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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2016

Phylogenetics, systematics, paleoecology, and evolution of the trilobite genera Paladin and Kaskia from the United States

Late Mississippian and earliest Pennsylvanian trilobite faunas of North America are dominated by the Paladin and Kaskia clades. Phylogenetic analysis of middle Carboniferous species of these clades demonstrates the close ancestral relationship between these groups. The Kaskia clade consists of eight species: K. chesterensis Weller, 1936, K. osagensis (Cisne, 1967), K. longispina (Strong, 1872), K. wilsoni (Walter, 1924), K. genevievensis (Walter, 1924), K. rosei (Cisne, 1967), K. gersnai n. sp., and K. rollinsi n. sp. Kaskia Weller, 1936 ranges from late Osagean to middle Chesterian (early Visean-early Serpukhovian) and is restricted to cyclothemic shelf and nearshore deposits. Species of Kaskia appear to have evolved in areas of shallow water and high environmental stress. The Paladin clade consists of 12 species including previously named species P. morrowensis (Mather, 1915), P. girtyianus Hahn and Hahn, 1970, P. rarus Whittington, 1954, P. helmsensis Whittington, 1954, and P. moorei (Branson, 1937). New species belonging to this clade are Paladin moorefieldensis n. sp., P. pleisiomorphus n. sp., P. imoensis n. sp., P. mangeri n. sp., and P. wapanukaensis n. sp. This group ranges from the early Chesterian to early Morrowan (late Viseanlate Bashkirian). Species of Paladin appear to be confined to outer shelf shelf-edge and off-shelf facies where presumably deeper water environments existed. This is manifested in their paleogeographic distribution, which is paleoenvironmentally controlled. Copyright ?? 2008, The Paleontological Society.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

New permian fusulinids from conglomerate mesa, southeastern inyo Mountains, east-central california

In the Conglomerate Mesa area in the southeastern Inyo Mountains, east-central California, a series of distinctive fusulinid assemblages ranging in age from late Artinskian to Kungurian or Roadian was developed in units 7-10 of the sedimentary rocks of Santa Rosa Flat (part of the Owens Valley Group). The fauna of unit 7 shows some eastern Klamath Mountains affinity, but most of the species in unit 7 and the lower half of unit 8 are highly endemic and comprise three new genera with 12 new species, two unusual unassigned forms, and two other new species assigned to previously described genera. New taxa include: Crenulosepta new genus with five new species, C. inyoensis, C. delicata, C. fusiformis, C. rossi, and C. wahlmani; Nigribaccinus new genus with three new species, N. giganteus, N. elegans, and N. ? nestelli; and the new genus Inyoschwagerina with four new species, I. magnified, I. elayeri, I. elongata, and I.? linderae. Cuniculinella Skinner and Wilde, 1965, is represented by one new species, C. parva, and Skinnerella Coogan, 1960 by one new species, S.? mcallisteri. Faunas from the upper half of unit 8, unit 9, and unit 10 have a strong West Texas affinity. New species from these units are Skinnerella davydovi, S. hexagona, Parafusulina cerrogordoensis, P. complexa, P. halli, P. owensensis, and P. ubehebensis. Copyright ?? 2009, The Paleontological Society.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Silurian sponges and some associated fossils from the Heceta Limestone, Prince of Wales Island, southeastern Alaska

A small faunule of hypercalcified agelasiid demosponges has been recovered from outcrops of the Silurian Heceta Formation on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska. Included are abundant Girtyocoeliana epiporata (Rigby and Potter, 1986), of the Girtyocoeliidae Finks and Rigby, 2004; fragments of Alaskaspongiella laminosa n. gen. and sp., Polyplacospongia nodosa n. gen. and sp., and Monolaminospongia gigantia n. gen. and sp., of the Auriculospongiidae Termier and Termier, 1977, and Cladospongia alaskensis n. gen. and sp., Virgulaspongia uniforma n. gen. and sp., and Stipespongia laminata n. gen. and sp. of the Preperonidellidae Finks and Rigby, 2004. Also included are a few fossils of uncertain taxonomic placement, including Turbospongia biperforata n. gen. and sp., along with a small, chambered, tubular fragment and several porous tubular stems that may be additional poriferans. Some isolated octactine-based heteractinid spicules were also recovered from the etched residues. Copyright ?? 2008, The Paleontological Society.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

New porcellioidean gastropods from early Devonian of Royal Creek area, Yukon Territory, Canada, with notes on their early phylogeny

This paper presents a description of new gastropods belonging to the superfamily Porcellioidea (Vetigastropoda) from the richly diverse Lower Devonian gastropod fauna of the Road River Formation in the Royal Creek area, Yukon Territory. This fauna belongs to Western Canada Province of the Old World Realm. The Pragian species Porcellia (Porcellia) yukonensis n. sp. and Porcellia (Paraporcellia) sp. represent the oldest presently known members of subgenera Porcellia (Porcellia) and Porcellia (Paraporcellia). Their simple shell ornamentation fits well with an earlier described evolutionary trend in shell morphology of the Porcellinae. Late Pragian to early Emsian Perryconcha pulchra n. gen. and n. sp. is the first member of the Porcellioidea bearing a row of tremata on adult teleoconch whorls. The occurrence of this shell feature in the Porcellioidea is additional evidence that the evolution of the apertural slit was much more complicated than has been proposed in classical models of Paleozoic gastropod evolution. Copyright ?? 2008, The Paleontological Society.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2015

Deep-sea ostracods from the South Atlantic sector of the Southern ocean during the Last 370,000 years

We report changes of deep-sea ostracod fauna during the last 370,000 yr from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 704A in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The results show that faunal changes are coincident with glacial/interglacial-scale deep-water circulation changes, even though our dataset is relatively small and the waters are barren of ostracods until mid-MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 5. Krithe and Poseidonamicus were dominant during the Holocene interglacial period and the latter part of MIS 5, when this site was under the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Conversely, Henryhowella and Legitimocythere were dominant during glacial periods, when this site was in the path of Circumpolar Deep Water (CPDW). Three new species (Aversovalva brandaoae, Poseidonamicus hisayoae, and Krithe mazziniae) are described herein. This is the first report of Quaternary glacial/interglacial scale deep-sea ostracod faunal changes in the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans, a key region for understanding Quaternary climate and deep-water circulation, although the paucity of Quaternary ostracods in this region necessitates further research. ?? 2009 The Paleontological Society.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Early and middle(?) Cambrian metazoan and protistan fossils from West Africa

Supposed Upper Proterozoic strata in the southwest Taoudeni Basin, Guinea and Senegal, and from the Mauritanide fold belt, Mauritania, have yielded mostly poorly preserved small skeletal fossils of metazoan and protistan origin. Problematic, but possible echinoderm material and spicules of the heteractinid sponge Eiffelia dominate the Taoudeni Basin assemblage. The age of the material is not certain but the paleontologic data suggest an Early Cambrian age for the stratigraphically lowest faunas, and a Middle Cambrian age is possible for the stratigraphically highest collections.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2010

Rodents and lagomorphs (Mammalia) from the Hemphillian (late Miocene) of Utah

Four species of rodents (two heteromyids and two cricetids) and one lagomorph are identified from the late Tertiary Sevier River Formation of Utah. The heteromyids include a new genus and species of heteromyine, Metaliomys sevierensis, which is intermediate in morphology between the Clarendonian and early Hemphillian Diprionomys Kellogg and the extant genera Liomys and Heteromys. A single specimen is referred to Diprionomys sp., cf. D. minimus (Kellogg). The cricetid Paronychomys lemredfieldi Jacobs is known from the Hemphillian of Arizona. The second cricetid is referred to a new genus Basirepomys. Peromyscus pliocenicus Wilson from the Hemphillian of California is designated as the type species of the new genus, to which the new species B. robertsi from Utah is referred. Basirepomys is viewed as intermediate between Peromyscus and the basal neotomyine Repomys May from the late Hemphillian and Blancan. The only lagomorph in the fauna is Hypolagus vetus (Kellogg). Four of the taxa recognized from the Sevier River Formation (Diprionomys, Paronychomys lemredfieldi, Basirepomys, and Hypolagus vetus) are elsewhere known from the Hemphillian of North America. However, it is not possible at this time to determine whether the fauna is early or late Hemphillian. ?? 2010 by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Late Paleocene glyptosaur (Reptilia: Anguidae) osteoderms from South Carolina, USA

Heavily tuberculated glyptosaur osteoderms were collected in an active limestone quarry in northern Berkeley County, South Carolina. The osteoderms are part of a highly diverse late Paleocene vertebrate assemblage that consists of marine, terrestrial, fluvial, and/or brackish water taxa, including chondrichthyan and osteichthyan fish, turtles (chelonioid, trionychid, pelomedusid, emydid), crocodilians, palaeopheid snakes, and a mammal. Calcareous nannofossils indicate that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated within subzone NP9a of the Thanetian Stage (late Paleocene, upper part of Clarkforkian North American Land Mammal Age [NALMA]) and is therefore temporally equivalent to the Chicora Member of the Williamsburg Formation. The composition of the paleofauna indicates that the fossiliferous deposit accumulated in a marginal marine setting that was influenced by fluvial processes (estuarine or deltaic). The discovery of South Carolina osteoderms is significant because they expand the late Paleocene geographic range of glyptosaurines eastward from the US midcontinent to the Atlantic Coastal Plain and provide one of the few North American records of these lizards inhabiting coastal habitats. This discovery also brings to light a possibility that post-Paleocene expansion of this group into Europe occurred via northeastward migration along the Atlantic coast of North America.

South Carolina↗
USGS2016

A new specimen of Agorophius pygmaeus (Agorophiidae, Odontoceti, Cetacea) from the Early Oligocene Ashley Formation of South Carolina, USA

The holotype partial skull of Agorophius pygmaeus (the monotypic form for both the genus Agorophius and the Family Agorophiidae) has been missing for approximately 140 years. Since the discovery of Agorophius pygmaeus , many additional taxa and specimens have been placed in the Family Agorophiidae, only to be reclassified and removed later. This has created confusion as to what is and what is not an agorophiid and a lack of clarity as to what characteristics delimit the Agorophiidae. A newly discovered skull of an agorophiid recently collected from an underwater cliff face of the Ashley River, South Carolina, USA, is assigned to Agorophius pygmaeus . It derives from the base of the Ashley Formation (early Oligocene). The new specimen consists of most of the skull and periotics, which are well preserved and described for the first time in an agorophiid. The new specimen provides an opportunity to diagnose the Agorophiidae and place the genus and species within the phylogenetic context of the early odontocete radiation in the Oligocene, along with other taxa such as the Ashleycetidae, Mirocetidae, Patriocetidae, Simocetidae, Waipatiidae, and Xenorophidae. Based on this new understanding, Agorophiidae are known with certainty only from the early Oligocene of South Carolina, with other undescribed, potential agorophiid specimens from the Oligocene of the North Pacific region (Japan, Mexico, and Washington State).

South Carolina↗
USGS2015

Enigmatic eight-meter trace fossils in the Lower Pennsylvanian Lee sandstone, central Appalachian basin, Tennessee

Enigmatic tubular trace fossils up to eight meters long occur in the Lower Pennsylvanian Middlesboro Member of the Lee Formation. Two morphotypes occur: type 1 trace fossils are plain, smooth, vertical, nonbranching, parallel-walled, tubular structures; type 2 trace fossils branch, have walls with faint vertical striations, regularly or irregularly spaced nodes, and funnel-shaped terminations. Sandstone casts filling type 2 structures have helical spiral morphology, and, in rare individuals, faint meniscate fills have been observed. Both trace-fossil morphotypes have poorly cemented wall linings containing framboidal pyrite, amorphous carbon, quartz sand, and poorly preserved fecal material. The trace fossils occur in a massive, structureless, channel-form sandstone, originating at the contact between a channel lag and the overlying massive fill. The stratigraphic sequence is interpreted to represent a barrier island transgressing an estuarine facies. A tidal inlet within the barrier facies scoured into the underlying estuarine sediments. Subsequent rapid filling of the inlet led to the deposition of the massive sandstone. Origin of these structures is uncertain. The preponderance of evidence favors the hypothesis that the structures are escape burrows of animals that had colonized, or were concentrated in, the lag and were suddenly buried by the deposition of the massive sand. However, no likely burrower has been identified, and several characteristics of the structures and the enclosing sediments indicate that they may be completely inorganic in origin.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

The first Tertiary (Paleocene) marine mollusks from the Eureka Sound Group, Ellesmere Island, Canada

The gastropod Drepanochilus pervetus (Stanton) and the bivalve Cytrodaria rutupiensis (Morris) occur in the Mount Moore Formation at Strathcona Fiord, west-central Ellesmere Island, northern Canada. They are the first marine mollusks identified from the Eureka Sound Group of the Canadian arctic islands. These mollusks correlate with Paleocene faunas of the Cannonball Formation of North Dakota and South Dakota, the Prince Creek Formation of northern Alaska, the Barentsburg Formation of Svalbard, and the Thanet and Oldhaven Formations of southeastern England. These occurrences imply that the earliest Tertiary Arctic Ocean molluscan fauna was compositionally distinct from coeval faunas of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Middle Campanian ammonites and inoceramids from the Wolfe City Sand in northeastern Texas

The middle Campanian Wolfe City Sand in northeastern Texas yields a distinctive ammonite and inoceramid fauna with Patagiosites sp., Placenticeras sp., Hoplitoplacenticeras ( Hoplitoplacenticeras ) minor n. sp., Baculites mclearni Landes, 1940, Trachyscaphites spiniger (Schlüter, 1872) porchi (Adkins, 1929), Inoceramus ( Cordiceramus ) azerbaidjanensis Aliev, 1939, and I. ( Endocostea ) balticus Boehm, 1907. The last-named four species allow a direct correlation with the Baculites mclearni zone of the Western Interior of the United States. The base of this zone has been dated at 79.9 ± 3.2/79.2 ± 1.6 Ma on the basis of K/Ar determinations on biotite from a bentonite. Inoceramus azerbaidjanensis is also known from the Campanian of the U.S.S.R. in Azerbaidjan (where the species was first described), western Turkemenia, Georgia, the northern Caucasus, the Crimea, and Donbass.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Miocene diatoms from Richmond, Virginia

In downtown Richmond, Va., a highly diatomaceous deposit contains a diatom assemblage in which 87 taxa have been identified. The diatoms indicate that this sedimentary unit is correlative with Lithologic Unit 19 of the Choptank Formation of middle Miocene age. Also in Richmond, a sedimentary unit correlated with the Eastover Formation overlies the Choptank Formation and contains a sparse diatom assemblage in which 24 taxa have been identified. The diatoms in this upper deposit form an assemblage that is distinctive from that of the Choptank Formation and is of late Miocene age. Both diatom assemblages are dominated by taxa indicating deposition in a littoral or shallow neritic marine environment. Although reasons for differences in diatom diversity and abundance between the two formations are obscure, these differences appear to reflect the greater primary productivity of diatoms in middle Miocene than in later Tertiary time.

Virginia↗
USGS2015

Conodonts, stratigraphy, and relative sea-level changes of the tribes hill formation (lower ordovician, east-central New York)

Tremadocian onlap is recorded by the Tribes Hill Formation. The formation is a lower Lower Ordovician (upper conodont Fauna B Interval(?)- Rossodus manitouensis Zone) depositional sequence that unconformably overlies the Upper Cambrian Little Falls Formation. Depositional environments and stratigraphy indicate that the Tribes Hill was deposited on a wave-, not tide-, dominated shelf and that a uniform, “layer-cake” stratigraphy is present. The deepening-shoaling sequence of the Tribes Hill includes the: 1) Sprakers Member (new; peritidal carbonate and overlying tempestite limestone and shale); 2) Van Wie Member (new; subtidal shale and limestone); 3) Wolf Hollow Member (revised; massive carbonates with thrombolitic cap); and 4) Canyon Road Member (new; glauconitic limestone and overlying evaporitic dolostone). The shoaling half-cycle of the Tribes Hill is older than a shoaling event in western Newfoundland, and suggests epeirogenic factors in earliest Ordovician sea-level change in east Laurentia. Conodont and trilobite biofacies track lithofacies, and Rossodus manitouensis Zone conodonts and Bellefontia Biofacies trilobites appear in the distal, middle Tribes Hill Formation. Twenty-four conodont species are illustrated. Ansella ? protoserrata new species, Iapetognathus sprakersi new species, Leukorhinion ambonodes new genus and species, and Laurentoscandodus new genus are described.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Maastrichtian ammonites from the Hornerstown Formation in New Jersey

The base of the Paleocene Hornerstown Formation at the Inversand pit and certain other localities in New Jersey yields a diverse phosphatised fauna of Maastrichtian age, including the ammonites Pachydsicus ( Neodesmoceras) mokotibensis Collignon, 1952, Sphenodiscus lobatus (Tuomey, 1854), Baculites spp., and Eubaculites carinatus (Morton, 1834). S. lobatus is known from the older Red Bank Sand and Tinton Sand in New Jersey; the other species are known only from the basal Hornerstown. Occurrences at the Inversand pit are regarded as either reworked or remainié, although details of Cretaceous/Paleocene boundary events have been destroyed by pervasive burrowing that pipes the Hornerstown down into the underlying Navesink Formation.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2016

Ichnology of an Upper Carboniferous fluvio-estuarine paleovalley: The Tonganoxie Sandstone, Buildex Quarry, Eastern Kansas, USA

Tidal rhythmites of the Tonganoxie Sandstone Member (Stranger Formation, Douglas Group) at Buildex Quarry, eastern Kansas, contain a relatively diverse ichnofauna. The assemblage includes arthropod locomotion ( Dendroidichnites irregulare, Diplichnites gouldi types A and B, Diplopodichnus biformis, Kouphichnium isp., Mirandaichnium famatinense , and Stiaria intermedia ), resting ( Tonganoxichnus buildexensis ) and feeding traces ( Stiallia pilosa, Tonganoxichnus ottawensis ); grazing traces ( Gordia indianaensis, Helminthoidichnites tenuis, Helminthopsis hieroglyphica ); feeding structures ( Circulichnis montanus, Treptichnus bifurcus, Treptichnus pollardi , irregular networks), fish traces ( Undichna britannica, Undichna simplicitas ), tetrapod trackways, and root traces. The taxonomy of some of these ichnotaxa is briefly reviewed and emended diagnoses for Gordia indianaensis and Helminthoidichnites tenuis are proposed. Additionally, the combined name Dendroidichnites irregulare is proposed for nested chevron trackways. Traces previously regarded as produced by isopods are reinterpreted as myriapod trackways ( D. gouldi type B). Trackways formerly interpreted as limulid crawling and swimming traces are assigned herein to Kouphichnium isp and Dendroidichnites irregulare , respectively.

Journal of Paleontology↗
USGS2015

Speocarcinus berglundi n. sp. (Decapoda: Brachyura), a new crab from the Imperial Formation (late Miocene-late Pliocene) of southern California

Speocarcinus berglundi n. sp. is described from the Imperial Formation in Riverside County, California. Although the Imperial Formation spans late Miocene through late Pliocene time, the part of the unit that bears crabs has been radiometrically dated as late Miocene. The identification of a new species was based upon comparison with four extant species and represents the first documented fossil occurrence for the genus. The occurrence of this new species suggests that the genus may have originated in the Pacific and, during the Miocene, dispersed through the Isthmus of Panama to the Caribbean. Two of the specimens exhibit parasitism by Bopyridae (Isopoda).

California↗