A new antiarch placoderm from the Emsian (Early Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, China
ZHAOH UI PAN , MIN ZHU , YOU’AN ZHU and LIANTAO JIA
Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 643, Beijing 100044, PR China. *Also affiliated with University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049
Wufengshania magniforaminis, a new genus and species of the Euantiarcha (Placodermi: Antiarcha), is described from the late Emsian (Early
Devonian) of Wuding, Yunnan, southwestern China. The referred specimens were three-dimensionally preserved in black shales, allowing a highresolution computed tomography reconstruction of anatomical details. The new euantiarch is characterized by a large orbital fenestra, an arched exoskeletal band around the orbital fenestra and a developed obtected nuchal area of the skull roof. Maximum parsimony analysis, using a revised data-set of antiarchs with 44 taxa and 66 characters, resolves Wufengshania gen. nov. as a member of the Bothriolepididae, which is characterized by the presence of the infraorbital sensory canal diverging on the lateral plate, and the nuchal plate with orbital facets. New analysis supports a sister group relationship between Dianolepis and the Bothriolepididae. Luquanolepis, a coeval euantiarch from the neighboring site of the new form, is referred to the Asterolepidoidei and represents the basalmost and earliest member of the Asterolepidoidei.
Key words: Antiarcha, Placodermi, Early Devonian, HRCT scanning, morphology
A new fossil sinoalid species from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou beds (Insecta: Hemiptera: Cercopoidea)
YANZ HE FU, CHENYANG CAI and DIYING HUA NG
Yanzhe Fu [yzfu41@163.com], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China; Chenyang
Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Diying Huang* [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and
Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China. Received 14.3.2017;
revised 24.7.2017; accepted 29.8.2017.
A new fossil species, Luanpingia daohugouensis sp. nov., belonging to the family Sinoalidae is described from the Middle to Upper Jurassic
Daohugou beds of Inner Mongolia, China, on the basis of two well-preserved complete specimens. The described species of Sinoalidae are
reviewed and Jiania gracila is considered a junior synonym of Jiania crebra. The new discovery increases the palaeodiversity of sinoalids from
the Daohugou beds. It also indicates stratigraphic correlation between the Daohugou beds, the Haifanggou Formation at Haifeng, Beipiao City,
West Liaoning Province, and the Jiulongshan Formation at Zhouyingzi, Luanping County, Hebei Province. All of these units host the ‘early
assemblage’ of the Yanliao biota.
Key words: Sinoalidae, Luanpingia, Daohugou, Middle–Late Jurassic, Yanliao biota.
A probable ankylosaurian (Dinosauria, Thyreophora) from
the Early Cretaceous of New South Wales, Australia
PHIL R. BELL, MICHAEL E. BURN S and ELIZA BETH T. SMIT H
Phil R. Bell [pbell23@une.edu.au], School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale 2351, NSW, Australia;
Michael E. Burns [mburns3@jsu.edu], Department of Biology, Jacksonville State University, 700 Pelham Rd N., Jacksonville, AL 36265-2138,
USA; Elizabeth T. Smith [elizabethtsmith@exemail.com.au], Australian Opal Centre, Lightning Ridge 2834, NSW, Australia. Received 7.3.2017;
revised 19.9.2017; accepted 22.9.2017.
A probable ankylosaurian (Dinosauria, Thyreophora) from the Early Cretaceous of New South Wales, Australia. Alcheringa 42, 120–124. ISSN 0311-5518. We describe an isolated osteoderm from the Albian Griman Creek Formation where it is exposed near the town of Lightning Ridge in centralnorthern New South Wales, Australia. Several lines of evidence allow referral of this element to the Ankylosauria—a group that epitomises body armour and ubiquitous osteodermal coverage among dinosaurs. Despite the abundant record of fossil vertebrates from this interval, ankylosaurians have not been previously reported, although, they have been described from penecontemporaneous deposits in western Queensland and Victoria. This discovery, therefore, provides an important link between the northerly faunas (including the Griman Creek Formation) that flourished at the edge of the epeiric Eromanga Sea, with those from the sub-polar rift-valley system of Victoria during the mid-Cretaceous.
Key words: Cretaceous, Ornithischia, Ankylosauria, Griman Creek Formation, opal
A slender new archaic beetle in Burmese amber (Coleoptera:
Archostemata)
EDMUN D A. JARZE MBOW SKI, BO WANG and DARAN ZHEN G
Edmund Jarzembowski* [jarzembowski2@live.co.uk] Bo Wang† [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn] and Daran Zheng‡ [darzheng@connect.hku.hk] State
Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 39 East Beijing Rd, Nanjing 210008, PR China. *Also affiliated with: Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK. †Also
A new archostematan beetle, Clessidromma palmeri gen. et sp. nov. (Insecta: Coleoptera) is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber from
northern Myanmar. It has a uniquely specialized body form for which a new stem tribe, Clessidromatini trib. nov., is proposed in the subfamily
Ommatinae of the family Cupedidae sensu lato..
Key words: fossil resin, Myanmar, Cretaceous, Coleoptera, cupedid, Clessidromma
Angiosperm association from the Río Turbio Formation (Eocene–?Oligocene) Santa Cruz, Argentina: revision of
Hünicken’ s (1955) fossil leaves collection
BÁRB ARA VENTO and MERCED ES B. PRÁMPARO
Bárbara Vento [bvento@mendoza-conicet.gov.ar] Mercedes B. Prámparo [mprampar@mendoza-conicet.gov.ar] Instituto Argentino de Nivología,
Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA) CCT-CONICET, Mendoza, Adrián Ruiz Leal s/n, Casilla Correo 131, C5500, Mendoza, Argentina.
The Río Turbio Formation (Eocene–?Oligocene) is of particular paleobotanical interest owing to its combination of high fossil plant diversity associated with the coexistence of warm-temperate and cool-temperate components. As the first suite of fossils related to a documented stratigraphic section, Hünicken’s fossil plant collection is one of the most important from the Paleogene of South America. A total of 34 angiosperm species from the collection were reviewed and taxonomically updated, with Nothofagus as the dominant genus. The taxa identified indicate a warm and humid climate with the development of some elements of a cool-temperate climate marked by a transitional climate change to cooler conditions. The comparison of angiosperms from different paleofloras from the southernmost of South America confirms that the assemblage of Río Turbio Formation was similar to that of the Río Pichileufú area, both from Patagonia, Argentina.
Key words: angiosperms, paleoflora, Eocene, Río Turbio Formation.
First fossil thaneroclerid beetle from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Coleoptera: Cleroidea: Thanerocleridae)
CHEN YANG CAI and DIYIN G HUANG
Chenyang Cai [cycai@nigpas.ac.cn] Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Diying Huang [dyhuang@nigpas.ac.cn] State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, PR China. Received 12.6.2017;
Thanerocleridae is a small family of Cleroidea with no fossil representatives to date. Here we describe and figure the first fossil representative of
Thanerocleridae, Cretozenodosus fossilis gen. et sp. nov., from the mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar. Cretozenodosus is referred to the
extant subfamily Zenodosinae as evidenced by its open procoxal cavities and transverse procoxae. Cretozenodosus has close affinities with the
North American Zenodosus Wolcott, suggesting that modern Zenodosinae is probably a relict group. Our discovery of a new thaneroclerid genus
from Burmese amber suggests that Thanerocleridae originated no later than the mid-Cretaceous.
Key words: taxonomy, Cleroidea, fossil, Cenomanian, Burmese amber.
New Jurassic predatory cockroaches (Blattaria:
Raphidiomimidae) from Daohugou, China and Karatau,
Kazakhstan
JUNH UI LI ANG, CHUNG KUN SHIH a nd DON G REN
Junhui Liang [liangjh0602@126.com], Tianjin Natural History Museum, 31 Youyi Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300203, PR China; Chungkun
Shih† [chungkun.shih@gmail.com], College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District, Beijing, 100048,
PR China; Dong Ren [rendong@mail.cnu.edu.cn], College of Life Sciences, Capital Normal University, 105 Xisanhuanbeilu, Haidian District,
Beijing, 100048, PR China. †Also affiliated with: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC 20013, USA.
Two new species and a new combination in a new genus of predatory cockroaches, Falcatusiblatta gracilis and F. qiandaohua from the Middle
Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, China and F. karatavica (Vishniakova) comb. nov. from the Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Karatau, Kazakhstan are described within Raphidiomimidae. The new taxa are distinguished by the presence of a very long ovipositor
(plesiomorphy) and elongate cerci with heteronomous articles and forewing markings with irregular patch-like shapes of light and dark patterns
(autapomorphies). Received 10.4.2017; accepted 29.8.2017.
Key words: Inner Mongolia, new species, new genus, forewing markings, disruptive camouflage
Revision of the Early Devonian tabulate coral Pleurodictyum
bifidum from New South Wales
YVES PLUS QUELLEC and ANTHON Y J. WRIGHT
Yves Plusquellec [yves.plusquellec@univ-brest.fr], Université de Bretagne Occidentale, CNRS-UMR 6538 ‘Domaines océaniques’, Laboratoire de Paléontologie, UFR Sciences et Techniques, 6 avenue Le Gorgeu, CS 98837, F-29283 Brest, France; Anthony Wright [tony.wright@optusnet.com.au],
GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia.
The tabulate coral Pleurodictyum bifidum Jones, 1944, from the Early Devonian (Pragian or lower Emsian) Garra Formation of central New South Wales, Australia is revised on the basis of the holotype and three other specimens. It is selected as the type species of the new monotypic genus Bifidomeria (Family Roemeriidae), which differs from Roemeria in its strictly cerioid corallum, its bifid septal spines and aspects of its microstructure. Study of the detailed microstructure of two other tabulate corals from the Devonian of New South Wales has led to the following revised generic assignments: Michelinia progenitor Chapman, 1921, previously assigned to Roemeripora, is assigned to Roemeria, and Holacanthopora clarkei Wright & Flory, 1980 is assigned to Michelinia.
Key words: Bifidomeria, Pleurodictyum, Roemeria, tabulate corals, Garra Formation, NSW, Early Devonian.
Triassic palynostratigraphy and palynofl oral provinces:
evidence from southern Xizang (Tibet), China
JUNG ANG PENG, JIANGU O LI, SAM M. SLATER, WE NBEN LI, HUAIC HENG ZHU and VIVI VAJDA
Jungang Peng [jgpeng@nigpas.ac.cn], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China,
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China, Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm 104 05, Sweden; Jianguo Li* [jgli@nigpas.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Economic Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Wenben Li [wenbenli@126.com], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Sam M. Slater [sam.slater@nrm.se], Vivi Vajda [vivi.vajda@nrm.se], Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm 104 05, Sweden; Huaicheng Zhu [hczhu@nigpas.ac.cn], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China.
Palynological analysis was carried out on Middle to Upper Triassic strata from Tulong, Nyalam County, southern Xizang (Tibet), China. Well-preserved miospore (pollen and spore) assemblages and sparse acritarch occurrences were identified. We recognized four formal and one informal biozones based on stratigraphically important taxa and compositional changes through the succession, in ascending order: the Triplexisporites Interval Zone (Anisian), the Staurosaccites quadrifidus Taxon-range Zone (upper Anisian to lower Norian), the Striatella Interval Zone (lower Norian), the Craterisporites rotundus Taxon-range Zone (middle to upper Norian) and the informal ‘Dictyophyllidites harrisii zone’ (Rhaetian). The zonation was supported by marine fossils (e.g., ammonoids and conodonts), and compositional similarity between the zones was examined using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Correlation with other representative palynological sequences across Gondwana was also conducted. The presence of miospore taxa not previously recovered from the Late Triassic North and South China palynofloral provinces (e.g., Ashmoripollis reducta, Craterisporites rotundus, Enzonalasporites vigens, Minutosaccus crenulatus, Samaropollenites speciosus and Staurosaccites quadrifidus) calls for a new province in southwestern China, i.e., the Southern Xizang Province. It is proposed here that the modern expression of the northern boundary runs along the Yarlung Zangbo Suture, the remnant of the Tethys that separated the Indian Plate (southern Xizang) and the Lhasa Block during the Late Triassic. This new palynofloral province comprises typical elements of the Onslow Microflora, indicating the need for an extension of this microflora in southern Xizang, China.
Key words: pollen and spores, phytogeography, Tulong, Southern Xizang Palynofloral Province, Onslow Microflora, Gondwana, non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS)
