Archive

Phalarodon atavus from the Germanic Muschelkalk Basin was previously represented only by cranial elements. Here we report a nearly complete and articulated specimen of P. atavus from the Middle Triassic Luoping Biota, Yunnan, South China. This is the first specimen ofP. atavus from outside the Germanic Basin. This discovery demonstrates a peri-Tethyan distribution of P. atavus. The new specimen is also the first one preserving the postcranial anatomy of this species, providing the opportunity to evaluate its sustained swimming ability.

• Read more about The first specimen of the Middle Triassic Phalarodon atavus (Ichthyosauria: Mixosauridae) from South China, showing postcranial anatomy and peri-Tethyan distribution

The first dicynodont reported for the Permian of South America is described in detail here. The specimen consists of a partial skull and associated lower jaws, collected from the Serra do Cadeado locality, Rio do Rasto Formation, Brazil. The specimen was assigned to the genus Endothiodon Owen in a preliminarily description published in the 1970s. This identification implied a direct correlation with some of the well-established biozones of the Beaufort Group, South Africa, where this taxon is known to occur.

• Read more about On the presence of the Late Permian dicynodont Endothiodon in Brazil

Two new species of pseudorhyncocyonid, Fordonia lawsoni sp. nov. and Leptictidium prouti sp. nov. from the UK earliest Eocene, described here, are older than any previously recorded member of the family. They are represented by teeth from numerous loci, which allow a better understanding of the sparsely known dentitions of currently known pseudorhyncocyonids. This facilitates the recognition of two further species of Leptictidium, L. listeri sp. nov. from the Middle Eocene of Germany and L. storchi sp. nov. from the Late Eocene of France.

• Read more about Origin and evolution of the Pseudorhyncocyonidae, a European Paleogene family of insectivorous placental mammals

Leonardosia Sommer is one of the scarce Permian charophyte genera and is part of the lineage that may include the ancestors of the post-Palaeozoic families. Oospores of the species Leonardosia langei Sommer have been found in strata of the Teresina Formation, Paraná Basin, Southern Brazil, where they are preserved as compressions. The charophyte organs found in this formation, including the original description of Leonardosia have been previously been interpreted as gyrogonites despite the presence of a carbonaceous film.

• Read more about Permian Leonardosia organic oospores from southern Brazil

Middle Miocene tests of Clypeaster from L’Arrabassada (Tarragona, north-east Spain) show evidence of intense endoskeletozoan colonization, preserved as borings and associated carbonate secretions that allow gastrochaenid bivalves to be identified as the colonizers. Two modes of occurrence have been recognized for these bivalve dwelling cavities; ‘intrastereom clavate borings’ which are restricted to the echinoid stereom, and ‘semi-endoskeletal dwellings’, which penetrate across the test wall and extend as carbonate crypts into the sediment fill of the internal test cavity.

• Read more about Clypeasteroid echinoid tests as benthic islands for gastrochaenid bivalve colonization: evidence from the Middle Miocene of Tarragona, north-east Spain

Pleurotomaria species from lower Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) sediments of south-western Luxembourg housed in the National Natural History Museum of Luxembourg are described. Seven species are recognized, one of which is new, Pleurotomaria faberi sp. nov. A more detailed definition of the diagnostic characters of the genus is proposed and the morphological continuity between Talantodiscusand Pleurotomaria is demonstrated, suggesting that the former cannot be considered as a distinct taxon.

• Read more about Pleurotomaria DeFrance, 1826 (Gastropoda, Mollusca) from the Lower Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) sediments of Luxembourg, with considerations on its systematics, evolution and palaeobiogeographical history

Making the link between evolutionary processes and development in extinct organisms is usually hampered by the lack of preservation of ontogenetic stages in the fossil record. Planktic foraminifers, which grow by adding chambers, are an ideal target organism for such studies as their test incorporates all prior developmental stages. Previously, studies of development in these organisms were limited by the small size of their early chambers.

• Read more about Linking evolution and development: Synchrotron Radiation X-ray tomographic microscopy of planktic foraminifers

The biodiversity and biogeography of 217 genera of Mississippian crinoids from North America and the British Isles shed light on the macroevolutionary turnover between the Middle Palaeozoic and Late Palaeozoic Crinoid Evolutionary Faunas. This turnover resulted from steady differential extinction among clades during the middle Mississippian after crinoids reached their Phanerozoic peak of generic richness during the early Mississippian. This peak richness was primarily a function of Mississippian originations rather than Devonian–holdover taxa.

• Read more about Mississippian crinoid biodiversity, biogeography and macroevolution

The end-Triassic mass extinction (c. 201.6 Ma) was one of the five largest mass-extinction events in the history of animal life. It was also associated with a dramatic, long-lasting change in sedimentation style along the margins of the Tethys Ocean, from generally organic-matter-poor sediments during the Triassic to generally organic-matter-rich black shales during the Jurassic.

• Read more about Microbes, mud and methane: cause and consequence of recurrent Early Jurassic anoxia following the end-Triassic mass extinction

Pinnatiramosus qianensis Geng, 1986, is a plant with a complex, extensive pinnate branching system and pitted tracheids, collected from marine Lower Silurian (Llandovery; c. 430 Ma) rocks in Guizhou Province, China. It challenges long-held theories on the origin and early evolution of vascular plants in the Silurian and Devonian. However, there is a hypothesis that the fossils were not syngenetic with the entombing rock, but were the rooting systems of much younger plants, probably of Permian age. New sections and collections of P.

• Read more about Enigmatic occurrence of Permian plant roots in Lower Silurian rocks, Guizhou Province, China