Archive

Most of the new Wealden spore species described in 1955 by Delcourt and Sprumont are refigured; some have been placed in different genera. Two infra-specific taxa in the genus Concavissimisporites have been raised to specific rank. The diagnoses of the genera Biretisporites, Concavissimisporites, and Aequitriradites have been emended.

• Read more about Revision of some Lower Cretaceous microspores from Belgium

During studies of the non-foraminiferal microfossils, especially the algae, of the Middle East over the last decade a considerable number of problematical organisms have been noted. These include some whose allocation is doubtful, at varying taxonomic levels, or whose position has only recently been established, as well as new or unusual examples of known families and genera. A selection of these, Cretaceous and Palaeocene in age, is now placed on record as a further contribution to Tethyan micropalaeontology.

• Read more about Problematical microfossils from the Cretaceous and Palaeocene of the Middle East

Six species of the genus Neocythere Mertens are described from ihe Barremian and Albian beds in east Yorkshire. Three species are new, one of which is the earliest known occurrence of the genus. The genus Centrocythere is regarded as a subgenus of Neocythere s.l.

• Read more about The ostracod genus Neocythere in the Speeton Clay

A preliminary description is given of a silicified fauna from the Upper Llanvirn or Lower Llandeilo of South Wales. The material consists mostly of trilobites, ostracods, and bryozoans. One new genus and two new species of ostracods are named, and the ontogeny of Tallinnella complicata (Salter) is described. Because of the silicified and fragmentary nature of the material, most of the numerous bryozoan species have not been named formally.

• Read more about Some silicified Ordovician fossils from South Wales

The type specimens, or topotypes, of the known species of Girvanella from the Lower Carboniferous rocks of Britain are redescribed. The two species found in the Girvanella Band in northern England are identical with those described by Wethered from the Avon Gorge, which occur at a very similar horizon. It is shown that the type of preservation and the amount of decay before burial affects appearances of the specimen in thin section, blurring specific characters. Various growth-forms of a species may be recognized, but such forms do not seem to be of value for stratigraphic work.

• Read more about The British Carboniferous species of Girvanella (calcareous algae)

A collection of ammonites is described from the drift of Lincolnshire; they are of Lower Kimeridgian age, Mutabilis Zone. Almost all of the specimens belong to the genera Rasenia and Aulacostephanus, and include several new species which are grouped into two new subgenera of Aulacostephanus: Xenostephanus and Xenostephanoides. These new forms have only recently been found in situ in England, and are known from the Kimeridge Clay of both east and west Scotland.

• Read more about Lower Kimeridgian ammonites from the drift of Lincolnshire

Study of Komia eganensis sp. nov. from the Middle Pennsylvanian (Atokan) rocks of eastern Nevada suggests that the genus be assigned to the Stromatoporoidea (Kingdom Animalia) rather than the Rhodophyceae (Kingdom Plantae). Komia has been reported from rocks of Middle Carboniferous, Early Pennsylvanian, and Middle Pennsylvanian (Atokan and Desmoinesian) ages. K. eganensis and Fusulinella acuminata define a restricted biostratigraphic zone within the Middle Pennsylvanian (Atokan) rocks of eastern Nevada.

• Read more about A new species of Komia Korde and the systematic position of the genus

The lunulitiform bryozoan Cupuladria canariensis (Busk) is a benthonic marine organism, whose calcareous colonies can easily be recognized with a hand-lens or under the microscope.This species is eurybenthic (2->300 fathoms), eurythermal (12-31° C.), reasonably euryhaline (28-37%), and requires a stable quartz and/or carbonate sand bottom. It is at present widely distributed over the continental shelves of the Atlantic and East Pacific between the 14° C. surface isocrymes and had an equally wide distribution during the Late Tertiary and Quaternary.The occurrence of C.

• Read more about Cupuladria canariensis (Busk)—portrait of a bryozoan

An account is given of about fifty examples of a pedunculate cirripede, Cyprilepas holmi Wills 1962, some still attached to the chitinous skin of Eurypterus fischeri Eichw. The bivalve chitinous shell and attachment peduncle of the cirripede are described. Comparison is made with the Cypris-larva. and early post-larval stages of the present-day Lepas.

• Read more about Cyprilepas holmi Wills 1962, a pedunculate cirripede from the Upper Silurian of Oesel, Esthonia

The genus Polypora M'Coy 1844 is redefined by reference to the type material. M'Coy's four original species of Polypora are redescribed, one being only tentatively retained within the genus, and one being assigned to Fenestella Lonsdale.

• Read more about The bryozoan genus Polypora M'Coy