A possible succineid land snail from the Lower Cretaceous non-marine deposits of the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge,New South Wales

A diverse non-marine molluscan fauna has been recorded from the Lower Cretaceous (middle–upper Albian), low-energy, fluvial sediments of the Griman Creek Formation at Lightning Ridge in northern New South Wales. We describe a novel addition to this assemblage—a probable pulmonate gastropod that manifests features (including shell with an inflated body whorl, expansive aperture, and reduced spire/whorl count) consistent with Succineidae, an extant cosmopolitan family of terrestrial snails. The fossils are assigned to a new genus and species (Suratia marilynae), distinguishable from existing taxa by a combination of traits: shell with sculpturing limited to fine growth lines only, lunate body whorl with a rounded periphery, markedly flattened spire (comprising up to two whorls), which is almost flush with the apical surface and delineated by a deeply impressed sutural ‘gutter,’ and presence of both a broad columellar plait and distinct columellar fold. The new taxon apparently constitutes the oldest pulmonate remains recorded from Australasia, and extends the known stratigraphical range of succineids back to the Lower Cretaceous in the Southern Hemisphere.     

The genera Cryptaulax and Procerithium (Procerithiidae,Caenogastropoda) in the Early Jurassic of Patagonia,Argentina

Ferrari, S.M., September 2012. The genera Cryptaulax and Procerithium (Procerithiidae, Caenogastropoda) in the Early Jurassic of Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 36, 325–339. ISSN 0311-5518.

New species of Cryptaulax and Procerithium (Procerithiidae, Caenogastropoda) are reported from the Lower Jurassic (Pliensbachian–Toarcian) marine deposits of west-central Chubut province, Argentinean Patagonia. Three new species are described: Cryptaulax redelii, Procerithium (Rhabdocolpus) patagoniensis and Procerithium (Infacerithum) nodosum; and the diagnoses of Cryptaulax damboreneae Ferrari and Procerithium nulloi (Ferrari) are emended. The new fossils derive from the Mulanguiñeu and Osta Arena formations and expand the known diversity of the Procerithiidae, extending its palaeobioeographical distribution into the South American Jurassic.     

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.     

First record of the ichthyodectiform fish Xiphactinus (Teleostei) from Patagonia,Argentina

Abstract

We report the first record of the genus Xiphactinus from southern South America. The recovered fossil material consists of an associated maxilla and abdominal vertebra, probably derived from latest Maastrichtian marine deposits of the Salamanca Formation in Chubut Province, Argentina. Xiphactinus has been widely reported from Late Cretaceous strata throughout the Northern Hemisphere, although to date, equivalent Southern Hemisphere occurrences include only a single specimen from Venezuela. Our new discovery thus indicates that Xiphactinus had a much more cosmopolitan distribution, encompassing the southern paleolatitudinal extremities of South America during the terminal Cretaceous.

Julieta J. De Pasqua [julietadepasqua@gmail.com], Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Av. Ángel Gallardo, 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina;

Federico L. Agnolin [fedeagnolin@yahoo.com.ar], Laboratorio de Anatomía Comparada y Evolución de los Vertebrados, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, Av. Ángel Gallardo, 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina. CONICET; Fundación de Historia Natural ‘Félix de Azara’, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Antropología, Universidad Maimónides; Hidalgo 775 piso 7, C1405BDB, Buenos Aires, Argentina;

Sergio Bogan [sergiobogan@yahoo.com.ar], Fundación de Historia Natural ‘Félix de Azara’, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales y Antropología, Universidad Maimónides; Hidalgo 775 piso 7, C1405BDB, Buenos Aires, Argentina.     

Confirmation of a Middle Jurassic age for the Eedemt Formation in Dundgobi Province,southeast Mongolia: constraints from the discovery of new spinicaudatans (clam shrimps)

Two spinicaudatan species, Triglypta eedemtensis Li sp. nov. and Dundgobiestheria mandalgobiensis Li gen. et sp. nov., are described on the basis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of newly collected specimens from paper-thin laminated black shale of the Eedemt Formation exposed at the Eedemt locality in the Khootiin Khotgor coal mine region of Dundgobi Province in southeast Mongolia. Triglypta eedemtensis is ornamented mainly with puncta and a punctate fine reticulum; radial lirae occur only on two or three growth bands near the venter. The small spinicaudatan Triglypta is a common component of the Middle Jurassic Euestheria ziliujingensis fauna and Sinokontikia fauna, and is a typical taxon in the Middle Jurassic lacustrine sequences of northern Hebei and the Junggar and Turpan basins of the Xinjiang Autonomous District of China; however, it does not occur in stratigraphically higher units elsewhere. Therefore, the age of the Eedemt Formation should be considered Middle Jurassic rather than Early Cretaceous. The Eedemt Formation is much older than the Early Cretaceous Shinekhudag Formation in the Shine Khudag area of southeast Mongolia.     

A new crustacean clam shrimp (Spinicaudata: Eosestheriidae) from the Upper Triassic of Argentina and its importance for ‘conchostracan’ taxonomy

A new species of a fossil crustacean clam shrimp (Spinicaudata: Eosestheriidae) Menucoestheria wichmanni is described from the lower Upper Triassic Vera Formation (Los Menucos Complex) in Río Negro Province, southern Argentina. This discovery represents the first record of this family in the Triassic of Argentina and the southernmost record of South American Triassic ‘conchostracans’ (Spinicaudata). The new species shows close affinities with Middle Jurassic faunas from Antarctica and offers important data on the taxonomy (notably the use of ornamentation characters), palaeobiogeography (as South America hosts the oldest-known fossils of this family) and evolution of the Gondwanan faunas. Other South American eosestheriid species are tentatively recognized. Menucoestheria is hypothesized to be the ancestral form of the Triassic–Jurassic Gondwanan eosestheriids. Relationships between European and Gondwanan eosestheriids remain unresolved.     

A late Changhsingian (latest Permian) deep-water brachiopod fauna from Guizhou,South China

O’Gorman, J.P. &; Gasparini, Z., 2013. Revision of Sulcusuchus erraini (Sauropterygia, Polycotylidae) from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 37, 161–174. ISSN 0311-5518.

Sulcusuchus erraini, from the upper Campanian–lower Maastrichtian of Patagonia, Argentina, is the only polycotylid from the Southern Hemisphere for which the skull and mandible are known. The diagnosis of the species and genus is emended based on new observations. Sulcusuchus is characterized by the following autapomorphies: (1) deep and broad rostral and mandibular grooves and (2) a wide notch on the posterior margin of the pterygoids that are combined with a part of the body of the basioccipital, forming a wide plate. Several hypotheses about the identity of the structures that could have been housed in the rostral and mandibular grooves are evaluated. Only two of several hypotheses were not discarded. The first is that the grooves may have accommodated oral glands (supralabial and sublabial), but the biological role of such glands could not be inferred. The second hypothesis is the presence of special structures of an electrosensitive and/or mechanosensitive nature, which might allow the detection of infaunal or semi-infaunal food in soft substrates, as is represented in modern analogues, such as dolphins.

José P. O’Gorman [joseogorman@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar] and Zulma Gasparini [zgaspari@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], División Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque s/n., B1900FWA La Plata, Argentina. Also affiliated with Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Av. Rivadavia 1917 (C1033AAJ), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina and CONICET: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina Received 5.6.2012; revised 31.7.2012; accepted 4.9.2012.     

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.     

First fossil pollen record of the Northern Hemisphere species Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 in Australia

Sánchez Botero, C.A., Oboh-Ikuenobe, F.E. & Macphail, M.K., 2013. First fossil pollen record of the Northern Hemisphere species Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 in Australia. Alcheringa 37, 1–5. ISSN 0311-5518.

Aglaoreidia cyclops Erdtman, 1960 is a fossil pollen species associated with upper Eocene to lower Oligocene freshwater deposits in Europe and North America. Specimens preserved in upper Eocene lignites near Norseman, Western Australia, are the first record of this Northern Hemisphere species both in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. This new report widens the biogeographic distribution originally considered for this species. The stratigraphical and environmental characteristics of A. cyclops also make it an excellent stratigraphic indicator of upper Eocene freshwater deposits in Western Australia.

Carlos A. Sánchez Botero [casmwc@mail.mst.edu], Francisca E. Oboh-Ikuenobe [ikuenobe@mst.edu] Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, 129 McNutt Hall, Rolla, MO 65409, USA; Mike Macphail [mike.macphail@anu.edu.au] Department of Archaeology and Natural History, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. Received 12.10.2012; revised 6.3.2013; accepted 7.3.2013.     

A new Early Permian bivalve fauna from the Río Genoa Formation,Patagonia, Chubut Province,Argentina

Fourteen Bivalvia species are described from the Lower Permian Río Genoa Formation, exposed in the southern Tepuel-Genoa Basin (Chubut Province, Argentina), of which one, Fletcheripecten genoensis, is new. The studied specimens are well preserved, retaining fine details of the ornament and shell morphology. Palaeotaxodonta is represented by two species of Nuculopsis and four species of Phestia; Pteriomorphia by five species in five genera; and Heteroconchia by three informal species. Most of the species recorded also occur in the northern part of Tepuel-Genoa Basin and allow demarcation of new and distinct marine intervals in the Río Genoa Formation, which was classically interpreted to represent continental deposits. The bivalve fauna confirms a Cisuralian (Early Permian) age for the Río Genoa Formation and offers potential for improved regional and global correlations.     

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 evidence of a Late Cretaceous sea turtle from Australia

The isolated scapula of a chelonioid sea turtle is described from the Upper Cretaceous (upper Maastrichtian) Miria Formation of the Giralia Ranges in Western Australia. Character states including the wide angle of divergence between the scapular processes (possibly reaching 140°), projection of the glenoid on a constricted scapular neck, and highly vascular glenoid articular surfaces suggest affinity with dermochelyoids—the most diverse and geographically widespread clade of Mesozoic chelonioids. The Miria Formation chelonioid scapula constitutes the first definitive record of a Late Cretaceous sea turtle from Australia and is one of the few occurrences thus far documented from Upper Cretaceous–Paleogene deposits in the Southern Hemisphere.     

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.     

Holothuroidea: new records from the Lower Cretaceous of the Agrio Formation,Neuquén Basin,Argentina. An integrated study with foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils

CaramÉs, A., Martinez, M., Concheyro, A., RemÍrez, M. & Adamonis, S., 6 August 2019 2019. Holothuroidea: new records from the Lower Cretaceous of the Agrio Formation, Neuquén Basin, Argentina. An integrated study with foraminifers and calcareous nannofossils. Alcheringa XX, xx–xx. ISSN 0311-5518

New records of holothurian ossicles (Echinodermata) from the Lower Cretaceous Agrio Formation, Mendoza Group, in the northern Neuquén Basin, west-central Argentina, represent, excepting some general mention of ossicles, the first collection from the Lower Cretaceous of South America. The discovery is one of the few worldwide records of holothurian remains from this age. The analysed skeletal elements are associated with other microfauna and nannoflora retrieved from washed residues of claystones and marlstones of the lower strata of the Pilmatué Member, in Área 3000 and Puerta Curaco sections. The calcareous microfossil assemblage is composed almost exclusively of the foraminifera Epistomina loncochensis, suggesting quiet marine environments and low levels of dissolved oxygen in the bottom/water interface. A late Valanginian age is confirmed by the nannofossil assemblage found together with the holothurian ossicles. Analysis of ossicle shapes allows their attribution to molpadiids (Molpadida: Molpadiidae): one two-armed racquet-like single ossicle that remains as an indeterminate molpadiid and a new genus and species proposed for the abundant cross-shaped and star-shaped ossicles. The latter, owing to the presence of four holes and the lack of a spire or some elevation projecting well out from surface in the centre of the plates, resemble two known species of the genus Cruxopadia Reich, but they differ in their arm morphology.

Andrea Caramés [carames@gl.fcen.uba.ar], IDEAN—Instituto de Estudios Geológicos Andinos ‘Don Pablo Groeber’, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón II, Intendente Güiraldes 2160-C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina; Mariano Martinez [mmartinez@macn.gov.ar], Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’, CONICET, A. Gallardo 470-C1405DJR Buenos Aires, Argentina; Andrea Concheyro [andrea@gl.fcen.uba.ar], IDEAN—Instituto de Estudios Geológicos Andinos ‘Don Pablo Groeber’, CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón II, Intendente Güiraldes 2160-C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Instituto Antártico Argentino, Argentina; Mariano Remírez [mremirez@cig.museo.unlp.edu.ar], CIG—Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Diagonal 113 N° 275-B1904DPK, La Plata, Argentina; Susana Adamonis [suad@gl.fcen.uba.ar], Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IDEAN. Ciudad Universitaria Pabellón II, Intendente Güiraldes 2160-C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina.     

Millerocaulis tekelili sp. nov., a new species of osmundalean fern from the Aptian Cerro Negro Formation (Antarctica)

Vera, E.I. iFirstarticle. Millerocaulis tekelili sp. nov., a new species of osmundalean fern from the Aptian Cerro Negro Formation (Antarctica). Alcheringa, 1–10. ISSN 0311-5518.

Ezequiel Ignacio Vera [evera@macn.gov.ar] División Paleobotánica, Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales 'Bernardino Rivadavia', Av. Angel Gallardo 470, C1524DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also affiliated with Área de Paleontología, Departamento de Ciencias Geológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellón II, Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Received 29.10.2010, revised 14.3.2011; accepted 24.3.2011.

A new species of the osmundalean fossil morphogenus Millerocaulis Tidwell emend. Vera, Millerocaulis tekelili sp. nov. is defined, based on several permineralized stems recovered from exposures of the Lower Cretaceous Cerro Negro Formation on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. This new species is characterized by the presence of an ectophloic–dictyoxylic siphonostele, inner parenchymatic and outer sclerotic cortices, heterogeneous sclerotic ring in the petiole bases, absence of sclerenchyma associated with the petiolar xylem trace, petiolar inner cortex with sclerenchyma strands and stipular wings having a large sclerenchyma bundle and several smaller ones. The presence of non-homogeneous sclerotic rings in the petiole bases allows this new species to be clearly distinguished from other Antarctic Millerocaulis, and suggests that it may represent an intermediate form in the evolutionary lineage leading from Millerocaulis to subgenus Claytosmunda of Osmunda.     

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.

     

Mecochirus Germar (Decapoda: Glypheoidea) in the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland

JELL, P.A., WOODS, J.T. & COOK, A.G., May 2017. Mecochirus Germar (Decapoda: Glypheoidea) in the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland. Alcheringa 41, 514–523 ISSN 0311-5518.

Three new species of glypheoid decapod crustaceans, Mecochirus mcclymontorum, M. bartholomaii and M. lanceolatus, are described from the late Aptian of the Eromanga, Carpentaria and Maryborough basins, respectively. The first two occur in the Doncaster Member of the Wallumbilla Formation and the last in the Maryborough Formation. This is the first record of Mecochirus Germar, 1827 or the Mecochiridae Van Straelen, 1925 in Australia and one of only a few Cretaceous occurrences of this largely Jurassic genus.

Peter A. Jell [amjell@bigpond.com], Jack T. Woods and Alex G. Cook [alex.cook@y7mail.com], School of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia Queensland 4072, Australia.     

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.     

Presence of the African Saber-toothed FelidMegantereon whitei(Broom, 1937) (Mammalia, Carnivora, Machairodontinae) in Apollonia-1 (Mygdonia Basin, Macedonia, Greece)

We have made a multivariate morphometric study of the fossils ofMegantereonfrom the Apollonia-1 site at the Mygdonia Basin (Macedonia, Greece), using discriminant functions. Results obtained indicate that these specimens belong to the African speciesMegantereon whiteiBroom, which is also found in the Lower Pleistocene of Dmanisi (East Georgia, Caucasus) and Orce (Southern Spain). Morphofunctional studies ofM. whiteisuggest that this saber-toothed felid was an ambush predator with great killing capability in relation to its food requirements, thus leaving enough meat to be scavenged by both hyaenas and hominids.M. whiteimay have played an important ecological role making the first dispersal ofHomoto Eurasia the Lower Pleistocene possible.