New chondrichthyans from the Irati Formation (Early Permian,Paraná Basin), Brazil: origin,paleoenvironmental and paleogeographical considerations

Three genera, known by dorsal finspine, are reported from conglomeratic sandstone at the base of the Lower Permian (Kungurian) Irati Formation (Paraná Basin) near Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil, noteworthy for the great richness of vertebrate fossils. The fossils include: (1) the previously known Sphenacanthus with the species Sphenacanthus sanpauloensis and an indeterminate species; (2) the Permian – Carboniferous genus Amelacanthus; (3) a new indeterminate Chondrichthyes. These fossils are found together with: continental, fresh-water and salt-water vertebrates. The analysis of this assemblage allows inference about the origin of Paraná Basin Chondrichthyes as well as reconstruction of the paleoenvironment and the possible geographic isolation of these fishes during the Permian in Brazil.     

New Maikhanellid Shells and Siphogonuchitid Spicule Bundles from the Cambrian Fortunian Stage of South China

Maikhanellids are a distinct group of Cambrian Fortunian small shelly fossils by the cap-shaped profiles and scaly shell ornamentation. According to the individual shell shape and ornamentation feature types of 50 maikhanellids fossils which were collected from Xixiang botia, we confirmed the family Maikhanellidae content of six genera, which are Maikhanella, Ramenta, Purella, Ramentoides, Yunnannopleura and Mediata. Unlike the halkieriid animals whose shells and spicules are articulated on different body parts, maikhanellids were presumably yielded by siphogonuchitid spicules penetrating the intermediate matrix (the "spicule shell" hypothesis), and this is the reason that some researchers treated maikhanellids and co-occurring siphogonuchitids as synonyms. The affinities of Maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids remain debatable. Here, we report three dimensionally phosphatized maikhanellid shells and siphogonuchitid spicule bundles from the Cambrian Fortunian small shell faunas of South China. They differ from all the previously reported maikhanellids and siphogonuchitids, and may represent new types. The intact and smooth surface underneath the partially preserved scales of the shells challenges the "spicule-shell" hypothesis. The present siphogonuchitid spicules differ from the maikhanellid scales in size, morphology, and .arrangement pattern, thus the spicules might not be derived from the shells. Whether the shells and spicule bundles were articulated on different body parts of the same animals remains unknown.     

三峡地区寒武系纽芬兰统岩家河组小壳化石研究进展

埃迪卡拉纪—寒武纪转换时期小壳化石的突然出现是世人瞩目的重要演化事件之一,它见证了动物的爆发式快速演化过程,标志着以两侧对称动物为特征的寒武纪生态系统的开始。湖北三峡地区寒武系纽芬兰统岩家河组处于幸运阶—第二阶这一关键层段,是研究上述问题的理想地区之一。岩家河组小壳化石研究最近取得的进展,为寒武系纽芬兰统幸运阶/第二阶界线的标定,和寒武纪早期软体动物和刺胞动物的演化及个体发育提供了重要的化石依据,本文对其进行了总结。全球界线层型剖面和点位(GSSP)寒武系第二阶底界划分标志的Watsonella crosbyi和Aldanella attleborensis在岩家河组第5段底部的同时出现,意味着岩家河组第5段已归属寒武系第二阶。这两类软体动物化石均广泛分布于华南、蒙古、西伯利亚和北美等大陆碳酸盐岩相寒武系第二阶地层中,它们均是定义寒武系第二阶底界的有力竞争者。另外,W.crosbyi壳顶下方一对肌肉附着结构的发现提供了重要的软组织结构信息,证实了W.crosbyi为内腹型壳,归属为未扭曲的软体动物太阳女神螺类。新发现六方锥石类Septuconularia yanjiaheensis具侧向压扁、两辐射对称的、14个等大锥面的围鞘,是迄今所描述的六方锥石类中锥面数最多的类型。根据横肋疏密程度,围鞘由下向上可分为三部分,可能代表胚胎期、幼年期和成年期不同的生长阶段。Septuconularia显然由寒武系幸运阶Hexaconularia通过扇面扩增演变而来,证明Hexaconularia可能是Arthrochites和Septuconularia之间的中间过渡类型。新发现的橄榄蛋类Octapyrgites elongatus与幸运阶Olivooides和Quadrapyrgites十分相似,围鞘由方形的壳顶区和波纹状倒宝塔形的远顶区组成。然而Octapyrgites只有8个口折叶,有别于具12个口折叶的Quadrapyrgites。通过与幸运期水母类多种对称方式对比,发现在寒武系第二阶橄榄蛋类数量减少和五辐射对称骨状壳类缺失,表明在幸运期/第二期转换时期,底栖固着型的刺胞动物水母类多样性发生了明显衰落,甚至部分绝灭,而同期的两侧对称动物则迅速辐射演化。     

新疆阿克苏地区寒武纪幸运期早期小壳化石

本文报道新疆阿克苏地区寒武纪幸运期最早期的小壳化石组合。化石产自玉尔吐斯组底部,包括：Protohertzina anabarica Missarzhevsky, 1973、Protohertzina unguliformis Missarzhevsky, 1973、Anabarites trisulcatus Voronova and Missarzhevsky, 1969、Anabarites ternarius Missarzhevsky in Rozanov et al., 1969、Cambrotubulus decurvatus Missarzhevsky in Rozanov et al., 1969、Olivooides sp.、Kaiyangites novilis Qian and Yin, 1984以及海绵骨针化石。据此可以在新疆阿克苏地区玉尔吐斯组下部建立Anabarites trisulcatus-Protohertzina unguliformis组合带。该组合带下界以Anabarites trisulcatus、Protohertzina ungulifo...     

先伊迪卡拉期的淮南生物群

在廿世纪中叶以前,人们对于先寒武纪的生物化石发现得很少,除藻类遗迹化石及一些可疑化石外,几乎没有什么可靠的生物化石。与此相反,在古生代地层中,特别是在早寒武世的地层中,却发现了极其丰富的发育较为高级的多门类的生物化石。当时,人们为了解释这种所谓突变现象,就提出了多种假说。但是,在廿世纪中叶以后,随着生产的发展和科学研究的深入,陆续地在晚先寒武纪地层中,发现了许多较大的生物化石、微古植物与微体化石等。由于晚先寒武纪生物化石资料的不断丰富,使得“灾变说”等不攻自破了。     

A unique condition for early diversification of small shelly fossils in the lowermost Cambrian in Chengjiang,South China: Enrichment of phosphorus in restricted embayments

In the earliest Cambrian the major diversification of small shelly fossils (SSFs) was the first episode of the so-called Cambrian Explosion. In order to clarify the background environmental conditions of this event, we examined the lowermost Cambrian strata with bedded phosphorites in the Chengjiang area, South China. The lowermost Cambrian (the Zhongyicun Mb of the Zhujiaqing Fm) in eastern Yunnan is composed of bedded phosphorites and phosphatic limestones with diverse SSFs. We investigated 3 sections within the Chengjiang area at Hongjiachong, Maotianshan, and Xiaolantian. Detailed lithostratigraphic analysis of outcrops and drill cores at Hongjiachong indicates that the Zhongyicun Mb consists of 5 distinct units, A to E in ascending order. The presence of 15 genera of SSFs in 20 horizons shows that the Zhongyicun Mb yields two distinct SSF assemblages of Fortunian age (earliest Cambrian; 541–529 Ma); i.e. the first assemblage with simple-shape SSFs (Anabarites, Protohertzina) from basal Unit A, and the second assemblage with various molluscan shells (Paracarinachites, Ocruranus–Eohalobia) from Units C–E. As well as abundant phosphate grains, all SSFs occur as clastic grains, suggesting that phosphorite was primarily formed in extreme shallow-water settings, as were the small shelly animals. We established that the first occurrence of the second SSF assemblage is at least 5 m lower (ca. 1–2 myr earlier in age) than previously reported in Chengjiang, and we speculate that the major diversification in SSF assemblage likely occurred during the Fortunian, at least before ca. 534 Ma. Judging from the rift-related tectonic setting and relevant paleogeography of western South China, we further speculate that the Zhongyicun Mb was primarily deposited in restricted embayments in the Kangdian rift basin, and that the rapid SSF diversification in the Fortunian occurred in a unique setting in highly phosphorus-rich seawater.     

Genesis of Silica-phosphatic Nodules with Small Shelly Fossils Preserved in the Lowermost Cambrian of South China

Silica-phosphatic nodules are abundant in black shales of the Yanjiahe Formation in the Three Gorges Area of South China, which is correlated to the Fortunian Stage, Terreneuvian Series, Cambrian System. The nodules are rich in small shelly fossils and hence attract the attention of numerous paleontologists and sedimentary geologists. However, the genesis of the nodules and the preservation of the small shelly fossils are poorly understood. Here we analyze morphological, structural, mineralogical and chemical features of the nodules in multiscale using a combination of micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser Raman spectroscopy. Results reveal that nodules are concentric in chemical and mineralogical compositions, comprising a silica-phosphatic core encrusted sequentially by a phosphatic zone, a siliceous zone and a very thin pyrite outer rim. The black shales hosting the nodules demonstrate a laminated texture of alternating clayey and silty laminae, which were respectively deposited in sulfidic/less sulfidic, high/low production, intense/weak chemical weathering conditions. The phosphogenesis of the nodules resulted in the phosphatization of small shelly fossils, which prevented the fossils from being dissolved during diagenesis, whereas the silica encrustation sealed the fossils within the nodules and thus protected the fossils from alteration by deep burial and surface weathering.     

湖北宜昌滚子坳剖面寒武系幸运阶顶底界线

对湖北宜昌地区滚子坳剖面寒武系纽芬兰统幸运阶顶底界线的位置进行较为细致的研究.通过切片法及酸蚀法对61个样品进行系统处理,获得了大量的小壳化石、疑源类化石及其他分类位置未定化石.系统鉴定和描述了23属44种.根据具刺疑源类化石Asteridium和小壳化石Protohertzina sp.的首现位置以及无机碳同位素BACE曲线最大负值位置可以推断出埃迪卡拉系-寒武系界线应该位于第1层底部往上约10.5 m处;根据Zhijinites longistriatus的首现位置以及无机碳同位素ZHUCE曲线最大值位置可以推断出幸运阶与第二阶的界线位置大致为第4层底部往上约2.78 m.此外,还将峡东地区的小壳化石Ⅱ带和Ⅲ带重新定义,即将Purella antiqua组合（Zone Ⅱ）修订为Purella antiqua-Siphogonuchites triangularis组合;将Aldanella yanjiahensis组合（Zone Ⅲ）修订为Aldanella yanjiahensis-Zhijiniteslongistriatus组合.      

Dinosaur material from the Lower Greensand Group of Upware,Cambridgeshire, and the age of ‘Wealden’ vertebrates from the ‘Bedfordshire Straits’

Post-Wealden dinosaur remains are rare in the UK, so any material from late Early or Late Cretaceous deposits is potentially of palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical significance. Four dinosaur specimens collected from the Woburn Sands Formation (Aptian) of Upware, Cambridgeshire were described briefly by Walter Keeping in 1883, but have not been reappraised since. These specimens are identified herein as a ?turiasaurian sauropod tooth and indeterminate iguanodontian ornithopod remains (a tooth, middle caudal vertebra, pollex ungual). Although collected from the Woburn Sands Formation, it is likely that all of these fossils were reworked from older (now absent) sediments and they have usually been regarded as either ‘Wealden’ or Neocomian in age, presumably due to previous identifications of some of these specimens as Iguanodon. However, consideration of UK dinosaur faunas and regional geology indicates that these fossils could potentially be older. Further work is needed on the derived terrestrial fossils of the Lower Greensand Group in order to constrain their ages more precisely so that they can be incorporated into broader studies of regional diversity and palaeoecology.     

新疆昆仑山中泥盆世四射珊瑚

新疆昆仑山中泥盆世四射珊瑚较为丰富.本文只描述Atelophyllum sp.,Cyatho-phyllum sp.,Disphylloides philomena,Disphyllum carinatum(sp.nov.),Xystriphyllumkunlunense(sp.nov.)等5属3种,其中有二个新种.其共生的有床板珊瑚、层孔虫、及腕足类等.它们均产于中泥盆统布拉克巴什群.可与新疆北部、内蒙、甘肃、陕西、贵州等地的同期地层对比.     

An Upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) actinopterygian fish assemblage from the marginal marine Adaffa Formation of Saudi Arabia

Actinopterygian remains have been recovered from Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian to lower Maastrichtian) marginal marine deposits of the Adaffa Formation in northwestern Saudi Arabia. The fossils comprise gars (Lepisosteidae), pachycormids (cf. Protosphyraena sp.), indeterminate pycnodontiforms, enchodontid teleosts (cf. Enchodus sp.) and other indeterminate Teleostei. This assemblage is significant because it includes a novel occurrence for the Middle East (Pachycormidae) together with taxa (Lepisosteidae, Pycnodontiformes, Enchodontidae) that have been previously recorded from Late Cretaceous faunas elsewhere in the Mediterranean Tethyan region.     

New Benthic Fossils from the Late Ediacaran Strata of Southwestern China

The Jiangchuan Biota from the Jiucheng Member (Mb.) of the Dengying Formation (Fm.), discovered in Jiangchuan, eastern Yunnan, China, is marked by copious macrofossils at the apex of the Ediacaran strata. This fauna features benthic algae with varied holdfasts and other fossils of indeterminate taxonomic affinity and is compositionally unique compared to the Shibantan and Gaojiashan biotas of the Dengying Fm. and the Miaohe and Wenghui biotas of the Doushantuo Fm., elsewhere in China. One novel benthic saccular macroalgal fossil, named here Houjiashania yuxiensis gen. and sp. nov., from the Jiangchuan Biota is based on fossils that are sausage-shaped, elongate, tubular, ranging from 0.3 to 4 cm in length, and up to 0.8 cm in diameter. One terminus is blunt and rounded to an obtuse angle, the other is bent with a spread-out surface resembling a holdfast, suggesting a three-dimensional thallus. Thin, stipe-shaped outgrowths, likely vestiges of sessile saccular life forms, are prevalent in macroalgal fossils of analogous size and shape, as well as present brown algae Scytosiphonaceae, such as Colpomenia and Dactylosiphon. The new findings augment the diversity of benthic algae, such as those known from the Early Neoproterozoic Longfengshan Biota in North China. The benthic algal macrofossils in the Jiucheng Mb. add to knowledge of Late Ediacaran metaphyte diversification and offer more clues about the evolutionary positioning of primitive macroalgae. The co-occurrence of numerous planktonic and benthic multicellular algae and planktonic microbes might have facilitated ecologically the more extensive later Cambrian explosion evidenced by the Chengjiang Biota in Yunnan.     

中国晚前寒武纪的宏体化石概观

本文综述了目前中国晚前寒武纪地层中所发现的宏体化石,从18亿年起直到6亿年左右。蓟县剖面高于庄组(14亿年)中发现Grypanta等大化石,再次证明生物演化大阶段的世界性。包括后生动物实体化石在内的淮南生物群可能是前冰期的,也就是先伊迪卡拉期的。震旦纪晚期的西陵峡生物群,现有伊迪卡拉期的典型分子,又有丰富的蠕虫管和高级的红藻、绿藻类。蠕虫管的大量出现预告了带硬部动物时代的到来。     

早寒武世宽川铺生物群中Punctatus卵裂胚胎化石的发现及其意义

陕南早寒武世宽川铺生物群中保存了大量磷酸盐化动物胚胎化石和小壳化石.在已报道的这些胚胎化石中, 主要是囊胚期之后不同发育阶段的胚胎化石标本, 缺少卵裂期胚胎化石材料.报道了从宽川铺生物群中新发现的多枚从4分细胞、64分细胞、128分细胞、512分细胞到千分级细胞的卵裂期胚胎化石, 以及大量囊胚期、原肠胚期和不同孵化幼体阶段的化石标本, 他们共同构成了从单个细胞(Olivooides)经卵裂到囊胚、原肠胚, 再到孵化的锥形幼体(Punctatus)的完整胚胎发育序列.从卵裂子细胞数量的变化、形态的变化、排列方式及囊胚腔形态等特征, 基本上可与贵州瓮安生物群(地质时代为伊迪卡拉纪Ediacaran)中卵裂细胞化石对比.同时也可与一些现生的低等动物卵裂胚胎对比.新化石材料的发现, 不仅填补了宽川铺生物群中卵裂期胚胎化石的空白, 而且对揭示Olivooides胚胎的卵裂过程和特点, 探讨其亲缘关系, 以及后生动物的早期演化都具有十分重要的科学意义.      

四川峨眉麦地坪剖面震旦系—寒武系界线的新认识及有关化石群的记述

研究剖面位于峨眉山东坡,距峨眉县城约14公里。峨眉山区在大地构造上处于川滇南北向构造带的东侧——峨眉山块断带。震旦系-寒武系出露在蛾眉山背斜两翼,构造简单,地层连续,化石丰富。此剖面先后经过多人研究。     

Sandwiched fossils

A little-known mode of fossil preservation-bioimmuration-is responsible for exciting new findings of soft-bodied organisms. Bioimmuration results from organic overgrowth by animals such as serpulid worms and oysters which form natural moulds of the organisms they have overgrown on their undersurfaces or sandwich overgrown organisms between themselves and their substrate. Overgrowth is a routine occurrence among the many marine organisms lacking mobility, and bioimmured fossils can be extremely common. Discoveries of bioimmured ctenostome bryozoans, hydroids and other soft-bodied animals that lived attached to hard surfaces are providing important new palaeontological perspectives, especially in the Mesozoic.     

Plesiosaur remains from the Jurassic-Cretaceous Purbeck Limestone Group of southern England

Plesiosaur fossils from the uppermost Tithonian (Upper Jurassic) to lower Valanginian (Lower Cretaceous) Purbeck Limestone Group of Dorset, England are important because they constitute a rare record from around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. Where diagnostic, the remains are referred to indeterminate plesiosauroids (Cryptocleidoidea) and represent relatively small animals including a previously undescribed juvenile individual. This observation accords with the lagoonal-lacustrine (with periodic marine influx) depositional setting of the Purbeck Limestone Group strata, a palaeoenvironment that is often associated with juvenile plesiosaur occurrences.     

晚震旦世陡山沱期磷块岩中微体化石的发现及其地质意义

晚前寒武纪——寒武纪是世界聚磷高峰期之一,西非、中亚、澳大利亚和我国均属该期的主要聚磷区,所成磷块岩矿床的经济意义非常巨大。磷是一种生物元素,一些生物壳体本身即由磷酸盐组成,也有一些原来为钙质成分的壳体后来被磷酸盐化。     

Vertebrate remains from the Cenomanian (Late Cretaceous) plant-bearing Lagerstätte of Puy-Puy (Charente-Maritime,France)

The vertebrate remains from the early Cenomanian Lagerstätte of Puy-Puy (Tonnay-Charente, Charente-Maritime, France) are described. They consist of two hybodont shark egg capsules (Palaeoxyris sp.) and a single isolated body contour feather. The hybodont shark Tribodus is regarded as the most likely producer of the egg capsules, while the feather belonged to an indeterminate (avian or non-avian) theropod. These rare specimens are the first vertebrate fossils recovered from the plant-bearing clay of Puy-Puy and add to the short faunal list of the locality, thus providing important information for the palaeoecological reconstruction of this mid-Cretaceous paralic Lagerstätte. The fossils described here represent the first Cenomanian occurrence of Palaeoxyris and one of the very few records of Cenomanian feathers.