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.     

First record of Procariama simplex Rovereto, 1914 (Phorusrhacidae,Psilopterinae) in the Cerro Azul Formation (upper Miocene) of La Pampa Province; remarks on its anatomy,palaeogeography and chronological range

Vezzosi, R.I., June 2012. First record of Procariama simplex Rovereto, 1914 (Phorusrhacidae, Psilopterinae) in the Cerro Azul Formation (upper Miocene) of La Pampa Province; remarks on its anatomy, palaeogeography and chronological range. Alcheringa, 157–169. ISSN 0311-5518.

New records of Procariama simplex in central and northwestern Argentina are reported. The fossil material includes mandibular bones, cervical vertebrae and several elements of the fore and hindlimbs. After an exhaustive comparison of anatomical characters and morphometric analysis, the fossil specimens are assigned to the psilopterine Procariama simplex. The specimen from La Pampa Province represents the first record of a psilopterine in this central region of Argentina and derives from upper Miocene sediments of the Cerro Azul Formation. Lithological features and biostratigraphical data allow the host bed to be assigned to the Huayquerian faunal stage (late Miocene). The La Pampa record broadens the geographical distribution of Procariama simplex, which was previously restricted to northwestern Argentina.

Raúl Ignacio Vezzosi [vezzosiraul@gmail.com], Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción CICYTTP-CONICET, Materi y España s/n (3105), Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Received 1.4.2011, revised 28.5.2011, accepted 14.6.2011.     

A new species of Scirrotherium Edmund & Theodor, 1997 (Xenarthra,Cingulata, Pampatheriidae) from the late Miocene of South America

Góis, F., Scillato-Yané, G.J., Carlini, A.A. & Guilherme, E. 2013. A new species of Scirrotherium Edmund & Theodor, 1997 (Xenarthra, Cingulata, Pampatheriidae) from the late Miocene of South America. Alcheringa 37, 175–186. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new species of Scirrotherium Edmund & Theodor (Pampatheriidae) is described: S. carinatum. This genus was previously represented by a single species, S. hondaensis Edmund & Theodor, 1997, recorded from the middle Miocene (Laventan) of Colombia. Pampathere remains are common in the ‘Conglomerado osífero’ (late Miocene) of the Ituzaingó Formation in the Paraná River cliffs of Entre Ríos, Chubut (Argentina) and Acre (Brazil). All of them were referred to Kraglievichia paranense, and they are mostly osteoderms. However, only a few of these specimens are strictly consistent with that species. The new species described herein differs from S. hondaensis in having very thin osteoderms with more elaborate ornamentation. The movable band (or imbricate) osteoderms have a sculptured exposed surface and a single transverse row of anterior foramina; the lateral margins are wider and also bear foramina, and the longitudinal central elevation is long and proximally wide, and forms a posteriorly raised crest. This elevation is delimited by a fairly broad and shallow depression on each side, separating the marginal elevation from the longitudinal central one. The exposed surfaces of fixed (or fused) osteoderms bear large and deep anterior foramina, the longitudinal central elevation and delimiting depressions are very pronounced. This new species increases the known diversity of the pampatheres from the ‘Conglomerado osífero’. Additionally, a new nomenclatural scheme for Pampatheriidae osteoderms is proposed.

Flávio Góis [goisf@fcnym]unlp.edu.ar], Gustavo Juan Scillato-Yané [scillato@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], Alfredo Armando Carlini [acarlini@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar], Departamento Científico Paleontología Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque, s/n, 1900, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina and CONICET; Edson Guilherme [guilherme@ufac.br], Universidade Federal do Acre, Laboratório de Pesquisas Paleontológicas (LPP), BR 364, Km 04, 69.915-900. Rio Branco, AC, Brazil. Received 11.5.2012; revised 31.7.2012; accepted 4.9.2012 .     

Archaeocyaths from Yorke Peninsula,South Australia and archaeocyathan Early Cambrian zonation

Zhuravlev, A. Yu., & Gravestock, D. I., 1994:03:28. Archaeayaths from Yorke Peninsula, South Australia and archaeocyathan Early Cambrian zonation. Alcheringa 18, 1–54. ISSN 0311-5518.

Two assemblages of archaeocyaths are documented from Lower Cambrian outcrops and drillholes on Yorke Peninsula. South Australia. The older assemblage (11 species) occurs in the uppermost Kulpara Formation and conformably overlying basal Parara Limestone, and is equivalent to Lower Faunal Assemblage II in the Flinders Ranges. The younger assemblage (28 species plus Acanthhcyathus and Rodiocyathus) occurs in the Koolywurtie Member near the top of the Parara Limestone. Equivalent taxa are widespread in the Flinders Ranges, western New South Wales and Antarctica. Archaeocyathan distribution is now sufficiently well known to propose three assemblage zones and two informal assemblages for regional correlation. No new taxa have been added, but Erugatocyathus scutatus (Hill) and Pycnoidocyathus latiloculatus (Hill), hitherto known only from Antarctica, are found in the upper assemblage on Yorke Peninsula. Irregular archaeocyathan systematics are discussed, the ontogeny of Archaeopharetra irregularis (Tylor) clarified, and Kruseicnema Debrenne. Gravestock & Zhuravlev, represented by K. gracilis (Gordon), is fully described.     

Long-Term Preservation of Dendroarchaeological Specimens and In Situ Preservation: Problems and Practical Solutions

Abstract

Dendrochronology offers a unique opportunity to address archaeological questions with minimal invasiveness. Often, archaeological tree-ring sampling, and occasionally analysis itself, can be performed while the larger structure or object remains in situ. In comparison to the costs and benefits of excavation (complete or partial) and a growing international call for in situ preservation, dendrochronology provides an effective compromise for the interpretation of wooden material culture.

The current number of archaeological tree-ring specimens worldwide probably exceeds 2,000,000. These specimens have been obtained from thousands of historic buildings, shipwrecks, and other sites and artefacts. These specimens are housed by a variety of public and private entities: museums, universities, governments, private corporations, and individuals. Despite their importance as vouchers for archaeological dates and great potential for future use and new applications, generally little attention has been paid to the long-term curation of tree-ring specimens. This paper identifies some pressing curation problems and suggests that the value and nature of dendroarchaeological research is compatible with international calls for in situ preservation. Some practical suggestions, provided here, could drastically improve the long-term curation of dendroarchaeological specimens, further demonstrating the methodology as a viable and valuable partner to in situ preservation.     

Occurrence of the ammonite Goodhallites goodhalli (J. Sowerby) in the Eromanga Basin,Queensland: an index species for the late Albian (Cretaceous)

Mortoniceratid ammonites of the Eromanga Basin of Queensland, although uncommon, are reviewed and reassessed utilising all known collections. Representatives of this group are restricted to the Allaru Formation and almost all specimens are Goodhallites goodhalli, a well-known species from the English Gault. The Allaru Formation overlies the Toolebuc Formation, widely considered to be an essentially isochronous unit because of its unusual sedimentary and geochemical character. Using G. goodhalli, the middle and upper Allaru Formation can be directly correlated with the early late Albian orbignyi and auritus Subzones of the Mortoniceras inflatum Zone as recognized in the reference ammonite zonation embedded in the standard Cretaceous time scale. Overlapping ranges of G. goodhalli and Labeceras and Myloceras allow these common Austral heteromorph genera to be also confidently assigned a late Albian age in Australia, matching their biostratigraphic occurrence in South Africa.     

Ordovician (Bendigonian,Darriwilian to Gisbornian) faunas from the northern Molong Volcanic Belt of central New South Wales

Diverse shallow water assemblages dominated by brachiopods, molluscs, sponges and stromatoporoids, and a tabulate coral, in the Wahringa Limestone Member (Darriwilian-Gisbornian), and Yuranigh Limestone Member (Gisbornian, or early Late Ordovician) of the Fairbridge Volcanics, are documented from the northern Molong Volcanic Belt in central N.S.W. New species described include Billingsaria spissa, Shlyginia printhiensis and Sowerbyites? wahringaensis. Elements of the Wahringa Limestone Member assemblage such as Labechia banksi, Labechiella regularis, and Maclurites cf. M. florentinensis are biogeographically significant in displaying strong similarities with contemporaneous Tasmanian faunas. The brachiopods Ishimia and Shlyginia from the Yuranigh Limestone Member are recognised for the first time outside Kazakhstan and Sibumasu. The presence of the brachiopod Anoptambonites in allochthonous limestone breccia within the lower Fairbridge Volcanics provides evidence of a regionally significant hiatus of 10–15 Ma duration separating this unit from the underlying Hensleigh Siltstone, of Early Ordovician (Bendigonian) age. The sponge Archaeoscyphia?, from allochthonous limestones in the latter formation, is the oldest macrofossil yet described from the Lachlan Fold Belt in central N.S.W.     

Tertiary Nothofagus macrofossils from Cethana,Tasmania

Two new Tertiary species of Nothofagus from the Early Eocene-Oligocene deposit at Cethana represent the first reports of fossil species which are not closely related to the extant Australian species N. moorei and N. cunninghamii. N. cethanica sp. nov. is most closely related to the extant New Zealand species N. fusca and N. truncata and gives further evidence of the relatively slow evolution within this genus. The other specimen is indistinguishable from extant adult N. gunnii leaves, and has been assigned to that species. This fossil shows that the deciduous habit was probably already present in N. gunnii by the Oligocene, and this may have helped N. gunnii to survive the Late Tertiary/Quaternary glaciations. Juvenile N. gunnii foliage gives some insight into the possible origins of this species, which may have been from the same ancestral stock as N. fusca, N. truncata, and N. cethanica.     

Oceanic palaeoenvironment of the Miocene Fyansford Formation from Fossil Beach,near Mornington,Victoria, interpreted on the basis of Ostracoda

Study of an ostracode assemblage from the Miocene Fyansford Formation near Mornington allows determination of the principal characteristics of the hydrologic environment at that time.

Palaeodepth was upper epibathyal (about 150–250 m). The oxygen minimum zone mostly was weakly demarcated at about O₂ 5 ml/l. Productivity was good and the benthic ostracode microfauna was rich and varied. Occasionally, a sudden and strong increase in productivity occurred which correlated to a rapid and well marked increase in the oxygen minimum zone. Physico-chemical factors, which developed following bacterial breakdown of organic matter that had accumulated on the bottom, are reflected in Bradleya shells by distinct signs of aggradation/degradation. A few allochthonous forms from the nearby continental shelf were transported downwards onto this part of the upper slope. Bottom currents contributed (by furrowing) to the formation of calcareous ‘hard grounds’.

Bradleya morningtonensis n.sp. is described as new.     

Akhalkalaki: The Taphonomy of An Early Pleistocene Locality in the Republic of Georgia

As part of our investigations into the potential of the Republic of Georgia for providing information on early hominin occupation of Eurasia, we report here on Akhalkalaki, a large late Early Pleistocene locality located along the lower slopes of a Miocene andesitic cone. Originally excavated in the 1950s as a palaeontological site, it was re-opened in the 1990s and stone tools were found associated with the fauna, suggesting that it is also an archaeological occurrence. Excavations in the 1950s and 1990s uncovered thousands of bones of an early Galerian fauna, including the remains of new species of Hippopotamus,Equus , and Canis (Vekua, 1962, 1987) and dominated by the remains of Equus süssenbornensis. We present the stratigraphy of the site, which together with faunal correlations and reversed paleomagnetics indicates an age most likely in the late Matuyama Chron, probably between 980,000 and 780,000 years ago. Taphonomic analysis suggests that the fauna was deposited and buried over a short time period, and was heavily modified by carnivores, but we cannot demonstrate involvement by hominins. Based on evidence of abundant krotovina (animal burrows filled with sediment) and the lack of definitive evidence for hominin modification to the bones, the stone tools at the site may have been mixed in with the older fauna. The taphonomic characteristics of the Akhalkalaki bone assemblage are not readily explained with reference to assemblage formation processes developed with actualistic studies that have been mostly conducted in Africa, including carnivore dens, predator arenas, human hunting and scavenging, mass deaths, or attritional bone deposition. Because of extreme anthropogenic modification of the present environments, the temperate setting, and the presence of mainly extinct taxa, local models based on actualistic studies cannot approximate the mammalian ecology reflected in the Akhalkalaki bone assemblage. A few comparisons are made with preliminary taphonomic observations from Dmanisi, an Early Pleistocene Homo ergaster site not far away.     

Iron Age Diet at Sisak,Croatia: Archaeobotanical Evidence of Foxtail Millet (Setaria Italica [L.] P. Beauv.)

Recent excavations at Sisak, Croatia, unearthed an Early Iron Age pot filled with archaeobotanical remains within the floor of a structure dating to between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. Burnt in situ the archaeobotanical remains provide unique evidence for diet and agriculture in a region where archaeobotanical evidence is rare. The preliminary results from this analysis are outlined here, with a focus on the discovery of foxtail millet (Setaria italica [L.] P. Beauv.) and its contribution to the diet of the Early Iron Age population at Sisak.     

Late Oligocene to Early Miocene planktic Foraminiferida from Ashmore Reef No. 1 Well,northwest Australia

Forty-eight species and subspecies, belonging to 13 genera of planktic foraminiferids have been identified from the ‘Cartier Beds’ and unnamed calcarenite in Ashmore Reef No. 1 Well. The assemblages indicate that the units correlate with planktic Zones N.3/4 to N.6–7 (Late Oligocene to Early Miocene). One new species, Subbotina cartieri, is described.     

Macropodoid endocranial casts from the early Miocene of Riversleigh,northwestern Queensland

Two macropodoid endocranial casts from the early Miocene of the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, northwestern Queensland are described. The larger is associated with a fragmentary cranium and is attributable to the balbarine kangaroo Balbaroo. The smaller more complete specimen was found as an isolated endocast and cannot be confidently identified beyond superfamily level. The external neurocranial morphology of both specimens closely resembles that of plesiomorphic macropodoids and indicates a basal ‘macropodid-grade’ level of complexity. Development of the visual region of the neocortex suggests that crepuscular-nocturnal habits might have been present in early Miocene kangaroos.     

Two new camerate crinoid species from the Permian of eastern Australia

The habitat and habit of Australia's first recorded Tertiary marsupial species, Wynyardia bassiana, found some 130 years ago at Wynyard on the northwestern coast of Tasmania, remain enigmatic (Aplin 1987, Aplin &; Rich 1990). Fossil pollen and spores preserved in a rafted clast of estuarine silts from the same sequence of earliest Miocene marine sandstones as the skeletal remains indicate the local vegetation was Nothofagus-gymnosperm evergreen rainforest, probably with a cryptogam-rich rather than woody subcanopy stratum. Comparisons with present-day Nothofagus rainforests suggest that, although the subcanopy would have been sufficiently open to allow the passage of a large ground-dwelling herbivorous marsupial, limited food resources are more consistent with Wynyardia being a generalist arboreal herbivore.     

A Devonian fish fauna from subsurface sediments in the eastern Officer Basin,South Australia

This paper reports the discovery of three of the most iconic New Caledonian endemic genera, Amphorogyne, Paracryphia and Phelline, as dispersed leaf cuticle fossils in the early Miocene of New Zealand. New Caledonia's endemic angiosperm families have given it a reputation as one of the most interesting botanical regions in the world, but unfortunately it has no known pre-Pleistocene Cenozoic plant fossil record. A once more widespread distribution of its key plants in the context of a cooling and drying Neogene world suggests the current vegetation of New Caledonia is the result of contraction, or even a migration, from more southerly landmasses. Thus, New Zealand may have been a source of at least some of New Caledonia's plants.     

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.     

North American–Asian aquatic bird dispersal in the Miocene: evidence from a new species of diving duck (Anseriformes: Anatidae) from North America (Nevada) with affinities to Mongolian taxa

Stidham, T.A. & Zelenkov, N.V., September 2016. North American–Asian aquatic bird dispersal in the Miocene: evidence from a new species of diving duck (Anseriformes: Anatidae) from North America (Nevada) with affinities to Mongolian taxa. Alcheringa 41, XXX–XXX. ISSN 0311-5518.

Prehistoric intercontinental dispersals are often used to explain the modern geographic distributions of various organisms, including birds. The extant Holarctic avifauna formed largely in the Neogene, and thus dispersals of various taxa during the Miocene likely have had a strong long-lasting effect upon the geographical pattern of the extant avian communities. However, the uneven fossil record of Neogene birds prevents accurate reconstruction of the biogeographic history of many bird clades, and the present evidence on dispersal of birds in the Neogene among continents is very limited. Past dispersals are most likely to be documented by taxa that are well represented in the fossil record, including diving ducks. Although these birds have a rather substantial fossil record in Europe and Asia, they remain very poorly known from the Neogene of North America. Here we document a new species of Miocene diving duck represented by a proximal humerus and a distal tibiotarsus from the Esmeralda Formation in Nevada (USA) and describe it as a new species of the primitive diving duck genus Protomelanitta Zelenkov (Protomelanitta bakeri sp. nov.), previously known only from the middle Miocene of Mongolia. Both species (from Mongolia and Nevada) are from the ca 11–12 Ma age range during the warm (though cooling) middle Miocene after the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum and Middle Miocene Climate Transition. Given their proposed close relationship, it appears that Protomelanitta dispersed between Asia and North America, and this instance is the first clear indication of an aquatic bird dispersal between North America and Eurasia in the middle Miocene. This palaeobiogeographical event predates the famous immigration of Hipparion horses to the Old World and the late Miocene dispersals between continental Eurasian and North American faunas in general, but likely reflects one prolonged faunal interchange related to global climatic conditions and its effects.

Thomas A. Stidham* [presbyornis@gmail.com], Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China; Nikita V. Zelenkov [nzelen@paleo.ru], Cabinet of Paleornithology, Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya 123, Moscow 117997, Russia.     

A new late Oligocene to early Miocene species o Apatopygus (Echinoidea: Cassiduloida) from the Maltese Islands

The occurrence of Apatopygus gaudensis sp. nov. in the upper part of the late Oligocene (Chattian) Lower Coralline Limestone division, and the lower part of the early Miocene (probably late Aquitanian) Lower Globigerina Limestone division of the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean), is the first confirmed record of Apatopygus outside the Australia-New Zealand region. Apatotygus vincentinus (Tate, 1891) from the middle to late Eocene of southern Australia is the earliest known occurrence of the genus, possibly suggesting that Apatotygus may have evolved earlier in the Australasian region, or merely that it is yet to be discovered in pre-Oligocene strata in the Mediterranean area.     

Fossil arachnids from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar Fossil-Lagerstätte,New Zealand

Selden, P.A. & Kaulfuss, U., May 2018. Fossil arachnids from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar Fossil-Lagerstätte, New Zealand. Alcheringa XX, XX–XX. ISSN 0311-5518.

Fossil Arachnida from New Zealand are extremely rare and represented by some unidentifiable amber inclusions only. The first fossil arachnids from New Zealand to be described in detail are presented here, based on four compression fossils from the earliest Miocene Fossil-Lagerstätte at Foulden Maar, South Island. Two specimens are referred to Arachnida incertae sedis and Araneomorpha incertae sedis, respectively, whereas two specimens are mygalomorph spiders. One of these is placed in the Rastelloidina clade of Mygalomorphae, probably in the Idiopidae, which is represented in New Zealand by the extant Cantuaria.

P.A. Selden* [selden@ku.edu] Paleontological Institute and Department of Geology, University of Kansas, Lindley Hall, 1475 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA; U. Kaulfuss [uwe.kaulfuss@otago.ac.nz] Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. *Also affiliated with: Natural History Museum, London, UK.