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.

The typical species of Parks' stromatoporoid genus Stictostroma designated as Stromatopora mammillata Nicholson, 1873, and renamed S. mamilliferum to avoid homonymy by Galloway and St. Jean (1957), had unknown internal structure because Nicholson's type specimens were not sectioned. Parks' (1936) diagnosis of generic characters was based on specimens from a location (Gorrie) far from the type locality of S. mammillata that he assumed were conspecific with Nicholson's species. Investigation of the type specimens of Stromatopora mammillata = Stictostroma mamilliferum by thin sections shows that they are very poorly preserved and not conspecific with the specimens on which Parks based the genus. Because paleontologists for many years have used Stictostroma as amended from Parks' description by Galloway and St. Jean, the species from Gorrie that clearly shows these characters should be recognized as the typical species and given a new name.

Crasquin proposed (in Crasquin et al., 2008) the generic name Bairdiacratia (p. 244-246) for a Bairdioidea ostracod (Crustacea) recorded from the latest Permian of the Southern Alps (Italy) and Guizhou, Zhejiang, and Hubei Provinces (South China). Unfortunately, I discovered recently that the name was already used for an ostracod genus from the Middle Devonian of eastern Yunnan Province (China) by Jiang (1983).

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.

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).

Four placoderm fishes are described from the Lepel Beds of the Vitebsk Regional Stage of the Lower Devonian (upper Emsian) of Belarus. Two forms are new (Stipatosteus svidunovitchi new genus, new species and Actinolepis zaikai new species) and the other two taxa are left in open nomenclature (Coccosteidae gen. indet. sp. indet.; Placodermi indet. 1). Specimens of all four forms consist of disarticulated, mostly well-preserved plates (some are worn at the edges) originating from the cores of six boreholes. Additionally, the paper presents data on organic remains with the placoderms. A detailed lithological description of the enclosing rocks and a taphonomic description of the ichthyofauna are also provided. The 2010 Stratigraphic Chart of the Devonian deposits of Belarus was used as the stratigraphic basis. The presence of the genus Actinolepis Agassiz, 1844 in these deposits as well as in the Emsian of the Baltic region and Spitsbergen suggests a regional paleogeographic connection at this time.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/368b44df-e9e9-417c-a0e0-f7e138b7f4ec

Theridiidae is a family of spiders with the fourth highest richness of extant species worldwide. Fossil Theridiidae is also the family of spiders with the largest number of Cretaceous, Eocene, and Miocene representatives. Phycosoma Pickard-Cambridge, 1880 is a theridiid genus without a fossil representative. In this study, we describe a new fossil species of Phycosoma, P. icti† n. sp., from an adult male specimen found in a piece of amber from the lower Miocene (ca. 23 Ma), from the Montecristo mines near Simojovel de Allende, Chiapas, Mexico. Phycosoma icti† n. sp. can be distinguished from all other Phycosoma males except P. corrugum by the long embolus partly covered by the conductor. In addition, it can be distinguished from P. corrugum by the oblique and constricted median apophysis; the narrow and pointed conductor; the long, curved, and bent theridiid tegular apophysis in its distal portion; and the prosoma ringed in the middle and along the ventral margin. Phycosoma icti† n. sp. represents the oldest recovered record of the genus. Extant Phycosoma species are still present in Chiapas, suggesting an extended evolutionary history of the genus in the region despite major geological changes over this time span in North America.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/28d74f14-0f80-405d-a165-f24749e15d05

Quick setting dental impression materials are nothing new in the paleontology laboratory. In a paleontological note published in the Journal of Paleontology on “The Use of Dental Impression Material For Molding Macrofossils” (Quilty & Williams, 1975), the products Xantopren and Optosil were introduced as a simple and fast method of obtaining precision molds in 1-3 minutes. Since the mid-1970's these products have been replaced by vinyl polysiloxanes.

Additional specimens of the problematical rodent Pipestoneomys Donahoe, 1956, have allowed for recognition of a new family, Pipestoneomyidae. A new genus and species of pipestoneomyid is recognized from the late middle Eocene (Duchesnean North American Land Mammal Age; Bartonian), Argorheomys septendrionalis, which is morphologically more primitive than Pipestoneomys and demonstrates that this new family has been distinct since the Duchesnean. The Pipestoneomyidae share a number of derived characters with the Geomorpha, especially the two-part inner layer of incisor enamel of the Eoymidae. The Pipestoneomyidae differ from the Eomyidae in lacking the basic “omega” pattern of the cheek teeth of the former, so are in the Eomyoidea as a distinct family.

Acteonellids were one of the most significant groups of marine macro-invertebrates in the Late Cretaceous biota of the Tethyan Realm. They were common faunal elements associated with Cretaceous carbonate platform communities most notable for their abundance of rudist frameworks and thrived in coeval lagoons. The Upper Cretaceous fossil-bearing Karababa Formation, cropping out in southeastern Turkey, yields a remarkable assemblage of acteonellid gastropods and rudists. Cretaceous gastropods from sedimentary successions in Turkey barely have been studied over the past 80 years. The subgenus Trochactaeon, a very successful and widespread taxon of heterobranch gastropods within the family Acteonellidae, dominated acteonellid assemblages throughout the Late Cretaceous. In the present work, we present the first record of Trochactaeon (Trochactaeon) giganteus subglobosus from Turkey. It is from a single lower Campanian bed in the upper part of the Karababa Formation of the Gölbaşı region (south of Adıyaman), corresponding to the northwestern part of the Arabian Platform. This record complements information on the temporal and spatial distribution of Trochactaeon at the southern margin of the Tethyan Ocean during the last part of the Cretaceous Period. This discovery increases the documented diversity of the paleofauna from the Upper Cretaceous succession in southeastern Turkey and provides new insights into the paleoenvironment of the carbonate ramp of the northern Arabian plate, and the paleobiogeography of Campanian gastropods in general.

Molecular dating estimates the appearance of the family Oedemeridae in the Early Cretaceous. Several fossil representatives are known from Spanish (105 Ma) and Myanmar (99 Ma) ambers. The family also has been mentioned by several authors to occur in Eocene Baltic amber, but virtually no species was described until now. Here, we provide a description of the first fossil oedemerid species from Eocene Baltic amber, which is classified within subfamily Oedemerinae, in the extant genus Oedemera Olivier as Oedemera (s. str.) girulskii n. sp. The presence of appendiculate pretarsal claws and relatively large eyes separate the new species from its extant congeners.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/24b0b919-8684-4908-b002-9521b071dcc8.

A new specimen of Basilosaurus cetoides was discovered on the banks of the Flint River in Albany, Georgia, USA, in 2010. This fossil, which was the most complete specimen of the species from Georgia to date, consisted of five nearly complete and two partial post-thoracic vertebrae, tentatively identified as S4 through Ca6. During excavation, however, the site was looted and most of the specimen was lost to science. Nonetheless, we use this discovery as an opportunity to update the current state of knowledge on the stratigraphic, biogeographic, and environmental distribution of Basilosaurus in North America, as well as the position of the late Eocene shoreline in the southeastern United States. The results show that Basilosaurus was most abundant across the southeastern coastal plain during the early to middle Priabonian, coincident with the late Eocene maximum marine transgression. The decline in Basilosaurus localities is associated with the retreating shoreline of the terminal Eocene. The majority of Basilosaurus localities fall well south of the position of the late Eocene shoreline hypothesized in this study, suggesting the genus favored middle to outer neritic zones of the epicontinental sea. The comparatively low number of Priabonian specimens in the Atlantic Coastal Plain versus the Gulf Coastal Plain, then, suggests the presence of shallow zones in the Atlantic Coastal Plain that may have limited the distribution of Basilosaurus across the region. The hypothesized shoreline of this study ultimately differs from earlier reconstructions by extending the Mississippi embayment at the Bartonian/Priabonian boundary farther north than previously noted.

The Batocrinidae are characteristic faunal elements in Lower Mississippian shallow-marine settings in North America. Recent delineation of objectively defined genera allows a reexamination of batocrinid species and their distribution in the Fort Payne Formation (early Viséan, late Osagean), a well-studied array of carbonate and siliciclastic facies. The Fort Payne batocrinid fauna has 14 species assigned to six genera, plus hybrid specimens. Magnuscrinus spinosus (Miller and Gurley, 1895a) is reassigned to its original placement in Eretmocrinus. Hybrid specimens (Ausich and Meyer, 1994) are regarded as Eretmocrinus magnificus×Eretmocrinus spinosus. Macrocrinus casualis is the dominant species of Macrocrinus in the Fort Payne, and M. mundulus and M. strotobasilaris are recognized in the Fort Payne Formation for the first time. Magnuscrinus cumberlandensis n. sp. is named, 13 species are designated as junior synonyms, the name for the hybrid specimens is changed to Eretmocrinus magnificus×Eretmocrinus spinosus, and the previous occurrences of two species in the Fort Payne are rejected. The Eastern Interior Seaway was a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic setting with both shallow- and deep-water epicontinental sea facies ranging from relatively shallow autochthonous green shales to deep-water turbidite facies. Dizygocrinus was restricted to shallow-water carbonate and siliciclastic facies, Eutrochocrinus was restricted to shallow-water carbonate facies, and Magnuscrinus was restricted to deep-water facies. Species distributions varied from Abatocrinus steropes, Alloprosallocrinus conicus, Macrocrinus mundulus, and Uperocrinus nashvillae, which occurred throughout the Eastern Interior Seaway, to species that were restricted to a single facies. Eretmocrinus magnificus, Alloprosallocrinus conicus, and Uperocrinus robustus were the dominant batocrinids in the Fort Payne Formation.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/703aafd8-4c73-4edc-9870-e2356e2d28b8

Four new species of Borealarges, B. fritillus, B. patulus, B. renodis, and B. variabilis, and one new species of Richterarges, R. facetus, are described and one unnamed species, Borealarges sp., discussed. All are from the Wenlock strata of Avalanche Lake sections in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories. Borealarges tuckerae Adrain, 1994, the only species reported from both the Arctic and the Mackenzie Mountains, is discussed. Hemiarges avalanchensis n. sp., an Ashgill species from Avalanche Lake section AV 4B just below the Ordovician-Silurian boundary, is described. A phylogenetic analysis based on 14 species of Borealarges, three of Richterarges, and two of Hemiarges, demonstrates that the former two genera are three separate and distinct taxa. Borealarges, a genus that includes some species formerly assigned to Richterarges or Hemiarges, is monophyletic, contains a well-supported internal clade of species, and is not separated into senso stricto and senso lato groupings.

Reports on Mississippian rostroconchs from the Appalachian basin are rare. Winchell (1871), Herrick (1888, 1890, 1891), Hyde (1953), and Hoare (1990, 2004) discussed taxa from Ohio. These reports concerned pre-Chesterian occurrences with the exception of the Chesterian Bransonia hydei Hoare, 1990 and Oxyprora sp. Hoare (2004) from the Maxville Limestone. Specimens of the new taxon were reported by Busanus (1974) as Conocardium spp. from the Chesterian Reynolds Limestone in northern West Virginia.

The fauna of the lower Chickabally Member of the Budden Canyon Formation, a part of the Cretaceous Great Valley Sequence in the Cottonwood District (Figures 1, 2) of northern California, was described by Murphy (1975). At that time, two specimens of the species described here were known, but they were not complete enough to be identified or classified. Recently, Embree collected three additional specimens from the same horizon that enable us to classify the taxon with the Heteroceratidae. However, the rate of whorl expansion of the cross section of the conch and the open coiling are different from all other Heteroceratidae and we regard it, like much of the associated fauna, as a genus and species endemic to California.