The record of Araucariaceae macrofossils in New Zealand

Pole, M., December, 2008. The record of Araucariaceae macrofossils in New Zealand. Alcheringa 32, 405–426. ISSN 0311-5518.

The Araucariaceae have a long record in New Zealand, extending back to the Jurassic at least, and Araucaria extends back to at least the Late Cretaceous. This paper reviews the macrofossil record of the family and presents new information based largely on the leaf cuticle record. Agathis, which is the only genus of the family currently growing in New Zealand, has no record before the Cenozoic. All specimens previously identified from pre-Cenozoic strata clearly belong to other taxa or do not show characteristic features of the genus. Araucariaceae macrofossils are virtually ubiquitous in the Cretaceous assemblages of New Zealand but are conspicuous by their absence or rarity in Palaeocene deposits. Their demise may be an expression of events at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary.     

A new fossil petalurid dragonfly (Odonata: Petaluroidea: Aktassiidae) from the Cretaceous of China

LI, Y.J., HAN, G., NEL, A. REN, D., PANG, H. & LIU. X.L., September 2012. A new fossil petalurid dragonfly (Odonata: Petaluroidea: Aktassiidae) from the Cretaceous of China. Alcheringa 36, 321–324. ISSN 0311-5518.

The new petalurid species Pseudocymatophlebia boda is described from Lower Cretaceous strata of Inner Mongolia, China. It provides additional morphological characters for this genus, which has been previously recorded from the Lower Cretaceous of England. Together with Aktassia, it is the second aktassiid genus with a very wide distribution, even though this family remains known only from Eurasia. Furthermore, a new name, Brachaktassia gen. nov., is proposed to replace the brachiopod genus Aktassia Popov, 1976.     

The distribution of the Mesozoic ostracod genus Procytherura Whatley: palaeogeographical implications with special reference to Argentina

A review is undertaken of the nine species of Procytherura known to occur in Argentina and a new species, Procytherura serangodes sp. nov. is described. The global distribution of the genus indicates that it was more or less equally diverse and widely distributed in both hemispheres during most of the Lower and Middle Jurassic, but that in the Upper Jurassic and in the Lower Cretaceous, it became progressively restricted to the Southern Hemisphere. The widespread distribution of several Jurassic species of Procytherura, which occur in both Great Britain and Northwest Europe and in Argentina, is shown to be related to the availability of important migration routes, including the Tethys and the Hispanic Corridor. In the Lower Cretaceous, the very widespread distribution of Procytherura in the Southern Hemisphere, is used to support the existence of important routes along the eastern and western seaboards of Africa, the latter associated with the opening of the South Atlantic.     

Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) microplankton from the Carpentaria Basin,northern Queensland

The Neocomian upper Helby Beds, basal Rolling Downs Group and Gilbert River Formation of the Carpentaria Basin contain a dinoflagellate sequence divisible into three zonal intervals; the zones represent the oldest continuous marine Cretaceous record for eastern Australia. Zone DK1 (dated latest Jurassic to Berriasian) commences with the first appearance of four species, zone DK2 (dated Valanginian) with that of four or five species, and zone DK3 (dated Hauterivian to Barremian) with that of three species.

Biostratigraphic aspects are discussed of species selected as possible zone marker fossils in so far as they (a) are relatively poorly known, or represent new species, and (b) have no previously published Neocomian record. New combinations are proposed of one acritarch species and six dinoflagellate species. One new acritarch genus and species, Pseudofromea collaris, and four new dinoflagellate species — Canningia crassicingulata, Cleistosphaeridium australe, Cyclonephelium asymmetricum, and Muderongia testudinaria — are proposed and described.     

Metaceratodus kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov., two Late Cretaceous South American species of an austral lungfish genus (Dipnoi)

Cione, A.L. & Gouiric-Cavalli, S., June 2012. Metaceratodus kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov., two Late Cretaceous South American species of an austral lungfish genus (Dipnoi). Alcheringa 36, 203–216. ISSN 0311-5518.

Metaceratodus wollastoni, an Australian species, was reported from Upper Cretaceous beds of Patagonia in 1997. Later, three new species (Ceratodus wichmanni, Ptychoceratodus kaopen and Ptychoceratodus cionei), based on scarce material, were described from the same region. Two of these species were later referred to Ferganoceratodus. After examining much more abundant and better-preserved material, we conclude that neither the occurrence of Metaceratodus wollastoni nor those of Ptychoceratodus and Ferganoceratodus in the Cretaceous of South America are supported. We consider that C. wichmanni and P. cionei are synonyms and we reassign the three putative species to Metaceratodus under two new combinations: M. kaopen comb. nov. and M. wichmanni comb. nov. Both differ from the other species of the genus in having pits over most of the occlusal surface and a different occlusal profile of the tooth plate, and most have four ridges in the lower and upper tooth plates. Metaceratodus wichmanni differs from M. kaopen in oclussal profile, inner angle, and symphysis development among other features. Metaceratodus kaopen is known from the upper Santonian–lower Campanian Anacleto Formation of Río Negro province and M. wichmanni from upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian units of Chubut, Río Negro, Neuquén and Mendoza provinces, Argentina. The occurrence of Metaceratodus in southern South America corroborates a close biogeographical relationship with Australia in the latest Cretaceous.

Alberto Luis Cione [acione@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar] and Soledad Gouiric-Cavalli [sgouiric@museo.fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n, W1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. Received 23.11.2010, revised 11.7.2011, accepted 7.8.2011.

     

A new non-marine Early Cretaceous gastropod species from Lightning Ridge,New South Wales

A new species of thiarid snail attributable to the extant genus Melanoides is described from the Early Cretaceous (middle-late Albian) non-marine deposits of the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge in northern New South Wales. It represents the oldest Australian record of the genus and the family. Implications for the palaeoecology and distribution of Australian Cretaceous non-marine gastropods are discussed.     

Umkomasia (megasporophyll): part 1 of a reassessment of Gondwana Triassic plant genera and a reclassification of some previously attributed

The genus Umkomasia, a megasporophyll, belonging to the pteridosperms (seed ferns) in the family Umkomasiaceae (Corystospermaceae), is reassessed comprehensively worldwide. All previous records are analysed. Certain fertile structures previously attributed are reclassified. Umkomasia is shown to be restricted to the Triassic of Gondwana where it is associated with the genus Pteruchus, a microsporophyll, and the genus Dicroidium, a vegetative leaf. It is well represented from Argentina, Australia and southern Africa where the Molteno Formation is by far the most comprehensively sampled with eight species described. Two specimens from the upper Permian of India attributed to Umkomasia are reclassified as cf. Arberiopsis sp. A whorled fertile structure from Antarctica, previously assigned to Umkomasia, is reclassified in a new genus as Axsmithia uniramia. Another compression fossil and the permineralized Umkomasia resinosa remain as valid records from Antarctica. The material described as Umkomasia from the Triassic of China is reclassified as Stenorachis asiatica. The Lower Jurassic record from Germany is placed in a new genus as Kirchmuellia franconica. The records of Umkomasia sp. from the Rhaetic of Germany are reclassified as cf. Kirchmuellia sp. and the single specimen from the Jurassic of Libya as genus et sp. indet. The Lower Cretaceous record from Mongolia has been reclassified by other researchers as Doylea mongolica. A pictorial key to Umkomasia species is provided, geographic and stratigraphic distributions are tabulated.     

A new fossil genus in Pamphiliidae (Hymenoptera) from China

A new genus with two new species, Scabolyda orientalis gen. et sp. nov. and Scabolyda incompleta sp. nov., assigned to the subfamily Juralydinae in the family Pamphiliidae are described and illustrated. They were collected from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation and the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation in northeastern China. They represent the first fossil pamphiliids described from China.     

The first record of Galea Meyen, 1832 (Rodentia,Hystricognathi, Caviidae) in the late Pleistocene of southern Brazil and its palaeobiogeographic implications

The first caviine rodent referable to Galea Meyen, 1832 is described from the late Pleistocene of southern Brazil based on a left dentary with the p4–m3 series. The specimen derives from the Ponte Velha I locality in the Touro Passo Creek (Touro Passo Formation, upper Pleistocene), western Rio Grande do Sul State. The main characters used to assign this specimen to Galea are: anterior area of horizontal crest at the level of prism I of p4; deep anterior area of masseteric fossa; incisor alveolus on the medial face of the dentary extended up to the level of prism II of m2; and presence of cement in the hypoflexid. Currently, the genus has a disjunct distribution, with a group in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, and another in northern and northeastern Brazil. The presence of this taxon in Pleistocene deposits of Rio Grande do Sul State, Uruguay and the Argentine Mesopotamian, where there are no extant representatives of the genus, indicates its wider distribution during the late Pleistocene.     

Bryozoans from the late Cretaceous Kahuitara Tuff of the Chatham Islands,New Zealand

Taylor, P.D., & Gordon, D.P., December, 2007. Bryozoans from the Late Cretaceous Kahuitara Tuff of the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Alcheringa 31, 339-363. ISSN 0311-5518.

Fourteen bryozoan species are described from the Campanian – Maastrichtian Kahuitara Tuff of Pitt Island, substantially increasing the known diversity in this deposit from the two species recorded previously and making it the most diverse bryozoan biota yet described from the Cretaceous of Australasia. Nine of the Kahuitara Tuff bryozoans are cyclostomes, four are cheilostomes, and one is a shell-boring ctenostome. Seven new species are described: Ceriocava hakepaensis sp. nov., Tholopora australis sp. nov., Crisidmonea lanauzeorum sp. nov., Cookobryozoon cretacea sp. nov., Chiplonkarina preeceorum sp. nov. Chiplonkarina bifoliata sp. nov. and Aechmella rangiauriensis sp. nov. The remaining species are left in open nomenclature because of preservational deficiencies or lack of taxon-diagnostic gonozooids. The ctenostome family Cookobryozoidae is subsumed in the Terebriporidae. The new family Chiplonkarinidae is proposed for anascan cheilostomes previously assigned to the paraphyletic Electridae and distinguished by having primarily erect colonies with long, tubular zooids reminiscent of stenolaemates. None of the Kahuitara Tuff bryozoan species is known elsewhere, but all apart from one genus occur in roughly coeval deposits. No families regarded as particularly characteristic of the austral post-Cretaceous are evident. The relatively large number (three) of co-occurring species of Chiplonkarina is notable, as is the dominance of cyclostomes and the first record of Tholopora in the Southern Hemisphere.

Paul D. Taylor [p.taylor@nhm.ac.uk], Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; Dennis P. Gordon [d.gordon@niwa.co.nz], National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Private Bag 14-901, Kilbirnie, Wellington, New Zealand; received 7.3.2006, revised 3.9.2006.     

First record of Acesta (Bivalvia: Limidae) from the Cretaceous of Australia

The cosmopolitan, Jurassic to Recent, bivalve Acesta (Limidae) is documented from Australian Cretaceous (upper Albian) rocks in the lowermost section of the Mackunda Formation of Queensland. These specimens from Landsborough Downs, Flinders Shire, represent an endemic new species, herein named Acesta (Acesta) backae n. sp. Acesta (A.) backae n. sp. was a shallow-water suspension feeder that inhabited the Cretaceous Australian epicontinental sea of the Great Artesian Basin. Although hinge details of Acesta (A.) backae n. sp. are wanting, this new taxon is most closely allied with Acesta? sp. of the Miria Formation of Western Australia and can clearly be discriminated from other Cretaceous Austral forms.     

South polar greenhouse insects (Arthropoda: Insecta: Coleoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Tupuangi Formation,Chatham Islands,eastern Zealandia

Stilwell, J.D., Vitacca, J. & Mays, C., April 2016. South polar greenhouse insects (Arthropoda: Insecta: Coleoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Tupuangi Formation, Chatham Islands, eastern Zealandia. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

Rare insect body fossils have been discovered for the first time after 175 years of research on the Chatham Islands, eastern ‘Zealandia’. The coleopteran (beetle) insects, dated to ca 95 Ma and extracted from fine-grained, upper delta plain facies in the lower Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–lowermost Turonian) Tupuangi Formation at Waihere Bay on the remote Pitt Island, represent the most southern, polar-latitude (ca 70–80°S) faunal assemblage from the Cretaceous recorded to date. Three species are represented in the insect fauna: a portion of a segmented abdomen of a probable carabid? ground beetle and two distinct coleopteran elytra, one preserved with a brilliantly iridescent carapace upon discovery, comparable with Cretaceous taxa within the Buprestidae (metallic wood borers), but identification with the Chrysomelidae (leaf beetles) or Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles) can not be discounted entirely. Another specimen has more weakly preserved greenish iridescence and has a morphology consistent with Carabidae; given the preservational deficiencies and rarity of material, the specimens are attributed to Buprestidae? genus et species indeterminate and Carabidae? genus et species indeterminate A and B, respectively. These coleopteran fossils represent the only recorded iridescence in Mesozoic invertebrates from Zealandia. Importantly, these mid-Cretaceous insects existed in South Polar forests near the height of the ‘hothouse’ phase of relatively warm, alternating intervals of full daylight in the summer months and total darkness during the winter, before eastern Zealandia diverged at ca 83 Ma from the Marie Byrd Land region of West Antarctica, as part of the final break-up of Gondwana.

Jeffrey D. Stilwell* [jeffrey.stilwell@monash.edu], Jesse V. Vitacca [jesse.vitacca@gmail.com] & Chris Mays [chris.mays@monash.edu], School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia. *Also affiliated with the Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia.     

Evolutionary morphological changes in the new genus Duoforisa: implication for classification and habitat of the unilocular Foraminifera

Qianyu Li & Brian Mcgowran, 1994:03:28. Evolutionary morphological changes in the new genus Duoforisa: implication for classification and habit of the unilocular Foraminifera. Alcheringa 18, 121–134. ISSN 0311-5518.

Unlike other unilocular foraminifera, the new genus Duoforisa from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene possesses a kidney-shaped test with two apertures on its distal ends. It contains two distinct and successional species, both new, and differentiated by their apertural details. In Duoforisa rima the apertures are slit-like, and become radial in the descendant D. diducta. Intermediate forms have transitional apertural configurations between the slit type and radial type, accompanied also by a change of the test outline from subtriangular to compactly U-shaped. The evolution of the lineage occurred during a period of enhanced upwelling in the Early Miocene and it was terminated just before the global warming at the Early-Middle Miocene boundary. This example suggests evolution of the unilocular foraminifera through successional morphological changes in test shape and in the aperture. Unilocular taxa have tended to flourish or speciate in cool or upwelling environments. Their contraction in the latest Early Miocene to early Middle Miocene was probably due to global warming and well oxygenated conditions which were widespread in the neritic domains of southern Australia.     

Significance of new species of Cryptorhynchia (Brachiopoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Kutch,India

Cryptorhynchia is a brachiopod genus, until recently known only from the late Bathonian. Two new species C. karuna and C. jhooraensis are here described from the middle Bathonian at Kutch, western India and record the earliest known occurrences of the genus. They constitute ancestor-descendant lineages with the two existing younger species C. pulcherrima and C. rugosa respectively. Evolution in both cases shows ‘parallel’ trends and the descendants are scaled-down versions of their respective progenitors. Statistical analyses reveal that this evolutionary miniaturization involves allometry-induced heterochrony, especially progenesis, and is marked by a rapid speciation event compatible with the punctuational model. Evolution appears to be anagenetic and may be attributed to the unstable nature of environment where onshore innovation produced smaller descendants that adopted r-strategy. Facies distribution and functional morphology suggest that species of Cryptorhynchia were well adapted to shallow, unstable carbonate shelf. However, they disappeared suddenly at the Bathonian - Callovian boundary which was marked by a global transgression. The possible causal factors of their extinction may be the consequent changes in bathymetry and substrate condition.     

A new fossil genus of forest wallaby (Marsupialia,Macropodinae) and a review of Protemnodon from eastern Australia and New Guinea

A new macropodine genus and species, Silvaroo bila, is described from the Pliocene Chinchilla Sand of Queensland. The generic concept of Protemnodon is reviewed, and it is concluded that two Pliocene species previously placed in that genus (bandharr and buloloensis) belong in Silvaroo. Species of Silvaroo resemble the modern forest wallabies of Papua New Guinea (species of Dorcopsis and Dorcopsulus) and also bear close phenetic resemblance to the late Miocene Dorcopsoides fossilis. Forest wallabies are not known from mainland Australia after the middle Pliocene, but occur in the late Pliocene and Pleistocene of New Guinea.     

Chorilingia (Neuroptera: Grammolingiidae): a new genus of lacewings with four species from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia,China

SHI, C.F., WANG, Y.J., YANG, Q. & REN, D., September 2012. Chorilingia (Neuroptera: Grammolingiidae): a new genus of lacewings with four species from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China. Alcheringa 36, 311–320. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new grammolingiid genus, Chorilingia containing four new species (C. euryptera, C. parvica, C. translucida and C. peregrina) is described and illustrated from the Jiulongshan Formation at Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. The new genus is differentiated mainly on the first branch of vein Rs (Rs1) separating distal to the forks of both CuA and CuP. A key to species of the genus is provided.     

Significance of diadematid echinoid ossicles in micropalaeontological samples,Miocene–Pliocene of Indonesia

Fragments of diadematoid echinoids from the early and middle Miocene, and late Miocene–Pliocene, respectively, of Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, Indonesia, are identified as diadematid spp. indet. (radioles from all sites) and Centrostephanus sp. (an interambulacral plate; early Miocene, Java). The radioles are probably a mixture of Diadema ± Centrostephanus ± Echinothrix. This is the first report of identifiable fossil diadematoid remains from Indonesia and demonstrates that these echinoids, so common in modern reef environments, were present in the Neogene of the region. Even though classified in open nomenclature, Centrostephanus sp. nevertheless provides further evidence for the Cenozoic record of a genus in which the only nominal species are of Late Cretaceous and Holocene age.     

Repairs to an injured early Middle Cambrian Trilobite,Elkedra area,Northern Territory

Wang, Y., Shih, C., Szwedo, J. &; Ren, D. iFirst article. New fossil palaeontinids (Hemiptera, Cicadomorpha, Palaeontinidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, China. Alcheringa, 1–12. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new genus and species assigned to the extinct family Palaeontinidae, Synapocossus sciacchitanoae Wang, Shih &; Ren, is described from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou in Inner Mongolia, China. This new genus is established based on well-preserved fossil specimens with body and complete forewings and hind wings. It differs from other described genera by the following characters: small body size, RP and M₁ coalescing for an interval on the forewings and M_3 + 4 without bifurcation on the hind wings. The RP coalescence with M₁ in Synapocossus Wang, Shih &; Ren previously reported only in Turgaiella Becker-Migdisova &; Wootton, seems to be associated with strengthening of the anterior wing margin. The intra-specific and individual variations of Synapocossus and numerous other insect fossils of northeastern China probably indicate long-lasting ecological stresses and a competitive environment in the Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous ecosystems.     

Late Paleocene foraminiferal faunas with Chapmanina and Reticulophragmium from offshore southeastern Australia: a Tethyan influence

Samples from off southern New South Wales in approximately 1750 m water depth have yielded late Paleocene faunas of benthic and planktonic foraminifera and other invertebrates. Two faunal associations with a strong Tethyan influence, dominated respectively by Chapmanina conjuncta sp. nov. and Reticulophragmium naroomaensis sp. nov., are described; this is the first formal record of these genera from Australasia. The age of the host sediment is based on both benthic species and few planktonic foraminifera.

The environment at the time was warm temperate to subtropical at the southwestern extremity of a counter-clockwise Pacific Ocean gyre. The new occurrence extends the record of Palaeogene marine sediments and palaeoenvironments along the eastern margin of Australia and confirms earlier observations that conditions in the marine environment at that time were considerably warmer along the east coast of Australia than those along the southern margin; the biogeographic association was Tethyan. The circulation model may go some way to explaining coeval warmth along the east Antarctic coast.