Planktic and benthic foraminiferal species were identified in the Cenomanian interval from two sections of the Eastern Atlas system in northeastern Algeria: Ras El Mers and Cha & acirc;bet Ouled Chelih. Based on these assemblages, the Ras El Mers succession is assigned to the lower, middle, and upper Cenomanian, whereas the Cha & acirc;bet Ouled Chelih section corresponds to the middle and upper Cenomanian. These age assignments are supported by the ecological preferences of the foraminiferal assemblages and corroborated by the occurrence of rudists and ammonites. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the benthic assemblages allowed the identification of seven morphogroups in each section. Significant correlations exist between biostratigraphical and palaeoecological patterns observed here and those reported from neighbouring regions of Algeria (the Aures and T & eacute;bessa mountains) and Tunisia (Kalaat Senan), as well as other Tethyan localities. The diversity of epifaunal and infaunal taxa within the benthic assemblages indicates mesotrophic conditions and deposition in epicontinental inner- to outer-shelf environments. These palaeoenvironments correspond to a relatively deep outer-platform setting (100-200 m) at Ras El Mers and a shallower mid-platform environment (50-100 m) at Cha & acirc;bet Ouled Chelih.
A partial pareiasaurian mandible with dentition from the Usili Formation of Kingori (Ruhuhu Basin, SW-Tanzania) can be confidently identified as Pareiasaurus serridens Owen, 1876 via detailed apomorphy-based morphological comparison. This is the first definite record of the taxon from the Ruhuhu Basin. Its biochronological significance is discussed, and it is concluded that it provides further confirmation to the formerly proposed correlation of the Usili Formation at Kingori with the lowerDaptocephalus Assemblage Zone of the South African Karoo Basin (Beaufort Group). This is also supported by available data from dicynodont, gorgonopsian and therocephalian synapsids that were found at the same stratigraphic level as the Pareiasaurus serridens specimen at Kingori. There is no definite evidence for older faunas corresponding to the South African Cistecephalus Assemblage Zone at the Kingori locality. The recent announcement of inostranceviine gorgonopsians from the lowermost Usili Formation also supports this assignment, which nevertheless must not be necessarily applicable to the entire formation, which probably contains faunal assemblages of variable age.
We report a new species of Polybiidae PAuL'soN, 1875, from the Miocene of Savign & eacute;-sur-Lathan (France). The sole specimen is assigned to Polybius LEACH, 1820, a genus known with numerous fossil and extant species. The new species P. appeldoornae enlarges the fossil diversity of the genus in the Miocene of Europe.
The present contribution constitutes the sixth part of a series of publications on the lower Cenomanian (lower Upper Cretaceous) coral fauna of C & oacute;breces in Cantabria (Spain). The fauna, derived from a complex of several patch reefs in the lower Altamira Formation, encompasses a total of approximately 140 coral species and is the largest known Cenomanian coral fauna to date. Here, corals of the superfamilies Rhizangioidea and Stylinoidea with eight genera and 18 species are presented. The genus Aulastraeogyra is described as new, with two new species, Aulastraeogyra astraeforma and Aulastraeogyra meandriforme.
Various slabs with bipedal tetradactyl footprints from Franconia (Northern Bavaria), collected in the Coburger Sandstein (Hassberge Formation, Upper Triassic, Carnian) over a period of thirty years of activity by non-professional palaeontologists, are here ichnotaxonomically identified as Evazoum. This new occurrence, along with previous discoveries from nearby areas, shows that Evazoum is much more common in the Late Triassic of south-central Germany than previously thought. The material represents some of the best-preserved specimens known to date from Europe. Evazoum is confirmed to be the tetradactyl footprint of a fully bipedal trackmaker, which retains an anteriorly-directed pedal digit one. Weight load is highest on the outer digits, the pedes point inward to the trackway midline in walking phase. This configuration represents a specific adaptation of bipedal locomotion, limited to a group of Late Triassic to Early Jurassic archosaurs, which in accordance with previous studies we consider most likely to be basal sauropodomorphs ("prosauropods"). The identification of "prosauropod" tracks in the Carnian ichnofaunas of Germany closes an ichnological gap, as basal sauropodomorphs are well-represented in the Late Triassic (Norian) skeletal record from the same area. Associated ichnotaxa include Grallator, Brachychirotherium, Rhynchosauroides and Procolophonichnium.
During investigations on Baltoscandian glacial erratic Wenlock to P & rcaron;& iacute;dol & iacute; boulders from northern Germany the following proetine genera were identified: Plesiowensus, Proetus, Pulcherproetus, Signatoproetus and Wenlowiproetus n. g. New and old discoveries allow to describe several new taxa of the species group: Proetus nebenkruegerorum n. sp., P. sellinianus n. sp., Pulcherproetus inexspectatus damsdorfensis n. ssp., P. rudolphi n. sp., Signatoproetus leviconvexus n. sp., Wenlowiproetus erraticus sueselensis n. ssp., W. glaciportans n. sp., W. hiddenseeensis n. sp., W. ruegenianus n. sp. Numerous finds were described in open nomenclature. Llandovery glacial boulders yielding proetines were not identified with certainty in Europe. Holaspid phase developments affect the morphology of some of these proetines. Due to lack of material, however, related taxonomic applications are currently out of sight. Glacial erratic crassiproetines, Hedstroemia, are only known from Wenlock boulders. One likely Llandovery find, cf. Astroproetus, is taxonomically problematic. Glacial erratic Silurian boulders of the Netherlands have yielded Pulcherproetus sp., Signatoproetus? sp. and Proetinae indet. Boulders from Poland include former Proetus spp., which are now assigned to Wenlowiproetus lupus n. sp., W. polonicus n. sp. and Pulcherproetus sp. A pygidium of Signatoproetus is the first record of a proetine from Denmark glacial erratics. Baltoscandian bedrock: Proetinae and Crassiproetinae from this area have hardly been studied in modern times and only to a limited extent. From Gotland (Sweden), the same genera are known as in glacial erratics, and the following species are new: Proetus frankei n. sp., P. gotlandensis n. sp., Signatoproetus muelleri n. sp. Gotland Proetus concinnus is essentially limited to its lectotype. In Estonia, Silurian Proetinae is represented by Proetus, Pulcherproetus, Signatoproetus? and Wenlowiproetus?, Crassiproetinae by Hedstroemia and Thebanaspis. Other bedrock: Some proetids from the Silurian of Ukraine (Podolia) were updated. They include Proetus, Pulcherproetus, Signatoproetus, Wenlowiproetus n. g., Astroproetus? and the tropidocoryphid Decoroproetus? sp. The Proetinae shows close morphological relationships to faunas from glacial deposits. Currently, Proetinae and Crassiproetinae species from European glacial deposits seem to show little morphological similarity to species from the Baltoscandian deposits. Three possible cases are discussed. This contribution significantly reinforces the previous impression of a great diversity of morphologies among Baltoscandian Silurian Proetinae.
An isolated calyx of the periechocrinid genus Gennaeocrinus (Crinoidea, Eucamerata) is described from the upper Famennian (Upper Devonian) of the Aachen district Kornelim & uuml;nster (Rhenish Massif, Germany). This is the first articulated crinoid calyx from the Etroeungt Formation (Strunian Substage, uppermost Famennian Stage) of the historical geoprofile "Kornelim & uuml;nster Road Section", in the southeast of Kornelim & uuml;nster. Due to endoskeletal morphologies differing from those of Gennaeocrinus and the partially unknown provenance of the fossil material, previously described crinoids from the Devonian of Spain and Germany ("Gennaeocrinus spec. cf. G. nyssa" and "Gennaeocrinus(?) germanicus") cannot be considered as reliable proof of the genus in Europe. The description of the species G. wenningi n. sp. now provides this first verifiable evidence.
A typical specimen of Tentaculites that resembles T. limatulus from Wenlock of Gotland has been described from the Hirnantian of Estonia. The specimen exhibits the characteristic ornament of the genus, composed of well-defined rings and annulets. This exceptional specimen demonstrates that forms exhibiting the typical tentaculitid morphology had already appeared by the latest Ordovician, which in turn implies that their lineage must have originated earlier, most plausibly during pre-Hirnantian time. Fossils resembling tentaculitids but still interpretable as free-living cornulitids have been documented from the Late Ordovician deposits of both Laurentia and Baltica, indicating taxa with tentaculitid-like traits were present across widely separated paleocontinents well before the end of the Ordovician. The most plausible hypothesis, based on the currently available paleontological evidence, is that true tentaculitids arose either in the tropical regions of Baltica or in comparable tropical environments of Laurentia.
Tetrapod vertebrates underwent a major turnover by the end of the Triassic, yet their fossil record from strata close to the Triassic-Jurassic boundary is sparse. Here, we describe new tetrapod fossils from the uppermost Triassic Exter Formation of the recently discovered Irrel section in the south Eifel area, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The material consists of isolated teeth and bones from a richly fossiliferous, conglomeratic bonebed, palynologically dated to the upper middle Rhaetian, and deposited in an intertidal channel. The assemblage is remarkably diverse and includes the assumed thalattosaur Pachystropheus, kuehneosaurid archosauromorphs, theropod dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and late-surviving phytosaurs, plagiosaurs and aetosaurs, the latter representing the youngest known to date. The material furthermore includes osteoderms and a fragmentary tooth of an unknown archosaur, possibly a small crocodylomorph, and a fragmentary tooth of an unknown lepidosauromorph or archosauriform with deep longitudinal grooves assumedly for venom delivery. The assemblage is among the most diverse from the latest Triassic and adds to the sparse Rhaetian fossil record of terrestrial tetrapods in general, and more specifically theropod dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
A probable ammonoid egg clutch is described from the black shale bed within the upper Bashkirian (Lower Pennsylvanian) Mospyne Formation of the Donets Basin (Ukraine). The clutch consists of two dozen embryonic conchs of a probably schistoceratid ammonoid. The well preservation of the probable clutch is due to its burial in dysaerobic conditions. The clutch was probably attached to a macroscopic non-biomineralised algae or was in a floating state.
