Three more thalamid sponge species are described from Upper Permian reefs of Djebel Tebaga, Tunisia. Intrasporeocoelia hubeiensis Fan and Zhang, 1985, Rhabdactinia depressa Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989, and Glomocystospongia gracilis Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989, are now known from a few Tunisian specimens.

Monaxon spicules are common within the rigid, diagenetically altered, aragonitic skeleton of Glomocystospongia gracilis Rigby, Fan, and Zhang, 1989. Spicules are common as vertical elements in walls of tubes between the vertical series of cyst-like chambers and less common in the chamber walls where they are parallel to the tube walls but project out into the chambers.

Intrasporeocoelia has been reported from Permian rocks of the Sosio Valley in Sicily, and therefore from the Western Tethys. However, the species of Rhabdactinia and Glomocystospongia reported here have been known, until now, only from the Permian of China; thus, the Djebel Tebaga locality in southern Tunisia represents the first known occurrence of these latter sponges in the Western Tethyan realm.

Two additional specimens of Tristratocoelia rhythmica Senowbari-Daryan and Rigby, 1988, have also been found. They allow further definition of characteristics of this sponge, which was initially described from a single specimen from Djebel Tebaga.

A single phyllodont tooth plate was identified in core from the Permian San Andres Formation of the Palo Duro Basin, Texas Panhandle. This is the first vertebrate fossil recorded from the San Andres Formation, and extends the Permian range of phyllodont dentitions into the lower Guadalupian Stage. The life environment is inferred to have been normal marine to marginally hypersaline, based on the occurrence of the specimen near the top of a carbonate unit in a carbonate-evaporite cycle.

The condensed Upper Albian to Lower Cenomanian deposits of the Helvetic Shelf of France and Switzerland yield diverse ammonite faunas including representatives of the family Lyelliceratidae, subfamily Stoliczkaiinae that is the origin of the Upper Cretaceous Acanthoceratidae and its descendants, as well as representatives of the dwarf stoliczkaiine offshoot, the family Flickiidae, subfamily Salaziceratinae. The following are described and referred to the Upper Albian Mortoniceras inflatum Zone: Neophlycticeras (N.) brottianum (d'Orbigny, 1841), N. (N.) rhodanense Delamette, 1983, N. (Protissotia) itierianum (d'Orbigny, 1841), and Zuluscaphites helveticus n. sp. From the Upper Albian Stoliczkaia dispar Zone come Neophlycticeras (N.) blancheti (Pictet and Campiche, 1859), N. (Paradolphia) priscum Casey, 1965, Stoliczkaia (5.) notha (Seeley, 1865), S. (S.) tenuis Renz, 1968, S. (Lamnayella) tetragona Neumayr, 1875, Cenisella bonnetiana Pictet, 1847, Zuluscaphites orycteropusi Van Hoepen, 1955, Salaziceras (S.) salazacense (Hébert and Munier-Chalmas, 1875), and S. (S.) breistrofferi Scholz, 1979. The Lower Cenomanian Mantelliceras mantelli Zone, Neostlingoceras carcitanense Subzone yields Stoliczkaia (Stoliczkaia) villoutreysi Casey, 1965, S. (Lamnayella) tetragona Neumayr, 1875, and S. (Shumarinaia) hashimotoi Matsumoto and Inoma, 1975.

The cassiduloid echinoid Calilampas californiensis n. gen. and sp. is described from middle lower Eocene (“Capay Stage”) shallow-marine sandstones in both the middle part of the Bateque Formation, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and the lower part of the Llajas Formation, southern California. The new genus is tentatively placed in family Pliolampadidae. The cassiduloid Cassidulus ellipticus Kew, 1920, previously known only from the “Capay Stage” in California, is also present in “Capay Stage” shallow-marine sandstones of the Bateque Formation.

IN 1993, Lucas and Williamson coined the name Schochia for a Paleocene mammal (taeniodont) from New Mexico. Michael Oliver has informed me recently that the name Schochia Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1895, is the name of an extant South American grasshopper (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Therefore, in accordance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, to resolve this homonymy, Robertschochia (type species Schochia sullivani Lucas and Williamson, 1993) is here proposed as a replacement name for Schochia. Robertschochia is named for taeniodont expert Robert Schoch.

This paper describes a pattern recognition method, Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy-Modeling And Classification Using Partial least squares (SIMCA-MACUP), and demonstrates its application to two common paleontological problems—identification and prediction. SIMCA-MACUP performs statistical pattern recognition at four hierarchical levels. At level 1, SIMCA builds disjoint principal component models to characterize multivariate data patterns of several classes. At level 2, new, unknown objects are either classified into one of the classes, or recognized as outliers. At levels 3 and 4, the MACUP method models the relationship between external (dependent) variables and internal (independent) variables, and allows prediction of the values of external variables of new objects which are classified at level 2.

The applicability of the SIMCA-MACUP has been demonstrated in a case study of the Pliocene planktic foraminiferal clade Globoconella. Two morphotypes of the clade Globorotalia (Globoconella) puncticulata and Globorotalia (Globoconella) inflata were characterized in a reference sample with SIMCA. Ancestral forms of the two morphotypes were traced through the early phylogenetic history of the clade, resulting in a reconstruction of the branching pattern of the divergence of G. inflata from G. puncticulata. The apertural height and apertural width of specimens in the ancestral stocks were then treated as if there were two “external” variables, and predicted using MACUP. The predicted values show slight discrepancy from the observed values. The deviation is size-dependent, indicating a decoupling of the apertural shape from the size of foraminifers during the branching process.

The early Albian to mid-Albian cosmopolitan genus Douvilleiceras is represented in the Haida Gwaii archipelago of western British Columbia by five species, D. mammillatum (Schlotheim), D. offarcinatum (White), D. scabrosum Casey, D. spiniferum (Whiteaves), and D. aff. spiniferum (Whiteaves). Specimens of one of these taxa, D. spiniferum, are particularly abundant on Haida Gwaii and the species is discussed with respect to its morphological variability and ontogenetic development. The important morphological features for taxonomic criteria of the genus Douvilleiceras are the mode of tuberculation, the pattern of ribbing, and the proportions of the shell in the middle growth stage.

A new acanthocladiid bryozoan genus from the Permian of the Glass Mountains of Texas, U.S.A., reveals a distinctive morphology and a growth pattern unique amongst members of the extinct stenolaemate Order Fenestrata. Adlatipora fossulata n. gen. n. sp. forms small pinnate expansions with moderately robust main stems and shorter laterally placed pinnae. Colonies developed from small basal discs that exhibit a unique multilayered skeletal structure, from which a circlet of first generation autozooids bud from the ancestrula; these become the bases of branches. In Adlatipora autozooecia are organized into diagonal rows that alternate along branches and are separated into right-handed or left-handed forms. A fossula is developed from the distal margin of autozooecial apertures. Proximal pores are located adjacent to autozooecial apertures and are remnants of fossulae. These pores probably acted as an anal pore providing a passageway for fecal products.

The Nunn Member (early Osagean) of the Lake Valley Formation of New Mexico is known for its abundance and diversity of crinoids. Although crinoids were first reported in the late 1800s, no comprehensive study of the crinoids has been conducted and a complete list of the crinoid taxa does not exist. All subclasses of crinoids occur in the Lake Valley, but the camerates are by far the dominant group. Study of the Macurda collection from the University of Michigan, the Laudon collection from the University of New Mexico, and new collections provided more than 7000 specimens, 4,500 of which were identifiable camerates. Sixty-one species of camerates are recognized in the Nunn Member, including five new species: Blairocrinus macurdai, Iotacrinus novamexicanus, Agaricocrinus alamogordoensis, Uperocrinus kuesi, and Collicrinus laudoni. This camerate fauna is very similar to that of the lower Burlington Limestone of the Mississippi Valley. An update of the crinoid taxa in the Lake Valley Formation allows for a better understanding of the temporal and geographic relationships of crinoid faunas across North American during the Early Mississippian when camerates were at their global diversity maximum. The majority of the camerates come from the western New Mexico outcrops where the Nunn Member is thicker and the marine shelf was shallower, but several also occur in association with the deep-water Waulsortian mounds.

A tooth recovered from the middle Miocene Choptank Formation (Chesapeake Group) of Maryland is identified as a new cynarctin borophagine (Canidae: Borophaginae: Cynarctina), here called Cynarctus wangi n. sp. The tooth, identified as a right upper second molar, represents the first carnivoran material reported from the Choptank Formation and part of a limited record of borophagine canids from eastern North America. As ?Cynarctus marylandica (Berry, 1938), another cynarctin borophagine from the older Calvert Formation, is known only from lower dentition, its generic affinities are uncertain. However, features of this new material are compared to features of ?C. marylandica through occlusal relationships, allowing for referral to a distinct species. Even so, the Choptank Formation material still offers two possible scenarios regarding its identification. In one, its geographic and stratigraphic provenance could imply that it belongs to ?C. marylandica. If this were correct, then the generic placement of ?C. marylandica would be correct and the taxon would be more derived than some other Cynarctus species in regard to hypocarnivory, and less derived than others. The second possibility, and the one believed to be most probable, is that a distinct cynarctin borophagine is present in the Chesapeake Group in strata younger than the type specimen of ?C. marylandica. This new borophagine canid expands the sparse fossil record of this group in northeastern North America and furthers our knowledge of the fossil record of terrestrial taxa in this region.

Recent work on new anthracothere (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) specimens from the Jebel Qatrani Formation, early Oligocene, Fayum, Egypt, has revealed the presence of a new genus. Nabotherium new genus is described on the basis of a partial skull, several mandibular and maxillary specimens, and isolated teeth. The new genus exhibits a distinctive combination of features not seen in other Paleogene anthracotheres. The most noticeable characteristics of the new genus include the presence of large and well-developed upper and lower canines, caniniform third incisors, the presence of only a short diastema between the canine and first premolar, and broad, bunodont cheek teeth. This is in contrast to other contemporary anthracotheres, including other forms from the Fayum, which show a spatulate third incisor, a reduced canine, a much longer canine-premolar diastema, and more narrow, bunoselenodont cheek teeth. The presence of a relatively short rostrum with closely packed incisors, low-crowned and simple premolars, and low-crowned, bunodont molars indicates that members of the new genus would have been more efficient at crushing foods than slicing vegetation, and suggests a more varied herbivorous and frugivorous diet than was favored by other, more bunoselenodont Fayum anthracotheres.

Testudo antiqua is one of the few fossil turtle names to have survived the past 200 years of taxonomic reshuffling with its original genus and specific epithet intact. The nine currently known specimens were collected from the middle Miocene Hohenhöwen locality in southern Germany. Because the available Hohenhöwen material was never fully described, we here completely document all known specimens. It is unclear which of these specimens formed the original T. antiqua type series, so we herein selected the best preserved representative as the neotype. A phylogenetic analysis places T. antiqua in a basal polytomy within the clade Testudo, indicating that T. antiqua may represent the ancestral morphology of Testudo. As with a number of other published studies, ours was unable to resolve relationships between the three extant Testudo lineages (the hermanni-group, the graeca/kleinmanni/marginata group, and the horsfieldii-group). Finally, with a view toward locating more turtles and in order to better understand the geological and ecological context of these tortoises, we visited Hohenhöwen several times to search for the original collection sites, but we were unable to locate the original fossil quarries described in the literature.

The Wamp Spring section of the Bird Spring Group consists of approximately 1,600 feet of carbonate rocks subdivided into a basal platy limestone member, lower cliff-forming member, and upper cliff-forming member. Triticites, Schwagerina, and Schubertella kingi in the platy limestone member indicate an early Wolfcampian age. Schwagerina, Schubertella kingi, and a distinctive assemblage of brachiopods, similar to the West Texas fauna, including Kozlowskia kingi, Elliottella aff. E. multicostata, Leurosina sinesulca, Gypospirifer cf. G. infraplicus, and Composita cf. C. apheles, indicate that the upper cliff-forming member is late Wolfcampian. The lower cliff-forming member is tentatively assigned to the middle Wolfcampian. The Wamp Spring sequence correlates temporally with the BSe “formation” of the Bird Spring Group.

In addition to the previously mentioned taxa, the fossil-rich upper cliff-forming limestone member includes the new species Pontisia boodi, Crurithyris wampensis, and Calliprotonia(?) n. sp. A, as well as Hustedia culcitula, Crenispirifer(?) sp., Cenorhynchia(?) sp., Kutorginella(?) sp., marginiferids, lyssacine hexactinellid sponges, pleurotomarid and bellerophontid gastropods, cidaroid echinoids, rugose corals, cylindrical cryptostome bryozoans, and nuculids.

A new actinocerid genus, Kobayashiceras, is defined on the basis of Kobayashiceras gifuense new species from the Lochkovian (Early Devonian) of the Fukuji Formation, central Japan. This genus shares with known actinocerids in the apical shell morphology, but is diagnosed by its orthocerid like stenosiphonate form in the adoral shell. Its taxonomic and paleobiogeographic implications are discussed.

The polyplacophoran Matthevia Walcott, 1885 has been reported previously only from Cambrian rocks. Recovery of specimens of two different species of Matthevia from the top of the cherty lower Gasconade Dolomite in Missouri extends the known range of the genus into the Ordovician. The presence of the Lower Ordovician trilobite Praepatokephalus Lochman, 1964 in one collection provides the biostratigraphic evidence that the new specimens of Matthevia are Ordovician in age. Matthevia erecta n. sp. is described. An emended diagnosis for the trilobite Praepatokephalus is provided; two species of the genus are briefly described but are left in open nomenclature as P. sp. A and P. sp. B.

Records of diagenetically mineralized, filamentous, cavity-dwelling microorganisms extend back to strata from the early Paleoproterozoic (2400 Ma). In North Greenland (Laurentia), they are first known from the Ediacaran (Neoproterozoic; ca. 600 Ma) Portfjeld Formation of southern Peary Land, in association with a biota similar to that of the Doushantuo Formation of China. The Portfjeld Formation cavity dwellers are compared with more widespread occurrences in Cambrian (Series 2, Stage 4, Miaolingian Series) strata from the same region in which assemblages in postmortal shelter structures within articulated acrotretoid brachiopods and other invertebrates are common. All specimens were recovered by digestion of carbonate samples in weak acids. The described fossils are preserved as mineral encrusted threads but this diagenetic phosphatization unfortunately obscures their biological identity.

Based on abundant topotype specimens from the Oil Creek Formation at the type locality in southern Oklahoma, Histiodella labiosa is described and revised. The morphological variation of the Pa, Pb, and M elements of this previously little-known species is also systematically documented and illustrated. The revised species definition, with formal designation of a lectotype and a new diagnosis supported by morphological comparison with its ancestral and descendent species, has enhanced its value for correlation of the lower Darriwilian. The inferred phylogeny of Histiodella that resulted from this study is based on both cladistic and morphological analyses. It supports the monophyletic grouping of Histiodella species and their evolutionary relationships. This has wide biostratigraphic implications because many Histiodella species are valuable for detailed global correlation of upper Dapingian to middle Darriwilian strata.

New collections from the Marshalltown Formation and basal Mount Laurel Sand along the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal in Delaware clarify the ammonite dating of the interval. The Marshalltown Formation yields Pachydiscus (Pachydiscus) sp., Menuites portlocki (Sharpe, 1855) complexus (Hall and Meek, 1856), a subspecies restricted to the Baculites gregoryensis and Baculites scotti zones in the Western Interior of the United States, and Didymoceras binodosum (Kennedy and Cobban, 1993a) known only from the B. scotti zone of the Western Interior and correlatives in Arkansas and Texas. The basal part of the Mount Laurel Sand contains a complex assemblage preserved as phosphatic molds: Nostoceras (Nostoceras) monotuberculatum Kennedy and Cobban, 1993a, Nostoceras (N.) sp., Didymoceras platycostatum (Kennedy and Cobban, 1993b), D. stevensoni (Whitfield, 1877) (previously thought to be from the Marshalltown) and Exiteloceras jenneyi (Whitfield, 1877). The last two are index species of their eponymous zones in the Western Interior. This sequence is compatible with ammonites from the Wenonah Formation, which lies between the Marshalltown and Mount Laurel to the north and contains ammonites indicative of the Baculites scotti zone, and the fauna from higher in the Mount Laurel Sand, which includes elements of the Didymoceras cheyennense and Baculites compressus zones of the Western Interior sequence.

A new Permian bactritoid cephalopod, Aktastioceras nishikawai n. sp., was discovered from the Uyamano Formation of the Taishaku Limestone Group at Miharanoro, Hiroshima Prefecture (Figure 1). The Uyamano Formation represents the Lower Permian portion of the Central Facies, which was defined by Hase et al. (1974) in a large reef complex deposited during the period of Early Carboniferous to Late Permian age. Lithofacies of the formation mainly consist of limestone, including the reef core facies with minor amounts of a limestone conglomerate. The specimens of Aktastioceras occur in light-gray massive limestone of the lowest Uyamano Formation, belonging to the Pseudoschwagerina Zone (Akagi, 1958), which indicates Asselian age. This is the first record of a Permian bactritoid from Japan.

The component subfamilies of the Delthyridoidea are critically reviewed and subjected to phylogenetic analysis. This shows the presence of two clades, assigned to the Delthyrididae and Acrospiriferidae, within the superfamily. The subfamilial categories are redefined mainly on the basis of the characters used in the phylogenetic analysis. The spiriferid, mainly delthyridide, Gaspé fauna is formally revised and redescribed. This new taxonomic treatment leads to more precise biostratigraphy and to the recognition of a new subfamily, the Gaspespiriferinae, based on the new genus Gaspespirifer. Five new species are described: Howellella (Howellella) forillonensis, Brachyspirifer (Brachyspirifer) briseboisi, Paraspirifer desbiensi, Brevispirifer florentinus, and B. quebecensis, The occurrence of Brevispirifer species with Middle Devonian chonetaceans confirms the presence of marine Eifelian strata in the Matapédia Valley. Paraspirifer desbiensi n. sp. and two species left in open nomenclature, Vandercammenina sp. and Mucrospirifer sp., have considerable biostratigraphic and biogeographic significance in the Lower Devonian. The first occurrence in the Eastern Americas Realm of the typically Rhenish genera Brachyspirifer, Paraspirifer, and Vandercammenina are in Gaspé. This reinforces the hypothesis that Gaspé served as a stepping stone for Rhenish species invading North America in Pragian and Emsian times, as previously suggested by bivalve biogeography.