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.     

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.     

Marcusodictyon Bassler from the Lower Ordovician of Estonia: not the earliest bryozoan but a phosphatic problematicum

Marcusodictyon priscum (Bassler 1911) from the Tremadocian Ungulite Sandstone (A2) of Jegelecht Falls, Estonia, is redescribed following SEM study of type and other specimens. The fossil consists of a polygonal network of low ridges known to exist only on the exterior surfaces of valves of the inarticulate brachiopod Obolus. Electron microprobe analysis demonstrates that, like its host substratum, Marcusodictyon is composed of calcium phosphate. This, together with the detailed morphology and dimensions of the ridge system, is used to negate Bassler's assignment of the genus to the ctenostome Bryozoa. Instead Marcusodictyon resembles the Silurian problematicum Gochtia Eisenack. The inferred growth pattern of Marcusodictyon suggests that it may have been a symbiont of a living brachiopod.     

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.     

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.     

The Late Palaeozoic brachiopod genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 and the Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone,northern Yukon Territory,Canada

Shi, Guang R., 1994:03:28. The Late Palaeozoic brachiopod genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 and the Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone, northern Yukon Territory, Canada. Alcheringa 18, 103–120. ISBN 0311-5518.

The familial and subfamilial position, species composition, and geographic distribution of the Late Palaeozoic productid genus Jakutoproductus Kashirtsev 1959 are reviewed. Jakutoproductus is placed in the subfamily Plicatiferinae Muir-Wood & Cooper 1960 of the family Plicatiferidae. Eighteen described species from the Russian Arctic. Mongolia, northeast China, and northern Yukon Territory, Canada are assigned to Jakutoproductus. The Jakutoproductus verchoyanicus Zone of late Sakmarian to Artinskian age, most likely early Artinskian (Aktastinian), here established is based on material from the Jungle Creek Formation, northern Yukon Territory, Canada, and is correlated with the following horizons in Russia: the Osennin Horizon in the Verchoyan Mountains, the lower Munugudjak Horizon of the Kolyma-Omolon Massif, the Hipkhoshin Suite of east Zabaikal, the lower Bhang Horizon of Taimyr, and an unnamed sandstone-shale unit on the north island of Novaya Zemlya.     

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.     

Editorial

Similarities in late Middle Cambrian trilobite, inarticulate brachiopod and molluscan faunas are apparent between Bornholm (Denmark) and New Zealand. Tuarangia gravgaerdensis sp. nov. is described from the late Middle Cambrian Andrarum Limestone of Bornholm, Denmark. The Andrarum Limestone is stratigraphically correlated with the Tasman Formation, New Zealand, from where the genus Tuarangia was first described. A single specimen, referred to Tuarangia, has been found in an erratic boulder from NW Poland. The boulder is estimated to be of early Late Cambrian age. The initial taxonomic assignment of Tuarangia to the Bivalvia, Subclass Pteriomorphia, is upheld. The distance between Bornholm and New Zealand, the position at opposite hemispheres, and the palaeogeography in general clearly indicate isocommunities with restricted possibility of exchange of the gene pool at species level.     

Review of the Cambrian acrotretid brachiopod Neotreta

The Cambrian acrotretid brachiopod Neotreta Sobolev 1976 is reviewed and re-illustrated, based on new material of the type species, N. tumida Sobolev 1976, from the lower Upper Cambrian of Siberia; Neotreta orbiculata Koneva 1990, originally described from the Middle Cambrian of Kazakhstan, has been obtained from roughly coeval beds in Shropshire, England; Neotreta pusilla Koneva 1986 was unavailable for study. Two new species, N. davidi and N. karagailensis, are described from Queensland, Australia, and Kirgizia, Central Asia respectively.     

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.     

Fauna and biostratigraphy of the Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) Tempe Formation (Pertaoorrta Group), Amadeus Basin,Northern Territory

A new faunal assemblage is reported from the Tempe Formation (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4; Ordian) retrieved from the Hermannsburg 41 drillcore, Amadeus Basin, central Australia. Two trilobite taxa, including one new species Gunnia fava sp. nov., four brachiopod taxa, including the age-diagnostic Karathele napuru (Kruse), Kostjubella djagoran (Kruse) and Micromitra nerranubawu Kruse, together with a bradoriid, helcionellids, hyoliths, echinoderms, chancelloriids, sponges and problematic tubes are described. The fauna has close links to those of the neighbouring Daly, Georgina and Wiso basins and suggests that the Tempe Formation correlates with the Australian Ordian stage (either the Redlichia forresti or Xystridura negrina assemblage zones). The Giles Creek Dolostone in the eastern Amadeus Basin, previously regarded as coeval with the Tempe Formation, has recently been reported to be of early Templetonian age in its type section. The described taxa from the Tempe Formation confirm that these two sedimentary units are not contemporaneous and that regional stratigraphic schemes should be amended.     

The Late Cambrian trilobite Hamashania from Korea

The Late Cambrian trilobite genus Hamashania Kobayashi, 1942a has hitherto been poorly understood and is herein revised based on well-preserved specimens from Korea. Platysaukia Kobayashi, 1960 and Goumenzia Guo & Duan, 1978 are treated as junior synonyms of Hamashania. Hamashania comprises only two species, H. pulchera Kobayashi, 1942a and Pterocephalus busiris Walcott, 1905, and is restricted to North Chinaand Korea. The new genus Pacootasaukia is proposed to accommodate the Australian species Platysaukia jokliki Shergold, 1991 as type species, and Platysaukia tomichi Shergold, 1991, which are so distinct that they cannot be included within Hamashania. The generic concept of Mareda Kobayashi, 1942b, which was often confused with Hamashania, is confined to the type material.     

On the Middle Cambrian agnostoid species Agnostus fallax Linnarsson 1869

The types and other specimens of Agnostus fallax Linnarsson 1869 are examined and reinterpreted. It is shown that the application of this specific name to many specimens from around the world is largely in error. The species is considered sufficiently different from the type species of Peronopsis, P. integra (Beyrich, 1845) to warrant erection of a new genus Axagnostus with A. fallax as the type species.     

Ammonoids and the correlation of the Lower Carboniferous rocks of eastern Australia

The occurrence of ammonoids in the Lower Carboniferous rocks of eastern Australia is reviewed within a biostratigraphic framework provided by the brachiopod zones that have been summarized most recently by Jones & Roberts (1976). Ammonoid abundance is low at all stratigraphic levels. Nowhere are more than 20 specimens known at a locality, and usually there are only one or two. The group is too sparse to be used for local or regional correlation, and its main value is for the intercontinental correlation of a number of well separated horizons. The rocks dated range in age from middle Tournaisian (Tn_2a) to late Visean V_3c). Some relatively minor differences between ammonoid and conodont ages remain to be resolved. The biogeography is briefly discussed.

The type specimens of all available previously described species have been examined and where necessary they are re-illustrated. New species described are Irinoceras tuba, Muensteroceras jenkinsi, M. delepinei, M. merlewoodense, Beyrichoceras mackellari, B. bootibootiense, Nomismoceras pseudocyclus, Goniatites mundubberensis, G. cuniculus, Protocanites careyi, and Cantabricanites jelli. Several species that are probably new are described under open nomenclature.     

Late Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) brachiopods from the western Daba Mountains,central China

Qiao L. & Shen S.Z., September 2012. Late Mississippian (Early Carboniferous) brachiopods from the western Daba Mountains, central China. Alcheringa 36, 287–309. ISSN 0311–5518.

Fifteen brachiopod species in 12 genera are described for the first time from four intervals in the middle and upper parts of the Zhanpo Formation at the Huoyanxi section near Zhenba in the western Daba Mountains, southern Shaanxi, central China. The Zhenba brachiopod fauna is dominated by diverse and abundant species of Productida, together with some species of Athyridida, Orthida, Orthotetida and Spiriferida. It ranges from late Viséan to Serpukhovian in age based on the presence of Gigantoproductus species in association with diagnostic foraminifera and conodonts. This fauna generally shows palaeobiogeographical links with the palaeoequatorial realm, including Western Europe, the Moscow Basin, the Ural Mountains, Japan, eastern Tibet and South and North China. Its closest palaeobiogeographical affinity is with South China assemblages rather than those of North and Northwest China, therefore, indicating that the Zhenba area was palaeogeographically close to the South China Block and relatively far from the blocks in Northwest China (e.g., the Qilian Mountains and Qaidam Basin, Kunlun Mountains, Tarim Basin and Tianshan Mountains) during the late Viséan–Serpukhovian.     

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.     

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.     

Wenlock brachiopods from Canberra,Australia

Twenty-four brachiopod species are described from a well-preserved shelly fauna in the Walker Volcanics, collected from the Molonglo valley west of Canberra. There are three inarticulates and twenty-one articulates, of which nine are new, three are closely compared with previously described species and twelve are under open nomenclature. New are Skenidioides thrinax, Salopina mediocostata, Aegiria (Epelidoaegiria subgen. nov.) chilidifera, Morinorhynchus oepiki, Australina (Australina) kausi, Coelospira cavata, Endospirifer anxius, Reticulariopsis silurica and Vadum (gen. nov.) coppinsense. The fauna is shown to be cosmopolitan in character and falls within the scope of Benthic Assemblages 3 to 5 of Boucot (1975). It is of Wenlock age.     

A new early Silurian brachiopod genus,Thulatrypa, from Norway and South China,and its palaeobiogeographical significance

Huang, B., Baarli, B.G., Zhan, R.B. & Rong, J.Y., October 2015. A new early Silurian brachiopod genus, Thulatrypa, from Norway and South China, and its palaeobiogeographical significance. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

The smooth atrypoid brachiopod Thulatrypa gen. nov. incorporates two species, a younger (T. gregaria) from Norway, and an older (T. orientalis) from South China, which collectively span the middle Rhuddanian through Aeronian. In Baltica, the genus thrived just below the storm wave base in a tropical BA4 setting extending slightly into BA3 and BA5 respectively, whereas in South China, its representative occurs in a much shallower assemblage (BA2–3). Their palaeobiogeographical implications are carefully investigated. This study supports the arguments that Thulatrypa may have originated in South China in the middle Rhuddanian and extended its range to eastern Baltica in the late Rhuddanian. Larvae may have drifted along a channel from the east to the southwest of Baltica, which supports the reconstructions of palaeocurrents in the early Silurian in previous palaeogeographical studies.

Bing Huang [bhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], Ren-bin Zhan [rbzhan@nigpas.ac.cn] and Jia-yu Rong [jyrong@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing, 210008, PR China; B. Gudveig Baarli [gudveig.baarli@williams.edu], Department of Geosciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA.