Bocchino (1964) described and figured a new genus and species, Propygidium primaevus, and assigned it to the siluriform family Trichomycteridae (=Pygidiidae). After examination of the holotype, the only referred specimen, the authors conclude that it does not correspond to a catfish, but to an acanthopterygian. Since it was considered the only fossil record of trichomycteridae, and having been used to support speculations on the “center of origin” of this Neotropical family (see Ringuelet, 1975), it is appropriate to correct the former assignment.

Cyphaspis wessmani new species is a morphologically aberrant taxon from the Ludlow Henryhouse Formation of south-central Oklahoma. Its long, scoop-shaped cephalic border is without close comparison in the family Aulacopleuridae, but its possession of eleven thoracic segments with an axial spine on the sixth, an inflated glabella with tiny L1 and dorsal tuberculate sculpture, a prominently expressed bilobate eye socle, and a micropygous pygidium all support assignment to Cyphaspis. The genus is common in Silurian rocks from most parts of the world, but C. wessmani is the first published record from southern Laurentia.

Ptychites is among the most widely distributed ammonoid genera of the Triassic and is namesake of a family and superfamily. However, representatives of the genus mostly show low-level phenotypic disparity. Furthermore, a large number of taxa are based on only a few poorly preserved specimens, creating challenges to determine ptychitid taxonomy. Consequently, a novel approach is needed to improve ptychitid diversity studies. Here, we investigate Ptychites spp. from the middle and late Anisian of Nevada. The species recorded include Ptychites embreei n. sp., which is distinguished by an average conch diameter that is much smaller and shows a more evolute coiling than most of its relatives. The new species ranges from the Gymnotoceras mimetus to the Gymnotoceras rotelliformis zones, which makes it the longest-ranging species of the genus. For the first time, the ontogenetic development of Ptychites was obtained from cross sections where possible. Cross-sectioning highlights unique ontogenetic trajectories in ptychitids. This demonstrates that, despite showing little phenotypic disparity, Ptychites was highly ontogenetically differentiated, and thus the high taxonomic diversity at the species level is justified for the species investigated.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/5abe2487-8a00-4b48-adc7-ec7db7a097f7

The Cambrian (Jiangshanian, Sunwaptan) Honey Creek Formation in the Wichita Mountains region of Oklahoma yielded a new fauna dominated by Monocheilus Resser, 1937 (senior synonym of Stigmacephalus Resser, 1937) in association with Ptychaspis Hall, 1863. It occupies the same stratigraphic position as similar faunas in the Upper Mississippi Valley and Alberta, lying a little above an interval characterized by species of Taenicephalus Ulrich and Resser in Walcott, 1924 and Orygmaspis Resser, 1937. Revision of Ptychaspis bullasa Lochman and Hu, 1959 from type material from Idaho and sclerites attributed to the species from Texas reveals a plexus of pseudocryptic species that share tuberculate sculpture on the cranidium. New species are Monocheilus reginae, Monocheilus richardi, Ptychaspis occulta, and Ptychaspis matuszaki.

UUID: www.zoobank.org/c2771c63-db4b-434a-ae58-3e3fda19ecb0

Specimens of the Late Mississippian productoid genera Inflatia and Keokukia from northeastern Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas, collected from the Boone and “Moorefield” Formations, Hindsville Limestone, and Fayetteville Shale, display morphologic similarities and differences that delineate species and determine their biostratigraphic ranges. Generic assignments are based primarily on internal characters. Systematic descriptions include seven species of Inflatia Muir-Wood and Cooper: Productus inflatus McChesney (the type species), P. cherokeensis Drake, P. clydensis Girty (figured herein for the first time and for which a lectotype is designated), four new species of Inflatia (I. cooperi, I. gracilis, I. pusilla, and I.? succincta), and one species of Keokukia (the type species for the genus, K. sulcata Carter). Also proposed and described is a new genus, Adairia, with its type species Productus (Marginifera) adairensis Drake. All these species of Inflatia, Keokukia, and Adairia have biostratigraphically restricted ranges within the Meramecian and Chesterian sequence in the Ozark region.

Karlsorus n. gen. is proposed in this study as a large, smooth-shelled pentameride brachiopod of the family Pentameridae, based on Pentamerus gothlandicus Lebedev, 1892, from the Wenlock (Silurian) Slite beds of Gotland, Sweden. This species is transferred from Pentamerus to the new genus because of the combination of a Pentamerus-like shell shape and the development of a brachiophorium through fusion of the outer hinge plates in the middle portion, like a dorso-ventrally inversed cruralium. The first appearance of brachiophorium in pentamerids is in the late Wenlock, known also in Brooksina, Pentamerifera, and other related pentamerid genera, marking a significant stage in morphological transformation of dorsal internal structures, as part of the Silurian pentameride diversification in both level-bottom and reefal depositional environments.

Upper cretaceous strata of the U. S. Gulf Coastal Plain are rich in species and numbers of Exogyra, which occurs in a wide range of facies including siliciclastics, marls, and chalks. Specimens of Exogyra belonging to numerous well-defined species are also common to abundant locally in Upper Cretaceous siliciclastic rocks at many localities within the U. S. Western Interior, but the genus is exceedingly sparse in marly and chalky rocks of the same region. Intensive collecting in the chalky outcrops of western Kansas has yielded only two specimens of Exogyra, which are notable not only for good shell preservation but also for uniqueness of their respective occurrence. One of these specimens was collected from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member, Niobrara Chalk (Figure 1), and the other was collected from the Fairport Member, Carlile Shale (Figure 1). Principal paleontological works that treat the Niobrara fauna, especially including those of Meek (1876), Stanton (1893), Logan (1898), Scott and Cobban (1964), Miller (1968), and Hattin (1982), make no mention of the genus in that formation. Hattin (1962) documented a lone occurrence of Exogyra in the Fairport Member of Kansas, and sparse occurrence of E. cf. E. suborbiculata Lamarck in the Fairport was recorded by Kauffman (1961), whose material was collected in Huerfano Park, Colorado, where the member is calcareous or marly shale. Stratigraphic occurrence of the two Kansas specimens is presented in Figure 1, which also depicts ranges of other Exogyra species that have been recorded in the Upper Cretaceous of western Kansas.

Molostovskaja (1979, p. 54) described without illustrations the family Darwinuloididae Molostovskaja, 1979. The following year, Molostovskaja (1980, p. 33) described the family again as new [Darwinuloididae fam. nov.]. She included the genus Whipplella Holland, 1934, in the family and illustrated Darwinuloides svijazhicus (Sharapova 1948) (Molostovskaja, 1980, p. 28, figs. 5a, b, 8). Schneider (1948, p. 29, pl. 2, figs, 1a, b) originally described and illustrated this species as “Darwinula svijazhicus Sharapova n. mns.” Two years later, Molostovskaja (1982, p. 158) illustrated cross-sections of the adductor muscle attachment scar patterns in the families of the Darwinulacea Brady and Norman, 1889. Later Molostovskaja (1990, p. 166) erected the superfamily Darwinuloidacea Molostovskaja, 1979 to include Whipplella Holland, 1934, Vymella Kalis and Mischina in Mischina and Kalis, 1975, and questionably Pruvostina Scott and Summerson, 1943. In the same paper, she illustrated Whipplella sp. (pl. 72, figs. 6a, b) [from Sohn, 1977], Vymella dobrinini (Kashevarova, 1961) (pl. 72, figs. 7a-c), Darwinuloides sentjakensis (Sharapova in Schneider, 1948) (pl. 73, figs. 5, 6), and D. svijazhicus (Sharapova in Schneider, 1948) (pl. 74, figs. 14a, b).

Lidaconus palmettoensis n. gen. and sp. is a recently discovered fossil from the Lower Cambrian Harkless Formation (Bonnia–Olenellus Zone) in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The conoidal fossils were originally calcareous and have been replaced by silica. The cones are distinctive in their consistent morphology, the presence of weak annulations, and the lack of any internal structures such as septa, tabulae, or dissepiments. Because of the paucity of diagnostic characters due to the simple morphology and the lack of original microstructure, taxonomic affinities are uncertain.

In 2004 Watabe and Kaesler published a paper on a new species of the ostracode genus Paraparchites from the Lower Permian of Kansas and named it Paraparchites punctatus. Thereby they failed to notice that already in 1936 a Paraparchites punctatus had been described by Harris and Worrell from the Lower Permian of Oklahoma.

The new flexible crinoid Para clidochirus n. gen. is described, with P. keyserensis (Springer, 1920) as the type species. A new species, P. schultzi, is described from the Late Devonian of Idaho.

Silicified and well-preserved specimens of the new orchocladine anthaspidellid genus and species, Virgaspongia ichnata, the rhizomorine haplistiid, Haplistion sphaericum Finks, 1960, and various root tufts, and the new hexactinellid species Steioderma hadra are reported from the Brentwood Member of the Morrowan Bloyd Formation from the Sulphur City quadrangle, in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas. Virgaspongia is a subcylindrical branched or unbranched sponge that lacks a spongocoel and has a dendroclone-based skeleton in which trabs diverge upward and outward from an axial region. It is abundant here but is one of only a few anthaspidellid genera known from the Pennsylvanian. This is the first record of Haplistion from Pennsylvanian rocks of Arkansas, although the genus is widespread in upper Paleozoic rocks. The new hexactinellid species, Stioderma hadra, also documents the first occurrence of that genus from Arkansas and in Morrowan rocks. Only fragments were recovered but the swollen grotesque spicules, of several sizes, that make the fused dermal layer and outer sponge wall are distinctive, particularly where combined with an inner layer(?) or root tuft of monaxons of various sizes. Two different root tufts and one demosponge wall fragment(?) also occur in the collection.

Disarticulated elements from three individuals of Mammuthus cf. M. columbi (Falconer) and one individual of Bison cf. B. latifrons (Harlan) were recovered from an excavation in gravelly, sandy clay of the Colma Formation at the southeast base of Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, California. This is the most abundant collection of late Pleistocene terrestrial vertebrates reported from San Francisco, and only the fourth record from excavations in the city proper. The Mammuthus-Bison association indicates a Rancholabrean age, and elements of these two taxa from this site have been radiocarbon dated at 25,380 ± 1,100 years B.P. Geologic setting, lithology, associated diatoms and pollen, and preservation of the bones suggest that these animals were buried rapidly in a boggy environment on the west margin of the broad valley now occupied by San Francisco Bay.

The tricranoclad demosponge Hindia sphaeroidalis Duncan, 1879, is reported as a common silicified sponge in the basal dolomite of the Deep Lakes Member of the Upper Ordovician Fish Haven Formation of northeastern Utah for the first time. A small juvenile orchoclad anthaspidellid, Hudsonospongia? sp., is also the first of that family reported from Fish Haven beds and the Deep Lakes Member. Both taxa are from localities on the eastern slope of Mount Magog, north of Tony Grove Lake, in the Bear River Range, Cache County, east of Logan, Utah.

Three genera of gastropods described from the Lower Devonian Rockhouse Formation of Hardin County, Tennessee, currently are considered to be junior subjective synonyms of Platyceras (Visitator) Perner, 1911. Evaluation of the type specimens of these genera as well as types of two other gastropods from the same formation reveals the following: Platyostoma quadrangulare (Dunbar, 1920) is the only platyceratid gastropod among them; Saffordella tennessensis Dunbar, 1920 has a selenizone above midwhorl so it is an eotomarioidean belonging to the Gosseletinidae; Aulopea nelsoni Dunbar, 1920 and the lectotype of Distemnostoma princeps Dunbar, 1920 each has a broad subsutural sinus on the upper whorl surface similar to the Omphalotrochidae, as well as a basal sinus similar to certain primitive caenogastropods, so their systematic position is uncertain; I consider Holopea planidorsata Dunbar, 1920 to be a juvenile specimen of D. princeps; the fragmentary paralectotype of D. princeps possibly represents a gerontic form of Distemnostoma curtum Dunbar, 1920, which possesses a well-developed selenizone on an upwardly projecting shoulder at the edge of the upper whorl surface. Because D. curtum appears to be unrelated to D. princeps, the genotype of Distemnostoma, I propose the new generic name Omocordella for D. curtum. The new family Micromphalidae is erected to include Ordovician Slehoferia Rohr and Fryda, 2001, lower Carboniferous Micromphalus Knight, 1945, and Omocordella n. gen.

Kerguelen Islands are predominantly volcanic lands, thus fossil references are very uncommon. However, its Miocene fossils are of specific interest for understanding migration routes of some taxa during the Cenozoic, given the intermediary position of Kerguelen with various continents. Despite this fossil rarity, we studied herein hundreds of nodules corresponding to the sole known fossil brachyurans (and unique Decapoda) from Kerguelen both for their systematics and their preservation. Indeed, these crabs display some internal fragile structures that are rarely fossilized, such as the gills’ branchial lamellae, preserved in volume. The preservation of these gills and their diagenetic features were documented through traditional imagery (SEM), including morphological comparison to modern gills, and with petrographic and geochemical analyses (EDS, X-ray diffractometry). Some cheilostome bryozoans were observed as probable foulers of the crabs carcasses. The fossil material corresponds to a new cancrid crab (Romaleon franciscae n. sp.) and its occurrence may imply a novel route from South America westward for the geographic migration of the genus Romaleon, since its Cretaceous emergence. The cup-shape and the number and the organization of the gills in these fossil Cancridae specimens are similar to those observed in their extant representatives. Gill preservation in 3D is linked to very early phosphatization of the system during diagenesis, as shown by the nodule matrix, and likely to deposition of a thin clayey cover on the soft-tissues. The implication of intrinsic phosphorous in the differential phosphatization of the crabs’ anatomy remains difficult to determine.

The early Miocene site of Wadi Moghra, Qattara Depression, Egypt, is important for interpreting anthracothere (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) evolution, because the Moghra sediments preserve a higher diversity of anthracotheres than any other pene-contemporaneous site. New specimens from Moghra are described and form the basis for the systematic revision of Moghra anthracotheres provided here. Among the important discoveries recently made at Moghra is the first complete skull of Sivameryx moneyi. Other new specimens described here include two new species of Afromeryx, and a new genus and species, all of which are unique to Moghra. A review of biogeographic information supports the conclusion that three of the Moghra anthracotheres (Brachyodus depereti, B. mogharensis, and Jaggermeryx naida, n. gen. n. sp.) are members of late surviving lineages with a long history in Africa, while three other species (Afromeryx grex, n. sp., A. palustris, n. sp., and Sivameryx moneyi) represent more recent immigrants from Eurasia.

Paleontologists have long speculated that the bizarre, giant Ordovician gastropods Maclurites Le Sueur, 1818 and Maclurina Ulrich and Scofield, 1897 lived more like suspension-feeding oysters than typical algivorous snails. Geometric and eigenshape morphometrics demonstrate the plausibility of this lifestyle, but with a twist. The apertures of these gastropods were small ellipsoids when young, transitioning rapidly to polygonal morphologies at maturity, with angulations (sinuses) occurring in regions associated with development of mature ctenidia (gills) and enhanced stability on the seafloor. Combined with knowledge of extant suspension-feeding gastropods and functional and phylogenetic analysis of the anatomy of other fossil relatives, this ontogenetic pattern suggests these snails began life as typical mobile algae-grazers, but switched to sedentary suspension-feeders as they aged.

The Pratt Ferry beds are a three meter thick bioclastic carbonate unit containing the Pygodus serrus–P. anserinus conodont zone boundary and lying just below the Nemagraptus gracilis graptolite zone at a single locality in Alabama. Telephina Marek at Pratt Ferry and other eastern North American localities is represented by at least six species. These are judged widespread and in part conspecific with Scandinavian or Asian forms of similar age. Most of the fifteen Appalachian telephinid species proposed by Ulrich (1930) are reviewed and some synonymized. Bevanopsis Cooper is present, extending its stratigraphic range via B. buttsi (Cooper). The original description of Ceraurinella buttsi Cooper is augmented. Other recorded but poorly represented genera include Ampyxina, Arthrorhachis, Calyptaulax, Hibbertia, Lonchodomas, Mesotaphraspis, Porterfieldia, and Sphaerexochus. The entire faunule represents a mixture of ‘inshore’ and ‘offshore’ or planktonic faunal elements rarely seen elsewhere in the latest Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) of eastern North America.