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.     

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.     

Late Paleocene foraminiferal faunas with Chapmanina and Reticulophragmium from offshore southeastern Australia: a Tethyan influence

Samples from off southern New South Wales in approximately 1750 m water depth have yielded late Paleocene faunas of benthic and planktonic foraminifera and other invertebrates. Two faunal associations with a strong Tethyan influence, dominated respectively by Chapmanina conjuncta sp. nov. and Reticulophragmium naroomaensis sp. nov., are described; this is the first formal record of these genera from Australasia. The age of the host sediment is based on both benthic species and few planktonic foraminifera.

The environment at the time was warm temperate to subtropical at the southwestern extremity of a counter-clockwise Pacific Ocean gyre. The new occurrence extends the record of Palaeogene marine sediments and palaeoenvironments along the eastern margin of Australia and confirms earlier observations that conditions in the marine environment at that time were considerably warmer along the east coast of Australia than those along the southern margin; the biogeographic association was Tethyan. The circulation model may go some way to explaining coeval warmth along the east Antarctic coast.     

Emwadea microcarpa gen. et sp. nov.—anatomically preserved araucarian seed cones from the Winton Formation (late Albian), western Queensland,Australia

Dettmann, M.E., Clifford, H.T., Peters, M., June 2012. Emwadea microcarpa gen. et sp. nov.—anatomically preserved araucarian seed cones from the Winton Formation (late Albian), western Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa, 217–237. ISSN 0311-5518.

A new genus and species, Emwadea microcarpa Dettmann, Clifford & Peters, is established for ovulate/seed cones with helically arranged cone scales bearing a centrally positioned, inverted ovule from the basal Winton Formation (late Albian), Eromanga Basin, Queensland. The cones are small, prolate ellipsoidal (9.5–14 mm vertical axis, 6.3–8.7 mm transverse axis) with wedge-shaped cone scales bearing winged seeds attached adaxially to the scale only by tissues surrounding the vasculature entering the ovule. Ovuliferous tissue that is free from the cone scale extends distally from the chalaza; the seeds' lateral wings are derived from the integument. Foliage attached to the cones is spirally arranged, imbricate and with spreading and incurved bifacial blades with acute tips; stomata are arranged in longitudinal files and are confined to the adaxial surface. The cone organization testifies to placement within the Araucariaceae, and is morphologically more similar to Wollemia and Agathis than to Araucaria.

Mary Dettmann [mary.dettmann@qm.qld.gov.au] and Trevor Clifford, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Q 4101, Australia; Mark Peters, PO Box 366 Gumeracha, SA 5233, Australia. Received 31.3.2011; revised 23.8.2011; accepted 5.9.2011.

     

Bite marks on an ichthyodectiform fish from Australia: possible evidence of trophic interaction in an Early Cretaceous marine ecosystem

Wretman, L. & Kear, B.P., 2013. Bite marks on an ichthyodectiform fish from Australia: possible evidence of trophic interaction in an Early Cretaceous marine ecosystem. Alcheringa 38, 000–000. ISSN 0311-5518.

A well-preserved fish skull from late Albian deposits of the Allaru Mudstone near Richmond in Queensland displays a conspicuous V-shaped pattern of indentations, punctures and depression fractures consistent with a vertebrate bite trace. This is the first direct evidence of trophic interaction between vertebrates within an Early Cretaceous marine ecosystem from Australia. The specimen is taxonomically referable to the large-bodied (ca 1?m snout–tail length) ichthyodectiform Cooyoo australis, but the size and spacing of the tooth marks is incompatible with attack by a conspecific individual. The lack of osseous growths concordant with healing also suggests that the bite occurred shortly before or after the animal’s death. Comparison with the dentitions of other coeval vertebrates indicates compatible tooth arrangements in longirostrine amniote predators such as polycotylid plesiosaurians, ornithocheiroid pterosaurs and especially the ichthyosaurian Platypterygius. The implications of this as a potential predator–prey association are that Early Cretaceous actinopterygians occupied middle-level trophic niches and were in turn consumed by higher-level amniote carnivores, similar to many extant marine vertebrate communities of today.

Lovisa Wretman [lovisa.wretman@ebc.uu.se], Subdepartment of Evolution and Development, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden (address for correspondence); Benjamin P. Kear [benjamin.kear@geo.uu.se], Palaeobiology Programme, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden. Received 8.8.2013, revised 17.9.2013, accepted 23.9.2013.     

Ordovician acritarchs from the Canning Basin,Western Australia

A left mandibular toothplate of a chimaeroid fish collected from the Toolebuc Formation (Early Cretaceous, Albian), central Queensland is described. Comparisons with other chimaeroid genera show the toothplate to be sufficiently distinct to warrant the erection of a new genus. Ptyktoptychion tayyo gen. et sp. nov. is distinguished by the size and shape of its three tritors, the form of the symphysial facet and the overall shape of the toothplate.     

Lark Quarry revisited: a critique of methods used to identify a large dinosaurian track-maker in the Winton Formation (Albian–Cenomanian), western Queensland,Australia

Thulborn, R.A., 2013. Lark Quarry revisited: a critique of methods used to identify a large dinosaurian track-maker in the Winton Formation (Albian–Cenomanian), western Queensland, Australia. Alcheringa, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2013.748482

A remarkable assemblage of dinosaur tracks in the Winton Formation (Albian–Cenomanian) at Lark Quarry, a site in western Queensland, Australia, has long been regarded as evidence of a dinosaurian stampede. However, one recently published study has claimed that existing interpretation of Lark Quarry is incorrect because the largest track-maker at the site was misidentified and could not have played a pivotal role in precipitating a stampede. That recent study has identified the largest track-maker as an ornithopod (bipedal plant-eating dinosaur) similar or identical to Muttaburrasaurus and not, as formerly supposed, a theropod (predaceous dinosaur) resembling Allosaurus. Those iconoclastic claims are examined here and are shown to be groundless: they are based partly on misconceptions and partly on fabricated data that have been assessed uncritically using quantitative measures of questionable significance. Such ill-founded claims do not reveal any substantial flaw in the existing interpretation of the Lark Quarry dinosaur tracks.     

Taphonomic observations on eastern Australian Cretaceous sauropods

Cretaceous (Albian–Cenomanian) sauropod body fossils are known from the Eromanga Basin of central Queensland and Surat Basin of northern New South Wales/southeastern Queensland. Most bones are uncrushed and undistorted. Associated components of the caudal and forelimb skeleton are dominant in current collections and probably derived from more complete skeletons now lost to erosion, or yet to be exposed. Dorsal and cervical vertebrae have rarely been reported and no cranial material has yet been found. None of the Australian sauropod remains shows evidence of predation or scavenging, but at least two specimens of Wintonotitan wattsi were intimately associated with plant macrofossils allowing limited inference of their postmortem environments.     

Late late Albian (Early Cretaceous) shark teeth from Annopol,Poland

Siversson, M. & Machalski, M., February 2017. Late late Albian (Early Cretaceous) shark teeth from Annopol, Poland. Alcheringa 41, 433–463.

Screen washing of the condensed phosporite-bearing sands at the top of the Albian succession at Annopol, Poland, produced 789 selachian teeth of which 264 are determinable to at least genus level. The sediment type and methods of processing prevented recovery of small-toothed taxa, resulting in an assemblage comprising 13, mostly large-toothed taxa. Lamniformes dominates with Dwardius sp. being, by far, the most common taxon. Observations on vertical distribution and preservation of the teeth (with focus on the adhered phosphatic matrix), coupled with biostratigraphic ranges of co-occurring ammonites, indicate that the majority of the shark material is attributable to the Mortoniceras rostratum or, more probably, M. perinflatum Zone (late late Albian; mid-‘Vraconnian’). This is compatible with the composition of the shark assemblage, characterized by the co-occurrence of Paraisurus sp. aff. P. compressus, Cretoxyrhina vraconensis and Squalicorax teeth with strong serrations on the cutting edges. The tightly curved basal edge of the root in lateral teeth of C. vraconensis conforms to that of teeth from the Pawpaw Formation of Texas (M. rostratum Zone) and differs from the more divergent root lobes in younger specimens from the uppermost Albian and/or lowermost Cenomanian of Kolbay, Mangyshlak. Some specimens in the studied assemblage are probably older, within the range from the middle to earliest late late Albian. The strong numerical dominance of either Cretoxyrhina or Dwardius in late late Albian to early Cenomanian selachian faunas indicates competitive exclusion in these similar-sized, apex predatory sharks.

Mikael Siversson* [mikael.siversson@museum.wa.gov.au], Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Welshpool, Western Australia 6106, Australia; Marcin Machalski [mach@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warszawa, Poland. *Also affiliated with: Department of Environment & Agriculture, Curtin University, Kent Street, Bentley, WA 6102, Australia.     

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.     

A palaeobiogeographical synthesis of Australasian Mesozoic marine tetrapods

Kear, B.P., Fordyce, R.E., Hiller, N. & Siversson, M., December 2017. A palaeobiogeographical synthesis of Australasian Mesozoic marine tetrapods. Alcheringa 42, 461-486. ISSN 0311-5518.

THE LAST 15 years has witnessed a blossoming of research on Australasian Mesozoic marine tetrapod fossils. Much of this work has focused on amniotes, particularly those from the prolific Lower Cretaceous (Aptian–Albian) Lagerstätten of the Eromanga Basin in central and eastern Australia, and Upper Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) sequences of the North and South islands of New Zealand. However, rare and less popularized remains have also been found in Lower Triassic–mid-Cretaceous rocks from Australia, New Zealand and the Chatham Islands, and on the tectonically proximal landmasses of New Caledonia and Timor. Currently identified taxa include estuarine–paralic rhytidostean, brachyopid, capitosaurian and trematosaurian temnospondyls from the earliest Triassic (Induan–Olenekian), Middle–Late Triassic (Anisian–Norian) eosauropterygians, and mixosaurian, shastasaurian and euichthyosaurian ichthyosaurians, Early–Middle Jurassic (Sinemurian–Bajocian) ichthyosaurians, together with plesiosauroid and rhomaleosaurid-like plesiosaurians, and diverse Early (Aptian–Albian) through to Late Cretaceous (Campanian–Maastrichtian) elasmosaurid, leptocleidid, polycotylid, probable cryptoclidid and pliosaurid plesiosaurians, as well as ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaurians, sea turtles incorporating protostegids, and mosasaurid squamates. This faunal succession evidences almost continuous occupation of southern high-palaeolatitude seas, and repeated endemic diversifications (including nascent members of some key lineages) amongst emigrant cosmopolitan clades. The primary dispersal routes are likely to have been peri-Gondwanan, with coastal migrations along the western Tethys and polar margins of the Panthalassan Ocean. However, augmentation by increasing continental fragmentation and seaway corridor connectivity probably occurred from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous. Latest Cretaceous mosasaurid and elasmosaurid taxa also reveal regional affinities with the emergent western Pacific and Weddellian austral bioprovinces. The extreme rarity, or complete absence, of many major groups prevalent elsewhere in Gondwana (e.g., tanystropheids, Triassic sauropterygians, bothremydid marine turtles, thalattosuchians and dyrosaurid crocodylomorphs) is conspicuous, and might be related to stratigraphical/collecting biases, or the predominantly higher-palaeolatitude, cooler-water Mesozoic palaeogeography of the Australasian region. Although the burgeoning record is substantial, much still awaits discovery and adequate documentation; thus Australasia is still one of the most exciting prospects for future insights into the global history of Mesozoic marine tetrapods.

Benjamin P. Kear* [benjamin.kear@em.uu.se] Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden; R. Ewan Fordyce [ewan.fordyce@otago.ac.nz] Department of Geology, University of Otago, Post Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand; Norton Hiller [norton.hiller@gmail.com] Canterbury Museum, Rolleston Avenue, Christchurch 8013, New Zealand; Mikael Siversson [mikael.siversson@museum.wa.gov.au] Western Australian Museum, 49 Kew Street, Welshpool, Western Australia 6106.     

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.     

Early Cretaceous (Neocomian) microplankton from the Carpentaria Basin,northern Queensland

The Neocomian upper Helby Beds, basal Rolling Downs Group and Gilbert River Formation of the Carpentaria Basin contain a dinoflagellate sequence divisible into three zonal intervals; the zones represent the oldest continuous marine Cretaceous record for eastern Australia. Zone DK1 (dated latest Jurassic to Berriasian) commences with the first appearance of four species, zone DK2 (dated Valanginian) with that of four or five species, and zone DK3 (dated Hauterivian to Barremian) with that of three species.

Biostratigraphic aspects are discussed of species selected as possible zone marker fossils in so far as they (a) are relatively poorly known, or represent new species, and (b) have no previously published Neocomian record. New combinations are proposed of one acritarch species and six dinoflagellate species. One new acritarch genus and species, Pseudofromea collaris, and four new dinoflagellate species — Canningia crassicingulata, Cleistosphaeridium australe, Cyclonephelium asymmetricum, and Muderongia testudinaria — are proposed and described.     

Reappraisal of Austrosaurus mckillopi Longman, 1933 from the Allaru Mudstone of Queensland,Australia’s first named Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur

Poropat, S.F., Nair, J.P., Syme, C.E., Mannion, P.D., Upchurch, P., Hocknull, S.A., Cook, A.G., Tischler, T.R. &; Holland, T. XX.XXXX. 2017. Reappraisal of Austrosaurus mckillopi Longman, 1933 Longman, H.A., 1933. A new dinosaur from the Queensland Cretaceous. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 10, 131–144. [Google Scholar] from the Allaru Mudstone of Queensland, Australia’s first named Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur. Alcheringa 41, 543–580. ISSN 0311-5518

Austrosaurus mckillopi was the first Cretaceous sauropod reported from Australia, and the first Cretaceous dinosaur reported from Queensland (northeast Australia). This sauropod taxon was established on the basis of several fragmentary presacral vertebrae (QM F2316) derived from the uppermost Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) Allaru Mudstone, at a locality situated 77 km west-northwest of Richmond, Queensland. Prior to its rediscovery in 2014, the type site was considered lost after failed attempts to relocate it in the 1970s. Excavations at the site in 2014 and 2015 led to the recovery of several partial dorsal ribs and fragments of presacral vertebrae, all of which clearly pertained to a single sauropod dinosaur. The discovery of new material of the type individual of Austrosaurus mckillopi, in tandem with a reassessment of the material collected in the 1930s, has facilitated the rearticulation of the specimen. The resultant vertebral series comprises six presacral vertebrae—the posteriormost cervical and five anteriormost dorsals—in association with five left dorsal ribs and one right one. The fragmentary nature of the type specimen has historically hindered assessments of the phylogenetic affinities of Austrosaurus, as has the fact that these evaluations were often based on a subset of the type material. The reappraisal of the type series of Austrosaurus presented herein, on the basis of both external morphology and internal morphology visualized through CT data, validates it as a diagnostic titanosauriform taxon, tentatively placed in Somphospondyli, and characterized by the possession of an accessory lateral pneumatic foramen on dorsal vertebra I (a feature that appears to be autapomorphic) and by the presence of a robust ventral mid-line ridge on the centra of dorsal vertebrae I and II. The interpretation of the anteriormost preserved vertebra in Austrosaurus as a posterior cervical has also prompted the re-evaluation of an isolated, partial, posterior cervical vertebra (QM F6142, the ‘Hughenden sauropod’) from the upper Albian Toolebuc Formation (which underlies the Allaru Mudstone). Although this vertebra preserves an apparent unique character of its own (a spinopostzygapophyseal lamina fossa), it is not able to be referred unequivocally to Austrosaurus and is retained as Titanosauriformes indet. Austrosaurus mckillopi is one of the oldest known sauropods from the Australian Cretaceous based on skeletal remains and potentially provides phylogenetic and/or palaeobiogeographic context for later taxa such as Wintonotitan wattsi, Diamantinasaurus matildae and Savannasaurus elliottorum.

Stephen F. Poropat* [sporopat@swin.edu.au; stephenfporopat@gmail.com] Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia; Jay P. Nair [j.nair@uq.edu.au; jayraptor@gmail.com] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Caitlin E. Syme [caitlin.syme@uqconnect.edu.au] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Philip D. Mannion [philipdmannion@gmail.com] Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK; Paul Upchurch [p.upchurch@ucl.ac.uk] Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Scott A. Hocknull [scott.hocknull@qm.qld.gov.au] Geosciences, Queensland Museum, 122 Gerler Rd, Hendra, Queensland 4011, Australia; Alex G. Cook [alex.cook@y7mail.com] School of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Travis R. Tischler [travisr.tischler@outlook.com] Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive, PO Box 408, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia; Timothy Holland [drtimothyholland@gmail.com] Kronosaurus Korner, 91 Goldring St, Richmond, Queensland 4822, Australia. *Also affiliated with: Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive, PO Box 408, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia.     

New evidence for a Silurian (Ludlow) age for the earliest Baragwanathia flora

In the Silurian-Devonian marine clastic strata of the Yea District, central Victoria, two distinct flora and faunal assemblages containing elements of the Baragwanathia flora occur separated stratigraphically by 1700m of siltstone. The upper assemblage is Early Devonian (Praguian) in age, whilst the lower assemblage is considered to be Late Silurian (Ludlow).     

Maradidae: a new family of vombatomorphian marsupial from the late Oligocene of Riversleigh,northwestern Queensland

Black, K., March 2007. Maradidae: a new family of vombatomorphian marsupial from the late Oligocene of Riversleigh, northwestern Queensland. Alcheringa 31, 17-32. ISSN 0311-5518.

Marada arcanum gen. et sp. nov. is described from the late Oligocene Hiatus Site, Riversleigh World Heritage Property, northwestern Queensland. Although known from only a single dentary, it is assigned to a new family Maradidae, based on a unique combination of both plesiomorphic and apomorphic features. Of the known vombatomorphians, Marada is most similar to primitive wynyardiids and diprotodontoids (palorchestids and diprotodontids). Further clarification of the phylogenetic position of Maradidae within Vombatomorphia requires discovery of upper dentitions and crania.

Karen Black [k.black@unsw.edu.au], Vertebrate Palaeontology Laboratory, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia; received 17.1.2005, revised 1.6.2005.     

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.     

Men’s History,Gender History,or Cultural History?

Books reviewed in this article: Shawn Johansen, Family Men: Middle–Class Fatherhood in Industrializing America Martin A. Berger, Man Made: Thomas Eakins and the Construction of Gilded Age Manhood Matthew Basso, Laura McCall and Dee Garceau (eds), Across the Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West     

Unusual belemnite — incoceramid bivalve association from the Albian (late Early Cretaceous) of Queensland,Australia

An unusual occurrence in the upper Albian Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia, of penetration of a guard of the belemnite Dimitobelus (Dimitobelus) stimulus into the disc of an indeterminate inoceramid bivalve, is the first report of this type of shell damage in the fossil record. The belemnite punctured completely both valves of the bivalve to the maximum diameter of the belemnite guard, by inferred compaction from sediment overburden during post-mortem biostratinomic processes. Shell thickening of the inoceramid bivalve by shearing of prismatic layers at the site of puncture indicates that the bivalve shell behaved plastically during the puncture and that the great flexibility of the prismatic layers was facilitated by the relatively thin shell and presence of organic sheaths around individual prisms. This flexibility may have been advantageous during a predatory attack, by allowing the maintenance of a seal during breakage of the shell margin.