The phylum Bryozoa had long been the only major phylum unknown from the Cambrian and by inference the Cambrian Explosion of biodiversity. When described in 2010 as a late Cambrian cryptostome bryozoan, Pywackia baileyi Landing in Landing et al., 2010 became the oldest known bryozoan (early Cambrian bryozoans have since been described). Controversy remains about the phylum-level identification of Pywackia Landing in Landing et al., 2010—one study proposed an interpretation of Pywackia as an octocoral. No previous studies of the skeletal microstructure of Pywackia have employed the analysis of petrographic thin sections and high-magnification scanning electron microscopy. These two methods, with the addition of data from previous studies, are employed in this analysis of skeletal microstructure, a feature often important for higher-level taxonomic identification. Although many candidate groups were considered, Pywackia's distinctive pillar and laminae, porous skeleton like many Cnidaria, topology of the body walls, and growth of modules are consistent with a cnidarian affinity. Pywackia skeletons with primary microstructure were 100% phosphate mineral and were collected from a setting of pervasive phosphatic replacement, which leaves uncertainty as to the original skeletal composition. Pywackia is not assigned here to a cnidarian class and likely represents an early, rare, short-lived cnidarian evolutionary group.

This study provides the first focused investigation of rudist bivalves from the Upper Cretaceous of the Gulf Coastal Plain (GCP) in the southern US and previously undescribed specimens from the Flor de Alba Limestone Member of the Pozas Formation in Puerto Rico. Identified rudists from the GCP comprise the Monopleuridae, including Gyropleura, as well as Radiolitidae, including Biradiolites cardenasensi, Durania maxima, Guanacastea jamaicensis, Radiolites acutocostata, and Sauvagesia. Integrating rudist occurrences within well-established GCP biostratigraphy allows for extension of upper ranges of D. maxima and R. acutocostata into the late Campanian, and extension of the lower ranges of B. cardenasensis and G. jamaicensis into the early Campanian. Identified rudists from Puerto Rico comprise the Hippuritidae and include Barrettia monilifera, which supports the age of the Flor de Alba Limestone Member of the Pozas Formation as middle Campanian. Combined taxonomic, biostratigraphic, and paleobiogeographic analyses indicate there is no rudist fauna endemic to the GCP, and the region marks the northeastern range of the Caribbean genera Biradiolites, Durania, Guanacastea, Gyropleura, Radiolites, and Sauvagesia during the Campanian and Maastrichtian. The new occurrences help inform future updates of Late Cretaceous sea surface-current reconstructions for the Caribbean and Western Interior Seaway, USA.

Predation is a behavior that is commonly unsuccessful, but the cause of failure is often difficult to determine in the fossil record. Here, we report on gastropod drill holes in two Plio- and Miocene bivalve specimens from the Netherlands created from the inner side of the bivalve prey's shell, which we call reverse drill holes. These holes are unequivocally caused by failure of the gastropod drilling predators to make effective use of their chemoreception and mechanoreception sensory adaptations. We hypothesize that the diffuse nature of chemical cues emanating from dense aggregations of living prey could have confused foraging predators and stimulated them to initiate the drilling process on empty valves. Poor decision making due to hunger is an alternative hypothesis. These traces represent the first reported examples of reverse gastropod drill holes from the fossil record, and the first attributed to Naticidae. Compared to other types of failed predation (incomplete drill holes and drill holes in multiply-drilled specimens) in the two assemblages studied, reverse drill holes are rare (< 1% of drill holes). This result implies that the driller's sensory and decision-making processes were generally reliable at distinguishing dead from live prey.

Walcottaspis vanhornei (Walcott, 1914) is a large, late Cambrian trilobite with a unique pygidial morphology known only from a narrow outcrop belt of the St. Lawrence Formation in the Upper Mississippi Valley. Found in carbonate-rich layers within heterolithic facies that represent the toesets of a prograding shoreface, it is restricted to a single or small number of parasequences. Only four specimens of any of its sclerites have been illustrated previously. Here holaspid examples of all its biomineralized sclerites are described and illustrated, along with a morphometric analysis of cranidial landmarks and landmarks plus semilandmarks for the pygidium. Ontogenetic allometry accounts for 29% of the variance among holaspid cranidia and includes a relative shortening and narrowing of the palpebral lobe and a reduction in the relative length and width of the frontal area. Notable pygidial phenotypic variation occurs in the extent of the postaxial region and in the proportion of the structure occupied by the axis. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that W. vanhornei is sister taxon to Dikelocephalus minnesotensis Owen, 1852, which also occurs in the St. Lawrence Formation and has a broadly similar cephalon but distinctive trunk. The holaspid pygidium of W. vanhornei is uniquely characterized by the interpleural furrows of the first two segments becoming abruptly obsolete on approaching the axial furrow. Some pygidia show narrow, shallow, flat-bottomed grooves etched into the internal sides of the dorsal surface or doublure that apparently represent infestation of the live trilobite.

Central Europe is an area of high diversity for the Talpidae (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) during the Late Miocene. The assemblages from Slovakia (Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, Triblavina) are no exception with their abundant material representing eleven species. The uropsiline Desmanella is represented by D. rietscheli and D. dubia. Desmanini fossils are attributed to Archaeodesmana vinea, Archaeodesmana dissona new species, Gerhardstorchia biradicata, and Gerhardstorchia sp. The scalopines Proscapanus minor and P. austriacus are well recorded in the Vallesian localities and support the emergence of P. austriacus before the MN9/10 transition. Talpini and Urotrichini are especially rare and only represented by Talpa cf. T. minuta and Urotrichini gen. sp. indet. Finally, we identified the youngest occurrence of Desmanodon in Europe, D. cf. D. fluegeli, at the MN9 locality of Borský Svätý Jur. The high diversity in the Late Miocene Central European is partly explained by the co-occurrence of the competing Scalopini and Talpini during the Vallesian, indicating high resource environments. The decline of these tribes, followed by the success of the desmans during the Turolian, appears as a consequence of regional environmental changes.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/a3eb532b-c341-489a-b0ff-ecf3f9466a76

In revising the subgenus Mclearnia Crickmay (1930), Kelly, Dhondt and Zakharov (1984) recommended that the spelling of the subgenus and species should be emended to Maclearnia maclearni. The latter authors had followed Recommendation III 21(a) of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Stoll, 1964, p. 109), but this recommendation should be followed only in the formation of new names and not in revision of old names. Thus the emended name Maclearnia maclearni is unjustified and falls into the category of Article 33(ii) of the Code (Stoll, 1964, p. 37), becoming automatically a junior objective synonym of Mclearnia mclearni. The full revised name thus becomes Camptonectes (Mclearnia) mclearni (Crickmay, 1930).

Devonian orthotetides from South America have often been uncritically assigned to a limited number of broadly described species. Schellwienella clarkei n. sp. is described from the Ponta Grossa Formation, Paraná Basin, southern Brazil. These brachiopods had been identified as Schuchertella agassizi. Schellwienella clarkei n. sp. differs from Schuchertella agassizi on the basis of shell structure, dental plates, and cardinalia.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/90ebc242-42c3-4bd7-9b63-461df05b6f28

Tribrachidium heraldicum Glaessner in Glaessner and Daily, 1959 is a triradial Ediacaran organism found in abundance within the Ediacara Member of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Here we report and describe a new species within the genus Tribrachidium Glaessner in Glaessner and Daily, 1959: Tribrachidium gehlingi new species from Nilpena Ediacara National Park (NENP), South Australia. Tribrachidium gehlingi n. sp. has low relief and three slightly curved, main arm-like structures that leave a conspicuous gap between the end of the arm-like structures and rim. In place of the ‘bulla’ found on T. herladicum, there are three secondary arm-like structures approximately half of the length of the main arm-like structures. Key morphological differences between the two species are statistically significantly different. Additionally, the species occur together within the same fossiliferous event horizons, indicating that the observed morphological differences are unlikely a result of taphonomy.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/196bef68-54da-42a9-9327-dcb55411a457

Silicified brachiopods from Hirnantian strata in three sections of the lower Whittaker Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada, yielded a moderately diverse, Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna, consisting of 13 species: Biparetis paucirugosus, Brevilamnulella laevis, Dalmanella edgewoodensis, Drabovia noixella, Eospirigerina putilla, Epitomyonia paucitropida, Epitomyonia sekwiensis, Glyptorthis papillosa new species, Gnamptorhynchos orbiculoidea, Katastrophomena mackenzii new species, K. parvicardinis, Parastrophina cf. P. minor, and Skenidioides sp. Compared to the typical Edgewood fauna of the American Midcontinent, Brevilamnulella laevis has a notably smaller shell than B. thebesensis, and is interpreted as a deeper-water form. The strong faunal affinity of the Mackenzie Mountains fauna to the Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna is indicated by the occurrence of Biparetis, Brevilamnulella, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos. In addition to the Edgewood type area within Laurentia, Biparetis, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos are characteristic taxa that also occur in the Ellis Bay Formation (Hirnantian) of Anticosti Island. Multivariate and network analyses strongly support the differentiation between an Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna in Laurentia and peri-Laurentia and the typical Hirnantia fauna of the Kosov Province in Gondwana, peri-Gondwana, South China, Kazakhstan terranes, Avalonia, and Baltica.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/7ff8f8c8-52d1-4527-acae-9bacd2e8b914

The first fossil rove beetle (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) from New Zealand is described from the earliest Miocene Foulden Maar fossil-Lagerstätte, Otago. The new species, Sphingoquedius meto n. sp., is attributable to the tribe Amblyopinini of the subfamily Staphylininae based on the scutellum with anterior scutellar ridge only; isodiametric microsculpture on the pronotum; multidirectional arranged setae on the elytra; and presence of radiating setae on the fourth abdominal tergite. Sphingoquedius meto n. sp. is the first Southern Hemisphere fossil record of Amblyopinini and its affinity to the extant fauna as well as biogeographic and paleocological implications are discussed.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/52275b83-d5ff-48af-A66F-2d62c3461677

Zygocycloides? foerstei n. sp. is described from the Llandovery (Aeronian) Brassfield Formation of southwestern Ohio. This is among the oldest reported Silurian cyclocystoids from North America and is the only North American Llandovery cyclocystoid that is preserved with a complete rim of marginal ossicles. Zygocycloides Smith and Paul, 1982 is most similar to Nicholsodiscus Glass et al., 2003 (Katian) and Perforocycloides Ewin et al., 2019 (Llandovery, Telychian), both from Anticosti Island, Québec. Cyclocystoids (Ordovician to Mississippian) survived Late Ordovician extinctions, and this discovery documents that this echinoderm clade was part of shallow-water, marine paleocommunities during the initial post-extinction transgression onto the Laurentian platform.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/3d3e092e-267b-4841-9245-6275d1eb79a1

Coccolithus crassus was described by Bramlette and Sullivan (1961) from the Lodo Formation of California. This species has a short stratigraphic range within the lower Eocene and its first occurrence is a marker for the CP10/CP11 zonal boundary in the widely used nannofossil zonation of Okada and Bukry (1980). Most nannofossil workers, however, do not report this index fossil, and the CP10/CP11 zonal boundary is often not determined. This is in contrast to the work of D. Bukry, who used the first occurrence of C. crassus for the CP10/CP11 boundary in virtually all lower Eocene DSDP cores that he examined (Figure 1). Apparently, there is considerable confusion about C. crassus. For instance, Romein (1979) considered C. crassus a junior synonym of Coccolithus eopelagicus (Bramlette and Riedel) Bramlette and Sullivan; Steinmetz and Stradner (1984, p. 741, Pl. 42, figs. 1 and 2) figured a specimen of Ericsonia subpertusa Hay and Mohler from Zone CP7 (upper Paleocene) as C. crassus; Perch-Nielsen (1985, p. 433, figs. 3.46 and 3.47, p. 504, figs. 58.12 and 58.13) mistook Toweius callosus Perch-Nielsen as C. crassus, as did Varol (1989, p. 302, Pl. 4, figs. 37 and 38). The main problem that prevents most workers from using this index fossil is that the species concept is largely unclear. It appears to be difficult to distinguish C. crassus from C. pelagicus or T. callosus based on the light micrographs of Bramlette and Sullivan (1961, Pl. 1, figs. 4a and 4c), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) photographs of this species have never been published except one specimen of the species was illustrated in Matter et al. (1974, p. 914, Pl. 4, fig. 8) under the name Ericsonia ovalis Black.

Ophiolancea swartkopensis n. gen. and sp. is the first ophiuroid to be described from the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian) Sundays River Formation, South Africa. Ophiolancea is distinguished by lanceolate lateral arm shields which occur on the distal portions of the arms. Associated fauna and stratigraphic evidence suggest that the specimen was buried in an intertidal mud flat.

Dr. Philippe Bouchet, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, kindly brought to my attention that the name Modestella Hautmann, 2001, which I introduced for a Triassic trigonoid bivalve genus (type species: Trigonia zlambachensis Haas, 1909), is preoccupied by Modestella Owen (in Casey), 1961 (Brachiopoda, Terebratulida). I therefore propose to replace Modestella Hautmann, 2001 by the new name Modesticoncha. The new name derives from the combination modestus (Latin) = modest, referring to the lack of ornamentation, and concha (Latin) = shell.

A low-diversity assemblage of smaller calcareous microfossils is present in the Upper Mississippian Maxville Limestone in Muskingum and Perry Counties, southeastern Ohio. Diagnostic faunal elements that suggest an early Chesterian age include the foraminifers Neoarchaediscus maxvillensis n. sp., Paraarchaediscus aff. P. Pachytheca (Petryk), Paraarchaediscus cf. P. koktjubensis (Rauzer-Chernousova), Endothyra excellens (Zeller), Endothyra bowmani Phillips emend. Brady, and attached forms. The presence of these diagnostic faunal elements in the Chesterian of Ohio significantly extends their known geographic range into the eastern Midcontinent region.

Other forms present include the foraminifers Priscella? of the group P. prisca (Rauzer-Chernousova and Reitlinger), Diplosphaerina inaequalis (Derville), Earlandia spp., and the problematic Asphaltinoides macadami (Brenckle and Groves) and Salebra irregularis Bogush and Brenckle. Microfossils are present in both calcareous mudstone and limestone.

A fragmentary and probably immature polyplacophoran shell from the Middle Triassic Germanic Muschelkalk is presented. Morphological peculiarities of the specimen are a stiff connection of the head valve to the adjoining intermediate valve and the presence of a yet undescribed brim-like shell constituent, informally called border-plate herein. The unusually well-preserved shell structure is discussed in detail comprising tegmentum, crossed-lamellar p. hypostracum and the (articulamental?) border-plate. Characteristics indicate a systematic position within the order Lepidopleurina.

A well-preserved fauna of largely articulated trilobites is described from three new localities close to one another in the Bull River Valley, southeastern British Columbia. All the trilobites from these localities are from the lower or middle part of the Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone of the Elvinia Zone, lower Jiangshanian, in the McKay Group. Two new species are proposed with types from these localities: Aciculolenus askewi and Cliffia nicoleae. The trilobite (and agnostid) fauna from these localities includes at least 20 species: Aciculolenus askewi n. sp., Agnostotes orientalis (Kobayashi, 1935), Cernuolimbus ludvigseni Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Cliffia nicoleae n. sp., Elvinia roemeri (Shumard, 1861), Grandagnostus? species 1 of Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? phillipi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? sp. A, Housia vacuna (Walcott, 1912), Irvingella convexa (Kobayashi, 1935), Irvingella flohri Resser, 1942, Irvingella species B Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Olenaspella chrisnewi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Proceratopyge canadensis (Chatterton and Ludvigsen, 1998), Proceratopyge rectispinata (Troedsson, 1937), Pseudagnostus cf. P. josepha (Hall, 1863), Pseudagnostus securiger (Lake, 1906), Pseudeugonocare bispinatum (Kobayashi, 1962), Pterocephalia sp., and Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Chatterton and Gibb, 2016. Pseudagnostus securiger, a widespread early Jiangshanian species, has not been previously recorded from southeastern British Columbia. Non-trilobite fossils collected from these localities include brachiopods, rare trace fossils, a complete silica sponge (Hyalospongea), and a dendroid graptolite. The faunas from these localities are more diverse and better preserved than those from other previously documented localities of the same age in the region.

Additional specimens of a rare species, found by amateur collectors in previously documented localities of slightly younger age (upper part of Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone) in the same region, are documented. These new specimens, when combined with an earlier discovered specimen, provide adequate type material to propose a new species of Labiostria, L. gibbae, which may be useful for biostratigraphy.

UUID:http://zoobank.org/89551eac-b3af-4b2b-8ef3-7c2e106a560d

A new bivalve, Yonginella amica n. gen. and sp., is described from the Silurian of Gotland. Although it has a straight hinge line with cardinal and lateral teeth indicating relationship with the Cyrtodontidae of the Arcoida, its external morphology (with a conspicuous diagonal ridge and sulcus) differs considerably from all previously described taxa of this group. Yonginella amica exhibits a shell shape suitable for soft muddy bottoms (“snowshoe” adaptation), and is interpreted to have been a nonsiphonate suspension feeder with a semi-infaunal, byssate mode of life.

The purpose of this note is to record the availability for research of highly fossiliferous sediment from a late Pleistocene terrestrial deposit in the Caribbean. The Red Hills Road cave in the parish of St. Andrew, northwest of Kingston, Jamaica (for more precise locality information, see Donovan et al., 1995, p. 12-15) is a late Pleistocene, essentially unstratified, cave deposit. The terrestrial fauna from this site includes diverse vertebrates (Savage, 1990; D.A. McFarlane and R.D.E. MacPhee, research in progress) and gastropods, associated with rare arthropods including millipedes (Donovan and Veltkamp, 1994), isopods, ostracodes and claws of non-marine crustaceans (J. S. H. Collins, research in progress).