Applied Zooarchaeology of Freshwater Mussel (Bivalvia: Unionidae) Shell from Golson (22HU508), A Deasonville-Period Site on the Yazoo River,Mississippi

Excavations at Golson (22HU508), an archaeological site on the Yazoo River in western Mississippi, USA, produced an assemblage of over 4000 freshwater mussel shells, 77 percent of which were identifiable to species. Although limited spatial sampling of the deposits limits what can be said about past mussel community characteristics, twelve new river records for mussel species are derived from the assemblage. This typical result emphasises the value of archaeological shell assemblages for conservation biology and provides a rationale for why sites containing shell may be considered significant based upon their potential contributions to environmental history.     

Ordovician trilobites from Deh-Molla,eastern Alborz,Iran

Ghobadi Pour, M., 21 June 2019. Ordovician trilobites from Deh-Molla, eastern Alborz, Iran. Alcheringa 43, 381–405. ISSN 0311-5518

Seventeen species from 14 genera of Tremadocian and Darriwilian trilobites, plus two taxa recognizable only down to family level, have been documented from the Lower to Middle Ordovician succession of the Deh-Molla area, southeast of Shahrud in northern Iran. Two species, Asaphellus intermedius and Conophrys multituberculatus, are new to science. Unlike previously documented Iranian faunas, the early Tremadocian trilobite assemblage is characterized by proliferation of the olenid Chungkingaspis sinensis, which is also known as the eponymous taxon of the basal Ordovician trilobite biozone in South China. This is the first record of the occurrence of the olenid biofacies in the Ordovician of Iran. Overall, both the Tremadocian and Darriwilian trilobite assemblages show distinct similarity to the contemporaneous faunas of South China down to species level. Trilobite-based correlation with the Ordovician succession of South China confirms the existence of a hiatus at the base of the Ordovician succession in the eastern Alborz and a significant gap, with the upper Tremadocian, Floian and Dapingian parts of the succession completely missing in Deh-Molla.

Mansoureh Ghobadi Pour [mghobadipour@yahoo.co.uk and m.ghobadipour@gu.ac.ir], Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan 49138-15739, Iran. *Also affiliated with Department of Natural Sciences, Natural Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK.     

A global analysis of distribution and endemism within Late Llandovery (Telychian) brachiopods

Cocks, L.R.M. & Jiayu, R. 10 July 2019. A global analysis of distribution and endemism within Late Llandovery (Telychian) brachiopods. Alcheringa 43, 406–422. ISSN 0311–5518

The genera of brachiopods of early Silurian (late Llandovery: Telychian) age have been critically reviewed and are listed from the major continental areas: South China, Avalonia-Baltica, Laurentia, Siberia and adjacent areas, and Gondwana (including the adjacent Kazakh terranes, Southwest Tien Shan and Iran). All those continents lay within tropical latitudes, apart from the South American sector of Gondwana, which hosted the Clarkeia Fauna, the earliest constituent of the largely high-latitude Devonian Malvinokaffric Province in the southern hemisphere. Additionally, the then northern (today’s southern) part of the Siberian continent, which included parts of Mongolia and North China, was at temperate latitudes in the northern hemisphere so that it hosted the Tuvaella Fauna, which was also dominated by endemic brachiopod genera. Of the 202 genera listed, 50 are endemic to one of the six regions, and a further eight must have lived during Telychian times since they are known from both the underlying Aeronian and the overlying Sheinwoodian.

L. Robin M. Cocks [rcocks@nhmacuk], Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK; Rong Jiayu [jyrong@nigpasaccn], State Key Laboratory, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, PR China.     

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.     

The radiation of early Silurian spiriferide brachiopods,with new taxa from the Llandovery of Iran

Popov, L.E. & Cocks, L.R.M., 2013. The radiation of early Silurian spiriferide brachiopods, with new taxa from the Llandovery of Iran. Alcheringa 38, 560–566. ISSN 0311–5518.

Although there were Late Ordovician spiriferides in the superfamily Cyrtioidea, namely Eospirifer and Odakella, only the former genus survived the terminal Ordovician extinction, and only Eospirifer is known from the earliest Llandovery (Rhuddanian). However, in the succeeding mid-Llandovery (Aeronian), the spiriferides radiated to include not only more species within Eospirifer and Striispirifer in the Eospiriferidae, but also the new genus Iranospirifer described here, which is the earliest representative of the other family within the superfamily, the Hedeinopsidae. The Ordovician species were confined to the South China continent and the Boshchekul volcanic island arc in Kazakhstan, but by the Aeronian the superfamily had spread westwards to various other continents, including the main Gondwanan superterrane (which included Iran) in the early Aeronian, and Avalonia-Baltica and Laurentia in the late Aeronian. The new species Eospirifer ghobadiae and Iranospirifer qarabilensis are both described from the lower Aeronian of Iran, and there is a note on the Aeronian rhynchonellide Stegocornu, which is endemic to Iran and nearby areas.

Leonid E. Popov [lepbarry@yahoo.co.uk; leonid.popov@museumwales.ac.uk] Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, UK. L. Robin M. Cocks [r.cocks@nhm.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, UK. Received 29.5.2013, revised 12.7.2013, accepted 21.7.2013.     

A review of the Quaternary Tayassuidae (Mammalia,Artiodactyla) from the Tarija Valley,Bolivia

Five successive events can be widely recognized in the Tremadoc to early Arenig graptolite sequences of the world: 1, appearance of Dictyonema flabelliforme s.l. at the base; 2, appearance of Anisograptus; 3, appearance of Clonograptus and/or Adelograptus; 4, appearance of Temnograptus, Kiaerograptus, large Clonograptus and Tetragraptus; and 5, appearance of Tetragraptus approximatus at the base of the Arenig. The five events are used as a basis for distinguishing 5 successive graptolite assemblages and for correlating Tremadoc sequences. The most precisely and confidently correlated horizon is that of event 5, the appearance of T. approximatus; the next best is that based on event 4. Derivation of the biradiate Anisograptids, Clonograptus, and Adelograptus, from their presumed ancestor, Dictyonema flabelliforme, now appears to have passed through a stratigraphically, if not phyletically, intermediate stage represented by the triradiate Anisograptus, Triograptus and Bryograptus.     

Oldest meiolaniid turtle remains from Australia: evidence from the Eocene Kerosene Creek Member of the Rundle Formation,Queensland

Poropat, S.F., Kool, L., Vickers-Rich, P. &; Rich, T.H., September 2016. Oldest meiolaniid turtle remains from Australia: evidence from the Eocene Kerosene Creek Member of the Rundle Formation, Queensland. Alcheringa 41, XX–XX. ISSN 0311-5518.

Fossil meiolaniid turtles are known only from South America and Australasia. The South American record is restricted to the Eocene, and comprises two genera: Niolamia and Gaffneylania. The Australasian meiolaniid record is more diverse, with three genera known (Ninjemys, Warkalania and Meiolania); however, the oldest known specimens from this continent are significantly younger than those from South America, deriving from upper Oligocene sediments in South Australia and Queensland. Herein, we describe the oldest meiolaniid remains found in Australasia to date. The specimens comprise a posterior peripheral, a caudal ring, and an osteoderm, all of which derive from the middle–upper Eocene Rundle Formation of The Narrows Graben, Gladstone, eastern Queensland. Despite their fragmentary nature, each of these specimens can be assigned to Meiolaniidae with a high level of confidence. This is particularly true of the partial caudal ring, which is strongly similar to those of Niolamia, Ninjemys and Meiolania. The extension of the Australasian meiolaniid record to the Eocene lends strong support to the hypothesis that these turtles arose before South America and Australia detached from Antarctica, and that they were consequently able to spread across all three continents.

Stephen F. Poropat*^? [stephenfporopat@gmail.com], Australian Age of Dinosaurs Natural History Museum, The Jump-Up, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia; Lesley Kool*^? [koollesley@gmail.com] and Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Melbourne Museum, 11 Nicholson St, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia; Patricia Vickers-Rich [pat.rich@monash.edu], Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. *These authors contributed equally to this work. ^?Also affiliated with Monash University, Wellington Rd, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.     

Estimating the magnitude of data asymmetry in palaeozoological biogeography

Palaeozoological data are asymmetrical because they indicate the presence of a species in the area in which its remains are recovered, but the absence of remains is not necessarily evidence for the absence of a species. It is impossible to measure the magnitude of data asymmetry with respect to biogeography, but the magnitude can be estimated. The proportion of sites in an area where a species is known to occur that have not produced remains of that species is an estimate of counter‐ubiquity. The proportion of identified faunal remains in an area where a species is known to occur that do not represent that species is another estimate of data asymmetry. Bivariate plots of the number of sites in an area that have produced remains of a taxon against the total number of faunal remains identified in the area indicate that data asymmetry can be estimated as the inverse of sample size. More sites and more identified faunal remains tend to produce more occurrences of a species, so more sites and more identified faunal remains will tend to provide a database that is not only more accurate but also less asymmetrical with respect to the geographical range of a species. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Decentring 1788: Beyond Biotic Nativeness

The usefulness of the concept of biotic nativeness has been challenged in both the social and natural sciences, for different reasons. This paper explores the particular construction of nativeness in Australia in relation to plants, showing that the definition builds on and inscribes more deeply the boundary between humans and the rest of nature seen in the wider literature. In this context two further boundaries are etched: between some humans and others, and before and after European colonisation. Such a use of nativeness as an axiom of environmental management is argued to be problematic, foreclosing a number of future options just when we need to increase our capacity to deal with contingency and unpredictability. But if Australia has experienced distinctive historical processes of entrenching these boundaries, it also has a distinctive heritage of destabilisation in a range of geographic work. The paper discusses how we might build on this heritage to imagine more open futures in which the problematic boundaries were removed. Some of these futures resonate with vernacular recombinations of plants from diverse origins.