Alcheringa An Australasian Journal of Palaeontology

Cretaceous polar dinosaur faunas were taxonomically diverse, which suggests varied strategies for coping with the climatic stress of high latitudes. Some polar dinosaurs, particularly larger taxa such as the duckbill Edmontosaurus Lambe, 191743. Lambe , L. M. 1917. A new genus and species of crestless hadrosaur from the Edmonton Formation of Alberta. Ottawa Naturalist, 31: 65–73. View all references, were biomechanically and energetically capable of migrating over long distances, up to 2600 km. However, current evidence strongly suggests many polar dinosaurs (including sauropods, large and small theropods, and ankylosaurs of New Zealand) overwintered in preference to migration. Certain groups also appear more predisposed to overwintering based on their physical inability (related to biomechanics, natural history, or absolute size) to migrate, such as ankylosaurs and many small taxa, including hypsilophodontids and troodontids. Low-nutrient subsistence is found to be the best overwintering method overall, although the likelihood that other taxa employed alternative means remains plausible. Despite wide distribution of some genera, species-level identification is required to assess the applicability of such distributions to migration distances. Presently, such resolution is not available or contradicts the migration hypothesis.

The Jurassic dinoflagellate cyst genus Belowia Riding & Helby, 2001 is a junior homonym of Belowia Moquin-Tandon, 1849, a genus of the Chenopodiaceae. The new generic name Belowicysta is proposed here to replace Belowia Riding & Helby, 2001.

The ischnacanthid acanthodian Grenfellacanthus zerinae gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis of two large jaw bones from the Late Devonian (late Famennian) Hunter Formation, near Grenfell, N.S.W. The new species is the youngest known ischnacanthid, and the largest ischnacanthid from Gondwana. As for many ischnacanthids, the structure of the jaws and teeth indicate that Grenfellacanthus was probably an ambush predator.

A fossil deposit excavated from the floor of Kids Cave, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand, is interpreted as having been primarily accumulated by New Zealand falcon Falco novaeseelandiae, with some contribution by Haast's eagle Harpagornis moorei. The fauna is rich: 3699 bones represented 41 bird species, two frog species, unspecified geckoes and skinks, and one bat species. Fossil deposition was mainly within the Last Glacial Maximum from about 22,000 cal yr bp to about 15,000 cal yr bp, with a marked change in sediment characteristics at the onset of the LGM's coldest period. Chronological control is given by three Uranium-series dates for a speleothem and radiocarbon AMS dating of four avian eggshell samples and one bone. The fauna is the first extensive predator accumulation of LGM age described from the West Coast of the South Island, and it indicates a palaeoenvironment of a mosaic of shrublands with forest patches. The onset of the coldest part of the LGM (Aurora 3 glacial advance, 19,500 - 19,000 cal yrs bp) saw marked climate cooling/drying affecting the site, but the avifauna indicates that although open-country taxa became more common in this period, some forest persisted nearby throughout the remainder of the LGM.

Skrzycka, R., 2014. Revision of two relic actinopterygians from the Middle or Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation, Karatau Range, Kazakhstan. Alcheringa 38, 364–390. ISSN 9311–5518.Three hundred and forty-six articulated fossil specimens of two species from the Middle or Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation of the Karatau Range (Kazakhstan, Asia) were studied to revise two little-known palaeonisciform fish: Pteroniscus turkestanensis and Morrolepis aniscowitchi. Detailed morphological analysis shows that P. turkestanensis, Daqingshaniscus longiventralis and Uighuroniscidae form a closely related group. They are far more distantly related to the Palaeoniscidae than previously inferred. The first detailed scanning electron microscopy of the unique scale cover of M. aniscowitchi is presented. Morrolepis is found to be devoid of denticles on the surface of the bones, scales and lepidotrichia—so far considered to be a key coccolepidid characteristic. However, it bears exceptionally robust lateral line scales. Comparison of the axial skeletons of M. aniscowitchi and Morrolepis andrewsi reveals their close affinities within Coccolepididae. The axial skeleton, despite its rare preservation in palaeonisciforms, may be taxonomically informative, at least at the family level. The Karatau palaeonisciforms, being among the youngest examples of basal actinopterygians (persisting in Asia through the late Mesozoic), possess a set of conservative morphological characters that suggest they were relictual taxa by Jurassic times, thus highlighting some freshwater systems as refuges for plesiomorphic taxa.Roksana Skrzycka [roksana.socha@biol.uw.edu.pl], Zakład Paleobiologii i Ewolucji, Instytut Zoologii, Wydział Biologii, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Banacha 2, PL-02–097 Warszawa, Poland; Received 4.4.2013, revised 12.12.2013, accepted 24.12.2013

A large, fossilised crocodilian metatarsal has been recovered from the Pliocene Bluff Downs Local Fauna exhibiting proliferative bone growth consistent with an episode of osteoperiostitis, possibly resulting from trauma. The nature and location of this trauma suggests that it may have occurred as a result of intraspecific aggression between rival animals. Three crocodilian genera have been recovered from the Fluff Downs Fauna, Crocodylus, Quinkana and Pallimnarchus. The metatarsal does not conform to Crocodylus porosus and therefore most probably represents one of the other two known crocodilian taxa The nature of the injury suggests that it occurred in water and it may belong to the now extinct Plio-Pleistocene Pallimnarchus rather than Quinkana babarra which is interpreted as being predominantly terrestrial.

Lorente, M., Gelfo, J.N. & López, G.M., 2014. Postcranial anatomy of the early notoungulate Allalmeia atalaensis from the Eocene of Argentina. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311-5518.We redescribe and interpret the postcranial elements of Allalmeia atalaensis Rusconi, found in the Divisadero Largo Formation, Mendoza, Argentina. Allalmeia is one of the few basal notoungulates with preserved postcranial remains. Rusconi initially documented a skull, several vertebrae and part of the appendicular skeleton but these specimens were subsequently lost. Recently though, distal components of the holotype humeri, the proximal portion of the right femur, several broken diaphyses and most of the left and right pes (MCNAM-PV 507), were relocated. Preparation of this material has revealed new details, especially from the plantar side of the feet. The calcaneum has a distal peroneal process with marked rugosity in the lateral end, a well-developed calcaneal plantar tubercle and a large sustentaculum tali. The naviculars exhibit a well-developed medial tuberosity and slightly contact the calcaneum on the dorsal side, a condition called a 'reverse alternating tarsus'. The disposition and morphology of the cuneiforms are similar to those of more recent typotheres and the archaic ungulate Tetraclaenodon puercensis. The phalangeal rows are oblique to each other, as in some extant digitigrade mammals. The ungual phalanges are claw-like suggesting that they might have borne claws. Long bones are gracile in comparison with other notoungulates, but with well-developed muscle origins and insertions. The use of body-mass allometric equations and a comparison with extant analogues suggests that Allalmeia was a small, generalized, digitigrade animal. An estimated body mass of approximately 3 kg is consistent with oldfieldthomasiids and archaic ungulates.Malena Lorente [[email protected] /* */] (author for correspondence), Javier N. Gelfo [[email protected] /* */], Guillermo M. López [[email protected] /* */], División Paleontología de Vertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n B1900FWA, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina; First and second authors also associated with CONICET. Received 1.10.2013, revised 6.1.2014, accepted 16.1.2014.

Fifteen species of hyoliths and problematic fossils from the present-day western margin of the Laurentian palaeocontinent (Cordilleran North America) are described and/or reassigned. Early Cambrian strata of this region are home to the orthothecid hyolith Guduguwan buelna (Lochman) and the hyolithids Nevadotheca whitei (Resser), Grantitheca? montis (Howell) and Hyolithes sp. B. Diversity of hyoliths increases in the middle Cambrian, featuring an un-named species of the orthothecid Decoritheca Sysoev, three un-named hyolithid species possibly representing Hyolithes Eichwald and one individual referred to as Hyolith sp. that bears resemblance to the Siberian Linevitus fossularis Val’kov. Haydenoconus prolixus (Resser) is documented from southeastern Idaho, and Doescherina clarki Malinky occurs in west-central Montana as pavements of conchs and opercula on bedding surfaces, with such large numbers of specimens affording an opportunity to further assess the range of morphologic variability within a single hyolith species. The upper Cambrian contains the hyolithids Haydenoconus gallatinesis (Resser), one un-named species each of Crestjahitus Sysoev and possibly Hyolithes Eichwald. An un-named species of the orthothecid Contitheca Sysoev occurs within this interval, as do the unusual problematic forms of uncertain affinity, Attenuella attenuata (Walcott 1890115. Walcott, C.D., 1890. Descriptions of new forms of upper Cambrian fossils. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 13, 266–279.[CrossRef]View all references) and Kygmaeoceras corrugatus (Walcott 1890115. Walcott, C.D., 1890. Descriptions of new forms of upper Cambrian fossils. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 13, 266–279.[CrossRef]View all references). The occurrence of Guduguwan recorded herein suggests a faunal connection between North America and Australia, and Contitheca, Decoritheca and the possible Hyolithes with Baltica and central Europe. Crestjahitus, Hyolith sp. and Kygmaeoceras demonstrate faunal affinity with Siberia. Whereas Doescherina and Grantitheca are endemic to North America, the families they represent also occur in Siberia. Attenuella is currently known from North America only at this time. The stratigraphic range of Contitheca is extended from middle to upper Cambrian; Crestjahitus from lower to upper Cambrian, and if the species of Hyolithes are authentic representatives of that genus, the range of the genus now definitively extends into the lower Cambrian.本文描述了劳伦斯古陆（北美科迪勒拉）现今西缘的15个软舌螺种和有争议化石并进行了重新分类。这一地区的早寒武世地层富含直管螺类软舌螺Guduguwan buelna (Lochman) 和软舌螺类Nevadotheca whitei (Resser)、Grantitheca? montis (Howell) 及 Hyolithes sp. B. 。中寒武世期间，软舌螺的分异度增加，其特点是直管螺 Decoritheca Sysoev的一个未命名种、三个软舌螺类未命名种（可能代表Hyolithes Eichwald）和一个被称为Hyolith sp.的种（与西伯利亚Linevitus fossularis Val'kov 相似）。 在爱达荷州东南部记录有Haydenoconus prolixus （Resser）；Doescherina clarki Malinky 出现在Montana中西部，以铺满层面的海螺和鳃盖的形式出现。如此大量的标本为进一步评估单个软舌螺种内的形态变异范围提供了机会。上寒武统含有直管螺 Haydenoconus gallatinesis（Resser）以及Crestjahitus Sysoev 和Hyolithes Eichwald 各自的一个未命名种。直管螺类Contitheca Sysoev的一个未命名种出现于此时段内，亲缘关系不明的不寻常的有争议分子Attenuella attenuata（Walcott1890）和Kygmaeoceras corrugatus（Walcott1890）也是如此。 Guduguwan的出现表明北美和澳大利亚的动物群相关性； Contitheca、Decoritheca以及也许Hyolithes的出现表明波罗的海和中欧之间的动物群相关性。 Crestjahitus、Hyolith sp.和Kygmaeoceras展示与西伯利亚区系的动物群亲缘关系。虽然Doescherina和Grantitheca是北美地方性分子，他们所代表的科也出现于西伯利亚。 Attenuella目前只出现于北美。 Contitheca的地层范围从中寒武统扩大到上寒武统; Crestjahitus由下到上寒武统；如果Hyolithes的种真正代表了这个属，它的地层范围现在明确无误地延伸到下寒武统。

Environmentally-related wear conditions and pathologies affecting the dentition of fossil lungfish from freshwater deposits in Australia have been analysed and compared with similar changes in the dentition of the living Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri. Fossil populations from the Namba, Etadunna, Wipajiri and Katipiri formations in central Australia, and the Carl Creek Limestone and the Camfield beds in northern Australia were assessed. Tooth plates from populations of living lungfish from the Brisbane River and Enoggera Reservoir in southeast Queensland were analysed for comparison. Tooth plates were measured to determine the numbers of different age groups in each population. They were assessed for abrasion, attrition, spur and step wear, erosion and caries, and for trauma and pathological conditions such as malocclusion, hyperplasia, abscesses, osteopenia and parasitic damage. All of these conditions are related to the environment where the fish lived, are found in living members of the group, and can be compared directly with those of fossil relatives. The results suggest that some of the fossil populations were at risk before climatic changes late in the Cainozoic destroyed their habitats. Some fossil lungfish populations, such as those of the Wipajiri Formation, exhibit active spawning and recruitment, good growth rates and a low incidence of disease and environmentally related damage to the tooth plates. Others, like those of the Katipiri and Namba Formations, include no young, and the adult fish were ageing and show environmentally-related damage to the dentition. Etadunna lungfish had active recruitment, but the tooth plates show a high incidence of attrition and caries. Riversleigh lungfish were actively spawning but did not grow large. Tooth plates from this latter deposit have a high incidence of pathological conditions. Fish from the Camfield Beds, where food was severely limiting, had little serious pathology but high levels of caries. Pathologies among living lungfish are common, but fossil fish were comparatively healthy, with few serious dental problems. Information from studies of fossil lungfish confirms that conservation of the few living species of lungfish depends on the maintenance of clean environments that provide adequate supplies of food and suitable sites for spawning and for the growth of young fish.

Balarino, M.L., 2014. Permian palynostratigraphy of the Claromecó Basin, Argentina. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311-5518.The first palynozonation for Permian strata of the Claromecó Basin (Argentina) is formally proposed, based on palynological assemblages recovered from the UTAL.CMM1 La Estrella.x-1 and UTAL.CMM1 Cruz de Sur.x-1 boreholes, drilled on the Argentinian Continental Platform and correlation with established zones from neighbouring basins. Fifty-five samples were analyzed and 131 species identified from two biozones. The lower Converrucosisporites confluens–Vittatina vittifera (CV) Zone occurs in the Piedra Azul and Bonete formations of both boreholes. This zone can be assigned a Cisuralian–Guadalupian age. The upper Tornopollenites toreutos–Reduviasporonites chalastus (TC) Zone registered in the Tunas Formation can be assigned a Guadalupian–Lopingian age. The CV Zone is dominated by diverse non-taeniate bisaccate, plicate and taeniate pollen. Monosaccate and monosulcate pollen, algae and acritarchs are poorly represented in both biozones. The composition of the TC Zone is broadly similar to the CV Zone, but bisaccate pollen grains are markedly more diverse and abundant in the former.M. Lucía Balarino [lubalarino@macn.gov.ar] Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘B. Rivadavia’, CONICET, Áv. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Received 28.8.2013; revised 4.11.2013; accepted 8.12.2013.

The skull of the Miocene phalangerid Strigocuscus reidi is described for the first time. Anatomy of the new skull and the periotic of the holotype leads to a rediagnosis of the species and its placement in a new genus, Onirocuscus. Three new species are described from Riversleigh, Queensland, ranging from early to middle Miocene: O. silvacultrix, O. notialis, and O. rupina. Strigocuscus notialis, a Pliocene species from Victoria is also transferred to the new genus based on phenetic similarity of its dentition to that of other species assigned to the genus.

A flora of dispersed megaspores is described from the uppermost (Early Triassic) part of the Rewan Group in the subsurface of the southeastern Bowen Basin, Queensland. Four species, all new, are assigned to three genera, one of which (Bowenispora) is new. The species are Nathorstisporites muricatus, Banksisporites dejerseyi, Banksisporites viriosus, and Bowenispora tumidosa (type species). Accompanying the megaspore assemblage is a profuse miospore flora which is dominated by the genus Aratrisporites Leschik emend. Playford & Dettmann 1965 of presumed lycopsid affinity. Microspores attributable to the latter genus are often found attached to our Banksisporites megaspores (Aratrisporites tenuispinosus Playford 1965) and to Nathorstisporites muricatus (A. cf. wollariensis Helby 1967), thus providing admittedly circumstantial indications of megaspore-microspore natural relationships among the presumed lycopsid parent plants. The currently very limited knowledge of Australian earlier Triassic megaspores precludes any definitive biostratigraphic applications, but the florule is clearly distinct from known Gondwanic assemblages of comparable age.

Ouwendijk, E.M., Due, R.A., Locatelli, E., Jatmiko & Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., 2014. Bat cave and Hobbit hole, microbats of Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia). Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311-5518Liang Bua is a limestone cave on the island of Flores, Indonesia. Palaeontological and archaeological excavations at this site have unearthed one of the best insular records of fossil bats to date. The assemblage is numerically dominated by the horseshoe bat species Rhinolophus euryotis, followed by the leafnosed bat Hipposideros diadema. In addition to these species, remains of Rhinolophus simplex, Hipposideros sp. cf. H. sumbae, Murina sp. aff. M. florium, Taphozous sp., Kerivoula sp. and Miniopterus sp. have also been recovered. Two taxa found in Liang Bua, Rhinolophus euryotis and Miniopterus sp., are not apparent in the modern bat fauna of Flores. Some specimens, found during the more recent excavations, are known from specific depths. Two age-groups are represented. The stratigraphically oldest is 74-61 ka and includes Murina sp. aff. M. florium and Rhinolophus euryotis. Conversely, the younger, Holocene, assemblage is much more diverse. Despite the relatively small amount of microbat material collected thus far, it displays a higher diversity than the rodents from the site. This is presumably related to the better dispersal ability of bats relative to other, non-volant mammals.Esther Marlous Ouwendijk [[email protected] /* */] and Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende [[email protected] /* */], Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333 CR Leiden, The Netherlands; Rokus Awe Due, and Jatmiko, The National Research and Development Centre of Archaeology, Jl. Raya Condet Pejaten No. 4, Jakarta 12510, Indonesia; Elisa Locatelli [[email protected] /* */], Ferrara University, Corso Ercole l d'Este 32, 44121 Ferrara, Italy. Received 15.4.2013; revised 22.1.2014; accepted 28.1.2014.

Skull bones in early lungfish contain permanent insignia of the sensory lines of the head, but osteological evidence of sensory lines in derived lungfish is reduced to foramina for nerves to neuromasts, superficial grooves, or elevated ridges on some bones. This is particularly evident in anterior bones, making definition of these bones difficult, and creating problems for phylogenetic analyses. Despite a close association of the sensory lines with the bones of the developing skull in the Australian lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, few traces of the lines remain in the bones of the adult animal. Among derived dipnoans, Mioceratodus, a genus of neoceratodont fossil lungfish from Tertiary deposits in central and northern Australia, is unusual because traces of the supraorbital sensory line are retained in the anterior skull roofing bones of large specimens. Equivalent traces are absent from the rostral bones of N. forsteri, and from small specimens of Mioceratodus.The supraorbital sensory line grooves in Mioceratodus bones pass over the posterior surface of the rostral bone, and not the anterior process as in Neoceratodus. The rostral bones of Mioceratodus may be formed from the fusion of different bones in the primitive dipnoan skull compared with those that formed the rostral (EQ) bone of N. forsteri. Alternatively, the association between sensory lines and skull bones may not be constant.

Toothplates and skull bones from a dipnoan referred here to the genus Ctenodus occur frequently in the tetrapod-bearing member of the mid Visean Ducabrook Formation located near the type section at Ducabrook, near Springsure, central Queensland. This is the first record of a Visean ctenodontid, and of the genus Ctenodus, in Australia, in the East Gondwana region, and in the southern hemisphere.

Zhang, J. & Zhang, Y.D., 2014. Graptolite fauna of the Hungshihyen Formation (Early Ordovician), eastern Yunnan, China. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311-5518.Ordovician graptolite-bearing strata in eastern Yunnan were deposited in nearshore, shallow-water environments. Graptolites are systematically described from three sections through the Hungshihyen Formation in eastern Yunnan Province, China: (1) Hongshiya section near Ercun village, Kunming; (2) Liujiang section, Luquan; and (3) Guihuaqing Reservoir section, Luquan. The graptolite fauna, characterized by the predominance of deflexed forms, includes ten species in two genera: Baltograptus turgidus (Lee), B. varicosus (Wang), B. yunnanensis (Li), B. calidus (Ni), B. enshiensis (Ni), Baltograptus sp. cf. B. deflexus (Elles & Wood), Baltograptus sp. cf. B. bolivianus (Finney & Branisa), Baltograptus sp. A, Baltograptus sp. B and Corymbograptus v-fractus minor (Li). A detailed morphological study of these southern Chinese graptolite faunas suggests that Baltograptus wudingensis (Li) is a junior synonym of B. turgidus (Lee); Baltograptus kunmingensis (Ni) is a junior synonym of B. varicosus (Wang); and Baltograptus triangulatus (Ni) is a junior synonym of B. yunnanensis (Li). The B. varicosus Biozone is newly recognized within the middle part of the Hungshihyen Formation, replacing the former Didymograptus deflexus Biozone. This interval is well correlated to the Baltograptus jacksoni Biozone in Britain, the Tetragraptus akzharensis, 'Baltograptus cf. deflexus' and Didymograptus bifidus (lower part) biozones in NW Argentina (eastern Cordillera), and the Acrograptus filiformis and Didymograptellus eobifidus biozones in northern Guizhou, South China. Accordingly, the interval is of mid-Floian age, rather than late Floian as previously proposed.Zhang Ju* [[email protected] /* */] and Zhang Yuandong [[email protected] /* */], Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, East Beijing Road 39, Nanjing 210008, PR China. *Also affiliated with: Xi'an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi, PR China. Received 12.7.2013; revised 14.1.2014; accepted 31.1.2014.

Two spinicaudatan species, Triglypta eedemtensis Li sp. nov. and Dundgobiestheria mandalgobiensis Li gen. et sp. nov., are described on the basis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of newly collected specimens from paper-thin laminated black shale of the Eedemt Formation exposed at the Eedemt locality in the Khootiin Khotgor coal mine region of Dundgobi Province in southeast Mongolia. Triglypta eedemtensis is ornamented mainly with puncta and a punctate fine reticulum; radial lirae occur only on two or three growth bands near the venter. The small spinicaudatan Triglypta is a common component of the Middle Jurassic Euestheria ziliujingensis fauna and Sinokontikia fauna, and is a typical taxon in the Middle Jurassic lacustrine sequences of northern Hebei and the Junggar and Turpan basins of the Xinjiang Autonomous District of China; however, it does not occur in stratigraphically higher units elsewhere. Therefore, the age of the Eedemt Formation should be considered Middle Jurassic rather than Early Cretaceous. The Eedemt Formation is much older than the Early Cretaceous Shinekhudag Formation in the Shine Khudag area of southeast Mongolia.

Two new placoderm taxa, based on isolated dermal plates from the head and trunk shields and body scales, are described from ?late Lochkovian (Early Devonian) limestones of the Connemarra Formation, central New South Wales. The taxa are Connemarraspis youngi gen. et sp. nov. and Narrominaspis longi gen. et sp. nov., for which the holotype specimens are ossified optic capsules. The fauna also includes several indeterminate acanthothoracids. All species were small fish, estimated to have been less than 10 cm long. This placoderm fauna shows a wide range of affinities, encompassing taxa with similarities to species from the Lochkovian of Arctic Canada, Europe and Vietnam.

Comparison of the ultrastructure of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements and the enamel of vertebrates provides little support for a close phylogenetic relationship between conodonts and vertebrates. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy shows that the mineralised component of the hyaline tissue of Panderodus and of Cordylodus elements consists of large, flat, oblong crystals, arranged in layers that run parallel to the long axis of the conodont. Enamel in the dentition of a living vertebrate, the lungfish Neoceratodus forsteri, has crystals of calcium hydroxyapatite, arranged in layers, and extending in groups from the dentine-enamel junction; the crystals are slender, elongate spicules perpendicular to the surface of the tooth plate, Similar crystal arrangements to those of lungfish are found in other vertebrates, but none resembles the organisation of the hyaline tissue of conodont elements, The crystals of hydroxyapatite in conodont hyaline tissue are exceptionally large, perpendicular or parallel to the surface of the element, with no trace of prisms, unlike the protoprismatic radial crystallite enamel of fish teeth and scales, or the highly organised prismatic enamel of mammals.

Systematic collecting from fluvial late Pleistocene deposits from the Darling Downs, southeast Queensland, Australia, has led to the recovery of the first fossil frogs from the region, ail from the Myobatrachidae, a family of ground dwelling and burrowing frogs. The most common species recovered, Limnodynastes tasmaniensis, is extant on the Darling Downs. The fossil taxa include species whose extant populations inhabit arid zones(Limnodynastes sp. cf. L. spenceri), montane forests (Kyarranus spp.), and open woodlands (Neobatrachus sudelli), and indicate the existence of a mosaic of habitats during the Pleistocene. The absence of the Hylidae (tree frogs), a family common throughout the Darling Downs today, may be explained by a taphonomic bias that favours non-arboreal forms. Alternatively, hylids may have been rare or absent on the Darling Downs during the Pleistocene.

Many lungfish of the tooth plated lineage, both fossil and living, are affected by dental and skeletal pathologies including dental caries, abscesses and cysts within the bone or tooth plate, osteopenia, bone hypertrophy, and malocclusion. These conditions, while influenced in part by structural relationships of soft and hard tissues in the tooth plates, jaw bones and surrounding oral tissues, can also be used as indicators of the kind of environment inhabited by the fish. The disease processes have specific structural consequences, related either to the pathology or to attempts to heal the damage, and usually alter the form and function of the tooth plate or bone. Consequently they can be distinguished from postmortem diagenetic or taphonomic effects, which alter the structure in less specific ways and show no sign of healing. Dental caries, the most common pathological condition in dipnoan dentitions, is recognisable in lungfish from the Devonian of Western Australia, the Tertiary of South Australia and the Northern Territory and from living lungfish in south east Queensland. Other pathologies have a more sporadic occurrence.

From the record of dinosaurian skeletal remains it has been inferred that the origin and initial diversification of dinosaurs were rapid events, occupying an interval of about 5 million years in the Late Triassic. By contrast numerous reports of dinosauroid tracks imply that the emergence of dinosaurs was a more protracted affair extending through much of the Early and Middle Triassic. This study finds no convincing evidence of dinosaur tracks before the late Ladinian. Each of the three dinosaurian clades - Theropoda, Sauropodomorpha, Ornithischia - produced a unique track morphotype that appears to be an independent modification of the chirotherioid pattern attributed to stem-group archosaurs (thecodontian reptiles). The existence of three divergent track morphotypes is consistent with the concept of dinosaurian polyphyly but can be reconciled with the hypothesis of dinosaurian monophyly only by invoking many and rapid reversals in the locomotor anatomy of early dinosaurs. The origin of dinosaurs was not the correlate or consequence of any single event or process, be it global change, competitive replacement, or opportunism in the wake of mass extinction. Instead the origin of dinosaurs is envisaged as a series of three cladogenetic events over an interval of at least 10 million years and possibly as much as 25 million years. This scenario of dinosaurian polyphyly is as well-supported by fossil evidence as is the currently favoured view of dinosaurian monophyly.

Marada arcanum gen. et sp. nov. is described from the late Oligocene Hiatus Site, Riversleigh World Heritage Property, northwestern Queensland. Although known from only a single dentary, it is assigned to a new family Maradidae, based on a unique combination of both plesiomorphic and apomorphic features. Of the known vombatomorphians, Marada is most similar to primitive wynyardiids and diprotodontoids (palorchestids and diprotodontids). Further clarification of the phylogenetic position of Maradidae within Vombatomorphia requires discovery of upper dentitions and crania.

Gnathostome vertebrate remains from fine-grained sandstones of the Silverband Formation in the Grampians, Victoria include dissociated fin spines, scales and teeth. These elements arc assigned herein to the acanthodians Sinacanthus? micracanthus (fin spines) and Radioporacanthodes sp. cf. R. qujingensis (scales and tooth whorls). This fauna indicates a Late Silurian (?late Ludlow) age for the vertebrate-beating Stratum. Under current systematic groupings, the two gnathostome taxa from the Silverband Formation belong to two different families, the Sinacanthidae and the Poracanthodidae. However. the preserved association could indicate that the three element types derived from the same biological species. The possibility that the Sinacanthidae is a sister group to the Climatiidae and the Poracanthodidae is raised by this scenario. The Sinacanthidae is tentatively reassigned to the Acanthodii, as it is considered to lack diagnostic chondrichthyan characters.

McKENZIE, E.D., ROZEFELDS, A.C., DEACON, P., 2014. An ancycloceratid ammonite from the Aptian Maryborough Formation, Queensland, Australia, and synonymy of Australiceras Whitehouse with Tropaeum Sowerby. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311–5518.This first description and illustration of ammonites from the Maryborough Formation on Woody Island, Hervey Bay in Queensland shows that all known specimens are referable to Tropaeum jackii (Etheridge Jr 1880) comb. nov., for which a neotype is, herein, nominated to replace the missing lectotype. An analysis of comparative material from other eastern Australia Cretaceous basins, including the type specimens of Australiceras, illustrates that the variability of tuberculation can not be used to separate genera, nor species. Australiceras Whitehouse, 1926 is considered a junior synonym of Tropaeum J. de C. Sowerby. Two other Australiceras species are also transferred to Tropaeum; T. lampros (Etheridge Jr) comb. nov. and T. irregulare (Tenison Woods) comb. nov. The changing patterns, throughout ontogeny, of lateral rib densities (herein defined) and whorl shapes are useful for distinguishing these species. As the ammonites from the Maryborough Formation all fit within the present definition of Tropaeum jackii, and as this has been defined as a late Aptian taxon by faunal studies supported by extensive palynological work in adjacent Australian Cretaceous basins, the ammonites provide support for the assignment of a late Aptian age to this part of the formation.E.D. McKenzie [ edmck@bigpond.com ] and A.C. Rozefelds [ andrew.rozefelds@qm.qld.gov.au ] Queensland Museum, GPO Box 3300, South Brisbane, 4101, Queensland, Australia; Paula Deacon, [ Paula.Deacon@dnrm.qld.gov.au ] Geological Survey of Queensland, Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), PO Box 15216, City East, 4002, Queensland, Australia. Received 24.12.2012, revised 14.10.2013; accepted 28.10.2013.

Benson, R.B.J., Fitzgerald, E.M.G., Rich, T.H. & Vickers-Rich, P., 2013. Large freshwater plesiosaurian from the Cretaceous (Aptian) of Australia. Alcheringa 37, 1–6. ISSN 0311-5518We report a large plesiosaurian tooth from the freshwater early–middle Aptian (Early Cretaceous) Eumeralla Formation of Victoria, Australia. This, combined with records of smaller plesiosaurian teeth with an alternative morphology, provides evidence for a multitaxic freshwater plesiosaurian assemblage. Dental and body size differences suggest ecological partitioning of sympatric freshwater plesiosaurians analogous to that in modern freshwater odontocete cetaceans. The evolutionarily plastic body plan of Plesiosauria may have facilitated niche differentiation and helped them to exclude ichthyosaurs from freshwater environments during the Mesozoic. However, confirmation of this hypothesis requires the discovery of more complete remains.Roger B.J. Benson [roger.benson@earth.ox.ac.uk], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3AN, UK; Erich M.G. Fitzgerald [efitzgerald@museum.vic.gov.au], Thomas H. Rich [trich@museum.vic.gov.au], Museum Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia; Thomas H. Rich and Patricia Vickers-Rich [pat.rich@monash.edu], School of Geosciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Received 30.10.2012; revised 27.1.2013; accepted 31.1.2013.

Hampe, O., Witzmann, F. & Asbach, P., 2014. A benign bone-forming tumour (osteoma) on the skull of a fossil balaenopterid whale from the Pliocene of Chile. Alcheringa 38, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311–5518.A pathology of the fossil baleen whale ‘Megaptera’ hubachi from the early Pliocene of Chile is described. It is a bony outgrowth on the left side of the supraoccipital, which is interpreted as a benign bone-forming tumour (osteoma). This diagnosis is based on X-ray imaging and CT scans of the abnormal bone, revealing a homogeneously dense internal structure with no evidence for lytic areas. The osteoma described here in ‘Megaptera’ hubachi is the first unequivocal evidence of a bone tumour in a cetacean, fossil or extant.Oliver Hampe [oliver.hampe@mfn-berlin.de] and Florian Witzmann [florian.witzmann@mfn-berlin.de], Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany; Patrick Asbach [patrick.asbach@charite.de], Institut für Radiologie, Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, D-10117 Berlin, Germany. Received 28.8.2013, revised 7.11.2013, accepted 12.11.2013.

STILWELL, J.D., 2014. Expansion of the rare trochid Calliovarica (Mollusca: Gastropoda) into eastern Zealandian waters during the late Paleocene–early Eocene thermal event. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311–5518.The late Paleocene–early Eocene greenhouse interval saw equator–pole sea-surface temperature gradients weaken and tropical and subtropical molluscs reach far southern waters, including eastern Zealandia, during this major thermal maximum. One of the rarest gastropods from this interval, the early Eocene chilodontine trochid gastropod Calliovarica H. Vokes, was previously recorded only from two species in California to Washington State, western North America. Described herein is a new occurrence, C. rangiaotea n. sp., from the Red Bluff Tuff of Chatham and Pitt islands, southwest Pacific, where it is rare, and recorded from volcanogenic sediments associated with Surtseyan-style volcanism. All three recorded species are characterized by a browsing/grazing, epifaunal lifestyle on volcanic, hard substrates.Jeffrey D. Stilwell [Jeffrey.Stilwell@sci.monash.edu.au], School of Geosciences, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia, and Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. Received 9.8.2013, revised 14.10.2013, accepted 25.10.2013.

Bishop, P.J., 2014. The humerus of Ossinodus pueri, a stem tetrapod from the Carboniferous of Gondwana, and the early evolution of the tetrapod forelimb. Alcheringa 38. ISSN 0311–5518.The humerus of the Carboniferous stem tetrapod Ossinodus pueri is described on the basis of a recently discovered specimen. Its exceptional preservation records abundant, direct evidence of muscle attachment in remarkable detail. The surface of the bone is covered with hundreds of fine, elongate, asymmetrical pits, which are interpreted as the attachment scars of individual muscle fascicles. Re-examination and further preparation of other, previously described pectoral appendicular elements of Ossinodus reveals that they too record direct evidence of muscle attachment. The patterns of scarring and inferred muscle attachment on the humerus and other bones are described and discussed. In turn, the pectoral musculoskeletal system of this animal is able to be reconstructed in detail, based on comparison to extant primitive tetrapods. In addition to providing an anatomical basis for biomechanical analysis of the locomotor capabilities of early tetrapods, this sheds much new light on the early evolution of the tetrapod forelimb. Importantly, most of the pectoral musculature of extant tetrapods appeared prior to the origin of the crown group, and much of this was present in primitive stem tetrapods such as Ossinodus.Peter J. Bishop [peter.bishop@qm.qld.gov.au], Ancient Environments Program, Queensland Museum, 122 Gerler Road, Hendra, Queensland 4011, Australia. Received 4.6.2013; revised 14.8.2013; accepted 22.10.2013.

Wang, B. & Gai, Z.K., 2014. A sea scorpion claw from the Lower Devonian of China (Chelicerata: Eurypterida). Alcheringa 38, XX–XX. ISSN 0311–5518.An isolated chelicera (claw) of a pterygotid eurypterid is described from the Lower Devonian Xitun Formation of Yunnan Province, China. It is different from chelicerae of other pterygotids in having four principal denticles and at least four intermediate denticles between the principal denticles on both rami. This Chinese pterygotid, estimated at about 70 cm long, was a top predator that probably hunted small, primitive fishes, such as galeaspids. This discovery represents the first record of Pterygotidae from Asia and the third fossil eurypterid from China.Bo Wang (corresponding author) [savantwang@gmail.com], State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China; Steinmann Institute, University of Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany; Zhikun Gai [gaizhikun@ivpp.ac.cn], Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China. Received 22.10.2013, revised 15.11.2013, accepted 20.11.2013.

A new genus and new species of Saucrosmylidae (Insecta, Neuroptera) are described (Daohugosmylus castus) based on a well-preserved hindwing from the Middle Jurassic of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. Daohugosmylus gen. nov. is distinguished by a large and nearly semi-circular hindwing, relatively wide R1 space possessing several rows of cells, anteriorly bent Rs, dense crossveins over the entire wing, and smooth outer margin.

Al Menoufy, S. June.2018. Nummulites perforatus (de Montfort, 1808) and N. beaumonti d’Archaic & Haime, 1853: a new record from Gebel Hafit, United Arab Emirates. Alcheringa XX, xx–xx. Nummulites perforatus (N. burdigalensis group) and N. beaumonti (N. discorbinus group) are recorded from a Priabonian limestone outcrop of the Mazyad Member, Dammam Formation, exposed along the eastern limb of Gebel Hafit Anticline, in the United Arab Emirates. Nummulites perforatus at this site is characterized morphologically by lenticular to inflated-lenticular tests with rounded edges, meandering septal filaments, dense granules on, and between, the septal filaments, chambers that are longer than high and a regular-shaped spire. Biometric studies have demonstrated that this new material from the United Arab Emirates is similar to specimens of N. perforatus previously described. N. beaumonti is here characterized morphologically by lenticular tests with slightly rounded peripheries, a relatively thick and irregular marginal cord, compact septal filaments that are curved initially but become radial and twisted around the polar area with a slight flexure towards the periphery, tight to lax coiled spire, and chambers that are rectangular in shape and higher than long, including a rudimentary polar pustule. Biometric studies revealed that this material is comparable with specimens of N. beaumonti. Nummulites perforatus and N. beaumonti span the SBZ19 zone and are considered to be late Eocene (Priabonian) in age. Safia Al Menoufy [safiageo@yahoo.com or almenoufysafia@gmail.com] Biological & Geological Sciences, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Roxy, El khalifa El maamoon Street, Cairo 11566, Egypt.

Ontogenetic allometry, the covariation of shape with size over the course of development, represents a fundamental component of morphological diversification that can vary across species and in association with ecological factors. Ontogenetic allometry patterns for the skull have been described for species from several marsupial lineages, associated with common dietary niches, e.g., carnivory. We here conduct a novel detailed examination of cranial ontogeny in the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), unique among marsupials in being myrmecophagous and adopting a strictly diurnal habit. We investigated ontogenetic allometry using multivariate analyses in a postnatal series (n = 28) of complete numbat skulls to estimate the rate of growth of its major constituent elements, described by 15 measurements. We find positive allometry for length of the nasals and palate, which relates directly to the remarkable rostral elongation in the species relative to other marsupials, in addition to several other ontogenetic changes. These comprise negative allometry of palate breadth, elongation of upper and lower toothrows that produces diastemata between weakly developed teeth, and decreasing muzzle height, all of which contribute to the development of a long, tapering, narrow rostrum, with limited mastication ability, as seen in the small temporal space and poor development of crests and processes associated with jaw musculature. Our specific allometric results and comparisons, together with qualitative observations, reveal a distinct imprint of myrmecophagy on skull ontogeny in the numbat and help explain the development and evolution of specialized feeding function of this species. Norberto P. Giannini [ngiannini@amnh.org], CONICET Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, UEL, Tucumán, Argentina, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Instituto Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina, Department of Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA; Fernando Abdala [nestor.abdala@wits.ac.za], CONICET Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, UEL, Tucumán, Argentina, Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; David A. Flores [dflores@macn.gov.ar], CONICET Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, UEL, Tucumán, Argentina, Instituto de Vertebrados, Fundación Miguel Lillo, Tucumán, Argentina; Laura A. B. Wilson [laura.wilson@anu.edu.au], School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.

Pitana, V.G., Esteban, G.I., Ribeiro, A.M. & Cartelle, C. 2013. Cranial and dental studies of Glossotherium robustum (Owen, 1842) (Xenarthra: Pilosa: Mylodontidae) from the Pleistocene of southern Brazil. Alcheringa, 1-16. ISSN 0311-5518. Mylodontine ground sloths were studied from several Pleistocene localities of Rio Grande do Sul State: SAo Gabriel (central region), Quarai, Uruguaiana and Alegrete (western region) and Santa Vitoria do Palmar (coastal region) municipalities. The cranial and mandibular material is assigned to Glossotherium robustum based on the enlargement of the anterior portion of the maxilla, a rounded and ventrolaterally arched fossa for the estylohyal, an elliptical occipital condyle, a spatulate symphyseal region of the mandible, together with the size and degree of lobulation of the teeth. Comparison with specimens from the Pampean region of Argentina, western Uruguay and northeastern Brazil revealed that the Rio Grande do Sul material is most similar morphologically to that of the Pampean region of Argentina and Uruguay. These southern specimens are morphologically distinct from Pleistocene material from tropical Brazil assigned to Glossotherium sp. The Pleistocene records of G. robustum indicate that this taxon was widely distributed between 20 degrees S and 40 degrees S spanning Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, whereas Glossotherium sp. was restricted to latitudes<30 degrees S.

Sadler, T., Martin, S.K. & Gallagher, S.J., February 2017. Three new species of the echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869 from Western Australia. Alcheringa 41, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518 Three new species of the extinct echinoid genus Monostychia Laube, 1869 are described from Western Australia. All are from the middle Miocene Colville Sandstone of the Eucla Basin and have historically been referred to this genus without description. These new taxa differ from previously described Monostychia species in several morphological features, such as size and shape but also in the number of post-basicoronal interambulacral plates developed in the oral paired interambulacrum, a feature considered taxonomically important at both genus and species level for clypeasteroids. The number of ambulacral plates in the paired and unpaired oral regions is also considered a potentially diagnostic taxonomic feature for this genus; it is concluded that the oral ambulacral plate count, particularly that of the unpaired ambulacrum III, is at least as useful a taxonomic feature as the oral interambulacral plate count. Tony Sadler [t.sadler@student.unimelb.edu.au] and Stephen J. Gallagher [sjgall@unimelb.edu.au], School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria 2010, Australia; Sarah K. Martin [sarah.martin@dmp.wa.gov.au], Geological Survey of Western Australia, Department of Mines and Petroleum, Western Australia, 6004.

Two new species of the clypeasteroid Monostychia Laube, 1869, are described; M. merrimanensis sp. nov. from the East Gippsland region of Victoria and M. glenelgensis sp. nov. from the Gambier Embayment of southwestern Victoria. M. etheridgei Tenison-Woods, 1877, from northern Tasmania, which closely resembles M. merrimanensis sp. nov., is redescribed. A comparison is also made between M. elongata Duncan, 1877, and M. glenelgensis, as both are present in the same strata. The new taxa differ from previously described Monostychia species in size and shape and in the number of post-basicoronal plates on the oral surface. It is concluded that the use of oral plate counts and their variation across a population may be diagnostically useful at species level, particularly those of the paired interambulacra and the unpaired ambulacrum III. Tony Sadler* [[email protected]]Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2010 Australia; Francis C. Holmes [[email protected]]Invertebrate Palaeontology, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001 Australia; Stephen J. Gallagher [[email protected]]School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3010 Australia. Received 4.4.2018; revised 21.8.2018; accepted 22.9.2018.

Isabel Clifton Cookson (1893–1973) of Melbourne, Australia, was one of that country’s first professional woman scientists. She is remembered as one of the most eminent palaeontologists of the twentieth century and had a distinguished research career of 58 years, authoring or co-authoring 93 scientific publications. Isabel worked with great distinction on modern and fossil plants, and pioneered palynology in Australia. She was a consumate taxonomist and described, or jointly described, a prodigious total of 110 genera, 557 species and 32 subspecific taxa of palynomorphs and plants. Cookson was a trained biologist and initially worked as a botanist during the 1920s. At the same time she became interested in fossil plants and then, Mesozoic–Cenozoic terrestrial (1940s–1950s) and aquatic (1950s–1970s) palynomorphs. Cookson’s research into the late Silurian–Early Devonian plants of Australia and Europe, particularly the Baragwanathia flora, between the 1920s and the 1940s was highly influential in the field of early plant evolution. The fossil plant genus Cooksonia was named for Isabel in 1937 by her principal mentor in palaeobotany, Professor William H. Lang. From the 1940s Cookson focussed on Cenozoic floras and, with her students, elucidated floral affinities by comparative analyses of micromorphology, anatomy and in situ pollen/spores between fossil and extant taxa. This led to an interest in pre-Quaternary and Quaternary terrestrial pollen and spores; hence Isabel was the first palynologist in Australia. Her work on Paleogene and Neogene pollen and spores during the 1940s and 1950s provided incontrovertible evidence of the former widespread distribution of many important elements of Southern Hemisphere floras. During the early 1950s, while approaching her 60th year, Isabel turned her attention to marine palynomorphs. She worked with great distinction with Georges Deflandre and Alfred Eisenack, and also as a sole author, on acritarchs, dinoflagellate cysts and prasinophytes from the Jurassic to Quaternary of Australia and Papua New Guinea. She also co-authored papers on aquatic palynomorphs with Lucy M. Cranwell, Norman F. Hughes and Svein B. Manum. Isabel Cookson laid out the taxonomic basis for the study of Australasian Mesozoic and Cenozoic marine palynofloras by establishing, or jointly establishing, 76 genera and 386 species of marine microplankton. Her studies throughout her career, although especially in marine palynology, concentrated largely on taxonomy. However, she was one of the first palynologists to demonstrate the utility of dinoflagellate cysts for relative age dating and correlation in geological exploration.

Diederle, J.M., 1.8.2015. Systematic status of the Miocene darter ‘Liptornis’ hesternus Ameghino, 1895 (Aves, Suliformes, Anhingidae) from Patagonia, Argentina. Alcheringa 39, 589–594. ISSN 0311-5518. Liptornis hesternus was established by Ameghino in the late 1800s on the basis of a cervical vertebra (NHMUK-A599) from the Santa Cruz Formation (Santacrucian, South American Land Mammal Age, early Miocene, Burdigalian Stage) of Patagonia, Argentina. Although taxonomic attributions were controversial, the specimen is now confidently assigned to Anhingidae. Recently, however, L. hesternus was designated a nomen dubium because of its uninformative diagnostic characters and apparent loss of the holotype. Nevertheless, NHMUK-A599 has been relocated and is redescribed here prompting referral to Anhinga. A combination of traits are shared with the extant Anhinga anhinga and A. melanogaster, and the material is dimensionally compatible with A. anhinga. The estimated body size of NHMUK-A599 would have been larger than A. minuta but less than A. grandis, A. subvolans, A. fraileyi and A. walterbolesi. Finally, Anhinga hesterna is considered valid and represents the stratigraphically oldest occurrence of the genus in South America and the southernmost yet recorded. Juan M. Diederle [[email protected] /* */], Laboratorio de Paleontología de Vertebrados, Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción (CICYTTP-CONICET), Materi y España, E3105BWA Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina.

The Paleocene flora from Seymour Island, Antarctica, is one of the most diverse floras of this age in the Southern Hemisphere. First collected on the Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901-1903), it was described by Dusén in 1908 as having 87 leaf taxa. Forty-seven angiosperm taxa were described and/or illustrated. Many species are based on single specimens, and the flora has not been re-examined in its entirety since it was first described. This study is the first reassessment of the flora updating the original research using current methodologies, and permitting evaluation of the flora in the context of modern ideas on plant evolution and palaeogeography. This paper continues the revision of the material first studied by Dusén; a previous paper described the ferns and gymnosperms; here we describe the angiosperms. The revision is based on the original collections held at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, together with the first major new collections held at the British Antarctic Survey. Among the taxa recognized by Dusén, we recognize only three entire-margined and 11 tooth-margined angiosperms. This revision to 14 species notably lacks the two tropical elements originally described from the flora, Mollinedia seymourensis and Miconiiphyllum austral. Hence, its status as a 'Mixed Flora' comes into question and influences climatic interpretations based on Gondwanan floras. Anne-Marie Tosolini* [[email protected] /* */], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK, and Environmental Geoscience, Latrobe University, Victoria, 3086, Australia; David Cantrill [[email protected] /* */], National Herbarium of Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Private Bag 2000, Birdwood Ave, South Yarra, Victoria, 3141, Australia; Jane Francis [[email protected] /* */], Department of Earth Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. *Present address: School of Earth Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. Received 5.5.2012; revised 13.12.2012; accepted 7.1.2012.

Pastorino, G. & Griffin, M., March 2018. A new Patagonian long-lived species of Cyclochlamys (Bivalvia: Pectinoidea). Alcheringa XX, xx–xx. A new species of the bivalve family Cyclochlamydidae is described from the southwestern Atlantic in Argentine waters. Cyclochlamys argentina sp. nov. is the second representative of the genus known to live in the Magellanic area. In addition, this long-lived species is also recorded from lower Miocene rocks in the province of Santa Cruz exposed along the Atlantic coast of the Monte León National Park. The material was collected from the Punta Entrada Member of the Monte León Formation. These small mollusks clearly belong in Cyclochlamys because of shell characters such as the irregularly pitted prodissoconch I and right valve with commarginally elongated rectangular prisms over most of disc. Cyclochlamys argentina sp. nov. shows affinities with taxa such as C. aupouria and C. shepherdi, all of which are known from areas of New Zealand. Guido Pastorino [gpastorino@macn.gov.ar] CONICET—Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ‘Bernardino Rivadavia’. Av. Ángel Gallardo 470, C1405DJR, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Miguel Griffin [patagonianoyster@gmail.com] CONICET— División Paleozoología Invertebrados, Museo de La Plata. Paseo del Bosque s/n, B1900FWA, La Plata, Argentina.

Shen, Y. & Wang, X.L., July 2016. Howchinia Cushman, 1927 (Foraminifera) from the Mississippian Bei’an Formation and its distribution in South China. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518. Howchinia Cushman is a useful biostratigraphic marker for Mississippian rocks. In South China, Howchinia has been reported from four sections: the Bei’an, Baping, Naqing and Yashui sections; with high species diversity in the Bei’an section. Ten species from the Mississippian Bei’an Formation in the Bei’an section are described in this paper: Howchinia bradyana, H. beleutensis, H. gibba, H. plana, H. convexa, H. subconica, H. subplana, Howchinia sp. A, Howchinia sp. B. and Howchinia beianensis sp. nov. Howchinia ranges from late Visean to early Bashkirian in South China. Howchinia species inhabited both shallow-water and relatively deep-water environments. Yang Shen [shenybj@126.com] and Xun-Lian Wang [wxl@cugb.edu.cn], State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, 29 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, PR China.

Poropat, S.F., Nair, J.P., Syme, C.E., Mannion, P.D., Upchurch, P., Hocknull, S.A., Cook, A.G., Tischler, T.R. & Holland, T. XX.XXXX. 2017. Reappraisal of Austrosaurus mckillopi Longman, 1933 Longman, H.A., 1933. A new dinosaur from the Queensland Cretaceous. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 10, 131–144. [Google Scholar] from the Allaru Mudstone of Queensland, Australia’s first named Cretaceous sauropod dinosaur. Alcheringa XX, XX–XX. ISSN 0311-5518 Austrosaurus mckillopi was the first Cretaceous sauropod reported from Australia, and the first Cretaceous dinosaur reported from Queensland (northeast Australia). This sauropod taxon was established on the basis of several fragmentary presacral vertebrae (QM F2316) derived from the uppermost Lower Cretaceous (upper Albian) Allaru Mudstone, at a locality situated 77 km west-northwest of Richmond, Queensland. Prior to its rediscovery in 2014, the type site was considered lost after failed attempts to relocate it in the 1970s. Excavations at the site in 2014 and 2015 led to the recovery of several partial dorsal ribs and fragments of presacral vertebrae, all of which clearly pertained to a single sauropod dinosaur. The discovery of new material of the type individual of Austrosaurus mckillopi, in tandem with a reassessment of the material collected in the 1930s, has facilitated the rearticulation of the specimen. The resultant vertebral series comprises six presacral vertebrae—the posteriormost cervical and five anteriormost dorsals—in association with five left dorsal ribs and one right one. The fragmentary nature of the type specimen has historically hindered assessments of the phylogenetic affinities of Austrosaurus, as has the fact that these evaluations were often based on a subset of the type material. The reappraisal of the type series of Austrosaurus presented herein, on the basis of both external morphology and internal morphology visualized through CT data, validates it as a diagnostic titanosauriform taxon, tentatively placed in Somphospondyli, and characterized by the possession of an accessory lateral pneumatic foramen on dorsal vertebra I (a feature that appears to be autapomorphic) and by the presence of a robust ventral mid-line ridge on the centra of dorsal vertebrae I and II. The interpretation of the anteriormost preserved vertebra in Austrosaurus as a posterior cervical has also prompted the re-evaluation of an isolated, partial, posterior cervical vertebra (QM F6142, the ‘Hughenden sauropod’) from the upper Albian Toolebuc Formation (which underlies the Allaru Mudstone). Although this vertebra preserves an apparent unique character of its own (a spinopostzygapophyseal lamina fossa), it is not able to be referred unequivocally to Austrosaurus and is retained as Titanosauriformes indet. Austrosaurus mckillopi is one of the oldest known sauropods from the Australian Cretaceous based on skeletal remains and potentially provides phylogenetic and/or palaeobiogeographic context for later taxa such as Wintonotitan wattsi, Diamantinasaurus matildae and Savannasaurus elliottorum. Stephen F. Poropat* [sporopat@swin.edu.au; stephenfporopat@gmail.com] Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University of Technology, John St, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia; Jay P. Nair [j.nair@uq.edu.au; jayraptor@gmail.com] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Caitlin E. Syme [caitlin.syme@uqconnect.edu.au] School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Philip D. Mannion [philipdmannion@gmail.com] Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK; Paul Upchurch [p.upchurch@ucl.ac.uk] Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Scott A. Hocknull [scott.hocknull@qm.qld.gov.au] Geosciences, Queensland Museum, 122 Gerler Rd, Hendra, Queensland 4011, Australia; Alex G. Cook [alex.cook@y7mail.com] School of Earth Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4072, Australia; Travis R. Tischler [travisr.tischler@outlook.com] Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive, PO Box 408, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia; Timothy Holland [drtimothyholland@gmail.com] Kronosaurus Korner, 91 Goldring St, Richmond, Queensland 4822, Australia. *Also affiliated with: Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, Lot 1 Dinosaur Drive, PO Box 408, Winton, Queensland 4735, Australia.

Vandenberg, A.H.M., December 2017. Didymograptellus kremastus n. sp., a new name for the Chewtonian (mid-Floian, Lower Ordovician) graptolite D. protobifidus sensu, non. Alcheringa xx, x–x. ISSN 0311-5518. The ‘tuning-fork’ didymograptid previously referred to as Didymograpt(ell)us protobifidus is common in Victoria where it is confined to the Chewtonian (mid-Floian). Biometric differences indicate that the mid-Floian form is not conspecific with the holotype of the Darriwilian Didymograptus protobifidus Elles, 1933 and the Floian form is thus renamed Didymograptellus kremastus n. sp. Study of the Valhallfonna Formation faunas on Spitsbergen indicated that the Floian form of D. ‘protobifidus’ differs from Didymograptellus bifidus (Hall) in both its morphology and stratigraphic distribution but a later study of the Cow Head Group on Newfoundland concluded that they are one species. My study, of more than 50 specimens of Didymograptellus from the Floian of Victoria, Australia, shows that the two are different and that similar differences exist in the Cow Head Group populations of Didymograptellus. The Chewtonian (Ch1) Didymograptellus protobifidus Biozone is renamed D. kremastus Biozone. Alfons H.M. Vandenberg, [lanceolatus@hotmail.vic.gov.au], [avandenberg@museum.vic.gov.au] Museums Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne 3001, Victoria, Australia.

Yarravia oblonga is emended here and adds to our knowledge of floral diversity during the late Silurian and Early Devonian of central Victoria, Australia. Examination of specimens and analysis with light microscopy have revealed its defining characteristics as a slender elongate fructification, with most of the dichotomies in the fructification confined to the sterile axes. The sporangia of Y. oblonga are located centrally with sterile axes on the outside curving up and over the apices. The original diagnosis of a synangium is discounted as it was an artefact of preservation, and Hedeia is now considered a heterotypic synonym of Yarravia, with the latter taking priority. Furthermore, the branching pattern of Yarravia is simple and demonstrates that it does not belong with the ‘trimerophyte grade’. The presence of Yarravia in South China is of palaeophytogeographical importance, as it suggests some exchange between the two regions or is evidence of convergent evolution. Fearghus R. McSweeney* [fearghus.mcsweeney@rmit.edu.au] School of Science, RMIT University, Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia; Jeff Shimeta [jeff.shimeta@rmit.edu.au] School of Science, RMIT University, Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000, Australia; John St. J. S. Buckeridge [john.buckeridge@rmit.edu.au] Earth & Oceanic Systems Group, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Australia.

Haig, D.W., XX.XXXX.2017. Permian (Kungurian) Foraminifera from Western Australia described by Walter Parr in 1942: reassessment and additions. Alcheringa XXX, X–X. ISSN 0311-5518. Exceptionally well-preserved siliceous agglutinated Foraminifera originally recorded by Walter Parr in 1942 are redescribed and illustrated by rendered multifocal reflected-light images. Significant new observations are made on wall texture and apertural morphology. The specimens are from the Quinnanie Shale and lower Wandagee Formation in the Merlinleigh Sub-basin of the Southern Carnarvon Basin, a marginal rift that splayed from the East Gondwana interior rift. During the Early Permian, a restricted shallow sea inundated the rift. The formations are part of sequence III of the Byro Group and belong within the Kungurian Stage (Cisuralian, Lower Permian). Of the 14 agglutinated species described by Parr, six are retained under their original names, viz., Hyperammina coleyi Parr, 1942 Parr, W.J., 1942. Foraminifera and a tubicolous worm from the Permian of the North-West Division of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 27, 97–115. [Google Scholar], H. rudis Parr, 1942 Parr, W.J., 1942. Foraminifera and a tubicolous worm from the Permian of the North-West Division of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 27, 97–115. [Google Scholar], Ammodiscus nitidus Parr, 1942 Parr, W.J., 1942. Foraminifera and a tubicolous worm from the Permian of the North-West Division of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 27, 97–115. [Google Scholar], A. wandageeensis Parr, 1942 Parr, W.J., 1942. Foraminifera and a tubicolous worm from the Permian of the North-West Division of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 27, 97–115. [Google Scholar], Tolypammina undulata Parr, 1942 Parr, W.J., 1942. 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Camilleri, T.A., Warne, M.T., Holloway, D.J. & Weldon, E.A., 10 May 2019. Revision of the ostracod genus Velibeyrichia Henningsmoen, 1954 from the Silurian and Lower Devonian of North America. Alcheringa XXX, X–X. ISSN 0311-5518. Known occurrences of the ostracod genus Velibeyrichia are restricted to a number of Silurian to Lower Devonian geological strata in North America: the McKenzie Member of the Mifflintown Formation of Maryland and West Virginia; the Tonoloway Limestone of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the Bloomsburg Formation of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania; the Manlius Limestone of New York; and the Decker Limestone of New Jersey and New York. The genus includes six species: V. moodeyi (type species), V. mesleri, V. paucigranulosa, V. reticulosaccula, V. tonolowayensis and V. tricornia. The diagnostic combination of characters for this genus are: distinct deflection of the velum where it crosses the crumina in heteromorphs (adult female specimens), dorsal nodes on lobes L1 and L3, sexual dimorphism of the velum, and in tecnomorph specimens, either a shallow sulcus on lobe L3 or a zygal ridge (in adult tecnomorph specimens) extending from lobe L2 to lobe L3. The presence of one or the other of the latter two characters defines two distinct species groups. Tamara T.A. Camilleri* [tamara.camilleri@deakin.edu.au], Mark T. Warne* [mark.warne@deakin.edu.au] and Elizabeth A. Weldon [l.weldon@deakin.edu.au], Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences & Centre for Integrative Ecology (Melbourne Campus), 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia; David J. Holloway [dhollow@museum.vic.gov.au], Museums Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia. *Also affiliated with: Museums Victoria, GPO Box 666, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia.