Paleontological Contributions is an online-only, open-access, rapid publication journal, available free of charge to anyone with internet access. The journal invites submissions that deal with all aspects of paleontology or related biological disciplines. Original research articles and monographs are welcome. Systematic treatments, including descriptions of new taxa, are welcome, and Paleontological Contributions complies with the requirements of ICBN and ICZN for publication of valid nomenclature. Paleontological Contributions supersedes the University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, new series, which consolidated into one format the three series that were published previously, Monographs, Articles, and Papers. All previous versions of Paleontological Contributions can be found on the University of Kansas ScholarWorks site. The author publication agreement is available here.
Paleontological Institute, University of Kansas
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An ichnotaxonomic assessment of the Cretaceous Dakota Group, Front Range, Colorado, USA, and its comparison to other Western interior seaway deposits
The Aptian-Cenomanian Dakota Group along the Colorado Front Range is known for its dinosaur tracks; however, it also contains extensive invertebrate marine and continental trace fossils. The Dakota Group in Colorado is subdivided into the Lytle, Plainview, Glencairn (Cañon City), Skull Creek Shale (Denver, Fort Collins), and Muddy formations. Thirty-two invertebrate ichnogenera and 34 ichnospecies were identified: Archaeonassa, Arenicolites, Asterosoma, Asthenopodichnium, Aulichnites, Chondrites, Cochlichnus, Conichnus, Cruziana, Cylindrichnus, Diplocraterion, Gyrolithes, Lockeia, Macaronichnus, Margaritichnus, Naktodemasis, Ophiomorpha, Palaeophycus, Planolites, Protovirgularia, Rhizocorallium, Rosselia, Rusophycus, Schaubcylindrichnus, Scolicia, Skolithos, Taenidium, Teichichnus, Teredolites, Thalassinoides, Treptichnus, and Zoophycos. Six tetrapod ichnogenera and three ichnospecies were identified: Caririchnium, Dromaeosauripus, Hatcherichnus, Ostendichnus, Magnoavipes, and Tetrapodosaurus. Three tetrapod ichnogenera Chelonipus, Ignotornis, and Mehliella have been reported at other sites in the Dakota Group, but none were found at our study sites. Rhizohaloes are reported in the Muddy Formation. Three vertebrate ichnogenera and two ichnospecies were previously described elsewhere by other workers. The Dakota Group trace fossils comprise eight ichnocoenoses–Caririchnium, Diplocraterion, Lockeia, Naktodemasis, Rhizohalo, Scolicia, Skolithos-Teichichnus, and Zoophycos–representing dwelling, deposit- and filter-feeding, and locomotion behaviors of plants, invertebrates, and tetrapods. Twelve previously unreported ichnogenera were identified: Archaeonassa, Asthenopodichnium, Conichnus, Cylindrichnus, Gyrolithes, Macaronichnus, Naktodemasis, Protovirgularia, Rusophycus, Taenidium, Treptichnus, and Zoophycos. This study is the first systematic ichnotaxonomic assessment of the invertebrate trace fossils of the Dakota Group along the Colorado Front Range, which has the highest reported ichnodiversity when compared to other Western Interior Seaway deposits.
Trace fossils, continental, marine, invertebrate, vertebrate, ichnofacies
Copyright (c) 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A field-based analysis of the accuracy of niche models applied to the fossil record
The use of ecological niche modeling (ENM) to estimate the geographic ranges of species is widely employed with modern fauna and is becoming more widespread in paleontology. Herein, field validation is utilized to assess the predictive accuracy of ENM methods for Paleozoic brachiopod species. This study represents the first field validation analysis of ENM methods in the fossil record. Previously published species distributions models for 8 Late Ordovician brachiopod species from the Cincinnati, Ohio region (United States) developed using GARP (Genetic Algorithm using Rule-set Prediction) were assessed for accuracy by comparing species occurrence data from a newly available set of 18 localities with the original species distribution models. Based on this data, the statistical significance of the original model set was assessed; 18 of the 22 original models were demonstrated to be statistically significant, based on field validation. Of the 140 individual species occurrences assessed, 60.8% were accurately predicted, 9.2% exhibited over prediction, and 30% exhibited under prediction. Accurate results were more common for species modeled from the greatest number of species occurrence points. The least accurate species models developed were for eurytopic species or those for which taxonomic affinities are unclear. Results indicate that with ample outcrop, well-defined stratigraphy, and sufficient fossil occurrence data, ENM methods could be successfully applied to many intervals in Earth history.
Copyright (c) 2012 Bradley J. Walls, Alycia L. Stigall https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Extraction of inclusions from (sub)fossil resins, with description of a new species of stingless bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) in Quaternary Colombian copal
Amber and copal are renowned for preserving insects and other inclusions with lifelike fidelity. However, due to their frozen-in-time nature, they are taxonomically subequal to Recent insects, which commonly require dissection in order to identify them to species level. This can be overcome to a degree through digital dissection using computed tomography, but this technique is time consuming, expensive, and not widely accessible. We attempted to dissolve inclusions out of Dominican and Baltic ambers and Quaternary Colombian copal using chloroform. Extraction of specimens from amber was unsuccessful, but we were able to extract a stingless bee from the less polymerized copal and dissect it under a microscope as if it were a recently caught insect. We were able to examine all of the features that are considered to be diagnostic for extant species, and thus our subfossil is taxonomically equivalent to a living species. The copal bee is a new species of the Trigonisca longitarsis species group (=Dolichotrigona), which is described and figured herein as Trigonisca ameliae n. sp. (Hymenoptera: Apidae). The ability to extract inclusions from (sub)fossil resins facilitates more accurate studies of Quaternary tropical forest biodiversity, in addition to molecular paleobiology and taphonomic physiochemical changes resulting from diagenetic processes following entombment in copal- and amber-forming resins. Colombian copal is radiocarbon dated within the age range <60 (postbomb) to 10,612 ± 62 years old.
Copyright (c) 2013 David Penney, Caroline Wadsworth, David I. Green, Sandra L. Kennedy, Richard F. Preziosi, Terence A. Brown https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Comprehensive database on Induan (Lower Triassic) to Sinemurian (Lower Jurassic) marine bivalve genera and their paleobiogeographic record
Marine bivalve genera that were described or mentioned for Triassic and Lower Jurassic deposits worldwide are reviewed in terms of their validity, stratigraphic range, paleogeographic distribution, paleoautecology, and shell mineralogy. Data were originally compiled at species level and are arranged systematically. A brief discussion for each genus includes synonymy, taxonomic status, and included subgenera, as well as current uncertainties about their validity and range. The distribution of each genus is also shown on paleogeographic maps. Type species and first and last appearances of each genus are also mentioned. We recognize as valid 281 genera and their included subgenera, and we further discuss 148 genera (arranged alphabetically) that were mentioned for the study interval but are not included for different reasons. The purpose of this paper is to provide an updated critical assessment of all available basic information for each genus, in order to obtain a sound database to study the generic paleodiversity of marine bivalves in the time interval from the Induan (Early Triassic) to the Sinemurian (Early Jurassic). This was a critical time for bivalve evolution and diversification, which began with the recovery from the Permian–Triassic extinction and ended with the recovery from the Triassic–Jurassic extinction.
Copyright (c) 2014 Sonia Ros-Franch, Ana Márquez-Aliaga, Susana E. Damborenea https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A trigonotarbid arachnid from the Pennsylvanian Astrasado Formation of the Kinney Brick Quarry, New Mexico
A new eophrynid trigonotarbid (Arachnida: Trigonotarbida: Eophrynidae) from the Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) Astrasado Formation of the Kinney Brick Quarry, New Mexico is described. This fossil – the first arachnid to be recorded from the Astrasado Formation – is preserved primarily as a dorsal opisthosoma. Pleophrynus hawesi sp. nov. diagnostically preserves evidence for three pairs of posterior opisthosomal spines rather than the two usually seen in other eophrynids. A comparison of opisthosomal tuberculation patterns among the best known eophrynid species is included. At ca. 304.0–306.5 Ma, our new taxon represents one of the youngest records of Eophrynidae, while the Kinney Brick Quarry is only the twelfth site in North America to yield trigonotarbid arachnids; compared to more than 60 such localities in Europe.
Copyright (c) 2014 Jason A. Dunlop, Yinan Wang, Paul A. Selden, Paula Krautz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Introduction to thematic volume “Fossil arthropods in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber (northwestern France)”
There is growing knowledge of the insect and arachnid Cretaceous diversity worldwide, most notably as a result of the discovery, in the past twenty years, of numerous Konservat-Lagerstätten (highly fossiliferous deposits) that provide a plethora of fossil arthropods (Wang & Szwedo, 2014). Early Cretaceous (Berriasian–Aptian) insects are known primarily from imprints in rocks, while fossiliferous amber yielding arthropod inclusions range mostly from the Albian to the Campanian – the sole exception being Hauterivian-Barremian amber of Lebanon and Jordan.
Copyright (c) 2014 Vincent Perrichot https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A fossil ray spider (Araneae: Theridiosomatidae) in Cretaceous amber from Vendée, France
A new species of fossil ray spider, Baalzebub? mesozoicum n. sp. (Araneae: Theridiosomatidae), is described from Mesozoic amber from the Cretaceous (Middle Cenomanian to Early Santonian) deposits of La Garnache, Vendée, NW France. The palpal structures, especially the highly sclerotized claw-shaped retrolateral ‘paracymbium’ originating as an outgrowth of the cymbium basally and the basal cymbial lamella, are considered sufficient to make a tentative placement of the new fossil species in the extant genus Baalzebub Coddington, 1986.
Copyright (c) 2014 David Penney https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Diverse barklice (Psocodea) from Late Cretaceous Vendean amber
The fossil psocodeans from Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber of Vendée, in northwestern France, are studied. Two new genera and three new species are described and illustrated, as Proprionoglaris axioperierga n. sp. (Archaeatropidae), Scocompus atelisus n. gen. and sp. (uncertain family within the Amphientometae), and Mesopsocoides dupei n. gen. and sp. (earliest fossil record of the Mesopsocidae). The new fossils are distinguished from their congeners, and their respective systematic placement is discussed. Other fragmentary fossil psocodeans from the same outcrop are illustrated and discussed. Keywords: Insecta, Psocoptera, Trogiomorpha, Troctomorpha, Psocomorpha, Cretaceous
Copyright (c) 2014 Dany Azar, André Nel, Vincent Perrichot https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
An earwig in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber (Dermaptera)
A new fossil earwig nymph is described and figured from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber of Vendée, northwestern France. Vendeenympha gravesi n. gen. and sp., is distinguished from previously recorded nymphs in other French fossil deposits and compared to modern lineages. This is the third record of earwig nymphs in French Cretaceous ambers. Keywords: Insecta, Neodermaptera, Labiduridae, Cretaceous, France
Copyright (c) 2014 Michael S. Engel, Vincent Perrichot https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A termite (Isoptera) in Late Cretaceous amber from Vendée, northwestern France
A new genus and species of primitive termite is described and figured from the remains of an alate in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber from the Department of Vendée in northwestern France. Termitotron vendeense n. gen. and sp. is distinguished on the basis of its head and wing morphology and exhibits unique features in the mouthparts relative to other Cretaceous termite genera. Brief comments are made on its possible affinities among the “Meiatermes grade” of Euisoptera.
Copyright (c) 2014 Michael S. Engel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A new genus of dustywings (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber
A new genus and species of Coniopterygidae is described from a female preserved in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber of Vendée, in northwestern France. Garnaconis dupeorum Perrichot & Nel, n. gen. and sp., displays intermixing features between Aleuropteryginae and Coniopteryginae as currently defined, making its accurate phylogenetic placement difficult. It is tentatively placed in the Aleuropteryginae. A new practical key to the Mesozoic genera of dustywings is proposed.
Copyright (c) 2014 Vincent Perrichot, Romain Garrouste, Dany Azar, André Nel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Youngest occurrence of the genus Microphorites (Diptera: Dolichopodidae): A new species in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber
A new species of the extinct genus Microphorites Hennig (Dolichopodidae: Microphorinae) is described from a single male preserved in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) Vendean amber (NW France). Microphorites magaliae n. sp., is mostly characterized by large compound eyes, flagellomere I with base bulbous and abruptly tapering to slender apex, thorax strongly hump-backed, with numerous acrostichal and dorsocentral setae, including a pair of elongate posterior setae on the mesoscutum, mesoscutellum with two long strong setae, wing vein C terminating just beyond R4+5, and R4+5 approximately equidistant between R2+3 and M1 along wing margin. It is the latest occurrence of the genus which is otherwise known exclusively from Early to mid-Cretaceous amber of Lebanon, Spain, and southwestern France. The existing key to all species of Microphorites is modified to include the new species.
Copyright (c) 2014 Vincent Perrichot, Michael S. Engel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
New biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber
The ceratopogonids from Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber of Vendée, in northwestern France, are studied. The new species Leptoconops (Leptoconops) gravesi n. sp., Leptoconops species undetermined, and Culicoides doyeni n. sp., are described, illustrated, and compared with other fossil species known for these two genera.
Copyright (c) 2014 Joanna Choufani, Vincent Perrichot, Dany Azar, André Nel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A new genus and species of pemphredonine wasp in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae)
A new genus and species of pemphredonine wasp is described and figured in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber from Vendée, in northwestern France. Menopsila dupeae n. gen. and sp., is based on a partial male preserved in a small sliver of translucent amber. The genus is placed incertae sedis within the Pemphredonini, as it intermingles features, likely plesiomorphies, of various lineages within the tribe. It likely represents a stem group to one or more of the constituent subtribes, yet it is arguably most similar to the Spilomenina.
Copyright (c) 2014 Daniel J. Bennett, Vincent Perrichot, Michael S. Engel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The extinct wasp family Serphitidae in Late Cretaceous Vendean amber (Hymenoptera)
A new species of the extinct genus Serphites Brues (Proctotrupomorpha: Bipetiolarida: Serphitidae) is described from two individuals preserved in Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian to Santonian) amber from Vendée, northwestern France. Serphites fannyae n. sp., is distinguished from its congeners and brief comments are made on the significance of finding a serphitid wasp in Vendean amber as well as potential character polarities in the family Serphitidae.
The correct taxon name, authorship, and publication date of extant ten-armed coleoids
A variety of conflicting names with different authorship is available and has been repeatedly cited for living ten-armed coleoid cephalopods. Here, I review the primary literature and show the correct name, authorship, and date for ten-armed coleoids.
Copyright (c) 2015 René Hoffmann https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The paracladistic approach to phylogenetic taxonomy
The inclusion of some paraphyletic groups in a temporally and taxonomically comprehensive phylogenetic classification is inevitable because cladistic methodology is incapable of excluding the possibility that a structurally (i.e., based on the branching pattern of a given cladogram) monophyletic group contains the ancestor of another group, i.e., that it is historically paraphyletic. Paracladistics is proposed as a pragmatic synthesis of phylogenetic and evolutionary taxonomy in which true monophyly is distinguished from structural monophyly with historical paraphyly, some structurally paraphyletic groups are retained in the interest of nomenclatorial continuity and stability, and both unranked and suprageneric ranked taxon names are defined phylogenetically. Ancestral groups are structurally paraphyletic or structurally monophyletic but historically paraphyletic sets of species that are believed to contain the ancestor for the most recent common ancestor of a descendent group. Historical paraphyly is determined by considering evidence of nesting in cladistic analyses, timing of first appearances in the fossil record, polarity in character evolution, and taxa that are morphologically intermediate between groups of species. The decision to name an ancestral group is based on the same criteria as the decision to name a clade. Ancestral groups are defined in the same manner as clades, except that their descendent group(s) are designated as external specifiers. Recognizing that two supposedly monophyletic, cladistically defined sister taxa can represent ancestral and descendent groups has implications for inferring their times of origination. To illustrate the advantages of the paracladistic approach to phylogenetic taxonomy, alternative paracladistic and phylogenetic classifications of the crown group families of Nuculanoidea (Mollusca, Bivalvia) are presented.
Copyright (c) 2015 Joseph G. Carter, Cristian R. Altaba, Laurie C. Anderson, David C. Campbell, Zongjie Fang, Peter J. Harries, Peter W. Skelton https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A new rhizangiid genus from the Miocene of North America (Sclerangia n. gen.; Florida, USA)
The colonial rhizangiid genus Sclerangia n. gen. is described from the Miocene of the USA (Chipola Formation, Florida). The new genus is characterized by plocoid to subcerioid polyp integration, cylindrical to subcylindrical or tympanoid corallites, and an endotheca that is generally absent or made of a very small number of vesicular dissepiments. Compared to other rhizangiid genera, the new taxon is characterized by rather weakly dentate septa. In addition, the new genus differs from all the rhizangiid genera by its consistent encrustation of dead gastropod shells that are inhabited by sipunculid worms.
Copyright (c) 2015 Rosemarie Baron-Szabo, Stephen Douglas Cairns https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The first giant raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation
Most dromaeosaurids were small- to medium-sized cursorial, scansorial, and arboreal, sometimes volant predators, but a comparatively small percentage grew to gigantic proportions. Only two such giant “raptors” have been described from North America. Here, we describe a new giant dromaeosaurid, Dakotaraptor steini gen. et sp. nov., from the Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota. The discovery represents the first giant dromaeosaur from the Hell Creek Formation, and the most recent in the fossil record worldwide. A row of prominent ulnar papilli or “quill knobs” on the ulna is our first clear evidence for feather quills on a large dromaeosaurid forearm and impacts evolutionary reconstructions and functional morphology of such derived, typically flight-related features. The presence of this new predator expands our record of theropod diversity in latest Cretaceous Laramidia, and radically changes paleoecological reconstructions of the Hell Creek Formation.
Copyright (c) 2015 Robert A. DePalma, David A. Burnham, Larry D. Martin, Peter L. Larson, Robert T. Bakker https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Takahashiceras – A new generic name proposed for Takahashia Matsumoto, 1984
We propose Takahashiceras as a replacement name for the pre-occupied Upper Cretaceous ammonite genus Takahashia Matsumoto 1984.
Copyright (c) 2015 René Hoffmann, Michael K. Howarth https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Corrigendum to: The first giant raptor (Theropoda: Dromaeosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation
The giant dromaeosaurid taxon Dakotaraptor steini was described by DePalma and others (2015) based upon a partial skeleton and additional referred specimens. While the holotype consists of a single individual belonging to the taxon D. steini, Arbour and others (2016) mentioned that one element, the referred furcula, was an entoplastron from a trionychid turtle. We hereby revise the hypodigm of Dakotaraptor steini to exclude the referred “furcula” of PBMNH P.10.113.T, and the referred specimens NCSM 13170 and KUVP 152429. In its corrected form, the hypodigm is now comprised only of the confirmed dromaeosaurid elements referable to D. steini.
Copyright (c) 2016 Robert A. DePalma, David A. Burnham, Larry D. Martin, Peter L. Larson, Robert T. Bakker https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The Upper Oxfordian and Lower Kimmeridgian ammonite genera Idoceras Burckhardt, 1906, and Subnebrodites Spath, 1925
The type species of the genera Idoceras Burckhardt and Subnebrodites Spath are clarified in order to preserve the current universal usage of the Planula Zone in the Upper Oxfordian and the Balderus Zone in the Lower Kimmeridgian of the Submediterranean Province. To protect both zones, the identification of Ammonites planula Hehl in Zieten, 1830 in 1830–1833, is investigated and found to be a nomen nudum.
Copyright (c) 2017 Raymond Énay, Michael K. Howarth https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Efficient Ornamentation in Ordovician Anthaspidellid Sponges
Lithistid orchoclad sponges within the family Anthaspidellidae Ulrich in Miller, 1889 include several genera that added ornate features to their outer-wall surfaces during Early Ordovician sponge radiation. Ornamented anthaspidellid sponges commonly constructed annulated or irregularly to regularly spaced transverse ridge-and-trough features on their outer-wall surfaces without proportionately increasing the size of their internal wall or gastral surfaces. This efficient technique of modifying only the sponge’s outer surface without enlarging its entire skeletal frame conserved the sponge’s constructional energy while increasing outer-wall surface-to-fluid exposure for greater intake of nutrient bearing currents. Sponges with widely spaced ridge-and-trough ornament dimensions predominated in high-energy settings. Widely spaced ridges and troughs may have given the sponge hydrodynamic benefits in high wave force settings. Ornamented sponges with narrowly spaced ridge-and-trough dimensions are found in high energy paleoenvironments but also occupied moderate to low-energy settings, where their surface-to-fluid exposure per unit area exceeded that of sponges with widely spaced surface ornamentations.
Copyright (c) 2017 Stephen B. Church https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Stevensites, Zittelites, and Gyrophylloceras, new generic names proposed for Stevensia Énay, 2009, Zittelia Tavera Benitez, 1985, and Gyrophyllites Wiedmann, 1963 (Mollusca: Ammonoidea)
Stevensites, Zittelites, and Gyrophylloceras are proposed as replacement names for the preoccupied ammonite genera Stevensia Énay, 2009, Zittelia Tavera Benitez, 1985, and Gyrophyllites Wiedmann, 1963, respectively.
Copyright (c) 2018 Raymond Énay, Michael K. Howarth https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Ichnotaxonomy of the Cambrian Spence Shale Member of the Langston Formation, Wellsville Mountains, Northern Utah, USA
The Spence Shale of northern Utah is the oldest North American middle Cambrian (~506–505 Ma) Burgess Shale-type (BST) deposit and, unlike previously thought for BST deposits, has a very diverse ichnofauna. Twenty-four ichnogenera and 35 ichnospecies were identified: Archaeonassa (A. fossulata and A. jamisoni isp. nov.), Arenicolites carbonaria, Aulichnites, Bergaueria (B. hemispherica and B.aff. perata), Conichnus conicus, Cruziana (C. barbata and C. problematica), Dimorphichnus, Diplichnites (D. cf. binatus, D. gouldi, andD.cf. govenderi), Gordia marnia, Gyrophyllites kwassizensis, Halopoa aff. imbricata, Lockeia siliquaria, Monomorphichnus (M. bilinearis,M.lineatus, and M. cf. multilineatus), Nereites cf. macleayi, Phycodes curvipalmatum, Phycosiphon incertum, Planolites (P. annularius, P.beverleyensis, and P. montanus), Protovirgularia (P. dichotoma and P. cf. pennatus), Rusophycus (R. carbonarius, R. cf. pudicus, and R. cf.cerecedensis), Sagittichnus lincki, Scolicia, Taenidium cf. satanassi, Teichichnus cf. nodosus, and Treptichnus (T. bifurcus, T. pedum, and T.vagans). The ichnofossils comprise three ichnocoenoses—Rusophycus-Cruziana, Sagittichnus, and Arenicolites-Conichnus—representingdwelling, deposit- and filter-feeding, grazing, locomotion, and predation behaviors of organisms (e.g., annelid worms and trilobites).Two ichnofossil associations are suggestive of predation: (1) Planolites terminating at a Rusophycus; and (2) Archaeonassa crosscuttinga Taenidium. The Spence Shale ichnofauna represent a distal Cruziana Ichnofacies and depauperate, distal Skolithos Ichnofacies. Anew ichnospecies of Archaeonassa is proposed, A. jamisoni isp. nov., and Ptychoplasma (Protovirgularia) vagans is herein transferred toTreptichnus. This study is the first ichnotaxonomic study of the Spence Shale and North American BST deposits and shows highlydiverse ichnofaunas can be present in BST deposits.
Copyright (c) 2018 Sean Robert Hammersburg, Stephen T. Hasiotis, Richard A. Robison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Eromangateuthis N. Gen., A New Genus for a Late Albian Gladius-Bearing Giant Octobrachian (Cephalopoda: Coleoidea)
A comparative analysis shows that the gladius morphology of Boreopeltis helgolandiae Engeser & Reitner, 1985 (Aptian), the type species of Boreopeltis Engeser & Reitner, 1985, Boreopeltis sagittata (Naef, 1921) (Tithonian), and Boreopeltis smithi Fuchs & Larson, 2011 (Cenomanian) is fundamentally different from Boreopeltis soniae Wade, 1993 (Aptian). I therefore propose Eromangateuthis n. gen. in order to accommodate Eromangateuthis soniae (Wade, 1993).
Copyright (c) 2019 Dirk Fuchs https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Notes on the Permian Kalenterid Bivalvia Genus Netschajewia Licharev, 1925 and Related Forms
The identity of the Permian kalenterid Netschajewia Licharev, 1925 has been uncertain because its author indicated it could be regarded as a replacement name for the preoccupied Modiolodon Netschajew, 1894 yet Newell (1957) treated Netschajewia as a subgenus of Stutchburia Etheridge Jr., 1900, and designated a type species different from that proposed by La Rocque and Newell (1969) for Modiolodon Netschajew. Netschajewia is confirmed as a replacement name for Modiolodon, thereby invalidating Newell’s (1957) erroneous type designation (misidentified type species) for Netschajewia. The names Ivanovia Astafieva-Urbajtis in Astafieva-Urbajtis and Ramovš, 1978 and Astafia Goncharova, 2013 are objective junior synonyms of Netschajewia. Netschajewia is definitely known only from its type species and one additional Permian species. It is assigned to the kalenterid subfamily Myoconchinae. The genus Verneuilnodon Fang & Carter, gen. nov. (subfamily Healeyinae Hautmann, 2008, reduced in rank herein from family Healeyidae) is proposed for Permian Mytilus (Modiola) pallasi de Verneuil, 1845, as restricted herein. The new Permian species, Kasimlara? antiqua (subfamily Healeyinae) is proposed. The wide circulation of Chavan’s (1969) republication of Newell’s (1957) erroneous type designation for Netschajewia means that modern references to this genus should be reevaluated.
Copyright (c) 2022 Zong-jie Fang, Joseph G. Carter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Systematics, paleobiology, and taphonomy of some exceptionally preserved trilobites from Cambrian Lagerstätten of Utah
Mid-Cambrian biotas of the Spence, Wheeler, Marjum, and Weeks formations in Utah are exceptionally diverse. Continued collecting has produced additional trilobites here assigned to one new genus, Meniscopsia, and 25 new species. The new species, all known from complete or nearly complete dorsal exoskeletons, are Amecephalus jamisoni, Athabaskia gladei, Bolaspidella jarrardi, Bolaspidella reesae, Burlingia halgedahlae, Coosella kieri, Ehmaniella whitei, Glossopleura campbelli, Glossopleura yatesi, Ithycephalus stricklandi, Kootenia randolphi, Kootenia youngorum, Meniscopsia beebei, Menomonia sahratiani, Modocia comforti, Modocia kohli, Modocia whiteleyi, Norwoodia boninoi, Olenoides skabelundi, Olenoides vali, Polypleuraspis cooperi, Ptychoparella lloydi, Ptychoparella mettae, Zacanthoides liddelli, and Zacanthoides marshalli. Descriptions of two other species, Triadaspis bigeneris and Zacanthoides typicalis, are expanded to include new information from complete dorsal exoskeletons. The ventral cephalic presence of a functional rostral-hypostomal suture in the corynexochoid Zacanthoides marshalli further demonstrates that a fused rostral-hypostomal plate is not a unique defining character of the order Corynexochida, adding to evidence that the Corynexochida may be a polyphyletic taxon. The ventral cephalic presence of a median suture, associated with a rostellum in Norwoodia boninoi, order Ptychopariida, is further evidence for a polyphyletic origin of the median suture, previously cited as a unique apomorphic character defining the order Asaphida, which needs revision. The presence of a mineralized alimentary tract and digestive glands in some specimens of Meniscopsia beebei and Coosella kieri suggests that the gut was fluid filled at the time of burial and that the species were predaceous. Collapsed glabellas are interpreted as further evidence of fluid-filled gut tracts in some of the new species. Many of the articulated trilobites preserved in mid-Cambrian Lagerstätten of Utah were probably buried under rapidly deposited sediment clouds on a storm-prone marine shelf. Occasionally, trilobite clusters were buried. Encrustation of fully articulated individuals with calcitic cone-in-cone deposits in the Wheeler and Marjum formations is a likely consequence of concretionary-type growth within a biofilm shortly after death.
Copyright (c) 2011 Richard A. Robison, Loren E. Babcock https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A Synoptical Classification of the Bivalvia (Mollusca)
Synoptical Classification
Copyright (c) 2011 Joseph G. Carter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
A new Cambrian arthropod, Emeraldella brutoni, from Utah
Emeraldella is a rare arthropod of relatively large body size that belongs with the trilobite-like arthropods, Artiopoda. E. brutoni n. sp. from the Wheeler Formation of west-central Utah is the second species described and marks the first confirmed occurrence of Emeraldella outside the Burgess Shale of British Columbia. An articulated, flagelliform telson, similar to that of the Burgess Shale taxon Molaria, is recognized in Emeraldella. Evidence for the presence of lamellae on the exopods of Molaria is presented, supporting affinity of that taxon with Artiopoda. A close relationship between Emeraldella and Molaria is tentatively suggested, based on the morphology of tergites and telson.
Wheeler Formation, Drum Mountains, exceptional preservation, Arthropoda
Copyright (c) 2011 Martin Stein, Stephen B. Church, Richard A. Robison https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0