The morphology of the femur, and its length relative to the tibia, suggests that the holotype of I. bradleyae preserves an immature individual. The tibia is a flat bone characteristic of stem tetrapods. Phalanges from the right and left pes are present. Because the phalanges are disarticulated, a phalangeal count cannot be determined. Despite the new anatomical information, the systematic position of I. bradleyae is still difficult to establish; however, it does not belong within the colosteids, temnospondyls, or embolomeres, to which it has previously been assigned.

Metoposaurids are a widespread and ubiquitous constituent of Late Triassic non-marine paleoenvironments. In North America, this group is practically the only large-bodied temnospondyl clade, and is particularly well documented from the American southwest and south-central regions (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas). However, metoposaurids are poorly documented from eastern North America, with fragmentary, doubtfully diagnostic historical material such as “Dictyocephalus elegans” Leidy, 1856 and “Eupelor durus” Cope, 1866. The Zions View (early Norian?) locality in Pennsylvania preserves more-complete material, which previous workers noted as belonging to “Buettneria perfecta” Case, 1922 (=Anaschisma browni Branson, 1905). However, the material has never been described in a fashion that characterizes the anatomy or that justifies the taxonomic assignment, yet it would represent the most complete material in eastern North America and a substantial expansion of this taxon's geographic range. Here we redescribe the Zions View metoposaurid material in detail, differentiating it from Calamops paludosus Sinclair, 1917, the only other Late Triassic temnospondyl from the eastern seaboard, and demonstrating confident affinities with A. browni. Our study is the first to properly justify the taxonomic referral, underscoring the broader importance of proper documentation of voucher specimens, especially for potential geographic outliers. Anaschisma browni is thus the most widely dispersed metoposaurid. Its easternmost documentation underscores the importance of the undersampled and understudied metoposaurid record on the eastern seaboard for understanding the development of a metoposaurid zone of exclusivity in North America and demonstrates the need for further exploration to refine conceptualizations of Late Triassic tetrapod evolution.

The new fossil micromammal assemblage of Çapak represents a mixture of both Anatolian and European faunal elements. The locality is very important for understanding faunal evolution in the less well-known time interval at the end of the early Miocene of western Anatolia. In Çapak, nine species of rodents and one species of ochotonid were encountered: the hamsters Democricetodon gracilis, Megacricetodon primitivus, Eumyarion aff. E. montanus, Cricetodon cf. C. aliveriensis, Cricetodon sp., and Karydomys cf. K. strati, the mole-rat Debruijnia sp., the squirrel Aliveria luteyni, the dormouse Myomimus tanjuae n. sp., and the pika Albertona balkanica. The assemblage is referable to Anatolian local zone E or MN unit 4. The relative abundance of the various genera is markedly different from that of the older early Miocene assemblages, suggesting that the environment in Anatolia became drier and had a more open landscape.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/75f3276c-dcd8-4090-b2f6-d8fc8d3c3f7c

The Cincinnatian (Katian) of the Cincinnati Tri-State area is widely regarded as one of the most fossiliferous sections known (Meyer and Davis, 2009). Echinoderms from these strata include well-described asteroids, crinoids, cyclocystoids, edrioasteroids, glyptocystoids, mitrates, and ophiuroids. John Pope discovered a partially articulated echinoderm in float from the Fairview Formation that does not correspond to any known Cincinnatian echinoderm. Although mentioned in Ubaghs (1966, as a presumable personal communication from Pope, 1960), Haude and Langenstrassen (1976), Reich (2001), and Reich and Haude (2004), this specimen at the Cincinnati Museum Center (CMCPIP 51316) has neither been described nor illustrated; yet, these authors attributed it to Volchovia Hecker, 1938 in the Class Ophiocistioidea. Questions swirl around this fossil: what is its complete morphology; does it belong to Volchovia; whether or not it can be assigned to Volchovia, is it an ophiocistioid? The first step to understand this enigmatic echinoderm is to illustrate and describe the specimen, which is the objective of this note.