Archive

Thirty-four species of brachiopods are described from the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian Chalk of Norfolk. The Campanian-Maastrichtian boundary sequence in Norfolk is very poorly exposed and is condensed. However, the existence of a highly diverse micromorphic brachiopod fauna allows correlation with more complete and well-exposed sections elsewhere in northwest Europe, especially northwest Germany and Denmark. Most of the brachiopod zones established in continental northwest Europe can be recognized in Norfolk.

• Read more about Brachiopods and the stratigraphy of the Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichian Chalk of Norfolk, England

Most skeletal materials, such as bone and insect cuticle, are viscoelastic, but heavily mineralized structures such as mollusc shell, are linearly elastic. The type of microstructure used in making a skeleton is related to required mechanical strength and to the metabolic cost involved in construction. The effects of composition, microstructure, and architecture on mechanical properties are discussed, and then related to trilobite exoskeletons. Due to their composition and internal organization, trilobite cuticles can be regarded as ceramics that behaved in a linearly elastic manner.

• Read more about Biomechanics of trilobite exoskeletons

Restudy of Entelophyllum from Gotland (including the type species) and Great Britain indicate: restriction of Entelophyllum to phaceloid forms with peripheral, parricidal increase. Typical forms also have smooth or carinate septa, well-developed biserial tabularia. and dissepimentaria composed of globose interseptal dissepiments. On Gotland the genus ranges from the late Telychian to the Ludfordian Stereoxyloides Wang and Carinophyllum Strelnikov are considered junior synonyms of Entelophyllmn. Species from Gotland with nonparricidal budding are referred to Donacophyllum Dybowski.

• Read more about The Silurian rugose coral genus Entelophyllum and related genera in northern Europe

Broken ammonite debris is common in the Lower Oxford Clay and is thought to be attributable in part to the activities of predators. A new specimen of Kosmoceras (Zugokosmoceras) cf. obductum (Buckman) displays a series of bite marks in the region of the peristome suggestive of the dentition of the fishes Lepidotes, Heterostrophus (Semionotidae) and Mesturus (Pycnodontidae).

• Read more about Predation on Kosmoceras by semionotid fish in the Middle Jurassic Lower Oxford Clay of England

The conical hole in the legmen of a Mississippian crinoid (Macrocrinus mundulus) directly underneath the shell of a platyceratid gastropod, Platyceras (Orthonychia) sp., and similar holes in other Mississippian crinoids (Batocrinus irregularis and B. icosidactylus) demonstrate the drilling abilities of platyceratids. This is the first case of drilling by an archaeogastropod. Drilling on the crinoid host by the gastropod was non-predatory; the relationship was probably parasitic.

• Read more about Non-predatory drilling of Mississippian crinoids by platyceratid gastropods

The Dreissenacea consists of one family, the Dreissenidae, with subfamilies Dreisseninae for Dreissena (with three subgenera), Congeria and Mytilopsis; and Dreissenomyinae for Dreissenomya (two subgenera). Poorly preserved Prodreissensia is provisionally placed in the Dreisseninae, but may be wrongly assigned to the superfamily. Dreissenids live in fresh and brackish water. Most are epifaunal and byssally attached but Dreissenomya was infaunal and unattached. Mytilopsis first appeared in the European Eocene and invaded the Western Hemisphere in the late Oligocene.

• Read more about Review of the Caenozoic heterodont bivalve superfamily Dreissenacea

A study of the solute Dendrocystoides scoticus (Bather), from the Upper Ordovician Ashgill Series, near Girvan, Scotland produces much new anatomical information. The positions of head, tail, the tube feet in the feeding arm, hydropore, gonopore, gonad, pharynx, stomach, anus, brain, left trigeminal ganglion, gill slit (at posterior left in the head), notochord, and tail muscles are deduced. In their basic structure, solutes resemble cornutes, especially the primitive cornute Ceratocystis, but differ in retaining a water vascular system, and in other ways.

• Read more about The solute Dendrocystoides scoticus from the Upper Ordovician of Scotland and the ancestry of chordates and echinoderms

A well-exposed stromatoporoid biostrome in the Hemse Group (middle Ludlow) of Gotland, Sweden, displays a wide range of stromatoporoid morphologies distributed amongst 16 species. The most abundant species, Clathrodictyon mohicanum Nestor has a laminar to low domical form, often of large size, distributed throughout the biostrome. Fast lateral growth is suggested to account for its abundance and commonly large size, its profile being suited to the normally low to moderate energy environment envisaged for the biostrome.

• Read more about Stromatoporoid palaeobiology and taphonomy in a Silurian biostrome on Gotland, Sweden

The use of database management systems for cataloguing museum material is becoming widespread. Recent advances in database management systems indicate that in future such systems will have a range of increased facilities, including deductive capabilities and natural language interfaces for casual enquiries. In order to explore some of the consequences of these developments for museum catalogues, a prototype system has been written and examples of its use demonstrated. These show that such systems will have significant research potential in a number of areas in geology in addition to taxonomy.

• Read more about A deductive enquiry system for a palaeontological database of museum material

Phthanoncoceras oelandense gen. et sp. nov. from the Kundan (Llanvirn) of Sweden and Valhalloceras floweri gen. et sp. nov. from the Cassinian (Arenig) of Ny Friesland, Spitsbergen are described and a new family, the Phthanoncoceratidae (Oncocerida) is proposed. The relationships of the Phthanoncoceratidae to the Oncocerida and Ellesmerocerida are discussed.

• Read more about The affinities of early oncocerid nautiloids from the Lower Ordovician of Spitsbergen and Sweden