 Subjects -> PALEONTOLOGY (Total: 43 journals)
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- The first Permian Diaphanopterodea (Insecta, Megasecopteromorpha) from
China
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(2): 247-258
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e128892
Authors : Nan Yang, Yingying Cui, Ziqiang Xu, Yanqi Xu, Dong Ren, Olivier Béthoux : A new Diaphanopterodea (Insecta, Palaeoptera, Megasecopteromorpha), Sinoelmoa yangquanensis gen. et sp. nov., is described based on a single specimen discovered from the Shuiquan Gully locality (Shanxi Formation; Permian, Cisuralian, Asselian; China). A broad comparative analysis of the wing venation of the known members of the diaphanopterodean families Parelmoidae and Elmoidae allowed assigning the new taxon to the former family. This new occurrence represents the first record of a Permian Diaphanopterodea from China, and both the earliest and most oriental record for the Parelmoidae. It sheds new light on the distribution and diversity of these extinct taxa. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 15 Aug 2024 10:22:42 +000
- A large brachyopoid from the Middle Triassic of northern Arizona and the
diversity of brachyopoid temnospondyls from the Moenkopi Formation
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 233-245
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.117611
Authors : Calvin So, Arjan Mann : Brachyopoids represent a diverse and late surviving temnospondyl group, lasting until the Early Cretaceous. Here, we report on brachyopoid material previously assigned to Hadrokkosaurus bradyi that represents a distinct brachyopoid taxon, characterised by a smaller number of large, robust mandibular teeth, a feature rarely observed in other temnospondyls. We also revisit an angular previously referred to Hadrokkosaurus potentially belonging to other temnospondyl taxa present in the Middle Triassic of North America. In light of the abundance of material of possible taxa distinct from Hadrokkosaurus, we express the need to re-examine previously collected specimens as new information changes the landscape of palaeontology. Parsimony analyses using exclusively mandibular characters recover the new brachyopoid taxon from the locality in a polytomy with Hadrokkosaurus and Vanastega at the base of Brachyopoidea, adding to a diversity of mandibular morphology of temnospondyls in the Middle Triassic of North America. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Tue, 25 Jun 2024 16:24:10 +030
- The Eocene to Oligocene boundary and paleoclimatic indications based on
calcareous nannofossils of Tonasa Formation, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 221-231
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e96985
Authors : Meutia Farida, Asri Jaya, Asmita Ahmad, Jimmi Nugraha : The biostratigraphy of the Tonasa Formation in the Jeneponto Regency of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, is still poorly known, and there are barren ages, such as much of the Oligocene to Early Miocene. The Tonasa Formation is well exposed along the coast of the Jeneponto Regency, in which the Karama area consists of the most important outcrops of this formation which in this area consists of interbedded marl and limestone. Our study focuses on the biostratigraphy of the Karama area section A based on nannofossil. Samples were collected by measured stratigraphy methods and then subjected to investigation using smear slides. The assemblages of species were determined by semiquantitative analysis. Data analysis obtained three nannofossil datums (boundaries): The First Occurrence (FO) of Sphenolithus pseudoradians NP19/NP20), the First Occurrence of Sphenolithus distentus (CP.16/CP.17), and the Last Occurrence (LO) Sphenolithus predistentus (NP.23/NP.24. The zonal boundary was determined based on calcareous nannoplankton; the Late Eocene to Middle Oligocene boundary of the Tonasa Formation was found in this section. Interestingly, throughout this period, the marker species in this section is Sphenolithus. In addition, the presence of Sphenolithus, Discoaster, and Zygrhablithus bijugatus indicated that the basin was in warm water condition. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:27:24 +030
- Fossil flying squirrels (Petauristinae, Sciuridae, Rodentia) from the
Yumidong Cave in Wushan County, Chongqing, China
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 209-219
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e115693
Authors : Li-bo Pang, Shao-kun Chen, Xin Hu, Yan Wu, Guang-biao Wei : Flying squirrels are important forest environment indicators. There have been many reports on them from fossil localities of the Late Cenozoic in southwest China, but relatively few detailed studies have been carried out on them. Numerous flying squirrel fossils of the Mid-Late Pleistocene were unearthed from the Yumidong Cave in Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality, China, providing excellent materials for morphological comparison and further research on this group. Four species have been recognised from this locality, including Pteromys volans, Trogopterus xanthipes, Belomys pearsonii and Aeretes melanopterus. P. volans and A. melanopterus are Palearctic species, which adapted to the cold environment and had been completely extinct in the study area since the Holocene Megathermal period. Based on the analyses of paleozoogeography and paleoecology of these four species, it could be concluded that the Yumidong Cave area was dominated by subalpine evergreen coniferous forest or coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest during MIS 2 and MIS 4 periods, which were colder and had more coniferous forest than now, while the vegetation landscape of MIS 3 and MIS 5 periods were similar to that of nowadays. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Tue, 21 May 2024 11:53:05 +030
- Cauca: megafaunal and felid fossils (Mammalia) from a Pleistocene site in
northwest Venezuela
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 187-207
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e119967
Authors : Jorge Domingo Carrillo-Briceño, Damián Ruiz-Ramoni, Rodolfo Sánchez, Arturo Jaimes, Edwin Chávez-Aponte, Francisco Juan Prevosti, Valentina Segura, Alfredo Armando Carlini, Lisa Garbé, Olivier Tombret, Antoine Zazzo, Marcelo Ricardo Sánchez-Villagra : Numerous surveys and three excavation and surface collection field seasons resulted in the discovery of numerous megafaunal remains and that of a medium-sized felid in a new site located on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Venezuela, in Western Falcón State. The faunal assemblage is represented by South American natives such as megatheres (cf. Eremotherium laurillardi), an indeterminate mylodontid and a glyptodont (probably related to Glyptotherium) and Nearctic representatives such as gomphotheres (Notiomastodon platensis), equids (Equus sp.) and a feline (Felidae cf. Leopardus pardalis), providing novel information for the distribution of some of these mammals. Radiocarbon indicates that this deposit is at least 40,000 years old. Lithic artefacts of a kind reported for other Pleistocene sites in the region document the presence of humans in Cauca, but as these cultural remains were found on the surface, their association with the fauna is uncertain. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 11 Apr 2024 13:52:36 +030
- Roots of the European Cenozoic ecosystems: lizards from the Paleocene (~MP
5) of Walbeck in Germany
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 159-186
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e109123
Authors : Andrej Čerňanský, Davit Vasilyan : We studied at least part of Kuhnʼs original material of lizards from the Paleocene (~MP 5) of the Walbeck locality in Germany. The collection was considered to be lost but is consistently discussed in the literature due to its importance. We restudied the type material of aff. Parasauromalus paleocenicus and aff. Glyptosaurus walbeckensis described by Kuhn in 1940. The former was originally allocated to Iguania, the latter to Anguimorpha, though later on these identifications were questioned by several authors. We show such a classification of both cannot be upheld. P. paleocenicus resembles the morphology of lacertids showing their presence in Europe already around MP 5. We consider the name P. paleocenicus as a nomen dubium. The material of aff. G. walbeckensis was later suggested to belong to Lacertidae and also considered as a potential amphisbaenian. Although it differs from modern amphisbaenians, it shares features with one supposed polyodontobaenid – Camptognathosaurus parisiensis. The Walbeck form is identical to this species. Since the Walbeck taxon was described in 1940, the principle of priority makes Camptognathosaurus parisiensis a junior synonym of the species erected by Kuhn. We propose a new combined name for this form, Camptognathosaurus walbeckensis comb. nov. The specimen figured by Kuhn is currently lost, thus we designate a neotype from Walbeck. However, this taxon differs significantly from Polyodontobaena and new data doubt the attribution of Camptognathosaurus to Amphisbaenia. This taxon is tentatively assigned here to Lacertidae, as further confirmed by phylogenetic analyses. Material of Scincoidea is also described. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:12:04 +020
- A phytosaur osteoderm from a late middle Rhaetian bone bed of Bonenburg
(North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany): Implications for phytosaur extinction
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 147-158
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e114601
Authors : P. Martin Sander, Paul W. Wellnitz : Although there are problematic earliest Jurassic records, phytosaurs are thought to have become extinct during the Rhaetian. A newly-discovered left paramedian phytosaur osteoderm from a clay pit in Bonenburg, Kreis Höxter, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, is the youngest, well-dated phytosaur record. This osteoderm was found in a bone bed (Bone Bed 2) in the Contorta Beds of the Rhaetian Exter Formation. Palynology constrains the age of Bone Bed 2 to the late middle Rhaetian (ca. 203.5 million years ago). The Bonenburg osteoderm cannot be assigned to any named species. It most closely resembles some osteoderms from the Rhaetian of Halberstadt in Central Germany. Phytosaurs survived in Europe to at least the late middle Rhaetian, probably falling victim to the end-Triassic extinction event about two million years later. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 10:50:24 +020
- Another one bites the dust: A new Lithoserix species (Hymenoptera,
Ichneumonidae, Pimplinae) from the early Oligocene in France, with an
evaluation of wing morphometrics
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 135-145
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.116373
Authors : Alexandra Viertler : A new Darwin wasp species, Lithoserix oublieri sp. nov. is described and illustrated from the early Oligocene limestone formation Calcaires de Campagne-Calavon in the Luberon Region, France. It represents the third species of this extinct genus, which was first described from the late Eocene Florissant Formation in Colorado, US and later found in Aix-en-Provence, France, from the late Oligocene. The taxonomic placement of this genus in the context of tribal classification is analysed and discussed, based on geometric morphometrics of the fore and hind wing venation of fossil and extant Pimplinae species. The results suggest that Lithoserix does not belong to the same group as the extinct genus Crusopimpla, but rather represents a more basal genus within Pimplini or belongs to an extinct separate tribe, closely related to Pimplini. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 8 Feb 2024 07:33:02 +0200
- A new species of Palaeohypotodus Glückman, 1964 (Chondrichthyes,
Lamniformes) from the lower Paleocene (Danian) Porters Creek Formation,
Wilcox County, Alabama, USA
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 111-134
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e112800
Authors : Jun A. Ebersole, David J. Cicimurri, T. Lynn Harrell Jr. : The historic collection of the Geological Survey of Alabama includes several fossil shark specimens that were recovered from the lower Paleocene Porters Creek Formation in southwestern Alabama, USA. Among these specimens are 17 teeth that we herein recognize as a new species within the extinct Paleogene genus, Palaeohypotodus. Detailed examination of these individual teeth, coupled with analyses of the dentitions of various extant lamniform sharks, allowed us to confirm monognathic and dignathic heterodonty within Palaeohypotodus. We identified upper and lower anterior and lateral tooth files that can be differentiated from one another by minor variations in morphology. Additionally, numerous isolated teeth from other Danian exposures in Alabama and Arkansas, USA, enhance our understanding of the composition of the dentition and ontogenetic heterodonty of both the new species and the genus as a whole. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Wed, 7 Feb 2024 19:55:00 +0200
- First 3D reconstruction of a forewing of a fossil Orthoptera: Interpreting
the venation pattern in the smallest known cricket with a stridulatory
apparatus, †Picogryllus carentonensis (Orthoptera, Grylloidea,
Oecanthidae)
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 101-110
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e113100
Authors : Jules Ferreira, Hugo Josse, Lucas Denadai de Campos, André Nel, Laure Desutter-Grandcolas : Fossil insects are valuable indicators of the evolutionary history of the clades to which they belong. According to their state of preservation, fossil insects are often partially described for key morphological characters, such as forewing venation in crickets (Orthoptera, Grylloidea). In parallel, the use of 3D microtomography is increasingly becoming common for studying some fossils, which allowed here the precise reconstruction and interpretation of the venation pattern in the smallest known cricket with a stridulatory apparatus, †Picogryllus carentonensis, found in opaque amber. The 3D reconstructions have revealed the general structure of the venation of the forewing and have enabled the identification of all its veins and cells, validating its similarity with that of extant crickets. Putative homologies are established according to previous studies, and some particularities are observed, such as the presence of two crossveins in the mirror, a rare feature in extant crickets that is discussed in the frame of cricket venation evolution. These findings highlight the importance of 3D microtomography as a powerful tool for examining fossil insects and also provide crucial information for taxonomic identification and evolutionary studies, offering a validated morphological basis for future phylogenetic analyses incorporating fossils. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:29:17 +020
- Coexistence of Oligocene toothed and baleen-assisted mysticetes in the
northwestern Pacific
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 95-100
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e111567
Authors : Cheng-Hsiu Tsai, Toshiyuki Kimura, Yoshikazu Hasegawa : Oligocene mysticetes display an unparalleled diversity and morphological disparity in the evolutionary history of Mysticeti. However, their paleoecological aspects, such as the patterns of coexistence of different morphotypes, remain poorly explored. Here we describe an aetiocetid (toothed mysticete) from the Jinnobaru Formation (lower upper Oligocene, about 28 million years ago) of Umashima Island, Kitakyushu, Japan. Our description of a toothed mysticete from the Oligocene of Umashima exemplifies the coexistence of toothed and baleen-assisted mysticetes in the northwestern Pacific. Hopefully, new finds of Oligocene mysticetes will lead to a well-sampled dataset for analyzing this and other related paleoecological traits to understand the demise of “archaic” Oligocene mysticetes and the subsequent rise of the modern-looking baleen-bearing whales in Miocene times. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 14:51:40 +020
- The new problem of Chinlestegophis and the origin of caecilians (Amphibia,
Gymnophionomorpha) is highly sensitive to old problems of sampling and
character construction
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 55-94
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.e109555
Authors : David Marjanović, Hillary C. Maddin, Jennifer C. Olori, Michel Laurin : The description of the small Late Triassic temnospondyl Chinlestegophis ushered in a potentially radically new understanding of the origins of the extant amphibian clades. Together with the fragmentary Rileymillerus, Chinlestegophis was argued to link extant caecilians to Permo-Triassic stereospondyl temnospondyls rather than to frogs and salamanders (and through them to amphibamiform temnospondyls or to brachystelechid and lysorophian “lepospondyls”). We critically review the comparative description of Chinlestegophis and phylogenetic analyses of previous studies. Most of the features previously interpreted to be shared by caecilians, Chinlestegophis and/or other stereospondyls have different distributions than scored in the analysis. We also find no evidence for an incipient tentacular sulcus in Chinlestegophis, and note that its vertebrae, unreduced ribs and dermal shoulder girdle are unlike those of any extant amphibians (nor their likely sister group, Albanerpetidae). Furthermore, the original matrices contain misscores accreted over more than a decade that likewise influence the results. Some features are coded as multiple redundant characters: the double toothrow of Chinlestegophis, other stereospondyls, and caecilians is represented as seven characters. Analysis of the unmodified matrix yields much less resolution than originally reported, and tree topology is altered by a small change to the taxon sample (the addition of Albanerpetidae), limited revisions of irreproducible scores, and ordering the most obviously clinal characters; any one of these changes removes Chinlestegophis from Lissamphibia, and confirms it as a stereospondyl. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Wed, 10 Jan 2024 14:33:51 +020
- The oldest teleosts (Teleosteomorpha): their early taxonomic, phenotypic,
and ecological diversification during the Triassic
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 29-53
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.115970
Authors : Gloria Arratia, Hans-Peter Schultze : As the fossil record reveals, neopterygians had a major diversification after the great mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic boundary, including the appearance of the major clade Teleosteomorpha. Detailed studies of new taxa (Pseudopholidoctenus germanicus, Barschichthys ruedersdorfensis, and Ruedersdorfia berlinensis) from the lower Anisian (middle Muschelkalk) of Germany and their comparisons with other Triassic relatives are presented, including new information concerning size, shape, and diet. Two families, Pholidophoridae and Marcopoloichthyidae, made a modest appearance during the Anisian of Europe and Asia almost simultaneously, with Pseudopholidoctenus (and the teleosteomorphs Barschichthys and Ruedersdorfia) from the Germanic Basin, being the oldest stem teleosts (244 Ma), followed shortly by Marcopoloichthys ani from Italy. The early teleostean diversification was fast—already in the late Ladinian three lineages were present: Prohalecitiidae (Europe), Pholidophoridae (Asia, Europe), and Marcopoloichthyidae (Asia, Europe), with ca. 20 species inhabiting the Tethys Ocean during the Middle–Late Triassic. Most Triassic teleosteomorphs were small, ca. 50 mm standard length, and a few as possibly miniature, with torpedo or oblong shapes, and suction feeders—probably a plankton based-diet. These first Triassic radiations were replaced during the early Sinemurian of marine ecosystems of Europe with two major groups: (a) non-monophyletic ‘pholidophoriforms’ and (b) proleptolepids and leptolepids, having an average size (ca. 100 mm SL) longer than Triassic forms, with oblong and fusiform shapes. A fast dispersion from the Tethys to the Paleo-Pacific followed, as demonstrated by the presence of small (ca. 50 mm SL) suction feeder proleptolepids in the early Sinemurian of Chile. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 4 Jan 2024 11:36:38 +0200
- A digital redescription of the Middle Miocene (Langhian) carettochelyid
turtle Allaeochelys libyca
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 13-28
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.115046
Authors : Yann Rollot, Serjoscha W. Evers, Walter G. Joyce : Allaeochelys libyca is a carettochelyid turtle from the Middle Miocene of Libya. The species is the only valid carettochelyid taxon recovered from Africa and was named based on fragmentary material that includes a partial cranium and isolated shell remains. The description of the holotype cranium was limited to external aspects, and micro-computed tomography was only performed later on that material. Here, we use these micro-computed tomography scans to reinvestigate the external and internal anatomy of the holotype cranium to document several erroneous anatomical interpretations and provide new insights into the morphology of the trigeminal foramen area, the endosseous labyrinth, and circulatory system of Allaeochelys libyca. The anatomical insights provided herein have the potential to be translated into new phylogenetic characters that are expected to improve the resolution among the Anosteira and Allaeochelys lineages, which are still poorly resolved. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 4 Jan 2024 11:36:14 +0200
- First flower inclusion and fossil evidence of Cryptocarya (Laurales,
Lauraceae) from Miocene amber of Zhangpu (China)
Abstract: Fossil Record 27(1): 1-11
DOI : 10.3897/fr.27.109621
Authors : Simon Beurel, Julien B. Bachelier, Jérôme Munzinger, Fuchen Shao, Jörg U. Hammel, Gongle Shi, Eva-Maria Sadowski : Lauraceae have one of the oldest fossil records of angiosperms with the earliest known evidence from the mid-Cretaceous. However, most of these records are based on leaves, especially from the Cenozoic of Asia, which are often challenging to assign to extinct or extant genera or species. In contrast, fossils of reproductive organs are more informative, but remain scarce. We here described the first Cenozoic Lauraceae flower of Asia and confirmed the presence of Cryptocarya in the Miocene Zhangpu flora (Fujian Province, south-eastern China) based on an amber inclusion. We scanned the specimen using synchrotron radiation-based micro-computed tomography (SRμCT) and then compared the fossil with extant flowers of the genus. The present fossil flower is small, bisexual, and polysymmetric, with a whorled and trimerous perianth and androecium along with a hypanthium around the gynoecium. The perianth comprises six undifferentiated tepals, the androecium consists of nine stamens and three innermost staminodes, and the gynoecium of a single carpel with a superior, unilocular (and uniovulate) ovary. Our study also shows that the fossil shares an unusual position of the typical staminal glands and a short androecial tube on the rim of the hypanthium with at least one extant Australian species of Cryptocarya, which have not been reported before. Nowadays, Lauraceae are still present in tropical to subtropical regions, mostly in American and Asian rainforests. The discovery of many Lauraceae leaf fossils in Zhangpu, as well as the amber flower of this study, is consistent with the current reconstruction of the amber source environment as a megathermal seasonal rainforest during the Mid-Miocene. HTML XML PDF
PubDate: Thu, 4 Jan 2024 11:35:52 +0200
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