Genus Neosinocythere is described from the upper Miocene Itahana Formation in Central Japan, documenting the first record from Japan. The Neosinocythere species were discovered in gravity-flow sediments that were deposited below a depth of 84.9 m with a paleo-summer bottom temperature of 23.7°C and a paleo-winter bottom temperature of 14.1°C, based on a modern analog technique using the ostracode assemblage. Paleobiogeographical and paleoenvironmental analyses indicate that Neosinocythere appeared around the southeastern coast of the Eurasian continent, extended distribution in the northern coast of the Eurasian continent before migrating southward along the coast of the Eurasian continent as global temperatures decreased. The high-diversity area shifted from high latitudes to low latitudes.

Articulated specimens of polyplacophorans are rare in the geological record, most being found as isolated valves. When found, it is useful to illustrate articulated specimens to provide a basis for making correct associations of isolated valves, to substantiate valve associations already proposed, and to determine valve order and amount of valve overlap.

The west coast of North America record of the shallow-marine stromboid gastropod genus Rimella Agassiz, 1841 is restudied for the first time in 90 years. This genus comprises a small group of Paleogene gastropods characterized by having an ornamented fusiform shell, a posterior canal ascending the spire, and simple (non-flared) outer lip. Rimella, whose familial ranking has been inconsistent, is placed here in family Rostellariidae Gabb, 1868, subfamily Rimellinae Stewart, 1927. Ectinochilus Cossmann, 1889; Macilentos Clark and Palmer, 1923; Vaderos Clark and Palmer, 1923; and Cowlitzia Clark and Palmer, 1923 are recognized here as junior synonyms of Rimella. Four species are recognized from the west coast of North America: early to middle Eocene Rimella macilenta White, 1889; early Eocene Rimella oregonensis Turner, 1938; middle to late Eocene Rimella supraplicata (Gabb, 1864) new combination, of which Rostellaria canalifer Gabb, 1864, Cowlitizia washingtonensis Clark and Palmer, 1923, and Cowlitzia problematica Hanna, 1927 are recognized here as junior synonyms; and late Eocene Rimella elongata Weaver, 1912.

Rimella was a warm-water gastropod whose earliest known record is of early Paleocene (Danian) age in Pakistan. Other than the west coast of North America, Rimella is found in Eocene strata in western Europe, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, southeastern United States, Panama, Peru, and, to a lesser degree, in Trinidad, Columbia, Java, and New Zealand. Global cooling near the end of the Eocene greatly diminished the genus. Its youngest known occurrences are of early Oligocene age in Germany, Italy, England, and Peru.

The type species of the eurekiid trilobite Corbinia Walcott, C. horatio Walcott, 1924, possesses very short palpebral lobes located opposite 2p glabellar lobe. The palpebral lobes of species of Eurekia Walcott and of Corbinia apopsis Winston and Nicholls, 1967, are considerably longer and located opposite 1p and 2p glabellar lobes. Corbinia is here restricted to the type species, and C. apopsis is assigned to Eurekia. Corbinia horatio occurs in the Basal Silty Member of the Survey Peak Formation of southern Alberta and appears to be confined to the lower part of the Eurekia apopsis Subzone of the Saukia Zone (basal Ibexian).

A single specimen of the new sponge, Raphidonema indica n. sp., is the first Eocene sponge to be reported from India. It was collected from the Fulra Limestone Formation at Lakhpat, Kutch, India. The undulating, cup-like sponge is most similar to R. farringdonense (Sharpe, 1854), but the Indian species has a clustered, mounded excurrent system and numerous tangential canals on the upper, exhalant surface. Skeletal tracts in Raphidonema indica are 0.4–0.5 mm in diameter, in walls that are generally 12–14 mm, but range up to 18 mm thick.

Leviceraurus mammilloides n. gen. and sp. is an Ordovician cheirurine trilobite which occurs in limestones and shales of the Hallowell and Hillier Members of the Cobourg Formation, southern Ontario. It is a probable descendant of Ceraurus.

Carnivores make traces on bones with their teeth when feeding. A true predatory bite trace (predichnia) forms when a predator catches and kills its prey or attempts to do so. Both predators and scavengers may leave their nonpredatory feeding traces during postmortem food processing. Despite the interpretative uncertainties as to the ethology such ichnofossils may represent, the bite traces have been traditionally classified as predichnia—traces of predation. Previously, there was no alternative ethological category available for workers to classify them. The present paper fills that gap and describes tooth-made ichnofossils from the continental Upper Triassic Grabowa Formation of southern Poland. It discusses modes the serration and striations might have formed along Linichnus edges, potential makers of the trace fossils, feeding strategies, and food-processing behaviors the ichnites may represent. All the bite traces are thought to act as a record of carnivorous behaviors and are classified as sarcophagichnia, a new ethological category (traces of feeding on a body). Finally, all the studied bite traces were likely inflicted postmortem and are classified as necrophagichnia (traces of feeding on an already dead body), most likely produced by scavengers in the studied cases. Data on recent carnivores link these ichnites with postmortem food-processing behaviors, such as dismembering and defleshing. Scavenging could, in fact, have been a preferred carnivorous feeding strategy in the seasonal Norian climate of the area. Dry seasons could have perhaps increased vertebrate mortality rates and provided plenty of carcasses for carnivores to feed on.

The Upper Ordovician (Sandbian–Katian) bathyurid trilobite Raymondites Sinclair is revised using new collections from Missouri and Ontario, and archival material from Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, and Ontario. Phylogenetic analysis supports monophyly of Raymondites, but recognition of this genus renders Bathyurus Billings paraphyletic. We treat Raymondites as a subgenus of Bathyurus and label the paraphylum of species traditionally assigned to the latter as Bathyurus sensu lato. Bathyurus (Raymondites) is composed of five previously named species, B. (R.) spiniger (Hall), B. (R.) longispinus (Walcott), B. (R.) ingalli (Raymond), B. (R.) bandifer Sinclair, and B. (R.) trispinosus (Wilson), and two new species, B. (R.) clochensis, and B. (R.) missouriensis; an eighth species is placed in open nomenclature. All species share tuberculate sculpture on the glabella, a relatively short palpebral lobe whose length is less than half of preoccipital glabellar length, and a pygidial outline that is well rounded posteriorly. Aside from the most basal species, B. (R.) longispinus, they also possess occipital spines and, where the pygidium is known, axial pygidial spines.

An extinct ictalurid catfish, Ictalurus spodius n. sp., is described from the Pleistocene of Central Mexico. It shares derived osteological characters with the subgenus Ictalurus and the I. punctatus species group. The new species is known from middle Pleistocene fluvial and lacustrine sediments and was abundant until near the end of the Pleistocene when it was replaced by a closely related species, I. dugesi. The latter is known from late and post-Pleistocene lake-bottom deposits and is widespread in Central Mexico today.

The gastropod fauna of the Lower Cretaceous of the Argentinian Neuquén Basin contains three aporrhaid species. Protohemichenopus neuquensis Camacho, 1953 is the most abundant, longest-lived, and most geographically widespread of the aporrhaids of this basin, and its protoconch and early teleoconch whorls were unknown until now. The new species Dimorphosoma weaveri features convex to subtly angular spire whorls with opisthocyrt collabral ribs that are more prominent towards the mid-whorl, a bicarinate last whorl with small rounded nodes on the adapical carina, a simple, falcate labral wing which is more or less rectangular proximally and tapering and curving towards its distal end, and a short, straight rostrum. Tylostoma jaworskii Weaver, 1931 is now placed in Harpagodes, and other previous, scattered, coeval records of this genus in the basin are now recognized as part of this single species. It is believed that whereas H. jaworskii preferred shallower-water carbonate settings of low to moderate energy, P. neuquensis and D. weaveri favored siliciclastic to mixed clastic-carbonate environments, in deeper waters. In spite of its endemic elements, this aporrhaid association depicts a predominantly Tethyan influence.

A previously undescribed fossil specimen of deep water crab belonging to the family Homolidae de Haan, 1839 was discovered in the collection of the Museo Paleontológica de Bariloche of Río Negro Province, Argentina. the specimen is exceptional because one of the extra-lineal flanks is present. These lateral portions of the carapace are often absent in homolid crab specimens, due to disarticulation of the carapace along the lineae homolicae (Glaessner, 1969). the specimen was collected from the (middle?) Oligocene Río Foyel Formation (Casadío et al., 2004), which crops out south of the town of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the foothills of the Andes Mountains (Fig. 1). Paleogene specimens of the Homolidae are exceedingly rare, due in large part to the lack of preserved rocks from deepwater environments Feldmann et al., 1991), which they prefer in modern oceans. This specimen is of particular importance because it is not only the first reported fossil occurrence of the genus Paromola Wood-Mason, 1891 but also provides additional evidence as to the depositional environment of the Río Foyel Formation.

The rudist bivalve Durania aguilae Adkins was described from the Mendez Formation in Mexico and originally attributed to the Santonian. We revise this species and show that it belongs to the genus Chiapasella Müllerried. We also recognize that Chiapasella aguilae (Adkins) is a senior synonym of Chiapasella trechmanni Mitchell and Gunter, an important biostratigraphic indicator in the late late Maastrichtian of Jamaica. Chiapasella aguilae is therefore an important late late Maastrichtian marker fossil that has been recorded from Jamaica, Mexico, and Cuba.

Ordovician open marine Lagerstätten are relatively rare and widely dispersed, producing a patchy picture of the diversity and biogeography of nonmineralized marine organisms and challenging our understanding of the fate of Cambrian groups. Here, for the first time, we report soft-bodied fossils, including a well-preserved marrellomorph arthropod, fragmentary carapaces, and macroalgae, from the Late Ordovician (Katian) Upper Member of the Kirkfield Formation near Brechin, Ontario. The unmineralized elements and associated exceptionally preserved shelly biota were entombed rapidly in storm deposits that smothered the shallow, carbonate-dominated shelf. The marrellomorph, Tomlinsonus dimitrii n. gen. n. sp., is remarkable for its ornate, curving cephalic spines and pair of hypertrophied appendages, suggesting a slow-moving, benthic lifestyle. Reevaluation of marrellomorph phylogeny using new data favors an arachnomorph affinity, although internal relationships are robust to differing outgroup selection. Clades Marrellida and Acercostraca are recovered, but the monophyly of Marrellomorpha is uncertain. The new taxon is recovered as sister to the Devonian Mimetaster and, as the second-youngest known marrellid, bridges an important gap in the evolution of this clade. More generally, the Brechin biota represents a rare window into Ordovician open marine shelf environments in Laurentia, representing an important point of comparison with contemporaneous Lagerstätten from other paleocontinents, with great potential for further discoveries.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/884589d0-08f7-4398-ab42-1f5d459be9e9

The outcrop at Whiterock Canyon Narrows, Nevada, is the stratotype for the Middle Ordovician Whiterockian Series in Laurentia. Contrasts in the distribution of trilobites and conodonts between two parallel sections at the stratotype demonstrate the presence of an unconformity separating Ibexian faunas (the historic trilobite Zone J, the more recent restricted “Pseudocybele nasuta” trilobite Zone, the Reutterodus andinus conodont Zone) from overlying Whiterockian faunas (Zone L, the Psephosthenaspis pseudobathyurus trilobite Zone, the Orthidiella brachiopod Zone, the Tripodus combsi conodont Zone). The unconformity represents the erosional loss of a minimum of 10 m of shale and bedded limestone within the upper Ninemile Formation. In comparison to more continuous section in the Ibex region, Utah, the equivalent to the thin Psephosthenaspis microspinosa trilobite Zone and, possibly, the uppermost interval of the underlying “P. nasuta” Zone are missing. Illaenus welchi new species is described from the Whiterockian faunas of the upper Ninemile and Antelope Valley formations.

The fossil record of the family Camerobiidae has been represented by only one species, Neophyllobius succineus Bolland and Magowski, 1990, described from Eocene Baltic amber. These prostigmatan mites are distinguishable by their distinctly long and slender stilt-like legs, and they are associated with aboveground vegetation where they hunt for other small invertebrates. This paper enhances the knowledge of fossil stilt-legged mites. Two new fossil species, N. electrus new species and N. glaesus new species, are described from samples of Baltic amber, and remarks on their morphology and taphonomy are provided. The discovery is complemented with a discussion on morphological singularities (the shape of the prodorsum, the location of setae h1 and h2 in living specimens, and lengths of genual setae), an anomaly of hypertrophied seta (found in the N. glaesus holotype), and some biogeographical issues.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/d1602384-ae4f-4f90-b4a1-6cdedd77c9e1

Protandrous sex change (sex change from male to female) is one of the diverse sexual expressions exhibited by bivalves, but its expression in the shell is quite rare. Previous studies on living and fossil astartids suggest a relationship between protandrous sex change and the formation of crenulations on the ventral shell margin at later ontogenetic stages. Here we report the formation of such crenulations in the Early Jurassic astartid Nicaniella rakoveci (Kuhn, 1935) from the Amaltheenton Formation at Buttenheim, Franconia. This is the earliest known record of protandrous hermaphroditism in fossil bivalves, predating previous reports by at least 13 Myr. A principal component analysis of linear size measurements and Fourier shape analysis of the shell outlines revealed that the outline of Nicaniella rakoveci specimens varies from subquadrate to subcircular, but this variation is independent of the presence or absence of crenulations and therefore not associated with sex. Crenulated specimens exhibit a lower height/inflation ratio than non-crenulated ones, suggesting that the protandrous females have more inflated valves than the males. The formation of crenulations was probably related to allocation of resources for reproduction. The most likely function of the crenulations was to increase the internal shell volume in the female stage to accommodate more eggs rather than being an adaptation against predation as often assumed for other bivalves. The formation of crenulations is part of the protandrous life history and probably is controlled by a genetic mechanism that is also responsible for sex change.

Members of the echinoid order Spatangoida, a highly diverse and abundant marine invertebrate clade, were important denizens of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (WIS), an epicontinental seaway that divided North America in two during an interval of greenhouse conditions between roughly 100 and 65 million years ago. A phylogenetic analysis of spatangoids was conducted using a character matrix of 32 characters from 21 species. Species that occur in the WIS were considered comprehensively, and species from other regions such as South America, Europe, and North Africa were also incorporated into the analysis. Phylogenetic patterns retrieved are largely congruent with preexisting family-level classifications; however, species within several genera, especially Hemiaster and Heteraster, need to be reassigned so that classification better reflects phylogeny. The genera Washitaster and Heteraster are closely related, as are Mecaster, Palhemiaster, and Proraster; Pliotoxaster, Macraster, and Hemiaster; and Micraster and Diplodetus. Biogeographic patterns were also considered using the phylogeny, and several episodes of vicariance and range expansion were identified. These were possibly related to some of the various major episodes of sea-level rise and fall during the Cretaceous. In particular, Valangian–mid-Aptian regressions may have caused vicariance within Heteraster and Washitaster while other early spatangoid vicariance may be related to regressions during the late Aptian–early Cenomanian. Further, vicariance caused by regressions during the mid-Cenomanian–Maastrichtian may have driven diversification within Micraster and Diplodetus. Last, transgressions during the late Aptian–early Cenomanian seem to have spurred prominent range expansions in Mecaster and Hemiaster.

An interval of the Early to Middle Pleistocene history of the California Borderland was assessed using multivariate analysis of foraminifera from the Santa Barbara Formation at Bathhouse Beach, Santa Barbara, California. A census of 93 species of benthic foraminifera and nine species of planktonic foraminifera was compiled from 11 samples from the shelly marls, silts, and sands of the lower member. Most species of benthic foraminifera are rare and only 38 species comprise one percent or more of the population in one or more samples.

Paleoenvironment of the sea floor was determined based on benthic foraminifera. R-mode cluster analysis defined five associations which are similar to those of the present-day banks and terraces of the California Borderland. Q-mode cluster analysis grouped samples into four biofacies which characterize shallow banks near 50 meters water depth and off-shore ridges and deep banks averaging 150 meters water depth. The stratigraphic succession of biofacies indicates two transgressive cycles separated by an apparent disconformity between 7.5 and 8.9 meters above the base of the section (between samples 3 and 4).

Paleoceanography of surficial waters was interpreted from planktonic foraminifera. Paleotemperature was assessed from the proportion of sinistral to dextral morphs and from the proportion of encrusted, compact morphs to reticulate, globular morphs of Neogloboquadrina pachyderma. The coiling morphs show a warm interval from the base of the section to about 12 meters (between samples 5 and 6), and a cooler interval from about 12 meters to about 24 meters (between samples 10 and 11), and an interval of intermediate paleotemperature in the topmost sample of the section. Changes in the planktonic assemblage do not coincide with the transgressive cycles inferred from the benthic biofacies.

The Bathhouse Beach section can be placed chronostratigraphically based on planktonic foraminiferal coiling shifts and strontium isotopic data. The isotopic age range of 400 to 900 Kyr brackets the 600 Kyr age assigned by Lagoe and Thompson (1988) to the Neogloboquadrina pachyderma coiling dominance interval CD9/CD8 boundary which occurs midway in the section, between samples 5 and 6.