Abstract: Holloway DJ, Banks MR, Banks DM; Vol. 97, issue 4, pages 397 - 444 Thirteen species of trilobites are described from two different faunas in late Katian and Rhuddanian strata respectively of the Arndell Sandstone in the Florentine Valley of southern Tasmania. The late Katian fauna includes the trinucleid Auritolithus corbetti gen. et sp. nov., the calymenids Salterocoryphe' bailliei sp. nov. and Vietnamia hyron sp. nov., and limited material of the lichid Amphilichas' and two indeterminate asaphids. Auritolithus, characterized by the markedly subpentagonal outline of the cephalon, cannot be assigned to any of the existing trinucleid subfamilies but seems closely related to forms occurring in the Upper Ordovician of the Precordillera Basin of Argentina. Salterocoryphe' bailliei, the first record of a member of the Colpocoryphinae from Australia, is considerably younger stratigraphically than other occurrences of that genus in the middle to upper Darriwilian of France and the Iberian Peninsula. The Rhuddanian fauna from the Arndell Sandstone includes the illaenid Pepodes agrestis gen. et sp. nov., the scutelluid Japonoscutellum senectum sp. nov., the brachymetopid Niuchangella agastor sp. nov., the encrinurids Arndellaspis oryxis gen. et sp. nov. and Cromus', the calymenid Gravicalymene clarkei sp. nov. and the homalonotid Brongniartella calveri sp. nov. Niuchangella is accepted as a senior synonym of Radnoria. Arndellaspis is not closely related to other members of the Encrinurinae from Australia but shares unique derived characters of the pygidium with Encrinurus (s.s.) and Wallacia, occurring in Laurentia, Avalonia and Baltica, and Arndellaspis may share common ancestry with Encrinurus. The commonly broadly interpreted Gravicalymene is revised and restricted to a smaller number of closely related species from the Darriwilian to middle Telychian. The faunal affinities of the trilobites suggest links with terranes that lay along the north-western margin of Gondwana and with South America in the Late Ordovician, and with South China and possibly Laurentia in the early Silurian.
Abstract: Peel JS; Vol. 97, issue 4, pages 445 - 452 A single phosphatised specimen from the middle Cambrian Henson Gletscher Formation (Miaolingian Series, Wuliuan Stage) of North Greenland is interpreted as the hatching larva of a total-group priapulid worm. A plated lorica is not present but probably was developed at a later larval stage, by comparison with the described development of extant Priapulus caudatus and Halicryptus spinulosus. A characteristic priapulid introvert with scalids is not seen but it was likely withdrawn in the available specimen. The new find is consistent with a similar ontogeny in Cambrian priapulid cycloneuralians to that seen in their present day relatives. New taxon: Inuitiphlaskus kouchinskyi gen. et sp. nov.
Abstract: Haug C, Zippel A, Hassenbach C, Haug GT, Haug JT; Vol. 97, issue 4, pages 453 - 464 In larvae of lacewings (Neuroptera), each mandible is conjoined with its corresponding maxilla (upper and lower jaws) forming a stylet. Stylets are specialized for piercing, liquefying and sucking the tissues of their prey. The shape, length and thickness of the stylets can differ immensely among larvae of different in-groups of Neuroptera. In addition, the stylets may possess a single tooth or multiple teeth of various sizes and positions, or may totally lack teeth. The larvae of split-footed lacewings (Nymphidae) are often characterized by a single tooth on each stylet and a relatively wide head capsule. The tooth in known larvae is arranged in the plane of movement of the stylet itself, as also often seen in other lacewing larvae. Here we describe and analyse a new type of fossil representatives of Nymphidae from about 100-million-year-old Kachin Myanmar amber. The new fossil type has a special morphology with prominent lateral processes on the head capsule and a single prominent tooth per stylet. The fossil type differs from all the other known larvae of Nymphidae by the arrangement of the tooth: it extends outside of the plane of movement of the stylets. Similar arrangements of teeth or spines outside of the plane of movement also occur in some raptorial appendages of other representatives of Euarthropoda, where they form a grasping basket. We discuss the implications of this unusual fossil type, concerning its functional morphology and ecology.
Abstract: Ghobadi Pour M, Popov LE, Álvaro JJ, Amini A, Hairapetian V, Jahangir H; Vol. 97, issue 4, pages 465 - 538 The Ordovician litho- and biostratigraphic framework of Alborz, Kopet-Dagh and the East-Central Iranian blocks is outlined and significantly updated, and a broad summary of the current state of knowledge of the Ordovician deposits and faunas across Iran is documented. Four tectono-stratigraphical units (including the Alestan, Damghan, Saluk and Talesh domains) are distinguished in northern Iran. They differ considerably from one another in their lithology, facies, fossil record and completeness of their sedimentary record. A comprehensive revision of the Ordovician stratigraphy in the eastern Alborz and the Kopet-Dagh regions leads to the definition of the (i) Simeh-Kuh Formation (new), (ii) the Qumes Formation (new) and its subdivision into the Gerd-Kuh (new) and Raziabad (new) members, (iii) the Lashkarak Formation and its subdivision into the Cheshmeh-Ali (new) and Hajiabad (new) members, (iv) the Abarsaj Formation (formalised) in the Alestan Domain, (v) the Qyzlar (new) and Pelmis formations in the Saluk Domain, and (vi) the Tatavrud Formation (new) in the Talesh Domain. The Ordovician strata of the eastern Alborz and Kopet-Dagh Mountains comprise a rifting volcanism emplaced within an active horst-and-graben palaeotopography. Despite the strong Ordovician biogeographical affinities with South China and, to a lesser extent, with Mediterranean peri- Gondwana, zircon populations analysed from Cambro-Ordovician sandstones in the area point to the Arabian-Nubian Shield of the western Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa as the principal continental sources. Consequently, an open oceanic communication between the Mediterranean and the northern (Alborz) margins of Gondwana and the southern margin of South China favoured the establishment of strong biogeographical affinities between these mid-latitude basins.
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