Archive

Ebenaqua, a new genus of deep-bodied palaeoniscoid fishes, type species E. ritchiei sp. nov., is described from the Late Permian Rangal Coal Measures at Blackwater, central Queensland. It is interpreted as an early member of the Bobasatraniformes. Examination of a large number of characters on specimens from the Kupferschiefer suggests that the genus Platysomus is also a bobasatraniform. The homologies of the bones in the suborbital and maxillary regions of members of this order are reinterpreted.

• Read more about A Late Permian actinopterygian fish from Australia

The Bathonian red alga Solenopora jurassica Brown 1894 ex Nicholson MSS. is redescribed and a neotype designated. It is composed of radiating filaments (0-45 mm mean diameter) divided into cells varying in length between 0-07 and 0-04 mm by concave outward septa. An alternation of layers with well-preserved and poorly preserved tissue structure respectively is typical, and parts of all specimens exhibit a bright pink banding, which is interpreted as remnants of an original pigment.

• Read more about A redescription of the Bathonian red alga Solenopora jurassica from Gloucestershire, with remarks on its preservation

The fine structure of a tooth thought to belong to the Jurassic pygasteroid Plesiechinus ornatus (Buckman) is described and the tooth elements are reconstructed. The tooth is quite distinct from contemporary and Recent keeled teeth of regular echinoids but has a structure similar to that of known teeth of irregular echinoids. The discovery that pygasteroids have teeth constructed like other irregular echinoid teeth so far described strengthens the view that irregular echinoids are a monophyletic group.

• Read more about Tooth structure of the pygasteroid sea urchin Plesiechinus

A new anomiid, here designated Eonomia timida gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Upper Bathonian and Oxfordian (Middle and Upper Jurassic) of England and Normandy. Its attachment to the substrate by pallial secretion, and the detailed structure of its ligamental area, distinguish it from later members of the family. Uncertainty about the taxonomic position of previously described pre-Cretaceous members of the family makes it a likely candidate for the earliest known anomiid.

• Read more about The first true anomiid bivalve?

The problem of the true nature of the alga Epiphyton Bornemann and its allies centres upon the difficulty of recognizing features of affinity in these morphologically simple fossils. They have been compared with algae in a number of different groups, including, especially, florideophycidean rhodophytes.

• Read more about Affinity of the Cambrian alga Tubomorphophyton and its significance for the Epiphytaceae

A new articulated early Devonian specimen of a thelodont from Britain is described. It is a nikoliviid and is referred to a new species, Nikolivia milesi. The scales of this form bear some resemblance to those of N. oervigi (Karatajute-Talimaa 1968) and N. elongata (Karatajute-Talimaa 1978), and possibly N.? ('Sigurdia') heintzae (Dineley and Loeffler 1976). The presence of a possible pore canal system is noted. No other new characters to help decide the relationship of thelodonts to other agnatha are present.

• Read more about A new articulated thelodont (Agnatha) from the early Devonian of Britain

Electron microscope studies of Plectospira ferita (von Buch) show the presence of two inorganic layers, primary and secondary, as well as a third, outermost one interpreted here as a periostracum. This is the first time a periostracum has been recognized in the fossil state. The structure of the periostracum of P. ferita is described and a comparison is made with periostraca of living brachiopods. The micro-ornamentation of the shell of P. ferita is described; pits and tubercles occurring on the surface of the primary layer are considered in detail.

• Read more about Shell structure of the Devonian retziid brachiopod Plectospira ferita

Devonian shark remains from the Aztec Siltstone in south Victoria Land, Antarctica, are described as Antarctilamna prisca gen. et sp. nov., Xenacanthus sp., and Mcmurdodus? cf. featherensis White. Similar spines, teeth, and associated endocranial and jaw remains from the Bunga Beds on the far south coast of New South Wales are also referred to A. prisca. In this genus the teeth are diplodont, the fin-spines ctenacanthiform, and the braincase had a long otic region, prominent subocular shelves, and probably a persistent lateral occipital fissure.

• Read more about Devonian sharks from south-eastern Australia and Antarctica

Conodont elements have been found in samples of Upper Permian age from three separate areas in Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire. The collections from Nottinghamshire comprise specimens derived from older rocks; in one area the source was of Carboniferous age, in the other it was Devonian. Collections from North Yorkshire appear to be largely indigenous and contain the zonal conodont Merrillina divergens (Bender and Stoppel) and elements of Ellisonia. These are the first identifiable Permian conodonts recorded from Britain.

• Read more about Conodonts from the Upper Permian strata of Nottinghamshire and North Yorkshire

Ten faunal associations are defined and documented from numerous collections made in the late Ashgill rocks of the Oslo-Asker district, Norway. The distribution of the associations is integrated with previous work on the sedimentology which demonstrated a regressive sequence caused by the eustatic fall in sea level due to the end-Ordovician glacial event. The associations in late Rawtheyan times were a Tretaspis Association in the deeper shelf, with an Onniella Association midshelf, which was also colonized in places by Palaeoporella thickets and by cystoids.

• Read more about Ecological associations in a regressive sequence: the latest Ordovician of the Oslo-Asker district, Norway