Fossil Hydrophilid Beetles (Coleoptera: Hydrophilidae) of the Late Oligocene Rott Formation (Germany)

<正>Fossil water scavenger beetles(Coleoptera:Hydrophilidae)of the latest Oligocene Rott Formation are revised,based on the examination of the type specimens,as well as numerous additional material from Statz(Los Angeles)and Kastenholz(Bonn)collections.Seven hydrophilid species are recognized,five of which are reliably attributed to the following genera:Berosus morticinus(von Heyden and von Heyden,1866),Paracymus excitatus (von Heyden and von Heyden,1866),Paracymus sp.,Hydrobiomorpha fraterna(von Heyden,1859),and Hydrophilus rottensis(Statz,1939).Coccinella? protogaeae Germar 1837 is attributed to the subtribe Hydrophilina, and Cymbiodyta? austera Statz 1939 to the subfamily Hydrophilinae.Hydrous ebeninus Statz 1939 and Paracymus excitatus(form 3)are excluded from the Hydrophiloidea.Berosus capitatus Statz 1939 is synonymized with Berosus morticinus,and Hydrous neptunus von Heyden and von Heyden 1866 with Hydrobiomorpha fraterna.Lectotypes of Philydrus morticinus von Heyden and von Heyden 1866 and Hydrous ebeninus Statz 1939 are designated.The significance of the hydrophilid fossils for paleoecological reconstructions of the former Rott Lake is briefly discussed.     

An Action Vocabulary for Thinking Spatially: The National Geography Standards and Defining What Students Should Know

Abstract

Geography for Life identifies what students should know and be able to do in geography at the conclusion of grades 4, 8, and 12, the benchmark years cited in the document. The action statements that are integral to implementing each of the 18 National Geography Standards are driven by a set of verbs used to identify specific intellectual skills. These skills encourage students to think spatially. The purpose of this article is to identify the action verbs used in the activity statements, inventory their frequency and distribution across the benchmark grades, and define in detail the seven that are most commonly employed. These action words are examined within the context of Bloom's cognitive taxonomy (1956) to illustrate how the National Geography Standards are adaptable to one well-established schema for the structure of knowledge and thus applicable to others as well.     

Taxonomy and Stratigraphy of Late Mesozoic Anurans and Urodeles from China

Three anurans (Callobatrachus sanyanensis, Liaobatrachus grabaui, Mesophryne beipiaoensis) and six urodeles (Laccotriton subsolanus, Liaoxitriton zhongjiani, Jeholotriton paradoxus, Sinerpeton fengshanensis, Chunerpeton tianyiensis, Liaoxitriton daohugouensis) are reported from the late Mesozoic tuff-interbedded lacustrine deposits (mostly of the Jehol Group) in northeastern China. They document the first discovery of Chinese Mesozoic lissamphibians, and their old geological age, superb preservation condition, and large taxoncmic diversity are unique compared with other findings worldwide. The anurans occupy a higher evolutionary position than typical Jurassic taxa, supporting a post-Late Jurassic age of the fossil horizons. The urodeles all have unicapitate ribs, suggesting an evolutionary grade at the cryptobranchoid level, and are advanced in osteological features over non-urodeles from the Middle and Upper Jurassic in England and Central Asia. Some urodeles (Jeholotriton and Chunerpeton) exhibit neot     

The missing Myopus: plugging the gaps in Late Pleistocene small mammal identification in western Europe with geometric morphometrics

Lemmus and Myopus are two lemming species with distinct habitat requirements but which show very similar dental morphologies. They are thus extremely difficult to distinguish from one another in the fossil record on the basis of their dental remains, leading to poor understanding of the palaeobiogeographical evolution of Myopus as well as inaccurate palaeoenvrionmental reconstructions. Currently, the presence of Myopus in the fossil register from the Pleistocene is still debated and no firm occurrence of this lemming in western Europe has yet been confirmed for the Late Pleistocene. In this paper, we used geometric morphometrics on modern material to establish morphological differences between Lemmus and Myopus teeth (first lower and third upper molars). Morphological data were then used to build a robust linear discriminant model able to confidently classify isolated teeth of these two genera, and finally, linear discriminant models were used on fossil remains of Lemmus/Myopus from two Late Pleistocene archaeological/palaeontological sites (Grotte des Gorges and Gully Cave). This study demonstrates, for the first time, the presence of Myopus schisticolor in west European Late Pleistocene sites between the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 and the beginning of the Holocene, during climatic events that favoured the development of taiga forest of birch and pine in these regions.     

A New Elaterid from the Middle Jurassic Daohugou Biota (Coleoptera: Elateridae: Protagrypninae)

A new genus and species of fossil elaterid namely Clavelater ningchengensis gen. et sp. nov. assigned to the subfamily Protagrypninae based on one specimen from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation near Daohugou Village, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia, northeastern China is described and illustrated. This specimen displays a pair of large antennae that easily differs from those of most Mesozoic elaterids. There are around 36 species within 20 genera referred to elateroids described from the Early Jurassic to Miocene of China, with another three species within three genera reviewed, but the taxonomic assignment of at least seven species within three genera is doubted. The systematic position of fossil elateriform beetles reported from China is reviewed and the evolution of Mesozoic elateroids briefly discussed.     

Two New Fossil Sawflies (Hymenoptera, Xyelidae, Xyelinae) from the Middle Jurassic of China

Two new genera with two new species of sawflies, Cathayxyela extensa gen. et sp. nov. and Aequixyela immensa gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China, are assigned to the subfamily Xyelinae （Hymenoptera, Xyelidae）. Cathayxyela gen. nov. can be distinguished by the third antennal article longer than the head; mesoprescutum and mesoscutellum nearly equal in length; the forewing with Sc meeting C before the junction of 1-M and 1- Rs; a weak and narrow pterostigma; and 3-Cu at least 1.5 times longer than the lm-cu. Aequixyela gen. nov. is characterized by the third antennal article nearly as long as the head; the forewing with Rs＋M approximately equal to 2-Rs in length; 2m-cu inclined toward the wing base and nearly reaching the middle of cell 3rm; lm-cu as long as the 2-Cu and 3-Cu; and the cell 2cua of regular hexagonal shape.     

陆地表层系统分类研究进展——从土地类型到地球关键带类型

陆地表层系统是多圈层相互作用下形成的综合体,具有时空异质性和层次性。对陆地表层系统进行多层级类型划分是识别其空间分异格局和演替规律的重要方法,可为多尺度地球科学系统研究和自然资源统一管理提供科学依据。陆地表层系统分类其实质是在特定尺度下对其组成要素间的空间和关系的划分,故土地类型、地表基质、关键带类型等都可归纳为陆地表层系统分类方案。论文在对国内外典型陆地表层系统分类方案进行梳理的基础上,将陆地表层系统分类总结为探索—发展—完善3个发展阶段。继而,对比了各分类体系内涵,提出各分类体系虽分属不同学派,但均是以陆地表层系统为研究对象,是研究陆地表层系统结构、功能和空间分异的方法论;分析了各分类体系结构的异同,总结了各分类体系在层级、比例尺和要素方面的共同特征。在此基础上,提出构建一套从地块到国家的陆地表层系统分类设想,并对等级体系、分类体系及分类方法集成3个方面进行了展望。     

Bartonian orthophragminids with new endemic species from the Pirkoh and Drazinda formations in the Sulaiman Range,Indus Basin,Pakistan

The Pirkoh and Drazinda formations in the Sulaiman Range, central Pakistan, yielded assemblages of (early) Bartonian orthophragminids, characterized predominantly by discocyclinids with a significant number of species probably endemic to Indian Subcontinent. The rarity of Asterocyclina and the absence of Orbitoclypeus and Nemkovella are noteworthy. Ten species of Discocyclina Gümbel and two species of Asterocyclina Gümbel, referable to the Shallow Benthics Zone (SBZ) 17 are described for the first time from Pakistan. The discocyclinids, i.e. Discocyclina praeomphalus, D. sulaimanensis, D. kutchensis, along with the new taxa established here, D. zindapirensis sp. nov., D. rakhinalaensis sp. nov., and D. pseudodispansa sp. nov., seem to be confined to the Indo-Pakistani region (Eastern Tethys). The Discocyclina dispansa, D. discus, D. nandori, and D. augustae lineages known from Western Tethys are also common in the Indian Subcontinent, as are asterocyclinids, such as Asterocyclina sireli and A. stellata. The upper part of the Drazinda Formation (‘Pellatispira beds’), referable to latest Bartonian and/or the early Priabonian, is poor in orthophragminids and is characterized by the occurrence of reticulate Nummulites, Heterostegina, Pellatispira and Silvestriella. The records of ‘Lepidocyclina of Caribbean affinity’ with large embryons from the Eocene of the Indian Subcontinent correspond to misidentified Discocyclina discus.     

南海浮游被囊动物火体虫科(Pyrosomatidae)——新记录种的形态特征

火体虫科(Pyrosomatidae),隶属于脊索动物门、尾索动物亚门、海樽纲、磷海樽目,全球海域已报道8种。本文描述了采自南海火体虫科一新记录种短轮火体虫 (Pyrosomella verticillata) 群体和单体的形态特征,分析了其群体长度、宽度与轮数的关系,并比较了该种与已在南海发现的大西洋火体虫(Pyrosoma atlanticum)的形态差异。研究标本保存在南海海洋生物标本馆。     

Measures of variability for geological data

Diverse global and local measures of variability appear in the geological literature and, along with methods used to apply them, have been subject to some debate. Measures of variability for three data types—replicate, locational, and compositional—are considered; the source and nature of the variability determine the appropriate type of measure. To illustrate the effects of these measures and expose their inadequacy when improperly applied, the variability of a three-column data set is interpreted under three different suppositions. Geologists need to be aware of the confusion and misleading results that can develop from the use of variance as a measure of variability for locational or compositional data.