A latest Changhsingian (latest Permian) foraminiferal fauna composed of 19 species (belonging to 10 genera) was recovered from the Daxiakou section in Xingshan County, Hubei Province, South China. Compared to contemporaneous faunas in South China, the Daxiakou fauna displays unique features: (1) nodosariids are the dominant forms in abundance and diversity; and (2) the most abundant forms have elongate and flattened tests, and include Geinitzina, Howchinella, and Ichthyolaria. The predominance of flattened elongate tests and their smaller size suggest that these foraminifers possibly lived in an oxygen-depleted, deep-water environment. Seven new species, Nodosaria quinquecostata n. sp., Howchinella inflata n. sp., H. hubeiensis n. sp., H. complanata n. sp., H. xiangxiensis n. sp., Ichthyolaria celsa n. sp., and Pseudotristix elongata n. sp. are described.

In a large collection of Wenlockian gastropods from north Siberia, a single small specimen shows the operculum in situ just within the aperture. In other morphologic features, particularly the presence of numerous spiral lirae on the shell, this species is similar to Silurian gastropods traditionally assigned to Oriostoma. Preservation of the operculum is far from perfect, but almost certainly it has paucispiral growth, rather than concentric or multispiral construction. This new species (Australonema varvarae n. sp.) is assigned to Australonema, previously known only from the Lower Devonian of Australia, primarily because of the form of the operculum. The material was obtained from just below a biostromal unit in a bed interpreted as an interreef lagoon in an area of locally relatively quiet water.

Endophyllum is described for the first time from North America. The occurrence of a single, large colony in Middle Devonian strata in New York is both biogeographically and environmentally anomalous: it belongs to an Old World Realm genus but was found in the Eastern Americas Realm, and it occurred in a gray, ambocoeliid-bearing mudstone, a facies in which morphologically complex corals are otherwise unknown. Available evidence suggests that the coral lived not far from where it was found, possibly on a hardground or bank a few km north of the outcrop. Endophyllum ciurcai new species is described.

A new isocrinine species, Nielsenicrinus japonicus, is described from the Maastrichtian of western Kyushu, Japan. This is the first confirmed occurrence of this genus outside Europe. Three isocrinine genera, Nielsenicrinus, Cainocrinus, and Teliocrinus, have a common arrangement of ligamentary articulations in the primibrachials and secundibrachials. These taxa possibly constitute a single lineage since the Early Cretaceous through the Recent, and they were known only from Eurasia, or from Indian Ocean (Teliocrinus).

Heavily tuberculated glyptosaur osteoderms were collected in an active limestone quarry in northern Berkeley County, South Carolina. The osteoderms are part of a highly diverse late Paleocene vertebrate assemblage that consists of marine, terrestrial, fluvial, and/or brackish water taxa, including chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fish, turtles (chelonioid, trionychid, pelomedusid, emydid), crocodilians, palaeopheid snakes, and a mammal. Calcareous nannofossils indicate that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated within subzone NP9a of the Thanetian Stage (late Paleocene, upper part of Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age [NALMA]) and is therefore temporally equivalent to the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation. The composition of the paleofauna indicates that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated in a marginal marine setting that was influenced by fluvial processes (estuarine or deltaic).

The discovery of South Carolina osteoderms is significant because they expand the late Paleocene geographic range of glyptosaurines eastward from the US midcontinent to the Atlantic Coastal Plain and provide one of the few North American records of these lizards inhabiting coastal habitats. This discovery also brings to light a possibility that post-Paleocene expansion of this group into Europe occurred via northeastward migration along the Atlantic coast of North America.

The Lochkovian (Lower Devonian) conodont biostratigraphy in China is poorly known, and conodont-based subdivision schemes for the Lochkovian in peri-Gondwana (the Spanish Central Pyrenees, the Prague Synform, Sardinia, and the Carnic Alps) have not been tested in China. Therefore, we studied conodonts from the lower part (Bed 9 to Bed 13) of the Shanjiang Formation at the Alengchu section of Lijiang, western Yunnan to test the application of established subdivision schemes. The conodont fauna is assignable to 12 taxa belonging to eight genera (Ancyrodelloides, Flajsella, Lanea, Wurmiella, Zieglerodina, Caudicriodus, Pelekysgnathus, and Pseudooneotodus), and enables recognition of two chronostratigraphical intervals from the lower part of the Shanjiang Formation. The interval ranging from the uppermost part of Bed 9 to the upper part of Bed 10 belongs to the lower Lochkovian; whereas an interval covering the uppermost part of Bed 11 to the upper part of Bed 13 is correlated with the upper half of the middle Lochkovian. The Silurian-Devonian boundary is probably located within Bed 9, in the basal part of the Shanjiang Formation. However, the scarcity of specimens precludes definitive identification of bases of the lower, middle, and upper Lochkovian as well as other conodont zones recognized in peri-Gondwana.

Diverse silicified trilobite faunas from the lower Wenlock to lower Ludlow of the Cape Phillips Formation, central Canadian Arctic, have been the subject of works by Perry and Chatterton (1977), Chatterton and Perry (1979), Adrain (1994), and Adrain and Edgecombe (1995, and in press). The present work describes a very minor component of these faunas, the family Phacopidae, which is nevertheless of considerable biogeographic interest.

Two brachiopod species of two of the earliest rhynchonelliformean families are described from one of the first studied Ordovician fossiliferous localities of northwestern Argentina. One is a new species of the family Euorthisinidae (Orthida, Plectorthoidea), Notorthisina musculosa Villas and Herrera. It displays peculiar features not observed in the family before, as well as a combination of internal and external features previously considered diagnostic of different genera, leading to emendment of the familial and generic diagnoses. Its dorsal muscle field, best impressed in large specimens, resembles that of Kvania Havlíček (Nanorthidae) in having four scars arranged radially. This feature reinforces the phylogenetic proximity of Kvania to the euorthisinids. The second studied species, Nanorthis bifurcata Harrington, has not been revised since its superficial description in 1937–1938, its type having been lost. Its description herein, based on a new collection from its type locality, allows a better knowledge of the group and helps clarify its supra-familial assignment.

A thin limestone tongue in the upper part of the Murdock Mountain Formation of northeastern Nevada contains abundant bryozoans of earliest Wordian age. This bryozoan fauna is close to the Kungurian-Kazanian boundary in Russia. These bryozoans are younger than those found in the Kaibab Formation of southern Nevada and slightly older than those in the Gerster Limestone of northern Nevada. This limestone tongue, herein referred to as the Stenodiscus beds, lies below the Thamnosia beds described by Wardlaw in the Murdock Mountain section of the Leach Mountains. This bryozoan-rich limestone tongue serves as a marker unit for mapping the Murdock Formation in the Leach Mountains.

Nine new species of bryozoans occur in the Stenodiscus beds of the Murdock Mountain Formation: Hinganella felderi, Neoeridotrypella schilti, Stenopora parvaexozona, Stenodiscus murdockensis, Dyscritella acanthostylia, Pseudobatostomella irregularis, Streblotrypa (Streblotrypa) elongata, Morozoviella praecurriensis, and Thamniscus erraticus, Hinganella felderi, Neoeridotrypella schilti, Dyscritella acanthostylia, and Streblotrypa (Streblotrypa) elongata are very similar to species described from Russia.

Isolated teeth from the Middle Permian (early Guadalupian) Kaibab Formation of Arizona are described as a new species of the xenacanth shark genus Bransonella. Bransonella tribula n. sp. is a small tooth in which the intermediate cusp is 65% of the length of the principal cusps and the cristae on the labial face extend down over the base, covering it, and bifurcating to form distinctive double crested ridges. Fin spines from the same localities in the Kaibab Formation show the characteristic xenacanth feature of a double row of large thorn-like denticles along the posterior margin. Bransonella tribula n. sp. is the only xenacanth shark known from the Kaibab Formation at present, however, due to the lack of articulated material the fin spines are attributed to ?Bransonella tribula n. sp. The ecomorphology of Bransonella suggests a primitive, small, gracile, marine xenacanth that fed near the sea floor like the modern catsharks (Scyliorhinidae).

Protorthacean brachiopods from the Middle Cambrian of the Moroccan Atlas regions are described in terms of morphology and systematic affinities. The superfamily Protorthacea is revised to include both Protorthidae and Bohemiellidae. Newly introduced is the protorthid genus Saesorthis, the morphologic characteristics as well as the significance of which are discussed in detail together with their bearing on early phylogeny of the Orthacea. A reinvestigation of Brahimorthis antiqua led to the recognition of additional morphologic peculiarities and enhances understanding of its stratigraphic occurrence. Additional descriptions and discussions deal with informally described protorthid and bohemiellid species. Bohemiella and Jamesella are reported from Africa for the first time.

Groomodiscus rossi n. gen. and sp., a bellerophontacean from the Ordovician of Nevada that uncoiled at maturity, is described and placed in the Gastropoda. The deep notch or sinus of the shell is interpreted to have functioned the same as a deep slit, and the new genus is placed within the tropidodiscinids. Uncoiling and thickening of the shell in the mature stage of growth is probably an indication of a fundamental change of life style to a sedentary mode. Fragmentary specimens of the final, uncoiled portion of the whorl resemble the apertural portion of hyoliths. From a functional viewpoint, compressed planispiral shells are concluded more likely to be gastropods than monoplacophorans.

Fossil catostomids were very rare prior to the Eocene. After the Eocene, they suddenly decreased in diversity in Asia while becoming common fishes in the North American fauna. Knowledge of the taxonomy, diversity, and distribution of Eocene catostomids is critical to understanding the evolution of this fish group. We herein describe a new catostomid species of the genus †Amyzon Cope, 1872 from the Eocene Kishenehn Formation in Montana, USA. The new species, †Amyzon kishenehnicum, differs from known species of †Amyzon in having hypurals 2 and 3 consistently fused to the compound centrum proximally, and differs from other Eocene catostomids in that the pelvic bone is intermediately forked. All our phylogenetic analyses suggest that the new species is the sister group of †A. aggregatum Wilson, 1977 and that †Amyzon is the most basal clade of the Catostomidae. We reassessed the osteological characters of the North American species of †Amyzon from a large number of well-preserved specimens of the new species, as well as †A. gosiutense Grande et al., 1982 and †A. aggregatum. Osteological characters newly discovered indicate that †A. gosiutense is not a junior synonym of †A. aggregatum, but should be retained as a distinct species.

Embedded thalli of Permian Ivanovia tebagaensis, a calcified, cyathiform, codiacean, Chlorophyta, were X-rayed with a medical CT (computed tomography) scanner. The two-dimensional digital X-ray image files were copied to floppy disks and transferred to an IBM-compatible personal computer. The images were cropped, and built into a data volume with a commercial three-dimensional software program. The data were color edited so that only the algae were visible. The data volume was then systematically manipulated to visualize some hitherto unknown details of the structure of the utricles, and of a vegetative propagule, a developing bud.

Sawfishes of the family Pristidae comprise a group of rays having dorsoventrally flattened, sharklike bodies and elongated rostra bearing a row of teeth on each side. Some species may attain total body lengths (TL) of 7 m or more (Compagno and Last, 1999). Unlike the similarly-shaped sawsharks of the family Pristiophoridae, the number of rostral teeth and their proportions are established in utero and maintained into adulthood (Slaughter and Springer, 1968; Miller, 1974), and if a tooth is lost the alveolus remains empty. In addition, the gills are located on the underside of the body and there are no rostral barbels (Tricas et al., 1997; Compagno and Last, 1999). Recent Pristidae consists of five to seven species (depending on synonymy) within two genera, Pristis (Linck, 1790) and Anoxypristis (White and Moy-Thomas, 1941).

Species-level diversity and evolution of Palaeosinopa from the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin is reassessed based on substantial new material from the Bighorn, Powder River, and Wind River basins. We recognize three species of Palaeosinopa in the Willwood Formation of the Bighorn Basin: P. lutreola, P. incerta, and P. veterrima. The late Wasatchian species P. didelphoides is not present in the Bighorn Basin. The Willwood species can be differentiated based only on size. P. veterrima is the most common and wide-ranging species and is the most variable in size and morphology: the stratigraphically lowest individuals are smaller, with narrower, more crestiform lower molars; whereas the highest are larger, with wider, more bunodont teeth. Although it could be argued that these represent distinct species, we demonstrate that this morphological evolution occurred as the gradual and mosaic accumulation of features, suggesting in situ anagenetic evolution. The two smaller species are present only low in the section (biochrons Wa0–Wa4) and show no discernable evolution in size or morphology. A new skeleton of Palaeosinopa veterrima from the Willwood Formation is described, and other new postcrania are reported. The skeleton is the oldest associated skeleton of Palaeosinopa known, yet it is remarkably similar to those of younger, more derived pantolestids, the primary disparities being minor differences in proportions of the innominate, femur, and tibia, and co-ossification of the distal tibia and fibula. Either P. incerta or P. lutreola was likely the ancestral population that gave rise to the other Wasatchian Palaeosinopa. Alternatively, P. veterrima may have migrated into the Bighorn Basin from the Powder River Basin.

The sponge Neoguadalupia oregonensis new species is described from the Upper Triassic Martin Bridge Formation in the southern Wallowa Mountains, Oregon. It is the first authenticated Triassic occurrence of the genus Neoguadalupia, previously known from the Permian of South China and suspected to occur in Upper Triassic of Nevada. This discovery provides evidence at the generic level of survival of a Lazarus taxon in an island-arc terrane of western North America.

The brachiopods collected from the Kuanyinchiao Beds (Hirnantian, uppermost Ordovician) in Meitan and Zunyi counties, northern Guizhou, include 13 species and one undetermined taxon, dominated by Hirnantia sagittifera (M'Coy, 1851) (which accounts for over one-third of the specimens), together with common Eostropheodonta hirnantensis (M'Coy, 1851). They are assigned to the Hirnantia–Eostropheodonta Community, which probably inhabited a shallow-water, nearshore Benthic Assemblage (BA) 2 to upper BA 3 environment. Population analysis shows that the community was well adapted to this environment after the first phase of the end-Ordovician mass extinction. Representative specimens of all the species are illustrated, and a new species, Minutomena missa, is described herein. The variation in Hirnantia sagittifera was noted in many of previous studies but was not statistically evidenced. Here we have measured representative specimens of that famous species from the major paleoplates and terranes in the world, along with other species assigned to the genus from South China. Having used principal component analysis (PCA), significant variations in the species are documented statistically and revised, and three nominal species, one subspecies, and two morphotypes are now reassigned to Hirnantia sagittifera sensu stricto.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/references/3f83fb1e-a6dd-4585-9f9f-9586dad28244

An ammonite fauna from the southern coastal volcanic region of the Chinese Jurassic contains representatives of the genera Sulciferites, Coroniceras, Arnioceras, Asteroceras, Eparietites, and Juraphyllites. The ammonite-bearing strata of the Jinji Formation were deposited during the Sinemurian (Bucklandi to Obtusum zones), whereas the lower member has yielded marine Hettangian bivalves. The Jinji Formation is underlain by terrestrial Triassic rocks of the Xiaoping Formation and overlain by terrestrial Middle Jurassic rocks of the Baizushan Group.

Correlative Early Jurassic rocks are shown to occur across eastern Guangdong Province, and probably as far north as southern Hunan Province. Although this marine phase of deposition may correspond broadly to a eustatic sea level rise, the exact role of local tectonic events has still to be assessed.