The trilobite species Cryphaeus nicholsi Roy, 1929, was based on two pygidia from a Devonian red sandstone bed at Patacamaya, La Paz Department, Bolivia. Study of the syntypes (Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago) reveals that two well-known species are represented.

Recently, several dinosaur bones were rediscovered in the paleontological collections at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, with a label indicating that the material was collected from the Cretaceous of west Tennessee. Since dinosaur remains have never been reported from Tennessee, this discovery prompted further investigation.

Tubular fossils, up to 2 mm in diameter and 60 mm in length, occur rarely in the upper Martinsburg Formation (Upper Ordovician), northeastern Tennessee Appalachians, U.S.A. The fossils are unbranched, straight or slightly bent, occasionally twisted and wrinkled, and not significantly tapered. Orientation of the fossils within shallow-marine tempestites suggests that they represent remains of organisms that were broken, transported, and deposited by storm waves and currents. The fossils are morphologically similar to many of the previously identified species belonging to the genus Sphenothallus, a relatively rare tube-dwelling Paleozoic marine invertebrate. Owing to the limited evidence for distal widening of the tubes, lack of holdfasts, and carbonaceous rather than phosphatic composition, the affinity of these fossils remains uncertain, and we refer to them as Sphenothallus-like.

Šnadjr (1980, p. 76) erected the proetid trilobite subgenus Coniproteus (Ryckholtia), with the type species Proetus ryckholti Barrande, 1846, from the Silurian (Ludlow, Kopanina Formation) of the Prague Basin, Czech Republic, perhaps better known to geologists as the Barrandian type area in Bohemia. Although originally designated as a subgenus (e.g., Chlupáč et al., 1980, p. 175; Chlupáč and Kukal, 1988, p. 114; Kříž et al., 1993, p. 819), Ryckholtia Šnadjr was subsequently elevated to generic rank (e.g., Sepkoski, 2002, p. 189, 519; Jell and Adrain, 2003, p. 441, 477; Edgecombe and Wright, 2004, p. 183).

Although limpets are fairly common in shelly deposits, there are no reports of limpets preserved in the living position from the fossil record. The life style of capped-shaped limpet gastropods almost precludes preservation in a living position. Herbivorous alga-feeding limpets live attached to a firm surface. The surfaces of attachment vary widely from rocky surfaces, shells, or seaweed. Upon death the shells become detached and are incorporated in the nearby sediments or are transported to a site of final deposition.

Various workers have assigned Atrypa acutiplicata Conrad, 1841, to a number of leptocoeliid genera. Restudy of specimens previously examined by Boucot and Rehmer (1977) as part of a study of the community paleoecology of brachiopods of the Emsian and Eifelian strata of eastern North America has shown that A. acutiplicata does not belong to any existing genus of leptocoeliid. Therefore, the new genus Atlanticocoelia is proposed, with A. acutiplicata as the type species, for leptocoeliid brachiopods with a small, knoblike cardinal process, a brachial valve of moderate convexity, a broad sulcus, strong plications, subparallel dorsal adductor scars, and cordate pedicle diductor scars. Atlanticocoelia occurs in benthic assemblage 4 to 5 communities of the Emsian through Eifelian Appohimchi Province of the Eastern Americas Realm.

The fossil record of octocorals from Cenozoic marine strata of western North America is quite limited, and they have not been reported previously from rocks in Washington State, USA. Two late Oligocene specimens from the upper part of the Lincoln Creek Formation in western Washington, referred to Radicipes? sp., are the first fossil record of the family Chrysogorgiidae. The family Isididae is represented by an internode and two holdfasts identified as Isidella sp. collected from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, along with specimens questionably identified as Lepidisis sp., possibly the first fossil record for this genus. Together, these are the first confirmed fossils of the Alcyonacea from north of California in western North America. The axes of sea pens from several late Eocene or early Oligocene localities in the Lincoln Creek Formation in the central part of western Washington, and the Pysht and Makah formations on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, are the first fossil record for the Pennatulacea from western North America; all are tentatively referred to the genus ‘Graphularia’. Large axes from the Lincoln Creek Formation and Makah Formation are referred to ‘Graphularia’ (?) aff. sasai, because they are similar to the species known only from late Eocene and early Oligocene rocks in Japan.

The last clade-level extinction episode affecting the Phylum Brachiopoda has been long-established in the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event (ETMEE) around the Pliensbachian-Toarcian transition, when several rhynchonellide groups became extinct and others underwent a notable renewal in the western Tethys. Among them, Wellerelloidea is a long-ranging superfamily severely affected by this environmental crisis, embodying the subfamily Cirpinae as the last wellerelloids worldwide, prior to their global extinction in the Pb-To transition. The profuse record of Lower Jurassic cirpines in the peri-Iberian paleomargins provides an opportunity to clarify the taxonomy of wellerelloid species in the pre-extinction interval. A new species (Cirpa lucentina) is erected and the revision of the Cirpinae taxa around the ETMEE is carried out. Morphometric analysis and the study of internal structures of the shells support separation of the genera Cirpa and Salgirella, adding new supplementary diagnostic criteria. The biogeographic distribution of this clade in the western Tethys and its evolutionary history in the Early Jurassic reveal a pervasive colonization pattern of both epicontinental and epioceanic habitats. The Mediterranean origin of the last representatives of this group is ascertained, but while diversification of Salgirella took place in epioceanic habitats, speciation of Cirpa is unrelated to biochorema boundaries, even colonizing epicontinental seas until their extinction prior to the hyperwarming event that occurred in the basal Serpentinum Zone. A rhynchonellide morphogroup epitomized by cirpines was resilient to this event in the epicontinental seas. This morphogroup is also recorded after the extinction interval by means of the genus Pseudogibbirhynchia, thus postulating potential pre- and post-extinction phyletic relationships.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/100b06c0-a803-4f6f-b0fa-2d9e2d6678d2

I he National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution), Department 01 Paleobiology, recently received the collection of invertebrate fossils (except Insecta and Patagonia material) formerly housed in the Princeton University, Department of Geological and Geophysical Sciences. This fine collection contains approximately 70,000 specimens; type and nontype specimens were stored together in taxonomic order. Current documentation for the entire collection consists of a card catalogue. Following curation, the specimens will be housed taxonomically in standing type and nontype collections. Lists of type specimens received will be published as they are isolated. Borrowers should return specimens to the Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, upon completion of loans.

The new farreid hexactinellid sponge Hormathospongia dictyota new genus and new species, is described from the upper Santonian Dobbins Shale Member of the Forbes Formation of the Upper Cretaceous Great Valley Sequence from the west side of the Sacramento Valley, northwest of Sacramento. The relatively simple skeleton is composed of quadrangularly arranged hexactines with overlapping rays, an arrangement strikingly similar to the skeletal structure of early Paleozoic reticulosid hexactinellids. However, the California Cretaceous sponges clearly show those spicules embedded in siliceous beams that are united to form a solid dictyonal skeletal framework of only a single layer of regular mesh. Such an occurrence and stratigraphic relationships suggests that the dictyonine sponges had their origin from the simply spiculed reticulosid hexactinellids rather than from the more complex dictyosponges.

Lercaritubus problematicus Flügel, Senowbari-Daryan, and Di Stefano, 1990, a problematic organism, was initially described from Lower and Middle Permian rocks of Sicily, was subsequently recognized in Upper Permian reefs of Oman and reefal limestones of the Tethyan realm. It is here described for the first time from North America, from the Middle Permian reefoidal Upper Capitan Limestone of the Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico. Lercaritubus problematicus has a stratigraphic range of Lower to Upper Permian and occurs widely in Permian tropical reef deposits.

In 2005, we (Westrop and Palmer, in Westrop et al.) proposed the name Arcadiaspis for a new genus of eurekiid trilobite from the Jordan Sandstone of Wisconsin. We thank Jonathan Adrain, John Page, and John Paterson, all of whom pointed out that this name is preoccupied by Arcadiaspis Bognibova (in Chernysheva, 1971), a trilobite genus from the Middle Cambrian of Russia. We propose the name Wisarcadiaspis which refers to the collecting locality at Arcadia, Wisconsin, as a replacement.

Amphissites insignis Croneis and Thurman, 1939, is a readily identifiable ostracode species because of the unique configuration of carinae and ridges on the surface of the valves. The species had adapted to both shale and limestone environments of deposition, has a wide geographic distribution in the United States (Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas), and is confined to the uppermost part of the Chesterian Series (foraminiferal zones 18 and 19). The description of this species is amended and specimens are illustrated for the first time from Nevada, Montana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, indicating that the species is a biostratigraphic indicator of the uppermost part of the Chesterian sedimentary sequence. Ontogenetic development of A. insignis is reconstructed. A. sp. 1 (Late Mississippian) and A. sp. 2 (Early Pennsylvanian) are illustrated in open nomenclature.

As part of the preparation for reviewing the Paleozoic rhynchonellids for the revised brachiopod treatise, one of us (NMS) requested help from Dr. Howard Brunton, of the Natural History Museum (British Museum, London) in obtaining type material of Propriopugnus pugnus (Martin) to further investigate the internal features. Dr. Brunton kindly sent a Natural History Museum specimen that he considers to be close to the lectotype. This specimen has been photographed and sectioned, and it is described below.

Sebecidae is a clade of large carnivorous crocodyliforms that thrived in the Cenozoic and is the only lineage of the diverse and terrestrial group Notosuchia that survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event. Sebecus icaeorhinus is the best-known taxon from this clade, both in terms of its cranial and postcranial anatomy (known primarily from the holotype and specimen MPEF-PV 1776, respectively). Additional material represented by a partial skull (MMP 235) is the only specimen that has preserved a complete choanal region. We describe new information from this specimen based on an X-ray computed tomography and identify through comparisons with other taxa a large degree of variability in the palatal anatomy within Sebecidae, in particular in the shape and extension of the palatine (the bone that defines the anterior position and shape of the secondary choana). We quantify variation in the shape of the palatine bone of sebecids through a 2D morphogeometric analysis within the context of notosuchian crocodyliforms. Although traditional accounts of palatal evolution in crocodyliforms linked variation of this structure to the adaptation to the aquatic environment, our analysis allows recognition of eight palatine morphotypes among terrestrial crocodyliforms with very distinct paleoecological traits, including carnivorous, omnivorous, and possibly herbivorous taxa. Furthermore, we show that sebecids had a higher morphological disparity in the choanal region than other terrestrial groups of Notosuchia, underscoring the importance of this region for comparative, morphofunctional, and phylogenetic studies.

The bivalve Odontogryphea thirsae, formerly “Ostrea thirsae,” is restricted to the Nanafalia Formation and is extensively used as a biostratigraphic zonal indicator in the Paleocene of the southeastern and central United States. Toulmin (1977) noted that O. thirsae was reported from the Tuscahoma Sand in early publications but stated (p. 191), “Reports of occurrence in the Tuscahoma Sand are probably in error.”

A benthic foraminiferal fauna of 39 species was quantitatively examined from a late Pleistocene marine terrace deposit near Goleta, California. This foraminiferal fauna, dominated by Cribroelphidium microgranulosum, Buccella tenerrima, Buliminella elegantissima, and Cribroelphidium tumidum, is presently most common in cool, shallow (<12 m, but usually 0–5 m) subtidal environments north of Point Conception, California. This indicates slightly cooler water temperatures during the time of deposition than found near Goleta today, and agrees closely with the results of a previous paleoenvironmental interpretation of the section based on molluscan fossils.