The coral Cothonion from the lower Cambrian of North Greenland

Originally described from the Coonigan Formation of New South Wales, Australia, a second occurrence of the operculate coral Cothonion sympomatum is here described from the Paralledal Formation of North Greenland. Both finds are of late early Cambrian age, Series 2, Stage 4 in the emerging fourfold classification of the Cambrian. The new find supports widespread distribution patterns seen in early Cambrian Small Shelly Fossils, although associated trilobites belong to traditional redlichiid (Australia) and olenellid (Greenland) realms, respectively.     

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.     

Biostratigraphic potential of Middle Cambrian hyoliths from the eastern Georgina Basin

Fourteen hyolith taxa are documented from the Middle Cambrian (Templetonian to Floran) of the eastern (Queensland) portion of the Georgina Basin, Australia, as a contribution toward a prospective Australian Cambrian hyolith biozonation. The described fauna is from the Beetle Creek Formation (including Monastery Creek Phosphorite Member) and Gowers Formation. Additionally, the enigmatic Cupittheca and some indeterminate hyoliths are figured to illustrate aspects of hyolith morphology. Guduguwan hardmani, widespread in Ordian-early Templetonian strata of northern Australia, is here recorded from the early Templetonian of the eastern Georgina Basin. A new family Gakidae is established for sulcavitide hyolithomorphs with a conch of pentagonally tabernacular transverse section, to include Gaka, Kalkatungu gen. nov. and possibly Dorsolinevitus. New genera are the hyolithid Yalarrnga mara gen. et sp. nov., sulcavitid Kulangarra kutjurru gen. et sp. nov., gakid Kalkatungu murlu gen. et sp. nov. and angusticornid Yuku tjurtu gen. et sp. nov.; new species are Loculitheca kunka sp. nov., Carinolithes tjikilirri sp. nov., ?Sololites kankari sp. nov., ?Shandongolithes thakal sp. nov., ?Gerkella thuka sp. nov. and ?Yacutolituus rakatju sp. nov. Taxa in open nomenclature are Foersteotheca cf. dubecensis, ?Holmitheca sp. and ?Dorsojugatus sp. On present knowledge, the potential for an Australian Cambrian hyolith biozonation is limited in the Early Cambrian, but for the Middle Cambrian, G. hardmani is a widespread Ordian-early Templetonian indicator, while hyolith distribution in the Monastery Creek Phosphorite Member suggests a faunal turnover at or about the incoming of Acidusus atavus which may provide a basis for biozonation in the Floran stage.     

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 phosphatic stromatolite (Ilicta cf. composita Sidorov) from the Middle Cambrian,northern Australia

Phosphatic stromatolites from the early Middle Cambrian (Ordian) of the Georgina Basin are described and identified as Ilicta cf. composita Sidorov. Based on Öpik's interpretation of the early Middle Cambrian, the age of the Georgina Basin specimens is similar to that of the type specimens described from the late Early Cambrian of Eastern Siberia. Phosphatic stromatolites occur at the base of dolomitized and partially silicified bioherms up to 4 m thick. The phosphatic forms overlie impermeable, cemented pavement surfaces which were covered by stratiform stromatolites from which rose columnar forms up to 5 cm in height. The stromatolites were phosphatized by penecontemporaneous diagenetic reactions that took place just below the sediment water interface and above the impermeable substrates.     

First records from Laurentia of some middle Cambrian (Series 3) sponge spicules

Peel, J.S., February 2017. First records from Laurentia of some middle Cambrian (Series 3) sponge spicules. Alcheringa 41, 000–000. ISSN 0311-5518.

Spicules of the sponges Silicunculus Bengtson, Australispongia Dong & Knoll and Thoracospongia Mehl are described from the middle Cambrian (Cambrian Series 3) of North Greenland. The occurrences document the first records from the Cambrian of Laurentia of spicules initially reported from Australia. Obese spicules of Thoracospongia are now known to occur in strata of Cambrian Series 2 (Stage 4, Botoman) to Cambrian Series 3 (Stage 5 and Drumian) age in Australia, northern and southeastern Siberia and in the uppermost Henson Gletscher Formation (Cambrian Series 3, Stage 5) of western Peary Land. Morphologically similar obese spicules from the USA, Jordan, Iran and Sweden suggest an evolutionary trend towards armouring of the outer sponge surface during the middle and late Cambrian. New species described are Silicunculus saaqqutit sp. nov., Thoracospongia lacrimiformis sp. nov.

John S. Peel [john.peel@pal.uu.se], Department of Earth Sciences (Palaeobiology), Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. Received 3.7.2016; revised 13.9.2016; accepted 15.9.2016.     

Early Cambrian endolithic algae

Phosphate fillings of the tunnels made by endolithic micro-organisms in the shells of Early Cambrian molluscs have been observed on phosphatic internal moulds at several sites. The best preserved examples are from the shells of the gastropod Yuwenia bentleyi from the Parara Limestone of South Australia. Three distinct types of borings are found in these shells: long unbranched tunnels that are either about 10 µm or 3 µm in diameter, and short vertical holes. The nature and distribution of the borings suggest that they were made by photosynthetic algae rather than fungi.     

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.     

Late Middle Cambrian trilobites from St Valentines Peak and Native Track Tier,northwestern Tasmania

Late Middle Cambrian trilobites are described from two localities in northwestern Tasmania. Twenty-four trilobite taxa are documented. The 15 agnostoid species include Paraclavagnostus longus sp. nov. which is placed in the Utagnostinae, a new subfamily of the Clavagnostidae. The nine polymeroid species include a new member of the Rhyssometopidae, Tasmana truncata gen. et sp. nov. Three other new species of polymeroids are erected: Fuchouia tasmaniensis, Nepea delicata and Nepea hellyeri. Both faunas correlate with the Lejopyge laevigata Zone on the northern Australia biostratigraphic scale, possibly with the L. laevigata II Zone. When compared with Hunan, China, correlation is with the upper part of the Lejopyge laevigata Zone, and particularly with the lower part of the Proagnostus bulbus Zone.     

Middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician faunas from the Chingiz Mountain Range,central Kazakhstan

Tolmacheva, T.JU., Degtyarev, K.E., Samuelsson, J. & Holmer, L.E., December, 2008. Middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician faunas from the Chingiz Mountain Range, central Kazakhstan. Alcheringa 32, 443–463. ISSN 0311-5518.

The middle Cambrian to Lower Ordovician back-arc sedimentary succession studied in the Kol'denen River and in the Zerbkyzyl Mountains of the central Chingiz Mountain Range is composed predominantly of siltstones, sandstones and volcaniclastic rocks with rare beds of micritic carbonates, black shales and cherts. Fossil assemblages including conodonts, lingulate brachiopods, arthropods, sponges and probable Tasmanites cysts were recorded both from the carbonate and chert beds showing that richly diverse marine environments existed directly adjacent to the volcanic arcs. The Kol'denen River localities contain a diverse upper Cambrian paraconodont assemblage of the open-sea affinity. The representatives of Rossodus, Cordylodus, Drepanodus and Variabiloconus, having an almost pandemic distribution and characteristic of basinal facies, dominate the Lower Ordovician conodont fauna. The Cambrian–Ordovician boundary transition is characterized by chert production that was more likely caused by a local productivity increase than by general changes in palaeooceanographic and palaeogeographical conditions.     

Rare encrusted lingulate brachiopods from the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary beds of Baltica

Vinn, O., December 2015. Rare encrusted lingulate brachiopods from the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary beds of Baltica. Alcheringa 40, xx–xx. ISSN 0311-5518

Encrustation is rare on late Cambrian and Tremadocian brachiopods of Baltica. The encrusting fauna is represented by a single taxon, Marcusodictyon. Only Schmidtites celatus is encrusted in the Furongian of Estonia. The Marcusodictyon–Schmidtites association is the earliest example of syn vivo encrustation and symbiosis from the Baltica palaeocontinent. The encrusting faunas of the late Cambrian and Tremadocian of Baltica were unusual presumably owing to palaeogeographic reasons because the other known examples of early encrustation originate from lower palaeolatitudes.

Olev Vinn [olev.vinn@ut.ee], Department of Geology, University of Tartu, Ravila 14A, 50411 Tartu, Estonia.     

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.     

Microdictyon plates from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone of South Australia: Implications for species taxonomy and diversity

A small assemblage of isolated Microdictyon plates is described from the lower Cambrian Ajax Limestone, Mt Scott Range (Flinders Ranges), South Australia. Microdictyon plates are primarily known from single, isolated, perforated phosphatic sclerites; only one species (M. sinicum) from the Chengjiang Lagerstätte is known from soft-bodied preservation of the complete organism. The isolated plates from South Australia display a wide range of morphologies potentially reflecting: 1, considerable diversification within the group at this time; 2, extensive intraspecific morphological variation; 3, different plate morphotypes along the trunk of the animal; or 4, significant ontogenetic variation in successive growth stages. The South Australian specimens are similar to several individual sclerites described from other Cambrian palaeocontinents, but appear closest to faunas described from South China. Problems associated with the taxonomy of isolated Microdictyon plates are discussed, including the lack of knowledge associated with intraspecific and/or ontogenetic variability and how individual plate morphology may relate to size or relative position along the length of the complete organism.     

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.     

Thelodont fish and conodonts from the Early Devonian of Reefton,New Zealand

Thelodont scales and associated fragments of conodont elements identified as Turinia sp. cf. Turinia australiensis and Ozarkodina sp. cf. Ozarkodina buchanensis respectively are described for the first time from the Early Devonian Murray Creek Formation of Reefton, New Zealand. The conodont and thelodont components of the fauna suggest a late Pragian to early Emsian age for the assemblage.     

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.     

Early Aptian (Early Cretaceous) freshwater bivalves from the Australian–Antarctic rift,southeast Victoria

The brissid echinoid Schizobrissus insignis (Duncan &; Sladen, 1883) is described from the Fulra Limestone (late middle Eocene), in Kachchh, India. Formerly assigned to Peripneustes or to Meoma it is shown that the species possesses a complete subanal fasciole throughout ontogeny, a characteristic feature of Schizobrissus. Eocene species of Schizobrissus and Meoma show several morphological similarities, but diverged during the late Paleogene and early Neogene.     

Fruits and leaves with cuticle of Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. (Atherospermataceae) from the early Miocene of Otago (New Zealand)

Conran, J.G., Bannister, J.M. & Lee, D.E., 2013. Fruits and leaves with cuticle of Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. (Atherospermataceae) from the early Miocene of Otago (New Zealand). Alcheringa 37, 496–509. ISSN 0311-5518.

Laurelia otagoensis sp. nov. Conran, Bannister & D.E. Lee (Laurales: Atherospermataceae) is described from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar diatomite deposit, Otago, New Zealand. The new species is represented by mummified fossil leaves with well-preserved cuticle and associated clusters of achenes bearing persistent, long plumose styles. This basal angiosperm family is of significance because of its classic southern disjunctions and ecological importance in extant Gondwana-type rainforests, but has a very sparse fossil record. The present study describes one of very few convincing leaf fossils for Atherospermataceae and the only definitive fossil fruits. The presence of fossil Laurelia in Oligo–Miocene New Zealand combined with fossil leaf impressions from the late Eocene, Miocene dispersed cuticle and pollen from the Oligocene to Holocene shows that the family has had a long history in Cenozoic New Zealand. These new fossils also support palaeoclimatic data suggesting warmer conditions in the earliest Miocene of New Zealand.

John G. Conran [john.conran@adelaide.edu.au], Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology & Biodiversity and Sprigg Geobiology Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Benham Bldg DX 650 312, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005 Australia; Jennifer M. Bannister [jennifer.bannister@xtra.co.nz], Department of Botany, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand; Daphne E. Lee [daphne.lee@otago.ac.nz], Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Received 17.12.2012; revised 9.4.2013; accepted 15.4.2013.     

Associated conchs and opercula of Triplicatella disdoma (Hyolitha) from the early Cambrian of South Australia

Internal moulds of complete shells, including conch and associated opercula, of the hyolith Triplicatella disdoma from Cambrian Series 2, Stages 3–4 of South Australia are described. The conch of T. disdoma is shown to be narrow and cone-shaped, and with a rounded triangular cross-section. The conch shows a gentle dorsal curvature in lateral view. The fossils lack evidence of helens, and the operculum was smaller than the apertural diameter of the conch and could be withdrawn a short distance into the conch. Triplicatella was probably closely related to orthothecid hyoliths.     

Earliest known pelecypod on Earth — a new Early Cambrian genus from South Australia

A new genus and species of fordilloid pelecypod, Pojetaia runnegari gen. et sp. nov., is described from the lower part of the Parara Limestone, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Establishing the age of the sample on an international scale is difficult, as with almost all Early Cambrian formations, but evidence tends to suggest that this is the oldest pelecypod so far recorded. Clearly defined hinge teeth and sockets on both valves and on internal moulds help to confirm the pelecypod placement of fordilloids.