Late Triassic (Carnian) corals from Timor-Leste (East Timor): their identity,setting, and biogeography

Four scleractinian coral taxa are described from limestones within a sandstone-shale séquence correlated with the Late Triassic Babulu Formation, Manatuto township, on the northern coast of Timor-Leste (East Timor). The coral fauna consists of three phaceloid taxa, Paravolzeia tìmorìca gen. et sp. nov., Craspedophyll ramosa sp. nov., Margarosmilia confluens (Münster), and a generically indeterminate solitary taxon attributed to the family Margarophylliidae. Ali four corals are related at various taxonomie levels to Carnian faunas from the Dolomites of northern Italy. Previously, only Norian coral faunas were known from the Triassic of Timor. The fauna exhibits both similarities to and differences from Carnian faunas of the Dolomites and helps confirm palaeogeographic affinities with the western Tethys, although during Late Triassic time Timor lay in the distant southeastern portai of the Tethys. Despite isolation from the western Tethys, the presence of two species foundalso in the Dolomites indicates that larvai dispersai occurred between the two areas.     

An Early Permian brachiopod fauna of Gondwanan affinity from the Baoshan block,western Yunnan,China

The present paper describes and illustrates an Early Permian brachiopod fauna collected from two localities from the upper part of the type Dingjiazhai Formation near Youwang, 30 km south of Baoshan in the Baoshan block, western Yunnan, China. The brachiopod fauna is dominated by Stenoscisma sp. and Elivina yunnanensis sp. nov. and exhibits strong generic and some specific links with faunas from the Bisnain assemblage of Timor and the Callytharra Formation of Western Australia and, to a lesser extent, faunas from the Jilong Formation of southern Tibet, the Tashkazyk Formation of southeastern Pamir, the lower Toinlungkongba Formation of northwestern Tibet, the upper Pondo Group of central Tibet, and the Jimba Jimba Calcarenite of the Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia. Based on these correlations, a Late Sakmarian (Sterlitamakian) age is preferred for the Dingjiazhai brachiopod fauna. Two new species are proposed: Globiella youwangensis sp. nov. and Elivina yunnanensis sp. nov.     

Early Permian Jakutoproductus (Productida: Brachiopoda) from Patagonia,Argentina

The productid brachiopod genus Jakutoproductus, dominant in the Early Permian marine faunas of northeastern Siberia, is described for the first time from the southern hemisphere. Jakutoproductus australis sp. nov. is described from the Rio Genoa Formation, Chubut Province (Patagonia), Argentina. The age of the Patagonian species is considered to be Sakmarian (Early Permian), possibly Sterlitamakian.     

Early Middle Cambrian corals from western New South Wales

Three forms, Cothonion sympomatum gen. et sp. nov. with a bi-radially septate operculum, and the new species lissa and daseia of the genus Lipopora gen. nov., are described from the early Middle Cambrian Coonigan Formation in the Mootwingee district of western New South Wales, Australia. They may be representatives of hitherto unknown groups of organisms, but they are tentatively interpreted as coelenterates that reached a level of development comparable with the Anthozoa. Cothonion is placed in the new family Cothoniidae and questionably referred to the Rugosa. Lipopora is considered to be similar to Coelenteratella Korde; both are grouped in the new family Lipoporidae and tentatively referred to the Tabulata.     

Late Silurian and Early Devonian biostratigraphy in the Hill End Trough and the Limekilns area,New South Wales

Precordilleran Late Palaeozoic brachiopod genera considered for this palaeobiogeographical analysis belong to four faunal associations: the low diversity Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian) Protocanites scalabrinii-Azurduya chavelensis Zone; the Late Carboniferous (Bashkirian-Moscovian) Levipustula fauna, which appears in sequences associated with glacial intervals; the latest Carboniferous-earliest Permian (Gzhelian-Asselian) Rhipidomella-Micraphelia and Tuberculatella-Aseptella associations, and the Early Permian (mid to late Asselian) Tivertonia jachalensis-Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus Biozone. The brachiopod affinities of the Precordillera are compared with the biogeographical Late Palaeozoic regions previously suggested by other authors using cluster analysis. During the Bashkirian-Moscovian, the Precordilleran faunas show a high affinity with the Austral Realm because of the presence of the Levipustula faunal elements in Eastern Australia. At the same time the affinity with the central and North American Regions is very low. The Early Permian Precordilleran faunas demonstrate highest affinity with the Gondwanan Realm with several genera also linked to the Tethyan and Boreal Realms. After the Late Carboniferous glacial episodes that affected the southwestern Gondwanan margin, the Precordilleran region underwent climatic amelioration. Subsequently, the Early Permian Precordilleran brachiopod assemblages are characterized by typical cool to cold water genera widely developed in the core Gondwanan Realm, with fewer genera (such as Kochiproductus, Rhynchopora and Neochonetes) suggesting a warmer water influence. The Precordilleran faunas demonstrate an increase in brachiopod diversity from the Carboniferous to the Permian, related to water temperature changes and to the palaeogeographical evolution of the southwestern Gondwanan margin and the movement of Gondwana across the South Pole.     

The oldest Ordovician stromatoporoids from Australia

The oldest known Australian Ordovician stromatoporoids are described from the Cashions Creek Limestone (formerly the Maclurites-Girvanella horizon) and correlatives of the Gordon Subgroup in Tasmania. The Cashions Creek Limestone and equivalents are correlated approximately with the North American Chazyan (Middle Ordovician). Representatives of Labechia, Stratodictyon and Stromatocerium are recorded from localities in the Mole Creek area, from the Florentine Valley and from Melrose. Three new species, Labechia banksi, Stratodictyon vetus and Stromatocerium bigsbyi are described. L. banksi comes from a slightly higher horizon in the succession at Mole Creek where it occurs in association with the earliest corals (Lichenaria). The distribution of the earliest Ordovician stromatoporoids — those appearing in the North American and Tasmanian successions — is reviewed, together with a discussion of their possible origins and interrelationships.     

A new Late Permian brachiopod fauna from Tanggula,Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its palaeogeographical implications

Weihong He, Jianjun Bu, Zhijun Niu & Yang Zhang, June, 2009. A new Late Permian brachiopod fauna from Tanggula, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its palaeogeographical implications. Alcheringa 33, 113–132. ISSN 0311-5518.

A brachiopod fauna described from the Late Permian of the Gongri and Lizai villages, northwest of the Qoima Co Lake, Tanggula area, southern Qinghai, northwest China, includes ten species in nine genera. This fauna from the (Qiangtang Block) has a strong affinity to coeval faunas of South China, sharing 74% of its species. In addition, the Late Permian Tanggula brachiopod assemblages also demonstrate a clear link with the Middle Permian brachiopod faunas of neighbouring microcontinents including the Indochina block (Malaysia and Cambodia) and the Shan-Thai block (Thailand), as suggested by the presence of Caricula sp. cf. C. salebrosa, Transennatia termierorum and Strophalosiina. This phenomenon indicates that there were relatively narrow seaways between these microcontinents to enable ready interchange of brachiopods during the Permian, and that brachiopods tended to retreat towards the palaeoequatorial region throughout the period.     

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.     

Possible obsidian sources for artifacts from Timor: narrowing the options using chemical data

Measurements made at the Australian National University using laser ablation ICPMS show that none of the 88 analyzed obsidian artifacts from East Timor match either the known Papua New Guinea or the five Island SE Asian source samples in our ANU collections. There is a coastal journey of more than 3000 km between the occurrence of obsidians from the Bismarck Archipelago volcanic province of Papua New Guinea and the Sunda-Banda Arc volcanic chain, yet obsidian artifacts from the two important PNG sources of Talasea and Lou Island are found at coastal Bukit Tengkorak in eastern Sabah at a similar distance along with material that has no known source. Timor lies south of the eastern section of the active volcanic Banda Arc island chain but it is within range of possible rhyolite sources from there. Although there is a continuous chain of around 60 active volcanoes stretching from west Sumatra to the Moluccas most are basaltic to andesitic with few areas likely to produce high silica dacite–rhyolite deposits. This does not exclude the possibility that the volcanic landscapes may contain obsidian, but without detailed survey and chemical analysis of sources from the Sunda-Banda Arc the attribution of the Timor obsidian artifacts remains to be demonstrated. Timor may seem to be an unlikely source for the presence of obsidians as it lacks reports of the silica-rich rhyolite volcanic centers necessary to produce this material. Despite the absence of detailed survey and analysis of Indonesian obsidian sources, especially from the volcanically active Banda Arc, this paper presents evidence that one of two obsidian sources is clearly from Timor while the other, with less certainty, is also from an unknown local source.     

A Permian Barycrinus? Wachsmuth (Crinoidea,Cladida) from Timor

Donovan, S.K. &; Webster, G.D. December 2015. A Permian Barycrinus? Wachsmuth (Crinoidea, Cladida) from Timor. Alcheringa 40, 216–218. ISSN 0311-5518.

A crinoid pluricolumnal from Noil Simaam, Timor, is identified as Barycrinus? sp., the youngest member of this otherwise Mississippian genus. Identifying features of this robust specimen include a moderately broad, pentastellate lumen and pentamerism. Although likely a new species, preservation is too poor to warrant erection of a nominal taxon. The only coeval barycrinid, probably also Barycrinus?, was described from the Carnavon Basin, Western Australia.

Stephen K. Donovan [steve.donovan@naturalis.nl], Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Postbus 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands; Gary D. Webster [webster@wsu.edu], School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2812, USA.     

Permian brachiopods from the Tupe Formation,San Juan Province,Precordillera, Argentina

The brachiopod fauna from the Tupe Formation at La Herradura Creek, located on the west flank of Perico Hill, San Juan Province, Argentina, palaeogeographically belongs to the western sector of the Paganzo basin (‘Guandacol embayment’). The stratigraphical section of the Tupe Formation at La Herradura Creek is the stratotype of the Tivertonia jachalensis-Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus biozone, was previously regarded as being of Late Carboniferous age but here is assigned to the earliest Permian (Asselian). We describe and review the biozone assemblage, which consists of Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus, Tivertonia jachalensis, Kochiproductus sp., Costatumulus sp., Coronalosia argentinensis, Tupelosia paganzoensis, Trigonotreta pericoensis, Septosyringothyris sp. aff. Septosyringothyris jaguelensis and Crurithyris? sp. This brachiopod assemblage is related to Indian and Australian Early Permian faunas and its presence in the La Herradura Creek section provides new evidence in support of an Asselian (Early Permian) age for the Tivertonia jachalensis-Streptorhynchus inaequiornatus biozone. This assemblage is also important for intra- and inter-basinal correlation because several of its characteristic species have been identified from other sections of the Paganzo basin and the Río Blanco basin. The proposed age for this biozone is consistent with the age of palynological data from slightly above the marine faunas from the stratotype locality.     

Adaptation and foraging from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Early Holocene: Excavation at Bubog on Ilin Island,Philippines

Abstract

The recently discovered human remains from Callao Cave, northern Luzon, Philippines securely date the migration of hominins into the Philippines to ca. 70 kya (thousands of years ago). The direct route to reach Luzon from the Asian mainland is via Borneo, Palawan, through Mindoro and into Luzon. Our research focuses on Mindoro Island as a potential stepping stone to the main Philippine Archipelago. While Palawan and Luzon have produced evidence for early human occupation, no systematic research on the prehistory of Mindoro has been conducted until now. We report on recent archaeological investigations at the Bubog rockshelter sites on the small island of Ilin just off the coast of Mindoro. The excavations produced evidence of stratified sequences of human habitation at the two rockshelter sites in the form of dense shell middens that date to ca. 11 kya onwards. They provide direct evidence on how variability in landscape formation, sea levels, and landmass during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene influenced the behavior of early human populations. Numerous species of molluscs were recorded and provisional results indicate variations in the invertebrate faunas throughout the stratigraphic sequences, resulting from sea level rise and the establishment of coral reefs between Ilin and Mindoro at the end of the Pleistocene. Our results contribute substantially to our understanding of the processes of human island adaptation, complement ongoing research into Island Southeast Asia’s paleogeography, and enhance current knowledge of prehistoric subsistence strategies across the region.     

The identification of archaeological dung deposits on the basis of remains of predatory mites (Acari; Gamasida)

The results of a study of recent predatory mite faunas, characteristic of the dung of different domestic animal species, forms the basis of a two-step identification method for archaeological dung deposits. The method is illustrated by a study of the remains of the predatory mites found in 12 mediaeval dung samples from the north of The Netherlands.     

Revision of the Early Devonian tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum from New South Wales

Plusquellec, Y. &; Wright, A.J., October 2017. Revision of the Early Devonian tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum from New South Wales. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

The tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum Jones, 1944 Jones, O.A., 1944. Tabulata and Heliolitida from the Wellington district, N.S.W. Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 77, 33–39. [Google Scholar], from the Early Devonian (Pragian or lower Emsian) Garra Formation of central New South Wales, Australia is revised on the basis of the holotype and three other specimens. It is selected as the type species of the new monotypic genus Bifidomeria (Family Roemeriidae), which differs from Roemeria in its strictly cerioid corallum, its bifid septal spines and aspects of its microstructure. Study of the detailed microstructure of two other tabulate corals from the Devonian of New South Wales has led to the following revised generic assignments: Michelinia progenitor Chapman, 1921 Chapman, F., 1921. New or little known fossils in the National Museum. Part XXV—some Silurian tabulate corals. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 33, 212–225. [Google Scholar], previously assigned to Roemeripora, is assigned to Roemeria, and Holacanthopora clarkei Wright &; Flory, 1980 Wright, A.J. &; Flory, R.A., 1980. A new Early Devonian tabulate coral from the Mount Frome Limestone, near Mudgee, New South Wales. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 104, 211–219. [Google Scholar] is assigned to Michelinia.

Yves Plusquellec [yves.plusquellec@univ-brest.fr], Université de Bretagne Occidentale, CNRS-UMR 6538 ‘Domaines océaniques’, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, UFR Sciences et Techniques, 6 avenue Le Gorgeu, CS 98837, F-29283 Brest, France; Anthony Wright [tony.wright@optusnet.com.au], GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth &; Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia.     

U-series Dating of Fossil Teeth and Carbonates from Snake Cave,Thailand

Snake Cave (Thailand) is an important site for the study of the evolution in Southeast Asia, leading to a discovery of rich and various faunas, including a human tooth. Fossils of large and small mammals converge to indicate, on the basis of faunal assemblage, a late Middle Pleistocene age for the fossiliferous layers; on the other hand, previous U-series dating of carbonates furnished a lower limit for the fossils of about 130 ky.In order to achieve a better comprehension of the chronology of the cave, the Uranium-series method for absolute age determination has been applied to some carbonates older than those studied previously and to fossils themselves.We used the isochron technique approach to yield valuable ages because spleleothem samples consist in a mixture of calcite and detrital contamination. The results obtained suggest that the main fossiliferous level is older than about 160 ky. The application of the U-series method to tooth samples from this tropical cave leads to erroneous ages, probably because of post depositional groundwater movements.     

Early Carboniferous brachiopod faunas from the Baoshan block,west Yunnan,southwest China

38 brachiopod species in 27 genera and subgenera are described from the Yudong Formation in the Shidian-Baoshan area, west Yunnan, southwest China. New taxa include two new subgenera: Unispirifer (Septimispirifer) and Brachythyrina (Longathyrina), and seven new species: Eomarginifera yunnanensis, Marginatia cylindrica, Unispirifer (Unispirifer) xiangshanensis, Unispirifer (Septimispirifer) wafangjieensis, Brachythyrina (Brachythyrina) transversa, Brachythyrina (Longathyrina) baoshanensis, and Girtyella wafangjieensis. Based on the described material and constraints from associated coral and conodont faunas, the age of the brachiopod fauna from the Yudon Formation is considered late Tournaisian (Early Carboniferous), with a possibility extending into earlyViséan.     

A review of Australasian ichthyosaurs

Ichthyosaur fossils have been recorded from four landmasses in the Australasian region—Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Timor—and occur in all three systems of the Mesozoic. Most of the remains are non-diagnostic, but at least three genera have been identified: Mixosaurus, from the Middle Triassic of Timor; Shonisaurus, from the Upper Triassic of New Caledonia; and Platypterygius, from the Lower Cretaceous of Australia and New Zealand. Of these, Platypterygius contains the only material that can be diagnosed to species level. However, current taxonomy of the specimens is controversial, with two synonyms, P. australis and P. longmani, persisting in the literature. An examination of cranial traits in the ‘quasi-holotype’ of P. australis vs P. longmani demonstrates that they represent the same taxon. Thus, P. longmani should be regarded as the junior synonym. A neotype is also here designated for P. australis to replace the original, which is presumed lost.     

Context, curation, and bias: an evaluation of the Middle Paleolithic collections of Combe-Grenal (France)

The site of Combe-Grenal is arguably the reference site for the Mousterian of southwest France. Bordes excavated the site over a period of 13 years and generated a large collection of lithics and fauna from a deep series of 64 Lower and Middle Paleolithic levels. Though Bordes only partially published his work at the site, its long stratigraphic sequence and particularly its collections have been subjected to numerous studies over the years and have figured prominently in several long-running debates concerning the Mousterian. Recently, the authors undertook a project to inventory and analyzed these collections along with the documentation of their archaeological context. In so doing, however, a number of serious problems became apparent with the collection in its current state, problems that cannot easily be resolved given the state of the available documentation. These problems have important implications not only for results of studies based on these collections, but more generally, they also point to problems in terms of how archaeological collections are curated.