Archive

The fossil record of the two primary subclades of softshell turtles (Trionychidae) is exceedingly asymmetric, as a result of a ghost range of total clade Cyclanorbinae that is estimated at 80 Ma. Herein, we present the first phylogenetic analysis of Trionychidae that includes a representative of the poorly studied taxon Plastomenidae, which is known from the Campanian to Eocene of North America. The analysis reveals that plastomenids are stem cyclanorbines, thus significantly reducing the apparent ghost range of total group Cyclanorbinae to approximately 30 Ma.

• Read more about A neglected lineage of North American turtles fills a major gap in the fossil record

New findings of dinosaur footprints are described from the Upper Jurassic Iouaridène ichnosite of Morocco. On the top of two surfaces, stratigraphically close to that bearing the famous Breviparopus taghbaloutensis trackways, two footprints were excavated and assigned to the ichnogenus Deltapodus. This ichnogenus is well known from the Middle Jurassic of Yorkshire and also occurs in Upper Jurassic deposits from Iberia and the United States. This finding represents the first record of Deltapodus from Africa.

• Read more about First evidence of stegosaurian Deltapodus footprints in North Africa (Iouaridène Formation, Upper Jurassic, Morocco)

Four new genera and species of annelid, Hunsrueckochaeta hohensteini, Ewaldips feyi, Crocancistrius lutzi and Scopyrites magnus, are described from the Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian) of Germany, as well as new material of Bundenbachochaeta eschenbachensis Bartels and Blind, 1995. The specimens preserve details of the appendages and other aspects of the morphology as a result of pyritization. A phylogenetic analysis using the morphological data matrix of Rouse and Fauchald places four of the five genera basal to the Aciculata; the fifth Ewaldips falls within the Scolecida.

• Read more about Annelids from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate (Lower Emsian, Rhenish Massif, Germany)

Previously known from the Kimmeridgian–Portlandian of Dorset (UK) only, Protocupressinoxylon purbeckensis wood is reported here from the Kimmeridgian of Asturias (Spain) and Ajoie (Switzerland). The morphospecies taxonomy and nomenclature are discussed, and new supplementary illustrations are given. The P. purbeckensis tree was growing in dry strongly seasonal (tropophilous) environments, and the new occurrences suggest that such a climate prevailed on land all over southwestern Europe at the end of the Jurassic (Kimmeridgian sensu anglico– Portlandian).

• Read more about New occurrences of the wood Protocupressinoxylon purbeckensis Francis: implications for terrestrial biomes in southwestern Europe at the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary

Hexaconularia, a Lower Cambrian small shelly fossil (SSF) that has been allied with conulariids and scyphozoan cnidarians, is redescribed and refigured. A salient feature of this monospecific genus is the presence of distinct apical and abapical regions. The apical region probably represents an embryonic shell that apparently lacked a basal attachment structure. Comparisons of this feature with the apical end of the smallest known conulariids and with conulariids terminating in an apical wall (schott) reveal substantial differences in structure and ornamentation.

• Read more about Redescription of Hexaconularia He and Yang, 1986 (Lower Cambrian, South China): implications for the affinities of conulariid-like small shelly fossils

For some decades, a major focus of research has been on how locomotor modes changed in some archosaurian reptiles from a more or less 'sprawling' to an 'erect' posture, whether there were discrete intermediate stages, and how many times 'erect' posture evolved. The classic paradigm for the evolution of stance and gait in archosaurs, a three-stage transition from sprawling to 'semi-erect' to erect posture, has been replaced by a subtler understanding of a continuum of changing limb joint angles. We suggest a further separation of terminology related to stance vs.

• Read more about The trackmaker of Apatopus (Late Triassic, North America): implications for the evolution of archosaur stance and gait

Numerous new cases of preserved shell microstructure were discovered in molluscs from the Middle Cambrian Gowers Formation (Ptychagnostus atavus/Peronopsis opimus Zone, Floran Stage) in the Georgina Basin, Australia. The new data provide further evidence that, by the Middle Cambrian, molluscan shell microstructures were diverse, and many molluscs had a complex shell with multiple types of shell microstructure. In addition, many new occurrences of laminar microstructures are described herein.

• Read more about New data on molluscs and their shell microstructures from the Middle Cambrian Gowers Formation, Australia

Re-examination of newly collected topotype material confirms that the type species of Yangtzeella, Y. poloi, a widespread Early and Mid Ordovician syntrophiidine brachiopod in South China, has a finely costellate shell rather than being smooth as previously thought. Thus, the subgenus Yangtzeella (Vadimella) Nikitina et al., established on the basis of fine costellae, is invalidated. Among 15 species of Yangtzeella, five species are recognized as valid based on multivariate analyses: Y. poloi, Y. unsulcata, Y. songziensis, Y. kueiyangensis and Y.

• Read more about Early-Mid Ordovician Yangtzeella (Syntrophiidina, Brachiopoda) and its evolutionary significance

The taxonomy, biostratigraphical and palaeogeographical distribution of the Lower Ordovician graptolite genus Bryograptus is evaluated. Bryograptus is recognized as a distinct triradiate anisograptid with a multiramous, pendent rhabdosome. The species of the genus Bryograptus can be interpreted as shallow water faunal elements with a strongly limited biogeographical distribution to the Atlantic Faunal Realm.

• Read more about The Upper Tremadocian (Ordovician) graptolite Bryograptus: taxonomy, biostratigraphy and biogeography

In this article, a new genus, Frontanyamys, is defined based on the new species F. russelli. The genus is recorded from the lower Upper Eocene (Bartonian) beds AT Sant Jaume de Frontanya (NE Spain). This genus shows clear affinities with the previously described genera Zamoramys, Remys and Pairomys. They are therefore assembled in the family Remyidae (new rank). The remyids are characterised by the precocious development of high-crowned molars and retain a morphologically primitive dental pattern.

• Read more about A new genus of rodents (Remyidae, Mammalia) from the Iberian Eocene