Annectina viriosa, a new species of Ammodiscidae (Foraminiferida), is described from Recent brackish ponds on a salt flat adjacent to Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba. Colonization of the ponds was probably by avian transport. The distinct morphotype is either the result of an allopatric speciation event within the last 5,000 years or it is a previously undescribed species of shallow-water Annectina from nearby Hudson Bay. It is also possible that recovered specimens are previously unrecognized ecophenotypic variants of some known species produced by unknown hostile environmental factors within the pond ecosystem. The latter hypothesis is difficult to test without extensive biological culturing. The large number of phenotypically stable specimens living in these ponds warrants recognition of these populations as a distinct taxon.

In the past few years the Cleveland Museum of Natural History has received several inquiries as to our source of dolomite for use with S.S. White® industrial airbrasive units. We have been using inexpensive, “agricultural” dolomite with these units for several years. This source was “discovered” by testing of a wide variety of dolomite sources by Peter Kotulak, a former preparator at the Museum, under the direction of M.E.W. We are currently using OHSO® Pulverized Limestone, a kiln-dried dolomitic limestone recommended for agricultural, and lawn and garden, use. It is produced by the Ohio® Lime Co., of Woodville, Ohio. A 22.7 kg (50 pound) bag costs $2.25, and is available at building supply companies. The dolomite must be sieved and dried to prevent clogging of the unit's line and nozzle. We use a Ro-Tap® Testing Sieve Shaker to sieve the material, with #30 (595 micron), #60 (250 micron), and #100 (150 micron) U.S.A. standard testing sieves. An incandescent desk lamp can be placed over an open container of the sieved dolomite to keep it dry. Used powder may be re-sieved for reuse if desired.

Simojovelhyus pocitosense is based on a lower jaw fragment with three molars from the late Oligocene amber mine deposits near the village of Simojovel, Chiapas Province, Mexico. It is the oldest fossil mammal known from Central America. It was described by Ferrusquia-Villafranca in 2006 as a helohyid, a group of primitive artiodactyls known from the Bridgerian and Uintan (older than 49–42 Ma), yet it comes from early Arikareean deposits about 25–27 Ma, suggesting that it was a very late helohyid living more than 10 m.y. after their apparent Uintan extinction. We re-examined the specimen, and compared it to the large collection of recently described peccaries from the Chadronian (Perchoerus minor) and Orellan (Perchoerus nanus) and Bridgerian helohyids (Helohyus sp.). Once the range of variation of characters in helohyids and peccaries is accounted for, Simojovelhyus shows derived similarities to early peccaries, especially in the bunodont molars with inflated cusps and the configuration of cristids and accessory cuspulids, and none of the incipient lophodonty and primitive morphology seen in helohyids. In fact, the only real similarity other than symplesiomorphies between Simojovelhyus and helohyids is its small size, but it is close to the size range of the tiny Chadronian peccary P. minor. Thus, based on both derived tooth characters and its age, it is much more parsimonious to regard Simojovelhyus as a tiny Mexican peccary from the Arikareean, not a very late helohyid. This removes the anomalously late occurrence of helohyids from the mammalian fossil record, and forces a re-examination of our view of mammalian evolution in Central America.

The late Cambrian-Early Ordovician sequences of the Cordillera Oriental in northwestern Argentina are extensive and highly fossiliferous. The olenid trilobite Parabolinella argentinensis Kobayashi sensu Harrington and Leanza, 1957 was reported from a great number of Tremadocian localities and includes a wide range of morphologies. Based on specimens collected from the type locality (Purmamarca, Jujuy) and the quebrada Moya (Huacalera, Jujuy), as well as on material of the Harrington and Leanza collections in the University of Buenos Aires, classic morphometry and geometric morphometry methods were used to evaluate the variability in the cranidium of P. argentinensis. The results obtained from the two methodologies are similar. Both analyses allowed the review of the diagnosis of P. argentinensis, and the distinction of two new morphologies: Parabolinella clarisae n. sp. and Parabolinella pompadouris n. sp. The results show how morphogeometrics distinguishes more clearly the three morphotypes and provides graphical representations of the differences between those groups and how from the representations plus the correlation between classical variables and principal components, new diagnostic characters that distinguish the three morphospecies, can be identified.

Materials from the localities of Araia d'Alcora in the Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin (Spain, early Miocene, Biozone C, MN4) have yielded an assemblage of erinaceids and metatherians, relatively rich for an Iberian site. The most common erinaceid is the gymnure Galerix symeonidisi Doukas, 1986, present in almost all of the studied sites. Other erinaceids in the faunal list are possibly an indeterminate species of the genera Lantanotherium Filhol, 1888 and Atelerix Pomel, 1848, in what constitutes one of their oldest occurrences in Europe. Metatherians are represented by the herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium frequens erkertshofense (Koenigswald, 1970). The material described here was partially published by Furió and colleagues in 2012. We complete it with new material from the known localities and with material from new sites. We describe for the first time the lower dentition of this taxon in this basin, thus increasing knowledge of the high variability of its decidual molars. In addition, the climatic preferences of the species A. frequens (von Meyer, 1846), which was probably less strict in its humidity requirements than previously thought, are also discussed.

Presence of palynomorph assemblages that display exquisite preservation in evaporite deposits makes them invaluable as age indicators, as often no other fossils are present. However, such use of palynomorphs has been extremely limited because of complications in extraction from the surrounding rock material. Palynomorphs found in evaporites frequently cannot be removed by conventional uses of hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acids, or by modifications of these techniques (Sittler, 1955; Freudenthal, 1964; and Visscher, 1966), as neither acid is capable of removing significant quantities of sulfate minerals. Inadequate removal of these minerals prevents a good concentration of spores and pollen and hinders the preparation of useful microscope slide mounts.

Palaeacmaea typica, the type species of the genus, and P. irvingi, the only other Late Cambrian taxon considered congeneric are redescribed herein. Their morphology suggests that they are neither Monoplacophora, where they are currently assigned, nor are they Mollusca. Specimens of P. irvingi demonstrate considerable variation in shape, interpreted as distortion of a flexible integument, of essentially no thickness. A neotype is designated for P. irvingi; it is interpreted as a medusiform fossil, possibly a cnidarian. Only the holotype of P. typica is known, but it shows comparable features. The genus and the family Palaeacmaeide are placed in Phylum Incertae Sedis. Four Ordovician species previously assigned to Palaeacmaea, show none of the characteristics noted, and they are tentatively reassigned to other genera.

The genus Falsolikanella, introduced by Granier (1987), was based on the basal Cretaceous species Likanella campanensis Azéma and Jaffrezo (1972) and assigned to the tribe Diploporeae (Pia, 1920) emend. Güvenc, 1979 within the green alga order Dasycladales. Later, other species were assigned to Falsolikanella. Sections of the type specimens of Likanella campanensis are reviewed. They show that in this species, the arrangement of the laterals is not metaspondyl, but typical of the genus Actinoporella (Gümbel in Alth, 1882) emend Conrad, Praturlon, and Radoičić, 1974, with coronae arising from a single primary lateral. Therefore, the species is assigned to the genus Actinoporella within the tribe Acetabularieae Decaisne, 1842, family Polyphysaceae Kützing, 1843, and the generic attribution of other species previously assigned to Falsolikanella is discussed.

Middle and lower Ordovician gastropods have not previously been described from Alaska, and the genus Helicotoma Salter has not been reported from western and arctic North America with the exception of one locality in California (Rohr, 1980). Like many other Paleozoic gastropod genera, Helicotoma has several species assigned to it, but the species are often based on poor material and, in some cases, on a single specimen. This lack of knowledge of variation within the species as well as the detailed features of the shell make further interpretations of the gastropods difficult. The occurrence of relatively abundant, well-preserved Helicotoma specimens in Alaska is important for biogeographic and biostratigraphic studies of lower Paleozoic mollusks.

Foraminifera are important components of tropical marine benthic ecosystems and their recovery pattern from the end-Permian mass extinction can yield insights into the Mesozoic history of this group. Here we report the calcareous and agglutinated foraminifera recovered from five measured stratigraphic sections on the Great Bank of Guizhou, an uppermost Permian to Upper Triassic isolated carbonate platform in the Nanpanjiang Basin, south China. The material contains >100 Triassic species, including three that are newly described (Arenovidalina weii n. sp., Meandrospira? enosi n. sp., and Spinoendotebanella lehrmanni n. gen., n. sp.), ranging from Griesbachian (Induan) to Cordevolian (Carnian) age. The species belong to the classes Miliolata, Textulariata, Fusulinata, Nodosariata, and to an unknown class housing all aragonitic forms of the orders Involutinida and Robertinida. Based on previously established conodont zones and carbon isotope chemostratigraphy, the Griesbachian (early Induan) through Illyrian (late Anisian) interval has been subdivided into 12 foraminiferal zones and two unnamed intervals devoid of foraminifera. Following the extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary, habitable ecological niches of Griesbachian age were invaded by disaster taxa that subsequently became extinct during the Dienerian (late Induan) and left no younger descendants. The disaster taxa were replaced by Lazarus taxa with Permian origins, which were then decimated by the Smithian-Spathian (mid-Olenekian) boundary crisis. The tempo of recovery appears to have been modulated by environmental changes during the Griesbachian through Smithian that involved both climate change and expansion of anoxic ocean bottom waters. Uninterrupted and lasting recovery of benthic foraminifera did not begin until the Spathian.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/2a6e9061-b163-402a-9098-8765a80576b3

In order to clarify the pattern of diversification and processes of biological activity during the Cambrian radiation, ichnofossils were comparatively studied in the early Cambrian sections of Newfoundland, South China and western Mongolia. Special attention was paid to size distributions of the most common ichnogenus, Planolites, and the densities of all the observed ichnofossils that preserve animal activity as expressed by bedding plane bioturbation indices (BPBI).

From the Fortune Head section in Newfoundland, a clear size increase in the ichnogenus Planolites is confirmed from the Treptichnus pedum Zone to the overlying Rusophycus avalonensis Zone. The BPBI also shows much stronger biological activity in the R. avalonensis Zone than in the T. pedum Zone. In Meishucun, South China and Gobi-Altai, Mongolia, however, a variety of Planolites sizes had already appeared in the T. pedum Zone, and the BPBI's on some bedding surfaces of the T. pedum Zone are already comparable to those in the R. avalonensis Zone in Newfoundland. In the earliest Cambrian, diversification and increase in the biological activity of the benthic fauna were diachronous in the wide geographic scale, starting earlier at lower latitudes (South China and western Mongolia) than at higher latitudes (Newfoundland), reflecting differences in the onset of Cambrian benthic animal activity under different climatic conditions.

We describe a new stylonurid eurypterid from the evaporitic potassium-salt deposits of the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Soligorsk Formation in the Pripyat Trough of Belarus. All specimens are assigned to Soligorskopterus tchepeliensis new genus new species, which represents the first formally described eurypterid species from Belarus. The occurrence of well-preserved eurypterids in these unusual evaporite deposits is most likely due to transport from freshwater stream habitats into a hypersaline setting following death. Soligorskopterus tchepeliensis n. gen. n. sp. appears to be intermediate between the traditionally considered parastylonurids and stylonurids and thus extends our understanding of stylonurid evolution in the mid-Paleozoic. Soligorskopterus n. gen. extends the occurrence of Famennian eurypterids into eastern Laurussia and the Stylonuridae into the Upper Devonian, and this taxon could be part of a global eurypterid habitat shift that took place in the Late Devonian.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/466b0195-6199-495b-9270-6f032e2d7493

A fauna of disarticulated Devonian fossil fish remains includes osteolepid, palaeoniscoid, acanthodian, placoderm, and possible agnathan material. Lithologic and biostratigraphic evidence for a lacustrine or paludal environmental interpretation is examined. Palynomorphs from the deposit suggest a Middle (Givetian) to early Late (Frasnian) Devonian age which is compatible with the faunal evidence.

The Precordilleran species Ahtiella argentina Benedetto and Herrera, 1986 is redescribed and illustrated and Monorthis coloradoensis Benedetto, 1998b from northwestern Argentina is reassigned to the genus Ahtiella Öpik, 1932. Ahtiella famatiniana new species from volcaniclastic rocks of the Famatina range (western Argentina) and Ahtiella tunaensis new species from the Precordillera basin (Cuyania terrane) are proposed. Paleogeographic and stratigraphic evidence strongly suggests that Ahtiella originated in the Andean region of Gondwana to further migrate to Avalonia, Baltica, and Cuyania. Contrary to previous assumptions, the fossil record from the Famatina volcaniclastic succession suggests that the plectambonitoid Ahtiella famatiniana n. sp. evolved from the hesperonomiid orthoid Monorthis transversa Benedetto, 2003 that always occurs in the underlying strata. Phylogenetic analysis of Ahtiella species shows that A. famatiniana n. sp. and the Peruvian A. zarelae Villas in Gutiérrez-Marco and Villas, 2007 are not only the earliest species of the genus but also are morphologically intermediate between Monorthis Bates, 1968 and the later and more derived species of Ahtiella from Baltica and Cuyania. If, as empirical evidence presented here shows, Ahtiella originated from Monorthis through a series of minor transformations, then the impressive morphological gap between orthides and strophomenides was bridged through short-time cladogenesis events, suggesting that it might not have a definite discontinuity between the species level evolution and the origin of higher taxa (macroevolution).

UUID: http://zoobank.org/4b8c5442-ea2c-41b2-97f7-4c0a8b0384a2

We revisit the holotype of Calcardea junnei Gingerich, 1987 from the latest Paleocene (Clarkforkian) of the Willwood Formation (Wyoming, USA). The species is based on a partial skeleton and was originally assigned to the Ardeidae (herons). As we show, this classification cannot be upheld and Calcardea Gingerich, 1987 more closely resembles the taxon Vastanavis Mayr et al., 2007 (Vastanavidae), a parrot-like bird from the early Eocene of India. Even though C. junnei is a large bird, its long wings and short tarsometatarsus argue against a predominantly terrestrial way of living, and the morphology of the tarsometatarsus and pedal phalanges instead suggest strong grasping feet. We conclude that an assignment of Calcardea to the landbird clade (Telluraves) is better supported than its classification into the waterbird clade (Aequornithes), which includes Ardeidae and other ‘ciconiiform’ and ‘pelecaniform’ taxa. Calcardea junnei is one of the oldest known representatives of Telluraves and its morphology shows plesiomorphic features, which contributed to its previous misidentification as a heron. Calcardea exhibits a distinctive osteology and affords a glimpse of a previously unknown late Paleocene avian morphotype.

Zygochlamys Ihering, 1907 is revised and three new genera of tribe Chlamydini are named: the monospecific early Miocene genera Pixiechlamys new genus (type species: Pecten quemadensis Ihering, 1897) and Chokekenia n. gen. (type species: Zygochlamys nicolasi Morra, 1985), and the late Miocene–early Pliocene Moirechlamys n. gen., containing Pecten actinodes Sowerby, 1846 (type species) and Chlamys aurorae Feruglio, 1954. Zygochlamys is restricted to include Z. geminata (Sowerby, 1846) (type species), Z. jorgensis Ihering, 1907, and Z. sebastiani Morra, 1985. The present analysis increases the biostratigraphic usefulness of the group and improves taxonomic knowledge of the Neogene molluscan assemblages defined previously for Patagonia. Zygochlamys geminata is confined to the latest Oligocene–early Miocene interval of the Austral Basin of Patagonia (Argentina) and to the early Miocene of Chile, Z. jorgensis is restricted to the early to middle Miocene of the Golfo San Jorge and northern Austral Basins, and Moirechlamys n. gen., the most widespread genus, occurs in the late Miocene–early Pliocene of the Austral, Golfo San Jorge, Valdés, and Colorado basins. All these genera are endemic to southern South America; Zygochlamys is not related to other circumpolar genera such as Austrochlamys Jonkers, 2003 or Psychrochlamys Jonkers, 2003, rejecting its dispersal in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, as has been proposed previously.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/55d7ea85-5ec5-477a-9ede-5d3d795b75b5

This paper describes a pattern recognition method, Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy-Modeling And Classification Using Partial least squares (SIMCA-MACUP), and demonstrates its application to two common paleontological problems—identification and prediction. SIMCA-MACUP performs statistical pattern recognition at four hierarchical levels. At level 1, SIMCA builds disjoint principal component models to characterize multivariate data patterns of several classes. At level 2, new, unknown objects are either classified into one of the classes, or recognized as outliers. At levels 3 and 4, the MACUP method models the relationship between external (dependent) variables and internal (independent) variables, and allows prediction of the values of external variables of new objects which are classified at level 2.

The applicability of the SIMCA-MACUP has been demonstrated in a case study of the Pliocene planktic foraminiferal clade Globoconella. Two morphotypes of the clade Globorotalia (Globoconella) puncticulata and Globorotalia (Globoconella) inflata were characterized in a reference sample with SIMCA. Ancestral forms of the two morphotypes were traced through the early phylogenetic history of the clade, resulting in a reconstruction of the branching pattern of the divergence of G. inflata from G. puncticulata. The apertural height and apertural width of specimens in the ancestral stocks were then treated as if there were two “external” variables, and predicted using MACUP. The predicted values show slight discrepancy from the observed values. The deviation is size-dependent, indicating a decoupling of the apertural shape from the size of foraminifers during the branching process.

During investigations in the Rhenish Schiefergebirge, West Germany, concerning the Devonian biostratigraphy of forereef limestones in the Brilon area (Figure 1) several diplodont teeth of fossil sharks were discovered by chance. Remains of xenacanthid teeth from marine Givetian beds are rare. They have been described by Hotton (1952) of probable Givetian/Frasnian age from North America, by Gross (1973) from Middle Devonian Hunsrück Shales, and by Young (1982) from Middle/Upper Devonian strata of Australia and Antarctica.

Enigmatic tubular trace fossils up to eight meters long occur in the Lower Pennsylvanian Middlesboro Member of the Lee Formation. Two morphotypes occur: type 1 trace fossils are plain, smooth, vertical, nonbranching, parallel-walled, tubular structures; type 2 trace fossils branch, have walls with faint vertical striations, regularly or irregularly spaced nodes, and funnel-shaped terminations. Sandstone casts filling type 2 structures have helical spiral morphology, and, in rare individuals, faint meniscate fills have been observed. Both trace-fossil morphotypes have poorly cemented wall linings containing framboidal pyrite, amorphous carbon, quartz sand, and poorly preserved fecal material.

The trace fossils occur in a massive, structureless, channel-form sandstone, originating at the contact between a channel lag and the overlying massive fill. The stratigraphic sequence is interpreted to represent a barrier island transgressing an estuarine facies. A tidal inlet within the barrier facies scoured into the underlying estuarine sediments. Subsequent rapid filling of the inlet led to the deposition of the massive sandstone.

Origin of these structures is uncertain. The preponderance of evidence favors the hypothesis that the structures are escape burrows of animals that had colonized, or were concentrated in, the lag and were suddenly buried by the deposition of the massive sand. However, no likely burrower has been identified, and several characteristics of the structures and the enclosing sediments indicate that they may be completely inorganic in origin.

A new acanthocladiid bryozoan genus from the Permian of the Glass Mountains of Texas, U.S.A., reveals a distinctive morphology and a growth pattern unique amongst members of the extinct stenolaemate Order Fenestrata. Adlatipora fossulata n. gen. n. sp. forms small pinnate expansions with moderately robust main stems and shorter laterally placed pinnae. Colonies developed from small basal discs that exhibit a unique multilayered skeletal structure, from which a circlet of first generation autozooids bud from the ancestrula; these become the bases of branches. In Adlatipora autozooecia are organized into diagonal rows that alternate along branches and are separated into right-handed or left-handed forms. A fossula is developed from the distal margin of autozooecial apertures. Proximal pores are located adjacent to autozooecial apertures and are remnants of fossulae. These pores probably acted as an anal pore providing a passageway for fecal products.