An assemblage of 22 silicified wood specimens collected from the Cerro Grande and Arroyo Blanco localities (Lago La Plata and Tres Lagunas formations, Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous), in the Fontana Lake area (Chubut Province, Argentine Patagonia), is described. The specimens consist of decorticated secondary xylem. Thirteen specimens have araucarian pits in the radial walls of tracheids and araucarioid cross-fields, allowing their assignment to Agathoxylon Hartig, a fossil-genus related to the Araucariaceae Henkel & W. Hochst. Two specimens, with non-contiguous pits in the tracheid radial walls, are assigned to an 'indeterminate abietinean type'. The remaining seven specimens could not be identified taxonomically due to poor preservation, although they have general conifer anatomical features. The size of the specimens and the curvature of their growth rings indicate that they came from large trees. Distinct growth ring boundaries observed in most specimens suggest annual seasonality. In addition, some specimens have false rings and patterns of wood decay. The wood assemblage suggests a forest dominated by Araucariaceae in the Fontana Lake area near the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary.
Piliocolobus Rochebrune, 1877 and Procolobus Rochebrune, 1877 are key members of the primate community from eastern and central Africa but their presence in the fossil record has yet to be documented, hampering our knowledge of their evolutionary history. Using a combination of morphometric ratio, exploratory and discriminant multivariate analyses as well as hierarchical clustering on mandibular teeth, symphysis and corpus shape and dimensions, the phenetic affinity of small colobines from Asbole and Koobi Fora with Piliocolobus and Colobus Illiger, 1811 is demonstrated. This determination provides new evidence for the assessment of the paleobiogeography and evolution of extant African colobines.
An enigmatic ammonite (Ammonoida, Ammonitida) population represented by ten immature specimens from the late Callovian (Pseudopeltoceras leckenbyi Horizon) of Montreuil-Bellay is documented in this work. No evident similarities can be found between the studied material and any previously described species overall, suggesting at first glance that this population represents a new taxon. However, a thorough literature review on ammonoid pathologies and a detailed investigation on the morphology and ornamentation of the specimens lead us to instead support the hypothesis that the studied population reflects abnormal specimens. More specifically, we suggest that the specimens described herein are genetically-induced abnormal (forma aegra circumdata) Taramelliceras taurimontanum Erni, 1934 specimens (or alternatively-although more unlikely-Granulochetoceras hungaricum L & oacute;czy, 1915 specimens). In our opinion, additional material providing information on the adult morphology of this remarkable and extremely rare ammonite assemblage is required before completely ruling out the hypothesis that this population represents a new taxon.
The neuropteran Moltenopsychops magnus n. gen., n. sp. (Osmylopsychopidae Martynova, 1949) is described from the Late Triassic of the Molteno Formation (South Africa) based on an incomplete forewing. The new taxon bears strong resemblance to Petropsychops Riek, 1956, from the Upper Triassic of Australia, in having a peculiar configuration of the median vein (M) in relation to the first branch of the radial sector (Rs1), forming together a single, anteriorly pectinate unit. The tribe Petropsychopsini n. tr. is newly erected to encompass the two genera. Moltenopsychops magnus n. gen., n. sp. is the first species ofTriassic Neuroptera to be reported from the African continent. The finding further highlights the similarity between South African and Australian Triassic insect faunas and, more generally, complements our knowledge of the diversity of Gondwanan Neuroptera in the Mesozoic.
Phylogeny and taxonomy of early whales have always been a complicated matter, partly due to confusing nineteenth-century descriptions and diagnoses and a profusion of given names. A largely complete cranium with associated postcrania that was discovered by Albert Koch in 1848, a historical specimen now preserved inTeylers Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands (inv.nr. TM 8501), was given the name Zeuglodon hydrarchus Carus, 1849. It was never properly prepared, and it too became subject of taxonomic confusion and discussion. Here we present a revision of the specimen. Zeuglodon hydrarchus is currently a subjective junior synonym of Zygorhiza kochii (Reichenbach in Carus & Koch, 1847), a species that has remained difficult to diagnose, and probably consists of multiple taxa. The diagnostic characters separating Zygorhiza kochii from Dorudon serratus Gibbes, 1845 have been a longstanding issue in basilosaurid paleontology and a source of contention. Here, key specimen TM 8501 is CT-scanned to reveal obscured morphology, allowing for a more detailed taxonomic assessment. The cranial variation exhibited by Zygorhiza kochii and the similar Dorudon serratus is compared to that exhibited in other basilosaurid taxa. TM 8501 belongs to a group of specimens tentatively referred to as Zygorhiza kochii, separated from Dorudon serratus by the presence of crenulated cingula on P2-4, an anterior process on the frontals of adult specimens, an elongated narial process of the premaxillae, medial maxillae which contact the frontals, the presence of a posteriorly projecting point at mid-height of the nuchal crest, and a single-rooted p1. The type specimen of Zygorhiza kochii remains problematic. Several specimens previously considered Zy. kochii are here reidentified as D. serratus.
