Early Devonian (Lochkovian; eurekaensis Zone) conodonts occur in discontinuous limestone beds in the Caballos Novaculite at five localities in the northwestern half of the Marathon uplift, west Texas. Similar conodont faunas at all five localities indicate that the limestone beds lie at one biostratigraphic horizon within the Caballos. The upper novaculite member directly overlies the limestone horizon at one locality, giving the upper novaculite a maximum age of Lochkovian. The limestone beds are dominantly skeletal calcarenites that represent shallow-water carbonate material transported into a deeper water setting by gravity processes. Restriction of the limestones to the northwestern margin of the uplift and provenance of reworked clasts and redeposited Ordovician and Silurian conodonts suggest a North American shelf source and are evidence of the close proximity of some strata exposed in the Marathon uplift to North America in the Early Devonian. Icriodus gravesi n. sp. is described from the limestone fauna.

De Wever et al. (1979) proposed the new radiolarian name Xiphotheca from the Triassic of Greece. We discovered that this name has already been used for a fish by Agassiz in 1846. Therefore, in accordance with article 60 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) we propose the name Xiphothecaella nomen novum as a replacement name (type species Xiphotheca karpenissionensis De Wever, in De Wever et al., 1979, p. 93, pl. 7, figs. 1–5; text-fig. 3, by original designation) for the preoccupied homonym Xiphotheca De Wever, 1979, non Agassiz 1846.

Camptocrinus alabamensis Strimple and Moore, from the Gasperian (Mississippian: Chesterian) part of the Monteagle Limestone and overlying Bangor Limestone in northern Alabama, is the only species of Camptocrinus known to have more than 10 arms. Camptocrinus alabamensis exhibits morphological features (basals that are taller on their posterior ends than on their anterior ends, flattened primanal, shorter posteriormost secundibrachs on C ray and D ray) indicative of a tightly coiled life position, with most of the stem lying along the sediment. Unlike other coiled crinoids, Camptocrinus alabamensis had a double-folded stem and more than 10 arms, which we interpret to have been compromise solutions to the problems of protection from high current energy and predation pressure coupled with the need to lift the animal into a feeding posture. In addition, C. alabamensis is the only dichocrinid exhibiting highly modified pinnules, which may have been used as rheo/chemosensory organs. Camptocrinus alabamensis was a leeward passive suspension feeder that, in times of danger, could fold in its arms and coil tightly against the sediment.

Camptocrinus alabamensis is removed from synonymy with C. cirrifer and the diagnosis of Camptocrinus is modified. Species of the genera Camptocrinus and Neocamptocrinus should be used only for specimens in which calyces are known; therefore, the plethora of stem-species erected over the years should all be assigned to stem genera unless adequate calyx descriptions are available.

As first State Paleontologist of New York, T. A. Conrad is widely recognized as an important pioneer of American paleontology. Highlights of his career and tragic personal life, as well as his portrait, are given by Merrill (1906, p. 344, 354–357).

The small, distinctive, glyptorthinine brachiopod Ptychopleurella Schuchert and Cooper is widely distributed in rocks of early Ordovician to late Silurian age. Several species are known from the Barr and Ardmillan successions (middle-upper Ordovician) of the Girvan district, S.W. Scotland, one of which, ‘Orthis Lapworthi’ Davidson, has not been described in modern terms as there has been some confusion concerning its true identity. Recognition of this species of Ptychopleurella permits comparison with congeners elsewhere, strengthens the correlation of this part of the Girvan Succession with the middle Ordovician of North America, and provides a more complete record of this genus in the slope sedimentary facies of the northwestern margin of the Iapetus Ocean.

A new strophalosiid, Megalosia chuluensis n. gen. and sp., from the Nisal Member, Senja Formation, in the Manang district north of Mt. Annapurna, north-central Nepal, is of early Dorashamian or Changhsingian (Late Permian) age. Wyndhamia circularis Chang, from slightly older faunas of south Tibet, might be congeneric.

Cardiarina cordata Cooper, 1956, has previously been placed in the Rhynchonellacea. Specimens present in the Dickerson Shale (Pennsylvanian, Desmoinesian) in north-central Texas have a terebratulid centronelloidiform loop, and although there are no punctae preserved, are questionably assigned to C. cordata and placed in the Terebratulacea.

The clypeasteroid echinoid Astrodapsis bajasurensis n. sp. is described from upper middle Miocene beds of the Isidro Formation near the mouth of Arroyo Mezquital on the Pacific coast of north-central Baja California Sur, Mexico. The new species is the first occurrence of Astrodapsis outside of California and extends the southern limit of the genus by 1,100 km.

Four species of Fenestrida and two species of Rhabdomesida occur in the Otter Formation (Viséan) of the Little Belt Mountains, central Montana. Four species are new: Laxifenestella snyderi n. sp., Rectifenestella concava n. sp., Streblotrypa (Streblascopora) eastoni n. sp., and Nikiforovella beltensis n. sp. Several of these species are very similar to species described in Viséan rocks of central Mongolia, northeast Russia, Kazakhstan, and Japan. Fabifenestella cf. F. vulgaris compares closely with F. vulgaris Gorjunova and Morozova from the Lower Carboniferous of northern Mongolia. Most of the bryozoans in the Otter Formation occur in the normal marine, subtidal carbonate mud and calcareous shale microfacies.

Four rare Pennsylvanian (Stark Shale: Pennsylvanian, Missourian [=Kasimovian]) coleoids from Nebraska and Iowa, which are preserved as flattened partial phragmocones and body chambers associated with three-dimensionally fossilized ink sacs, are herein described as Pabianiconus starkensis new genus new species, Nebraskaconus whitei new genus new species, and Starkites compressus new genus new species. One specimen that is missing most of the phragmocone, is provisionally assigned to Donovaniconus. The fossils are assigned to the Coleoidea because of the presence of ink-filled sacs in the body chamber region of the conch. Additionally, eight fragmented and flattened phragmocones and body-chamber clusters with similar morphologies, including some with ink fragments and arm hooks, are assigned to the Coleoidea, but are not named because of their fragmentary condition. On most of the eight specimens, the shell material is associated with other unidentified finely macerated material, which suggests these fossils are probably either ejectoid masses or coprolites from coleoid predators and/or scavengers. However, the new genera named above appear to have been deposited as complete animals, based on the presence of the ink-filled sacs that are in the body chambers. With their body chamber and phragmocone morphologies, these rare coleoid taxa provide valuable information about conch variability within the Carboniferous evolutionary radiation of coleoids.

The Leptarctinae are an enigmatic subfamily of mustelids present in North America and Eurasia during the Miocene (Arikareean to Hemphillian North American Land Mammal Ages). Their diet and ecology have been particularly controversial. Some workers have suggested they were similar to koalas, whereas others suggested they were crushing omnivores analogous to raccoons. Leptarctus oregonensis Stock, 1930, a poorly known leptarctine from the early Barstovian, is represented by fragmented cranial elements and isolated teeth from the Mascall Formation of Oregon, and some fairly complete but undescribed material from the Olcott Formation of western Nebraska. Herein, we describe the first well-preserved skull of L. oregonensis from the type formation. Based on this new specimen, we confirm that L. oregonensis is a distinct species from L. primus Leidy, 1856 and L. ancipidens White, 1941 that is characterized by a distinct morphology of its tympanic projections and first upper molars. We are also able to describe intraspecific variation within L. oregonensis coinciding with the geographic distribution of the specimens (Oregon and Nebraska). The most variable characters are concentrated in the morphology of the frontals and the upper fourth premolar. Additional specimens will be needed to settle the debate over sexual dimorphism in this species, but this new specimen suggests that Leptarctus oregonensis, despite being one of the smallest members of the Leptarctinae, was an animal-dominated omnivore with considerable crushing ability.

Five genera of anthaspidellid and streptosollenid demosponges are described from the Ordovician Lenoir Limestone near Lenoir City, Loudon County, Tennessee, USA including: Rhopalocoelia regularis Raymond and Okulitch, Rugocoelia loudonensis n. sp., Psarodictyum sp. (Anthaspidellidae), Allosacus pedunculatus n. sp., and Zitelella varians Raymond and Okulitch (Streptosolenidae). These findings confirm the major paleobiogeographic picture for Laurentian sponges (i.e., the differential distribution of sponge faunas along both North American margins), because none of these eastern margin species has been reported from western margin faunas. Only one genus typical of the Great Basin fauna, Rugocoelia Johns, 1994, is reported from Tennessee, but as a new species. Possible explanations are discussed for this differential distribution, mainly related to climatic constraints or sedimentary differences, preventing the free distribution of sponge species between Laurentian continental margins.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/2b990a4c-7bc8-4eb6-b8a9-fe4ecf7bdbf9

Pupae of the nonbiting midge Chaoborus are reported from the middle Eocene (Claibornian) Tallahatta Formation in Benton County, Mississippi. These pupae are placed within the genus Chaoborus because the shape of the respiratory organs, length of the abdomen, and shape of the anal paddles closely resemble other species of this extant genus. This occurrence represents the oldest record of Chaoborus pupae and the first record of fossil Chaoborus from North America. The flora and fauna found associated with the fossil pupae along with the known habitats of extant Chaoborus pupae indicate a lentic environment. This interpretation corresponds to the depositional environment of similar Eocene-aged clay deposits in western Tennessee.

An unusual occurrence of a colony of microcrinoids from shale within a fragment of a large orthoconic nautiloid body chamber is described from the Imo Formation (Mississippian, Chesterian) near Elba, Arkansas. The colony, about 70 individuals, consists principally of immature specimens that lack facets for the arms, and a few mature specimens with four or five arm facets. The crinoids are interpreted as record of a census population that was engulfed suddenly by mud. The crinoids are assigned to Allagecrinus coronarius Gutschick, 1968. The body chamber may have been broken during predation by other large cephalopods, or sharks, known from the Imo, or by post-mortem transport. The shell served as a firm substrate on which the microcrinoid larvae could settle and the convex sides may have provided some protection from currents.

The Protocardiinae is represented by 11 valid species of Protocardia and one species of Nemocardium in the Lower Cretaceous of the Gulf of Mexico. These taxa appeared in the Caribbean Province through a combination of immigration and evolution from the local stock. One species group, Protocardia texana-Protocardia salinaensis-Protocardia subspinigera, developed as geographically and environmentally distinct populations that migrated in space and time. Another group, Protocardia roanokensis-Protocardia prosogyrata-Protocardia nutans-Protocardia denisonensis, differentiated through time by dichotomous branching. These species occupied sand to mud substrates. The coarseness of their shell ornament is positively related to substrate grain size. The geographic and stratigraphic distributions of these species illustrate that diversity is positively correlated with the extent of distribution and that endemism develops during transgression.

Class Hyolitha Marek, 1963 encompassing the Order Hyolithida Sysoev, 1957 (Early Cambrian to Upper Permian) and Order Orthothecida Marek, 1966 (Early Cambrian to Early Devonian) consists of a group of conical, calcareous-shelled invertebrates of controversial affinity. One opponent view holds that hyoliths may be reasonably accommodated under the Phylum Mollusca (Malinky and Yochelson, 2007 and references therein), whereas another supports separate phylum status under the name Hyolitha (Pojeta, 1987 and references therein). Hyolith abundance and diversity attain a maximum in the Cambrian, followed by a progressive decline up to their Permian extinction (Fisher, 1962; Wills, 1993). Their demise was part of the extinction event of the Late PermianlEarly Triassic. The cause(s) of this event remains controversial (Erwin et al., 2002), and no imprint remains in the geologic record of the specific circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the hyoliths, though it is highly probable that reduced population size was a contributing factor. Given the overall rarity of Late Paleozoic hyoliths, every occurrence is worthy of note to better understand patterns of hyolith diversity and abundance in the Late Paleozoic, the geographic and stratigraphic distribution of hyolith taxa and circumstances related to their extinction. The species from the Upper Permian described herein is among the youngest, if not the youngest, members of class Hyolitha.

Intraspecific morphological variations have been investigated based on 1,090 specimens of a Pleistocene solitary scleractinian coral, Caryophyllia (Premocyathus) compressa Yabe and Eguchi. Special attention has been paid to variations in septal arrangements, septal numbers, insertion patterns of third-cycle septa, and pali. The specimens contain nine different septal plans from hexameral to decatetrameral, among which those having a decameral plan are the most common. There is a clear regularity in number and position of the third-cycle septa. Specimens in which the third cycle is incomplete are also considered to be mature forms. Number and position of pali are intimately related to the number and insertion pattern of the third-cycle septa. In extreme cases, there exist specimens having only two cycles of septa and lacking pali. Ninety-nine varieties in septal arrangements are considered to be present in the fossil population, although only 57 have been found in the collection. The present species includes many specimens which do not show bilateral symmetry.