The remains of organophosphate brachiopods of the Lingulida order, first discovered in Silurian sediments of the Timan-North Ural region, are described. Individual shell flaps and their fragments were found in the terrigenous-carbonate Wenlock strata of the Padimeytivis River section located in the central part of the Chernova Uplift. The results of comparison with other taxa suggest that the brachiopod remains are close to punctae lingulids of the genus, Lingulipora Gurty. The problem is discussed about early stages of ontogenesis in lingulids.
Described two new species of cornutan stylophora of the genus Phyllocystis from the Volkhov Regional Stage (Middle Ordovician, Dapingian) of Baltica. This points to the biogeographic connection between Afro-European part of Gondwana and Baltica since the very beginning of the Middle Ordovician. Both species were confined to cold-water, shallow conditions with low water mobility. Analysis of the axial symmetry of the stylophora and the location of the hydropore indicates the absence of torsion in their ontogeny and the location of the ambulacral system to the right of their anteroposterior axis. To explain this structure, two alternative hypotheses have been proposed: 1) inversion inversion in the development of right and left coelomes; 2) inverted state of stylophora compared to other invertebrates, what makes them similar to the chordates in terms of the position of the dorsal and ventral sides.
New conodont species of Palmatolepis genus – Pa. abramovaе sp. nov. is described from the Makarovo Horizon deposits from 4 sections: Bolshaya Barma, Akkyr, Ryauzyak and Kuk-Karauk. The ontogenetic series and phylogenetic relationships for species are here. Pa. abramovaе sp. nov. is characteristics species for the Upper triangularis Zone.
V.V. Bogachev (1933) described the scombrid fish Auxis caucasica based on an incomplete skeleton from the Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) of the North Caucasus (Stavropol Region). Subsequently, this species was assigned to the mackerel genus Scomber. New findings in the Sarmatian of the North Caucasus (Krasnodar Region, Pshekha River) revealed a significant reduction in the number of vertebrae in S. caucasicus (Bogatshov) (up to 28), which is extremely unusual for Scombridae, with at least 31 vertebrae. A new genus Mioscomber is established to accommodate the Sarmatian species of scombrids. The scombrids from the Sarmatian of the former Yugoslavia, originally described as Auxis vrabcensis Kramberger, 1882, A. thynnoides Kramberger, 1882 and Scomber sujedanus Steindachner, 1860, are assigned to the same genus—these also have a reduction in the number of vertebrae. The generic character of Mioscomber gen. nov. assumes correction of the diagnosis of the family Scombridae, from “Vertebrae 31–66” to “Vertebrae 28–66”.
This paper describes remains of fossil gray partridges from the Lower Pleistocene (1.8–1.5 Ma) deposits of the Taurida Cave in Central Crimea. The smaller gray partridge is referred to the fossil species Perdix jurcsaki Kretzoi, 1962. Another phasianid bird from the cave, which is partly similar to modern Perdix but larger than the latter, is described as Enkuria voinstvenskyi gen. et sp. nov. The spatiotemporal stability of the Early–Middle Pleistocene European gray partridge morphotype makes it possible to synonymize the fossil species P. jurcsaki and P. palaeoperdix Mourer-Chauviré, 1975. Earlier fossil finds of the genus Perdix from the Upper Pliocene–Lower Pleistocene of Eastern Europe and Asia are revised. Perdix margaritae Kurochkin, 1985 from the Upper Pliocene of Mongolia and Transbaikalia is considered a junior synonym of Lophura inferna Kurochkin, 1985. The oldest confirmed find of P. jurcsaki comes from the lower Gelasian (about 2.4 Ma) of the Northern Black Sea region (Kryzhanovka-2 locality; Ukraine). A dispersal of gray partridge to the west of Europe in the second half of the Early Pleistocene is shown. The discovery of the genus Enkuria confirms the existence of the fossil diversity of Perdicini s.s. in the Plio-Pleistocene of Northern Eurasia. Phasianus etuliensis Bocheński et Kurochkin, 1987 from the Lower Pliocene of Moldova is also here assigned to this genus. In addition, the validity of the fossil Early Pleistocene phasianids Francolinus subfrancolinus Jánossy, 1976 and Alectoris baryosefi Tchernov, 1980 is confirmed.
To clarify the chronological sequence of East European localities of late Permian pareiasaur osteoderms, we carried out a stratigraphic analysis of the osteoderm-bearing strata. Thirty localities have been dated with maximum accuracy. They characterize eight successive stratigraphic levels: Vanyushonkian, Syominian, and Kichugian beds of the Putyatinian Regional Stage (Upper Severodvinian), Chizhian and Rovdinian beds of the Bykovian Regional Stage (Lower Vyatkian), Aristovian and Gorokhovetsian beds of the Nefyodovian Regional Stage (Upper Vyatkian), and Lagernian Beds of the Zhukovian Regional Stage (Upper Vyatkian).
The morphology of phosphate sclerites Tannuolina pavlovi Kouchinsky, Bengtson et Murdock, 2010 from the Kostinskaya Formation section of the Siberian Platform (right bank of the Sukhaya Tunguska River) was studied. The microstructure of the studied sclerites with a two-layered wall has been described for the first time.
Eleven imprints of chiton valves from the Sakmarian of the Shakhtau reef massif (Bashkir Cis-Urals) are assigned to a new species Ochmazochiton uralensis sp. nov. Previously, the genus Ochmazochiton was known only from the type species described from the Lower and Middle Permian of Texas. Due to the unique preservation of the studied material, the structure of the aesthete pores is shown for the first time, and the structure of the insertion plates, the important morphological characters of the genus Ochmazochiton, the earliest representative of the order Chitonida, is clarified.
New species of conodonts of the genus Icriodus—I. multidentatus sp. nov. and I. quartadecimensis sp. nov. are described from the Sargaevian Regional Substage of the Ust’-Yarega Formation (Frasnian Stage, Upper Devonian) of the Southern Timan. The described species have relatively wide platforms, which may be related to the development of a new food resource.
A detailed study of cross-sections of the earliest (Late Permian) representatives of Otoceras Griesbach (O. concavum Tozer) from the base of the Nekuchan Formation in the upper reaches of the Vostochnaya Khandyga River in Southern Verkhoyanie allowed features of ontogenetic shape changes to be clarified. Trends in changes in the main parameters of the shell during its growth have been determined, the cyclical nature of the narrowing and expansion of the shell has been identified, and the sequence of changes in the shape of the whorl cross-section has been established. The formation of carinae and the development of the tricarinate shape of the venter were recognized. Identification of shell shape transformations in the ontogeny of O. concavum contributes to the diagnosis of small-sized Otoceras and can serve as the basis for subsequent reconstruction of the evolution of morphogenesis in Otoceratidae. The pentacarinate form of the external part of the whorl observed at the middle stage of ontogeny may be a character inherited from the ancestral genus Avushoceras Ruzhencev.
The paper discusses Stephanoceras humphriesianum (J. de C. Sowerby), an index species of the upper zone of the Lower Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) standard scale, identified for the first time from the lower subformation of the Djangura Formation of Karachay-Cherkessia. The fixation of the lectotype of Ammonites humphriesianus is discussed. New finds make it possible to establish the humphriesianum faunal horizon in the middle part of the eponymous zone for the Kuban River basin.
Jaw fragments and isolated teeth of the mole shrew Anourosorex andabata sp. nov. are described from the Middle Pleistocene deposits of Tham Hai cave (Lang Son Province, northern Vietnam). This is the first fossil record of Anourosorex in Vietnam. The new species is characterized by medium size (as in Recent A. squamipes Milne-Edwards, 1872), a narrow apex of the coronoid process of the mandible and a weakly reduced (relatively long and wide) talonid of M1.
According to the concept proposed by the authors of dividing modern rootless zokors and their ancestral Pleistocene rootless forms into the genera Myospalax, Siphneus, and Eospalax, Manchurian and Daurian zokors were assigned to the genus Siphneus. In this paper details of the morphological differences of the genus Siphneus and analysis of the evolutionary lineages among the genus are presented. A new phylogenetic scheme is proposed, in which a new species S. tolaensis sp. nov. ancestral to the Daurian zokors is described on the basis of remains from the Nalaikha locality (Mongolia, late Early–early Middle Pleistocene).
A new sphinctozoan species Paradeningeria magna sp. nov. is described from the Permian Nakhodka Reef in Southern Primorye.
The stratigraphic distribution of early Olenekian ammonoids of the genus Churkites (family Arctoceratidae Arthaber, 1911) from a new locality in South Primorye (Artyomovka River basin, Shtykovskie Prudy) is studied. The new species of Churkites (Ch. ungunensis sp. nov. and Ch. subungunensis sp. nov.) are described based on the material from the lower Olenekian zones of the Khabarovsk Region (T.M. Okuneva’s collection) and South Primorye. The composition of the type species of the genus Churkites (Ch. egregius Zharnikova et Okuneva, 1990) is re-defined. It is proposed to distinguish three phylogenetic lineages within the genera Arctoceras (A. tuberculatum) and Churkites (six species): (I) Arctoceras tuberculatum–Churkites noblei–Ch. egregius, (II) Ch. egregius–Ch. syaskoi and (III) Ch. syaskoi–Ch. subungunensis–Ch. ungunensis.
There are important morphological differences between the dominant higher taxa (classes) in associations of radiolarians that inhabited different depths of paleobasins. A similar inversion of dominant radiolarian taxa can be seen in the Early Tournaisian (Mississippian) and the Kungurian (Cisuralian) and may indicate a change in their habitat from deeper conditions dominated by porous Sphaerellaria, to shallower shelf environments, in which spongy-lattice Spumellaria prevailed.
A new genus Alatyroceras is established for the species A. nageli (Mitta) (type species of the genus), A. keuppi (Mitta), A. efimovi (Mitta), and A. infimum (Gulyaev et Kiselev), in Central Russia characterizing the interval correlated with the Upper Bathonian Variabile and Calyx zones of East Greenland. According to the refined data, the Keuppi Zone of the Russian Platform includes (from bottom to top) the efimovi, nageli, and keuppi faunal horizons. The genus Alatyroceras [M] completes the phylogenetic lineage Arcticoceras → Alatyroceras in the subfamily Arctocephalitinae; the name Costacadoceras Rawson is common to all microconchs of the subfamily.
The oldest species of the genus Dvinosaurus Amalitzky, 1921—Dvinosaurus gubini sp. nov.—is described from the Sundyr-1 reference locality of the Sundyr faunal assemblage of Eastern Europe (Upper Permian, Upper Severodvinian, Suchonica vladimiri Assemblage Zone) based on abundant bone material. The diagnostic criteria for the new species are its smaller size compared to other dvinosaurs, the narrowest skull, a short and wide zygomatic bone, and the parasphenoid body with a wider base of the cultriform process, which is well ossified with the basisphenoid; a strongly curved dentary with a well-defined symphysial crest extending downward from the labial side of the symphysial surface and, in some cases, with a single symphysial tusk, a large angle (135°–152°) between the clavicular plate and dorsal process of the clavicle, narrow areas of the interclavicle for insertion of the clavicles, and a narrow entepicondylus of the humerus. The small size, narrow skull, single symphysial tusk, and hypocentrum morphology make the new form similar to the basal Dvinosauria, in particular, to ancestral Trimerorhachidae.
