The important mid-Telychian biozonal index species Monoclimacis griestoniensis (Nicol, 1850) is redescribed and distinguished from two new species: Monoclimacis directa (formerly the ‘Monograptus cf. griestoniensis’ of Elles and Wood, 1911), and Monoclimacis woodae. Stratigraphically, directa appears a little before griestoniensis, whilst woodae is from the late griestoniensis to early crenulata Biozone.

A rich echinoid fauna within the middle Miocene carbonate sedimentary succession cropping out along the coast between Santa Caterina di Pittinuri and S'Archittu (central-western Sardinia) allows the comparison of faunal gradients and preservation potentials from both hard and soft substrata. Three echinoid assemblages are recognized. Faunal composition, as well as taphonomic and sedimentological features and functional morphological interpretation of the echinoid test indicate an outer sublittoral setting. Assemblage 1 represents a highly structured environment within the photic zone, with mobile substrata occupied by infaunal irregular echinoids, mainly spatangoids, and localized hard substrata, provided by rhodolith beds, with epibenthic regular echinoids represented by the co-occurrence of the diadematid Diadema Gray, 1825 and the toxopneustids Tripneustes L. Agassiz, 1841 and Schizechinus Pomel, 1869. Assemblage 2 shows a higher diversity of irregular echinoids, dominated by the clypeasteroids Echinocyamus van Phelsum, 1774 and Clypeaster Lamarck, 1801 and different spatangoids, with the minute trigonocidarid Genocidaris A. Agassiz, 1869 among regular echinoids. This assemblage points to a soft-bottom environment with moderate water-energy conditions, periodically affected by storms. A low-diversity echinoid fauna in Assemblage 3, dominated by the spatangoids Brissopsis L. Agassiz, 1840 and Ova Gray, 1825, documents a deeper, soft-bottom environment, possibly below storm-wave base. These results indicate that the diversity of echinoid faunas originating in sublittoral environments is related to: (1) the presence of both soft and hard substrata, (2) differential preservation potentials of the various echinoid taxa, (3) intense bioturbation, and (4) sediment deposition by sporadic storm events.

Kinosternon Spix, 1824, was widespread in xeric to savanna associated paleowetlands across North America during the middle–late Miocene and steadily diversified following its first occurrences in the Hemingfordian. In the middle Miocene, Kinosternon rincon n. sp. occurred in the late Barstovian Cerro Conejo Formation of north central New Mexico, perhaps concurrently with Kinosternon pojoaque Bourque 2012a from the Tesuque Formation. Subsequent late Miocene kinosternine fossils indicate that at least three potentially contemporaneous species existed throughout the Clarendonian. These are Kinosternon pannekollops n. sp., from the Ogallala Formation of northern Texas; Kinosternon wakeeniense, n. sp., from the Ogallala Formation of northwestern Kansas and Ash Hollow Formation of south-central Nebraska; and Kinosternon notolophus n. sp., from the Alachua and Statenville formations of northern Florida. Kinosternon rincon is phylogenetically nested between the Kinosternon flavescens (Agassiz, 1857) group (=Platythyra Agassiz, 1857) and more derived Kinosternon including the Kinosternon subrubrum (Lacépède, 1788) group (=Thyrosternum Agassiz, 1857). Kinosternon pannekollops is recovered on the stem of the K. subrubrum group and is the oldest and largest member of that lineage. Kinosternon notolophus is readily differentiated from other Miocene Kinosternon in possessing a distinct dorsomedial keel on the nuchal and faint dorsolateral costal carination. The K. subrubrum group probably originated in the late Miocene savannas of the Great Plains and dispersed eastward via the Gulf Coastal Plain. An unnamed kinosternine taxon existed in the coastal plains of the eastern and southeastern United States during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (with fossils from ~18 to 15 Ma), and disappeared from the region coincident with the end of that megathermal event.

Basal strata of the Tucumcari Formation south of San Jon, New Mexico, contain a bivalve assemblage different from that of the remainder of the formation. Ceratostreon texanum and two new species herein described (Gyrostrea hinchada, Plicatula quayensis) are the dominant faunal elements of these basal strata. A fourth bivalve, long known as Lopha quadriplicata, ranges downward approximately to the upper limit of C. texanum. However, reevaluation of the taxonomy of this and related species indicates that 1) they have little in common with typical representatives of Lopha and are grouped in a new genus, Peilinia, and 2) specimens from the Tucumcari and related formations formerly assigned to L. quadriplicata are a separate new species, P. levicostata, which appeared in the southern Western Interior before P. quadriplicata appeared in eastern Texas and Oklahoma. The biostratigraphic ranges of several widely distributed bivalves are utilized with ammonite range zones to refine the correlation of several southern Western Interior sequences with the classic lower Washita sequence of Texas and Oklahoma. Because ammonites are rare in the western area, bivalves are locally more important in establishing the age of some exposures. For example, the boundary between or slight overlap of the successive zones of C. texanum and P. levicostata in eastern New Mexico and west-central Texas marks the position of the Craginites serratescens ammonite zone to the east. Strata previously called Kiamichi and Duck Creek in west-central Texas are best considered part of the Tucumcari Formation, representing deposition that occurred mainly earlier than the main Tucumcari sequence in New Mexico.

“Complete” crinoids are rare fossils in the lower Paleozoic of Ireland. Cryptanisocrinus kilbridensis n. gen. and sp., from the Upper Llandovery (Telychian) Finny School Beds of the upper Kilbride Formation, County Mayo, is an anisocrinine homalocrinid and the first Irish lower Paleozoic flexible crinoid. The unique holotype is an external mold without counterpart that does not retain the anal series. Cryptanisocrinus kilbridensis has a kylixiform dorsal cup, a low but prominent, infrabasal circlet, low, triangular basals, arms that branch isotomously at least three times, and two interprimibrachial plates in each interray, the lower of which is the larger.

Detached rostral teeth of fossil sawfishes of the family Sclerorhynchidae Cappetta (1974) are relatively common in Late Cretaceous marine strata of Texas. Most such teeth are referable to various species of Ischyrhiza and Onchopristis (Slaughter and Steiner, 1968). The extraordinarily large rostral teeth described herein are not referable to any sawfish presently known from North America. They belong to Onchosaurus pharao (Dames, 1887), which is known elsewhere from Egypt, Nigeria, Zaire, Angola, and Brazil (Arambourg, 1940; Tabaste, 1963; Cappetta, 1987). The specimens are the largest reported for any sawfish.

Siliceous sterraster microscleres of the choristid demosponge, Geodia Lamarck, 1815, occur in outcrops of the lower Porters Creek Formation (Paleocene) near Moscow Landing on the Tombigbee River in southeastern Sumter County, Alabama. This is the first report of that sponge from the Cretaceous–Tertiary of the Gulf Coastal Plain. The initially opaline spicules have been converted to clinoptilolite, a Na-K-Ca zeolite.

Seven species belonging to the gastropod family Volutidae are reported for the first time from Kutch, Gujarat, India. They are Prestrombus aff. Prestrombus rockei Cox, 1931, Indovoluta humberti (d'Archiac and Haime, 1854), Indovoluta multidentata (d'Archiac and Haime, 1854), Involuta daviesi Cox, 1931, Involuta coxi new species, Athleta (Volutocorbis) harnaiensis Cox, 1931, and Lyria cf. Lyria punjabensis Eames, 1952. Indovolutinae new subfamily, constituted of the Paleogene genera Prestrombus Douvillé, 1929, Indovoluta Eames, 1956, Involuta Cox, 1931, and Lyrischapa Aldrich, 1911, and the Cretaceous genus Gosavia Stoliczka, 1865, is proposed. These forms have elaborate development of columellar plaits. All of these genera evolved in the western part of the Indian subcontinent. They, except Lyrischapa, also largely remained restricted to this area. Lyrischapa flourished in the Americas after possibly migrating through the southern margin of the relict Tethys Ocean and crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It is argued that the geographic and temporal restriction of this new subfamily was due to lecithotrophic larval development.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/14bc056f-1d2e-4674-b624-9eb8e856a1f0

Two new specimens of Hyaenodon venturae from the early Chadronian (latest Eocene) of Wyoming provide new information about this rare, miniature hyaenodont, and extend the upper end of the temporal range of the species. The significant difference between H. venturae and H. microdon, the two smallest North American species of Hyaenodon, is the absence of synostosis of the mandibular symphysis in adult H. venturae. In Hyaenodon microdon, from the middle Chadronian, on the contrary, fusion of the symphysis is complete while the individual is still in the juvenile stage of ontogenesis, before the eruption of m3. Within the genus Hyaenodon the ml becomes relatively smaller as the length of the tooth row (pl-m3) increases; this relationship can be demonstrated in the series of species from the miniature H. venturae to the giant H. megaloides.

Neotryplasma floweri n. sp. is an epizoic solitary rugose coral characterized by two orders of perforate, monacanthine, carinate septa, a complex axial structure of septal lobes and lamellae, and a well developed broad dissepimentarium. It occurs in the Late Ordovician (late Edenian to earliest Maysvillian; late Caradoc) Upham Dolomite Member of the Second Value Dolomite, Montoya Group, at El Paso, Texas, U.S.A. Neotryplasma Kaljo, 1957, also includes two Late Ordovician species from the Estonian S.S.R. and one from the late Middle and Late Ordovician of the northern and middle Ural region, U.S.S.R. This genus is assigned to the Neotryplasmatidae n. fam., which is placed in the Suborder Monacanthina Neuman, 1984.

Neotryplasma appears to be closest to Sumsarophyllum Lavrusevich, 1971a, from the Late Ordovician of the Zeravshan-Gissar region, U.S.S.R. This is noteworthy because Erina (1978) and Erina and Kim (1980) suggested that the latter may be a scleractinian coral of the Order Fungiida Verrill, 1865. The rugosan mode of septal insertion has been confirmed in Neotryplasma. N. floweri seems to bear close resemblance to a poorly known Ordovician coral, Cyathophyllum (?) kjerulfi Kiaer, 1932, from Caradoc–Ashgill strata in the Trondheim region of Norway.

The acastomorph calmoniid trilobite Andinacaste Eldredge and Braniša, 1980, has been known from the basal Devonian (Lower Lochkovian) of Bolivia. Andinacaste espejensis n. sp., described from probable Lower Lochkovian strata of the Los Espejos Formation in the Precordillera of San Juan Province, is the first Argentine record of this genus. Accordingly, Andinacaste is identified as a typical component of basal Devonian trilobite assemblages over a broad geographic range in Andean South America.

This paper documents 22 species of lower Carboniferous bivalves (Visean) from the Ceshui Formation (Datang Stage) of Guangdong Province, South China. Among these, the genus Glyptoconcha and the species Glyptoconcha elegans, Palaeoneilo guangdongensis, and Neocypricardinia simplex are new. This study enriches the early Carboniferous bivalve record and provides information for biostratigraphic subdivision of the lower Carboniferous of South China.

Among weevils of the subfamily Baridinae (548 extant genera and ca. 9,000 species), unique prosternal horns and associated sheaths have evolved independently multiple times. These structures are utilized in a unique form of male-male aggression in which males push, rather than overturn as in most other horned beetles, their competitor. Herein we report the first fossils of male Baridinae exhibiting such prosternal horns. Two males recovered from the middle Eocene Green River Formation in northwestern Colorado serve to provide a minimum age (at ca. 47 million years old) for both the origin of horns and its associated form of male-male combat in Baridinae.

A newly discovered ammonoid, Mimagoniatites nearcticus n. sp., is described from upper Zlichovian–lower Dalejan (Lower Devonian) strata in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. This species is distinguished primarily by its extremely narrow profile and high degree of whorl involution. It is the most gracile species so far known in the genus, and displays possible kinship to Parentites praecursor Bogoslovsky. This record constitutes the first definite occurrence of a Lower Devonian ammonoid from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

The extreme rareness of Sardinian fossil sites older than Middle and Late Pleistocene makes the Monte Tuttavista karst complex (E Sardinia, Italy) very important. Remarkable lagomorph material, recovered from several fissure infillings of Monte Tuttavista referable to the Capo Figari/Orosei 1 and Orosei 2 faunal sub-complexes (early Pleistocene, ~2.1/1.9–1.1 Ma), allowed us to describe a new endemic insular leporid, Sardolagus obscurus n. gen. n. sp. The new taxon is characterized by a peculiar combination of an advanced p3 (Lepus-type) and a primitive P2 lacking deep flexa. The origin of such discrepancy, unprecedented among continental and insular endemic European leporids, is unclear. It could be the result of: (1) an independent evolution of p3 from an ancestor bearing the primitive P2/p3 (e.g., Alilepus, Hypolagus), or (2) a selective reversal morphocline from an Oryctolagus/Lepus-like leporine. The lack of data about the phylogenetic origin of the new taxon makes any inference about its possible arrival to Sardinia problematic. Crossing the European leporid records and evidence of migrations to Sardinia, we hypothesize three possible ages in which the ancestor of Sardolagus obscurus could have arrived in Sardinia, restricted to the late Miocene–early/late Pliocene (~8–3.6 Ma). The phylogenetic relationship between Sardolagus obscurus n. gen. n. sp. and the oldest Sardinian leporid, recorded from Capo Mannu D1 and dated at the early/late Pliocene boundary (~3.6 Ma), is unclear at present, however it is quite likely that they pertain to the same lineage.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/ca8e0023-7c9d-4b00-a294-d166c37c5c71

An assemblage of 343 species of cryptic, shelled molluscs was identified in three large samples from shallow subtidal and intertidal shelter habitats under rubble and corals at Malololailai Fiji in 1983, 1984, and 1985. One species was a polyplacophoran, 273 were gastropods (38 families), and 69 were bivalves (21 families). Cryptic gastropods were more abundant than bivalves, but showed a reduction in abundance relative to bivalves from 1983 to 1985. The abundances of many cryptic molluscs show dramatic adjustments from 1983 to 1985, chiefly due to hurricanes in 1983 and 1985, showing a decrease in equitability with increased physical disturbance. The abundance and diversity of molluscan predators in the crypts means that predation in these habitats may be substantial.

The gastropod sample diversity showed the greatest change during the 1984 post-hurricane recovery period. The 1985 hurricanes affected the sample diversity by shifting the gastropod diversity closer to what it was after the 1983 hurricane. The bivalves underwent a similar shift in sample diversity, although larger numbers of individuals in proportionately more species survived the hurricanes.

The cryptic bivalves exploited space in new crypts, while maintaining their rate of increase in abundance in the recovery period after the 1983 hurricane and through the two hurricanes in 1985. The gastropods declined in abundance after the 1983 hurricane. They recovered after the 1985 hurricanes by doubling their abundance, showing that they could exploit new resources in crypts. This increase in the gastropod population was not proportional to the increase in available cryptic space. This may mean they were still recovering in August 1985, or they may have been unable to capture their portion of cryptic space in competition with other organisms during recovery.

The 1985 hurricanes did not have much effect on the overall molluscan diversity, a possible result of pruning by the 1983 hurricane of molluscs unable to survive storms. Because there was only a short interval between the hurricanes, many molluscs that survived the 1983 event were still in the population, so that the cryptic molluscs probably were better able to deal with the effects of the 1985 hurricanes than they would have been before the 1983 hurricane. The result was that the sample diversity after the 1983 hurricane increased during the recovery period but did not decline later even though the population was devastated by hurricanes in 1985. This lends support to intermediate disturbance models linking increasing or stable diversity with disturbances spaced at intervals allowing recovery.

George frederic matthew studied the geology of eastern Canada during the late 1800's to early 1900's and became an authority on Cambrian paleontology. Matthew advised the Geological Survey of Canada as its Cambrian expert and published over 200 papers spanning topics from Precambrian stromatolites to Pennsylvanian arthropods to archaeology (Miller, 1988a; Landing and Miller, 1988). He described a number of trace fossils and problematica cited in Hantzschel (1975), but the location of some specimens and their status has been uncertain, sometimes considered missing. Most of the specimens have now been located and this paper summarizes their current location.

Kheraiceras Spath, 1924, is known mainly from macroconchs. Matching of dimorphic pairs at species level is difficult due to the rarity of microconchs and consequent difficulty in establishing contemporaneity. The present study reveals dimorphism within Kheraiceras cosmopolitum (Parona and Bonarelli, 1895) from the lower part of the Callovian Chari Formation, Kutch, India, where microconch closely resembles macroconch except for the size, being about three times smaller and having an aperture characterized by terminal construction. The evolution of Kheralceras from Bullatimorphites Buckman is based on macroconchs only. The discovery of coeval microconch specimens and study of known microconchs within the lineage indicate “parallel” evolution in macro- and microconchs and improves the understanding of evolutionary trends that involve complex heterochronic processes.

Four species of Emilites are now known; these are E. incertus (Böse), E. plummeri Ruzhencev, E. brownwoodi n. sp., and E. bennisoni n. sp. Representatives of this genus may occur as early as Middle Pennsylvanian in North America to as late as Early Permian in the Soviet Union. All described taxa are from North America except E. plummeri, which is from the Soviet Union. Because Emilites is extremely rare in upper Paleozoic ammonoid assemblages, generic and species level phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. Emilites is not considered to be a good generic-level zone indicator due to its relatively long time range and its rarity.

A new trachyleberid ostracode genus, Kaesleria, is proposed for seven species from the Upper Cretaceous of Saudi Arabia: Kaesleria bilirata (Al-Furaih, 1980), K. biventrilirata n. sp., K. convexa n. sp., K. faceta n. sp., K. falcata n. sp., K. trahea (Al-Furaih, 1980), and K. undulata (Al-Furaih, 1980). Species of this genus are short ranging, relatively abundant, and very useful stratigraphically in Saudi Arabia. Kaesleria bilirata and K. trahea are particularly good markers of the top of the Maastrichtian, because their last occurrences are at the extreme top of it.