Archive

A new Late Cretaceous titanosaur sauropod from the Bauru Basin of Brazil, Uberabatitan ribeiroi gen. et sp. nov., represented by at least three specimens, is described. The material comes from a level of coarse sandstone within the Serra da Galga sequence in Uberaba County, Minas Gerais State. The fossiliferous strata belong to the Marília Formation (Serra da Galga Member), Bauru Group, considered to be Maastrichtian in age. The fossils occur in the uppermost levels of the above-mentioned unit; thus, Uberabatitan ribeiroi is the youngest titanosaur to have been recorded from the Bauru Basin.

• Read more about Uberabatitan ribeiroi, a new titanosaur from the Marília Formation (Bauru Group, Upper Cretaceous), Minas Gerais, Brazil

Chancelloriids are problematic, sac-like animals whose sclerites are common in Cambrian fossil assemblages. They look like sponges, but were united with the slug-like halkieriids in the group Coeloscleritophora Bengtson and Missarzhevsky, 1981 based on a unique mode of sclerite construction. Because their body plans are so different, this proposal has never been well accepted, but detailed study of their sclerite microstructure presented here provides additional support for this grouping.

• Read more about Skeletal microstructure indicates chancelloriids and halkieriids are closely related

Cupuladriid cheilostome bryozoans can make new colonies both sexually and asexually. Sexual (aclonal) colonies are derived from larvae while asexual (clonal) colonies result from the fragmentation or division of larger colonies. A number of specialised morphologies exist which either enhance or discourage clonality, and cupuladriids preserve these in their skeletons, meaning that it is possible to count the abundances of individual modes of reproduction in fossil assemblages, and thus measure the mode and tempo of evolution of life histories using fossil colonies.

• Read more about Modes of reproduction in recent and fossil cupuladriid bryozoans

We document here a new taxon of sphenodontian, Whitakersaurus bermani gen. et sp. nov., that is also the most complete sphenodontian fossil from the Upper Triassic Chinle Group in the south-western USA and the first Chinle sphenodontian represented by more than a single fragmentary dentulous element. The holotype was recovered during preparation of block C-8-82 from the famous Coelophysis (Whitaker) quarry at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, and is the most complete small vertebrate recovered from the quarry.

• Read more about A new genus and species of sphenodontian from the Ghost Ranch Coelophysis quarry (Upper Triassic: Apachean), Rock Point Formation, New Mexico, USA

The genus Umkomasia Thomas, a female fructification of Dicroidium, is reported from Late Permian beds exposed in the Behra Rivulet near the village of Karaonda in the Tatapani-Ramkola Coalfield, Chhattisgarh, India. This is the first record of this genus from the Late Permian, and from Indian Gondwana. Two species have been recognized: Umkomasia polycarpa Holmes and U. uniramia Axsmith, Taylor, Taylor and Cuneo.

• Read more about First report of the fertile plant genus Umkomasia from Late Permian beds in India and its biostratigraphic significance

A phylogenetic analysis of reproductive and oological (egg) traits of theropod taxa allows determination of the sequence in which these traits evolved in Theropoda. Our results indicate that several avian reproductive traits, such as adults sitting on eggs, asymmetrical eggs, unornamented eggshell surface, and complex eggshell ultrastructure, were already present in non-avian maniraptorans, and could have evolved in more basal theropods.

• Read more about Phylogenetic analysis of reproductive traits of maniraptoran theropods and its implications for egg parataxonomy

A new terebratulid brachiopod species, Rhenorensselaeria jansenii, has been identified in the Merza-Akhsai Formation of the Dra Valley, Morocco, and the Grauwacke de Montguyon of the Amorican Massif, France. It is compared with the other known species of Rhenorensselaeria from Europe, Rh. strigiceps and Rh. demerathia, as well as with Rh. macgerriglei from North America, from which it differs in being larger and having coarser costae. Its possible life habit in clusters and its fossil community are compared with those of Rh.

• Read more about A new terebratulid brachiopod species from the Siegenian of the Dra Valley, Morocco, and its stratigraphic, palaeogeographic and phylogenetic significance

We report on a new Early Cretaceous bird from China that sheds significant light on the evolutionary transition between primitive birds with a long bony tail and those with a short tail ending in a pygostyle. A cladistic analysis of basal birds supports the placement of the new fossil as the sister-taxon of all pygostylians.

• Read more about A new basal lineage of Early Cretaceous birds from China and its implications on the evolution of the avian tail

At least two predominating modes of evolution have been proposed for the Early Tithonian oppeliid ammonite genus Semiformiceras, including phyletic transformation of a single lineage (S. darwini–S. semiforme–S. fallauxi) and, most recently, a bifurcating or cladogenetic model of speciation. We discuss methodological obstacles in past studies that have focused on specific modes of evolution, and offer a reanalysis of the morphological data first presented by Cecca and Rouget [Palaeontology, 49, 1069–1080] using the stratocladistic software StrataPhy.

• Read more about Stratocladistics and evaluation of evolutionary modes in the fossil record: an example from the ammonite genus Semiformiceras

Late Ordovician strophomenide brachiopods (superfamilies Strophomenoidea and Plectambonitoidea) from the upper Changwu Formation (mid Ashgill, late Katian) of Jianglütang, Chun’an County, western Zhejiang Province, consist of ten genera and 12 species. Five new species of three new genera are recognized: Chunanomena triporcata, Chunanomena sembellina, Cheramomena subsolana, Lateriseptomena modesta, and Lateriseptomena rugosa.

• Read more about Strophomenide brachiopods from the Changwu Formation (late Katian, Late Ordovician) of Chun'an, western Zhejiang, south-east China