Parablackwelderia is the oldest known stalk-eyed trilobite and thrived during the middle-late Cambrian (Guzhangian Age) in eastern Gondwanaland. the elongated palpebral lobe extends outward and forward from the anterior corner of the cranidium and shows positive allometry, becoming markedly longer and relatively thinner in large specimens. the animal occurred in muddy environments and may have been a predator that burrowed for concealment. Stalked-eyes were independently derived in several trilobite clades, but whenever they appeared were restricted to small numbers of taxa and thus do not appear to have served as a key innovation that promoted extensive diversification of species bearing the structure. the stalk-eyed condition in trilobites has a striking modern analog in the hypercephaly of diopsinid flies, where it is commonly associated with mate recognition and mate selection. We document the first occurrence of Parablackwelderia in Shandong, North China and describe a new species, Parablackwelderia luensis sp. nov.

The lower Famennian ‘Cyrtospirifer’ orbelianus brachiopod Zone established in Armenia by Abrahamyan (1957) (coeval to the crepida conodont Zone) contains an abundant and diverse brachiopod fauna that still remains poorly studied. In an effort to revise and update its systematic classification and to assess the brachiopod diversity in this area after the Kellwasser extinction event at the end of the Frasnian, our attention is here focused on rhynchonellides and athyrides. Six rhynchonellide species are described belonging to five genera as well as a single athyride species (Crinisarina pseudoglobularis n. sp.), which is new to science. The genus Crinisarina is reported for the first time in the South Armenian Block (SAB), which was then part of the northern margin of Gondwana. Some of the rhynchonellides identified were previously recognized in this area, but they require modern documentation and taxonomic reassessment. More particularly, it is the first time that the internal structure of Sartenaerus baitalensis (Reed, 1922) is illustrated, taking into account that it is the type species of a biostratigraphically significant Famennian genus. One of the oldest punctate rhynchonellide species, Greira transcaucasica Erlanger, 1993, is described for the first time from Armenia and its intraspecific morphological variability is documented quantitatively. From a paleobiogeographic viewpoint, the studied brachiopod fauna clearly shares affinities with contemporaneous ones from other regions of the Gondwanan northern margin that extend eastwards of the SAB to Afghanistan and Pamir, although there are also some endemic elements.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/798eb5f9-ad15-4d90-bc6a-ff22ee936438

Reticulate Hornera reteramae (Bryozoa, order Cyclostomata) have been discovered as free-lying, lyre-shaped colonies in the Castle Hayne Limestone (Eocene) in North Carolina. These specimens represent a striking instance of homeomorphy in colony form with the Late Mississippian genera Lyropora and Lyroporella of the order Fenestrata.

Bryozoans with reticulate growth habit most commonly develop upright colonies. Living representatives generally grow in quiet environments or microenvironments, and fossils are generally found in situ in quiet-water deposits. However, lyre-shaped Hornera reteramae occur in skeletal packstones inferred to have been deposited in a moderate-energy, shallow, open shelf environment near normal wave base. Upper Mississippian lyre-shaped colonies are preserved in skeletal packstones and grainstones in localized channels or on upper surfaces of low-angle cross-bedded sheets interpreted as high-energy, marine shoal deposits. Modification of the reticulate growth habit to low, peripherally weighted, free-lying structures apparently allowed invasion of higher energy sand bottoms, both in Mississippian and Eocene times.

Perryella olsoni, a new temnospondylous amphibian from the lower Permian Wellington Formation of northern Oklahoma, is described. Features of the palatine, quadratojugal, and stapes are distinctive among described temnospondyls. The specimens share derived character states with the Dissorophoidea and Trimerorhachoidea, but cannot be assigned to either of these superfamilies as presently defined. The difficulties of temnospondyl classification in light of the confusion of primitive, juvenile, and paedomorphic features are discussed.

The ontogeny of Belosaepia ungula Gabb, 1860 from the Crockett Formation (Bartonian stage, Eocene) of Texas is documented for growth from embryo to old age. During the last stage of life, much skeletal resorption occurred, resulting in a major change in form of the skeleton. the animal produced a large skeleton (to 180 mm in length and 50 mm in diameter) with endogastric coiling, oblique septa and a very large siphuncle. the skeleton has a guard with a solid posterior prong, a posteroventral corona plate and a noded dorsal shield. the ventral margin of the skeleton consists of a thin flattened deck containing strongly recurved septa, conotheca and a secondary prismatic shell layer. New terms are defined for features of the skeleton not previously described. the microstructure of the ventral deck and the presence of a rod structure between the prong and callus are described for the first time. Chamberlets similar to those in living Sepia cuttlebones are present between closely spaced septa and they vary from walled units on lateral margins to pillar form in mid-ventor. the siphuncle is secondarily thickened within the dorsal interior, producing a siphuncle band. the skeleton was produced by a deep-bodied animal of demersal life habits. the species B. uncinata, B. harrisi and B. alabamensis voltzi proposed by Palmer (1937) are synonymised with B. ungula. the species B. veatchii and B. saccaria of Palmer (1937) are considered to be valid species, but B. alabamensis proposed by Palmer (1937) is synonymised with B. veatchii. Descriptions of belosaepiid species must be based only on specimens of adult size that have not been affected by resorption.

A costal and a peripheral bone from the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian, ca. 135 Ma) Rosablanca Formation, Zapatoca town, Colombia are described. These specimens represent the earliest record of podocnemidoid turtles. Evolutionary and paleogeographical implications are also discussed.

Twenty-six genera and 34 species of early Miocene Indian shallow-marine ostracodes were examined for taxonomy and paleobiogeography. A new genus Paractinocythereis and new species Costa ponticulocarinata were described. Early Miocene Indian ostracode fauna shows strong affinity to Eocene–Miocene Eastern and Western Tethyan ostracode faunas and Miocene–Recent Indo-Pacific ostracode fauna, supporting the Hopping Hotspot Hypothesis that the Tethyan biodiversity hotspot has shifted eastward through Arabia to Indo-Australian Archipelago (IAA) together with concomitant biogeographic shifts of the Tethyan elements. The result also indicated an inverse westward distributional shift in a genus. It is important to note that Paleogene and Miocene shallow marine ostracodes from the IAA region remain poorly investigated, and more fossil ostracode data are needed to better test the Hopping Hotspot Hypothesis.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/d1e29249-8c5b-49bf-a47a-5f18e1fc4426

The oldest known Carboniferous rugose coral fauna in the Canadian Arctic Islands was collected in the Yelverton Inlet area of northern Ellesmere Island, from Bashkirian carbonates of the lower Nansen and Otto Fiord formations. It includes the genera Dibunophyllum Thomson and Nicholson, Lonsdaleia McCoy, Palaeosmilia Milne-Edwards and Haime and Tizraia? Said and Rodríguez. Such a generic assemblage is unknown elsewhere above the Serpukhovian. An upper? Bashkirian specimen of Paraheritschioides Sando, collected above the main fauna, is the oldest known representative of that genus. Faunal comparisons suggest Novaya Zemlya or northern Timan as the most likely source areas for the Yelverton Inlet fauna.

The ostracode assemblage of the Arkadelphia Formation, upper Maastrichtian, of southwestern Arkansas is characterized by a well-preserved, relatively diverse, and abundant fauna representing 36 podocopid species and an undetermined number of species of the platycopid genus Cytherella. Thirteen of these account for 85 percent of the fauna. The dominant forms are Cytherella spp., Brachycythere rhomboidalis (Berry, 1925), Haplocytheridea renfroensis Crane, 1965, Haplocytheridea bruceclarki (Israelsky, 1929), and Brachycythere ovata (Berry, 1925), which account for about 57 percent of the specimens found. Other species that are less common, but are characteristic of the Arkadelphia, are Antibythocypris macropora (Alexander, 1929), Ascetoleberis hazardi (Israelsky, 1929), Aversovalva fossata (Skinner, 1956), Brachycythere ledaforma (Israelsky, 1929), Curfsina communis (Israelsky, 1929), Cytheromorpha arbenzi (Skinner, 1956), Escharacytheridea micropunctata (Alexander, 1929), and Veenia arachoides (Berry, 1925). The ostracode assemblage indicates that the Arkadelphia was deposited in the inner sublittoral zone.

The species Veenia parallelopora (Alexander, 1929) and Brachycythere foraminosa Alexander, 1934, are restricted to the Arkadelphia Formation and allow correlation with other Gulf Coastal Plain Upper Cretaceous units. A new ostracode interval zone, the Veenia parallelopora Zone, is proposed. This zone divides the Platycosta lixula Zone.

Calcareous planktic microfossils reported from the Arkadelphia and its correlatives in the Veenia parallelopora Zone indicate that these deposits are late Maastrichtian in age, not middle Maastrichtian as some authors have thought.

The genus Cyphaspis Burmeister, 1843, is first known from the northern Laurentian Sheinwoodian. By the late Homerian, the genus had appeared in England and Baltica, and from the Ludlow through the Lower and Middle Devonian it had an essentially cosmopolitan distribution. The Mississippian Dixiphopyge Brezinski, 1988, may represent a relict distribution of Cyphaspis, and if so should be considered a junior subjective synonym. Cyphaspis is considered the sister taxon of Otarion Zenker, 1833. The oldest, Sheinwoodian, species of either genus are very similar, but the clades evolved to the point of gross morphological disparity in the Devonian.

New species from the Wenlock and probably Ludlow of northwestern Canada are Cyphaspis lowei, C. munii, C. buchbergeri, and C. mactavishi. New ontogenetic material of the Zlichovian C. dabrowni (Chatterton, 1971) further demonstrates the pervasiveness of the basic juvenile morphology of the tribe Otarionini.

Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845 is a family of browsing proboscideans that were widespread in the Old World during the Neogene. From Miocene deposits in the Indian subcontinent, deinotheres are known largely from dental remains. Both large and small species have been described from the region. Previously, only small deinothere species have been identified from Kutch in western India. In the fossiliferous Tapar beds in Kutch, dental remains have been referred to the small species Deinotherium sindiense Lydekker, 1880, but the specimens are too fragmentary to be systematically diagnostic. Here, we describe a large p4 of a deinothere from the Tapar beds and demonstrate that it is morphologically most similar to Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845, a large species of deinothere, thereby confirming the identity of deinotheres at Tapar. Deinotherium indicum from Tapar is larger than other deinotheres identified from Kutch and is the first occurrence of the species in the region. This new specimen helps constrain the age of the Tapar beds to the Tortonian and increases the biogeographic range of this species—hitherto only known from two localities on the subcontinent. This specimen also highlights the morphological diversity of South Asian deinothere p4s and allows us to reassess dental apomorphies used to delimit Indian deinothere species. Lastly, we argue that by the late Miocene, small deinotheres in Kutch were replaced by the large Deinotherium indicum.

Posterolateral markings, appearing as short, rectilinear grooves projecting from the posterior margins of digit IV, occur on tracks in five of 34 trackways at the Cameron Dinosaur Tracksite in the Dinosaur Canyon Member of the Lower Jurassic Moenave Formation, northeastern Arizona. A new ichnospecies, Grallator (Anchisauripus) madseni, is described from these five trackways made by bipedal, tridactyl dinosaurs. The size and morphology of the tracks suggest that they may represent trackmakers similar to Coelophysis and Syntarsus, two dinosaurs described from Triassic and Jurassic deposits in northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico.

Among the working hypotheses cited as possible causes of the posterolateral markings are: 1) they were made by the dragging of digit III or of the metatarsus; 2) they are marks produced by a feature similar to a horny excrescence or cornified ridge on digitometatarsal pad IV; and 3) they are related to a peculiarity that may have resulted from sexual dimorphism.

Several authors (Berry, 1916, 1931; Brooks, 1955; Cockerell, 1908, 1910) have reported evidence of damage by leaf-cutter bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) from the Tertiary of the United States. These have been predominantly Eocene in age. During field investigations (1990-1991), four further fossil plant specimens with possible leaf-cutter bee damage were discovered from the middle Eocene sediments of the Klondike Mountain Formation near Republic (Ferry County), Washington (Figure 1), and are reported here to draw attention to the common occurrence of these kinds of insect “trace fossils” in the paleobotanical record.

Walcott described the If fauna from Silver Peak Range, Nevada in 1910 as consisting of Nevadia weeksi n. sp. and gen. and Holmia rowei n. sp. (herein recognized as Esmeraldina rowei). Being the oldest trilobite fauna known at the time, it played an important roll in Walcott's locating the base of his Lower Cambrian Waucoban Series. The original If collection is reviewed, as is more material collected near the type locality, “Nevadella” Zone, Montenegro Member of the Campeto Formation. Additional trilobite taxa herein recognized in the If collection are Esmeraldina? cometes n. sp., Esmeraldina lidensis n. sp., Palmettaspis consorta n. gen. and sp., and Palmettaspis parallela n. sp. A close similarity between E. rowei and the type species for Holmia in Baltica led Walcott to a controversial Laurentia–Baltica correlation. His incorporation of three trilobite taxa among his syntypes for Holmia rowei also posed a problem. Overriding these faults was Walcott's foresight in using the 1f fauna in his Waucoban concept. Even today, after the 1992 international agreement to lower the base of the Cambrian to a pre-trilobite horizon, the Waucoban is being applied in Canada to upper Lower Cambrian strata.

When waikalasma was first recorded from early Miocene strata in New Zealand (Buckeridge, 1983) it was described as possessing eight compartmental plates but lacking basal whorls of imbricating plates. However, subsequent study and comparison of the holotype with extant Chionelasmus has shown that the remnants of several small plates remaining at the base of the rostrum represent the remains of two or three basal whorls (Figure 1). Furthermore, new evidence concerning the structure of the wall of the Chionelasmatinae has indicated not only that the true or median latus has been replaced by the carinolatus in balanomorphs, but that an additional or secondary carinolatus has been added in higher balanomorphs (Yamaguchi and Newman, 1990). The structure of the wall in Waikalasma can now be reinterpreted in light of these findings (Figure 2). It turns out, in terms of current phylogeny, that Waikalasma should be placed amongst the most primitive of the balanomorph barnacles, representing an important step in balanomorph evolution rather than simply an evolutionary offshoot as envisaged by Buckeridge (1983) and Foster and Buckeridge (1987) (Figure 3).

Rhuddanian crinoid faunas are poorly known globally, making this new fauna from the Hilliste Formation of western Estonian especially significant. The Hilliste fauna is the oldest Silurian fauna known from the Baltica paleocontinent, thus this is the first example of the crinoid recovery fauna after the Late Ordovician mass extinction. Hiiumaacrinus vinni n. gen. n. sp., Protaxocrinus estoniensis n. sp., Eomyelodactylus sp., calceocrinids, and five holdfast types are reported here. Although the fauna has relatively few taxa, it is among the most diverse Rhuddanian faunas known. Similar to other Rhuddanian crinoid faunas elsewhere, the Hilliste crinoid fauna contains crinoids belonging the Dimerocrinitidae, Taxocrinidae, Calceocrinidae, and Myelodactylidae; most elements of the new fauna are quite small, perhaps indicative of the Lilliput Effect.

An account of the systematics, biostratigraphy, ecological setting and the biogeographic implications of rugose corals from olistoliths of the Cabrières area is given. Corals of the lower member of the Izarne Formation are dated by conodonts as gronbergi Zone age, and include Lythophyllum sp. indet., Calceola sandalina (Linné), Tryplasma sp. A, Breviphrentis roharti Pedder new species, B. exigua Pedder new species, and Aqishaphyllum sp. A. Corals from the middle member of the formation include Frechocystis pertinax Pedder new genus and species, Calceola sp. undet., Rhizophyllum sp. aff. R. ukalundense Hill and Jell, Tryplasma enorme Pedder new species, Tryplasma sp. A, Breviphrentis sp. A, Platysmatophyllum halleri Pedder new genus and species, Pseudochonophyllum sentum Pedder new species, and Izarneophyllum barroisi (Frech) new genus. No age significant conodont has been recovered from the middle member. However, scutelluid trilobites, which, together with other trilobites, evidently used the underside of Izarne corals for shelter during molting, provide correlation with conodont sequences in the nappe domain to the north and southwest of Cabrières. From this line of evidence, the middle Izarne coral fauna is deduced to be nothoperbonus Zone age. The association of a variety of benthic trilobites, all with large eyes, provides evidence of a photic zone environment for the middle Izarne corals.

Rugose corals from the Izarne Formation belong to the Old World Realm and have nothing in common with similar age Rugosa of the Eastern Americas Realm. This implies that the dissolution of the boundary between these realms, which occurred in the Middle Devonian, did not begin before latest Emsian time.

Multivariate analytical methods, which have been used effectively in work on scleractinian corals, were applied to tabulate corals. The study involved discrimination and characterization of closely related species of Catenipora from the Selkirk Member, Red River Formation, in Manitoba. Ten morphological characters measured in transverse sections of 37 coralla were tested to perform cluster analyses. Results of correlation analysis and principal component analysis indicated that five of the characters would be suitable: tabularium area, corallite length, corallite width, tabularium length, and tabularium width.

A cluster analysis was performed on the raw data matrix coordinated with 37 coralla by the five selected morphological characters. The characters were standardized to mean 0 and variance 1, and squared Euclidean distances among the coralla were calculated. The unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic average was also employed for clustering the coralla. Four morphospecies were consequently extracted from the dendrogram, which was based on the variation of the five morphological characters, and were confirmed by two types of discriminant analysis. Morphospecies A, B, and D have distinctive ranges in variation of all characters except corallite length. Morphospecies C appears to be an intermediate form, in which the ranges of variation of all five morphological characters partially overlap with those of morphospecies A and/or B.

Another cluster analysis, including eight type specimens of Ordovician species previously reported from Manitoba, was performed on the data matrix coordinated with 45 coralla by the five morphological characters. Based on this analysis and morphological comparisons, morphospecies A–C are identified as C. rubra Sinclair and Bolton in Sinclair, 1955, C. foerstei Nelson, 1963, and C. robusta (Wilson, 1926) of Nelson, 1963 (=C. cf. robusta herein), respectively. Morphospecies D is equated with both C. agglomeratiformis (Whitfield, 1900) of Nelson, 1963 and C. aequabilis (Teichert, 1937) of Nelson, 1963 (=C. cf. agglomeratiformis herein). The result of cluster analysis based on the five selected morphological characters demonstrates efficiency in distinguishing closely related species of Catenipora from southern Manitoba. The same procedure should also be applicable to other cateniform corals.

Ossified clavicles, either as paired elements or as a median furcula, have been recorded in all major clades of dinosaurs, including ornithischians, sauropodomorphs, and theropods (Bryant and Russell, 1993). Nearly all but the most basal theropods, Eoraptor lunensis and Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis, have an ossified furcula including coelophysids (Downs, 2000; Tykoski et al., 2002; Carrano et al., 2005), allosauroids (Chure and Madsen, 1996), tyrannosaurids (Makovicky and Currie, 1998; Larson and Donnan, 2002; Brochu, 2003; Lipkin and Sereno, 2004; Larson and Rigby, 2005), therizinosaurids (Xu et al., 1999a; Zhang et al., 2001), oviraptorids (Barsbold, 1983; Clark et al., 1999, 2001; Hwang et al., 2002; Osmólska et al., 2004), troodontids (Xu and Norell, 2004), and dromaeosaurids (Norell et al., 1997; Norell and Makovicky, 1999; Xu et al., 1999b; Burnham et al., 2000; Hwang et al., 2002). No ossification of any element beyond the coracoid has been found in the pectoral girdle of the well-preserved primitive theropods, Eoraptor lunensis and Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis.

The Mississippian ammonoids Kazakhstania mangeri new species, Muensteroceras cf. oweni (Hall, 1860), and Masonoceras kentuckiense Work and Manger, 2002 occur near the base of the Nancy Member of the Borden Formation in northeastern Kentucky. Associated conodonts indicate an early Osagean [Fern Glen or lower Burlington (Dolbee Creek Member) equivalent] age corresponding to the lower Ivorian Stage of the Belgian upper Tournaisian succession.