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Dimerelloid brachiopods with patchy but cosmopolitan geographical distribution, including the Late Triassic (Norian) Halorella amphitoma, offer a unique opportunity to identify and reconstruct specific palaeomicroenvironments in the geological past. The group and this species are commonly associated with hydrocarbon seepage in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic records. In addition, mass occurrences of H. amphitoma are also known from neptunian dykes and palaeokarst cavities on the vast Late Triassic Dachstein carbonate platform. It has been suggested that the shells were either washed into these structures or the animals were living directly there in a dark environment, but normal marine conditions were implied for their habitat. However, here we report a new record of the mass occurrence of this species from the Bakony Mts. (central Transdanubian Range Unit) in Hungary that cannot be reconciled with any of the previously suggested palaeoenvironments. A combination of palaeontological, sedimentological, and geochemical (delta 13C, delta 18O and element/Ca ratios) analyses of the shells, micrite and shell-infilling calcite cement was carried out in order to determine the habitat. Our results suggest that karstic cavities, formed during lowstand on the supratidal platform, were filled by seawater through ingression when the sea-level started to rise and were subsequently colonised by H. amphitoma. Stable isotope and element/Ca ratio data suggest a good preservation of the shells. Furthermore, supporting the sedimentological observations, the data imply a semi-closed environment with variable seawater salinity, carbonate chemistry and oxygen availability. This newly identified habitat provides further support for the exceptional adaptational flexibility of Halorella.
Abstract The Kon Tum Tube-nosed Bat ( Murina kontumensis Son et al. 2015. A new species of the genus Murina (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam with a review of the subfamily Murininae in Vietnam. Acta Chiropterol. 17: 201–232) was described from a single female holotype collected in Ngoc Linh Nature Reserve, Kon Tum province (now administratively part of reformed Quang Ngai province), Vietnam. No additional specimens have been reported since its original description. This paper presents morphological and genetic analyses of a second recorded and first male specimen of this species from Mang Den commune, Quang Ngai province. Our findings extend the known distribution and ecological requirements of M. kontumensis .
New data obtained during preparatory studies for a science-history monograph of Oxytrypia orbiculosa (Esper, 1799 [1800]) are presented, with emphasis on the type material and nomenclature of the species. Circumstantial data suggest that the holotype of Phalaena orbiculosa Esper, 1799 [1800], originated from the Szeged region of Hungаry and deposited in the collection of Tóbiás Koy, may have been collected either by Johannes Centurius Hofmannsegg (1766–1849) or Pál Kitaibel (1857–1817) in the early 1790s. It was thought that the holotype was subsequently incorporated into the Imre Frivaldszky collection and later transferred to the Hungarian National Museum in 1864. However, it was deposited in the Koy collection arranged by a curiosity manner in a carved cabinet, arrived to the museum in 1909, where it was destroyed during the museum fire of 1956. The nomenclatural history of binomens and higher categories connected to the species is reviewed. The genus-group name Oxytripia has been introduced by Staudinger in 1871 without description, but it is available under the Article 12.2.5 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) because it is accompanied by an indication. The subsequent author’s correction of the name as Oxytrypia is justified under the ICZN Article 32.5. Consequently, the family-group names Oxytripiini and Oxytripiina are all subsequent misspellings of Oxytrypiinae Gozmány, 1970, in accordance with ICZN Article 35.4.1.
