Discovery of well-preserved specimens from the Nanba section in Yiyang, Hunan Province, in combination with a literature review, enabled us to re-evaluate and revise the graptolite genus Ancoragraptus. This is a genus of biradiate, multiramous anisograptids with horizontal to reclined rhabdosomes and free lower part of the metasicula and slightly isolated autothecal apertures. According to the revised definition, two species are included in Ancoragraptus, i.e., Ancoragraptus bulmani (Spjeldnæs, 1963) and Ancoragraptus psigraptoides Cho, Kim, and Jin, 2009. It is the first time that A. bulmani has been reported from China. The occurrences of Ancoragraptus reported worldwide are reviewed in the present study and found to be restricted to the lower upper Tremadocian. The restriction of Ancoragraptus in stratigraphical distribution makes it a taxon with a high potential for precise biostratigraphical correlation at both regional and global scale.

The monoplacophoran genus Protoconus Stinchcomb, 1986, from the Upper Cambrian of the Ozark Uplift of Missouri, is a junior homonym of the monoplacophoran Protoconus Yü, 1979. Protoconus is a significant element in the pre-trilobite Lowermost Cambrian (Meishucan) beds of China (Yü, 1987). In consideration of this homonymy, it is proposed that Protoconus Stinchcomb, 1986, is changed and designated as Proteroconus.

A well-preserved fauna of largely articulated trilobites is described from three new localities close to one another in the Bull River Valley, southeastern British Columbia. All the trilobites from these localities are from the lower or middle part of the Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone of the Elvinia Zone, lower Jiangshanian, in the McKay Group. Two new species are proposed with types from these localities: Aciculolenus askewi and Cliffia nicoleae. The trilobite (and agnostid) fauna from these localities includes at least 20 species: Aciculolenus askewi n. sp., Agnostotes orientalis (Kobayashi, 1935), Cernuolimbus ludvigseni Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Cliffia nicoleae n. sp., Elvinia roemeri (Shumard, 1861), Grandagnostus? species 1 of Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? phillipi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? sp. A, Housia vacuna (Walcott, 1912), Irvingella convexa (Kobayashi, 1935), Irvingella flohri Resser, 1942, Irvingella species B Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Olenaspella chrisnewi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Proceratopyge canadensis (Chatterton and Ludvigsen, 1998), Proceratopyge rectispinata (Troedsson, 1937), Pseudagnostus cf. P. josepha (Hall, 1863), Pseudagnostus securiger (Lake, 1906), Pseudeugonocare bispinatum (Kobayashi, 1962), Pterocephalia sp., and Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Chatterton and Gibb, 2016. Pseudagnostus securiger, a widespread early Jiangshanian species, has not been previously recorded from southeastern British Columbia. Non-trilobite fossils collected from these localities include brachiopods, rare trace fossils, a complete silica sponge (Hyalospongea), and a dendroid graptolite. The faunas from these localities are more diverse and better preserved than those from other previously documented localities of the same age in the region.

Additional specimens of a rare species, found by amateur collectors in previously documented localities of slightly younger age (upper part of Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone) in the same region, are documented. These new specimens, when combined with an earlier discovered specimen, provide adequate type material to propose a new species of Labiostria, L. gibbae, which may be useful for biostratigraphy.

UUID:http://zoobank.org/89551eac-b3af-4b2b-8ef3-7c2e106a560d

Devonian orthotetides from South America have often been uncritically assigned to a limited number of broadly described species. Schellwienella clarkei n. sp. is described from the Ponta Grossa Formation, Paraná Basin, southern Brazil. These brachiopods had been identified as Schuchertella agassizi. Schellwienella clarkei n. sp. differs from Schuchertella agassizi on the basis of shell structure, dental plates, and cardinalia.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/90ebc242-42c3-4bd7-9b63-461df05b6f28

A new Saldidae (MCT 6959-I) from the Crato Formation (Lower Cretaceous, late Aptian), Santana Group, Araripe Basin (northeastern Brazil) is described and illustrated. Olindasalda gondwanica n. gen. n. sp. is the first fossil Saldidae recorded from the Gondwanan supercontinent. The new genus can be distinguished from other members of the subfamily Chiloxanthinae by its small (4.49 mm) and oval-elongated body, absence of spots on the corium of the hemelytron, long R vein, and much-reduced first cell of the membrane. Remarks on the geology of the type locality and a comparison of the new genus with other saldids are provided.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/5ef8db72-3d7c-4de0-9a7c-e8fd80a9c8ba

Silicified brachiopods from Hirnantian strata in three sections of the lower Whittaker Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada, yielded a moderately diverse, Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna, consisting of 13 species: Biparetis paucirugosus, Brevilamnulella laevis, Dalmanella edgewoodensis, Drabovia noixella, Eospirigerina putilla, Epitomyonia paucitropida, Epitomyonia sekwiensis, Glyptorthis papillosa new species, Gnamptorhynchos orbiculoidea, Katastrophomena mackenzii new species, K. parvicardinis, Parastrophina cf. P. minor, and Skenidioides sp. Compared to the typical Edgewood fauna of the American Midcontinent, Brevilamnulella laevis has a notably smaller shell than B. thebesensis, and is interpreted as a deeper-water form. The strong faunal affinity of the Mackenzie Mountains fauna to the Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna is indicated by the occurrence of Biparetis, Brevilamnulella, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos. In addition to the Edgewood type area within Laurentia, Biparetis, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos are characteristic taxa that also occur in the Ellis Bay Formation (Hirnantian) of Anticosti Island. Multivariate and network analyses strongly support the differentiation between an Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna in Laurentia and peri-Laurentia and the typical Hirnantia fauna of the Kosov Province in Gondwana, peri-Gondwana, South China, Kazakhstan terranes, Avalonia, and Baltica.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/7ff8f8c8-52d1-4527-acae-9bacd2e8b914

Phosphatic sclerites of the problematic Tarimspira Yue and Gao, 1992 (Cambrian Series 2) recovered by weak acid maceration of limestones display a unique range of mainly strongly coiled morphologies. They were likely organized into multielement scleritomes, but the nature of these is poorly known; some sclerites may have had a grasping function. Tarimspira sclerites grew by basal accretion in an analogous fashion to younger paraconodonts (Cambrian Series 3–4) but lack a basal cavity. Based on proposed homologies, Tarimspira may provide an extension of the early vertebrate paraconodont–euconodont clade back into the early Cambrian. Tarimspira is described for the first time from Laurentia (North Greenland), extending its known range from China and Siberia in Cambrian Series 2. In addition to the type species, Tarimspira plana Yue and Gao, 1992, the Greenland record of Tarimspira includes two morphotypes of a new species, Tarimspira artemi.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/c7c536c8-cdaf-49a9-ae1d-77c392f553fc.

Tribrachidium heraldicum Glaessner in Glaessner and Daily, 1959 is a triradial Ediacaran organism found in abundance within the Ediacara Member of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Here we report and describe a new species within the genus Tribrachidium Glaessner in Glaessner and Daily, 1959: Tribrachidium gehlingi new species from Nilpena Ediacara National Park (NENP), South Australia. Tribrachidium gehlingi n. sp. has low relief and three slightly curved, main arm-like structures that leave a conspicuous gap between the end of the arm-like structures and rim. In place of the ‘bulla’ found on T. herladicum, there are three secondary arm-like structures approximately half of the length of the main arm-like structures. Key morphological differences between the two species are statistically significantly different. Additionally, the species occur together within the same fossiliferous event horizons, indicating that the observed morphological differences are unlikely a result of taphonomy.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/196bef68-54da-42a9-9327-dcb55411a457

The first fossil rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from New Zealand is described from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, Otago. The new species, Sphingoquedius meto n. sp., is attributable to the tribe Amblyopinini of the subfamily Staphylininae based on the scutellum with anterior scutellar ridge only; isodiametric microsculpture on the pronotum; multidirectional arranged setae on the elytra; and presence of radiating setae on the fourth abdominal tergite. Sphingoquedius meto n. sp. is the first Southern Hemisphere fossil record of Amblyopinini and its affinity to the extant fauna as well as biogeographic and paleocological implications are discussed.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/52275b83-d5ff-48af-A66F-2d62c3461677

Zygocycloides? foerstei n. sp. is described from the Llandovery (Aeronian) Brassfield Formation of southwestern Ohio. This is among the oldest reported Silurian cyclocystoids from North America and is the only North American Llandovery cyclocystoid that is preserved with a complete rim of marginal ossicles. Zygocycloides Smith and Paul, 1982 is most similar to Nicholsodiscus Glass et al., 2003 (Katian) and Perforocycloides Ewin et al., 2019 (Llandovery, Telychian), both from Anticosti Island, Québec. Cyclocystoids (Ordovician to Mississippian) survived Late Ordovician extinctions, and this discovery documents that this echinoderm clade was part of shallow-water, marine paleocommunities during the initial post-extinction transgression onto the Laurentian platform.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/3d3e092e-267b-4841-9245-6275d1eb79a1

Stomatopods, or mantis shrimps, are malacostracan crustaceans. Known as “lean, mean, killing machines” (Watling et al., 2000, p. 1), modern stomatopods are obligate carnivores, feeding exclusively on live prey (Schram, 1986). Characteristically, their second thoracic appendages are enlarged to form powerful, raptorial claws. Modern stomatopods are divided into two broad functional groups based on the shape and usage of their raptorial claws: ‘spearing’ and ‘smashing’ stomatopods (Caldwell and Dingle, 1976).

Illusioluidia teneryi is a new genus and species of asteroid echinoderm described from the Missourian (Upper Pennsylvanian) Wolf Mountain Shale of Texas. Illusioluidia is important because it is strongly homeomorphic with modern Luidia; Luidia has been considered primitive among living asteroids by some authors. Illusioluidia, however, is not ancestral to Luidia or any other modern genus; similarities are convergent. Luidia is a predator, largely on active invertebrates (other echinoderms, mollusks), whereas Illusioluidia is inferred to have been a small-particle feeder. Homeomorphy reflects neither descent nor feeding habits; environmental controls are suggested.

A suite of over 70 samples recovered from the tropical southwest Pacific Ocean and selected from the collection of Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) has been the basis of this author's current research. In the course of studying the Recent benthic foraminiferal faunas from these samples, a new species, also referable to a new genus, was identified in six of the samples.

According to Ubaghs (1978), syzygies are brachial articulations in which radiating ridges and furrows on the two joint faces oppose each other rather than interlock as in symplexies. Cryptosyzygies differ from syzygies by having very short ridges that may be replaced by rows of tubercles or granules, with a tendency toward irregular arrangement and disappearance. Among Triassic crinoids, only representatives of the orders Isocrinida Sieverts-Doreck, 1952 and Comatulida Clark, 1908 had cryptosyzygial or syzygial brachial articulation, respectively. According to Rasmussen (1978), among Isocrinidae the articulations of primibrachial 1 and 2 and secundibrachial 1 and 2 were cryptosyzygial or synarthrial (but see also comments in Simms, 1988a). Among Comatulida, syzygial articulations generally occur between brachials 3 and 4 and in more distal arm parts.

The authors wish to correct an error on page 26 of the paper on “An illustrated key to the identification of unilocular genera of calcareous foraminifera” by Fred E. Clark and R. Timothy Patterson (Journal of Paleontology, 67:20–28).

The Cedar City Formation is divisible into three stromatoporoid biozones. These zones are differentiated by the mutually exclusive stratigraphic occurrences of the species 1) Syringostroma astrorhizoides, 2) Stromatoporella congregabilis and 3) Stachyodes crebrum. Chronologically, the zones range from late Emsian to early Frasnian. Lithofacies of the Cedar City are not restrictive as to the stromatoporoid species they contain.

Harmostocrinus jonesi n. sp. (Mississippian: Chesterian) is described from the upper part of the Monteagle Limestone in northern Alabama, and is distinguished from all other species of the genus by bifurcation of the A-ray arm on IBr2 instead of IBr1. Reduction in overall number of arms, A-ray arm bifurcation, and reduction of cup-size demonstrate that H. jonesi is a paedomorphic evolutionary intermediate between the stratigraphically older Mississippian genus Abrotocrinus, and other, younger species of Harmostocrinus. Both peramorphosis (cup characters) and paedomorphosis (arm characters) were important factors in the evolution of Harmostocrinus jonesi.