We document for the first time Miocene corals from the Siamaná and Jimol formations of the Cocinetas Basin in La Guajira Peninsula, northern Colombia. This is the first of two contributions dedicated to the description and detailed illustration of morphospecies collected during two scientific expeditions (2011, 2014) to the remote region. Here we report coral morphospecies attributed to the families Acroporidae, Agathiphylliidae, Astrocoeniidae, Caryophylliidae, Diploastraeidae, Merulinidae, and Montastraeidae. Eighteen species belonging to these seven families, included in nine genera, are described. Fifteen species are assigned to established taxa, while three remain in open nomenclature. Of the species identified, only Montastraea cavernosa (Linnaeus, 1767) exists today. The coral taxa described are typical of the Oligocene–Miocene transition and were important components of shallow-water reefs in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico region during this period. The occurrence of Agathiphyllia spp., Antiguastrea, and Diploastrea spp. confirms the presence of these genera in the Miocene of the Southern Caribbean. Coral assemblages suggest that the La Guajira coral community thrived in calm and shallow waters.

The genus Falsolikanella, introduced by Granier (1987), was based on the basal Cretaceous species Likanella campanensis Azéma and Jaffrezo (1972) and assigned to the tribe Diploporeae (Pia, 1920) emend. Güvenc, 1979 within the green alga order Dasycladales. Later, other species were assigned to Falsolikanella. Sections of the type specimens of Likanella campanensis are reviewed. They show that in this species, the arrangement of the laterals is not metaspondyl, but typical of the genus Actinoporella (Gümbel in Alth, 1882) emend Conrad, Praturlon, and Radoičić, 1974, with coronae arising from a single primary lateral. Therefore, the species is assigned to the genus Actinoporella within the tribe Acetabularieae Decaisne, 1842, family Polyphysaceae Kützing, 1843, and the generic attribution of other species previously assigned to Falsolikanella is discussed.

Ordovician material from the Platteville Formation (Sandbian) of southern Wisconsin and Big Hill Formation (Katian) of northern Michigan is described that provides novel information about the phylogenetic affinity, taxonomic diversity, and stratigraphic range of the nonbiomineralized taxa Buthograptus, Callithamnopsis, and Chaetocladus. Two new species of Buthograptus, a previously monotypic genus, are erected on the basis of the Platteville Formation material, Buthograptus gundersoni n. sp. and B. meyeri n. sp., and new occurrences of B. laxus are recorded from several localities and two distinct stratigraphic levels within this unit. On the basis of scanning electron microscopic investigation of the material and the fact that each of the three Buthograptus species has a close counterpart in the frond morphology of an extant species of Caulerpa, Buthograptus is interpreted as a member of the green algal order Bryopsidales. New specimens from the Platteville Formation assigned to Callithamnopsis reveal new morphological details for the type species, C. fruticosa (Hall, 1865), aspects of which indicate that the genus belongs to the family Triploporellaceae rather than Seletonellaceae within the green algal order Dasycladales, and Chaetocladus material from the Big Hill Formation includes specimens that are formally assigned to Chaetocladus dubius (Spencer, 1884), a species of dasycladalean alga known previously only from the mid-Silurian of Ontario.

Twelve rugose coral species belonging to seven genera are described and discussed based on 70 thin sections of 32 specimens collected from the Anarak section, northeast of Nain, Esfahan Province, Yazd Block, central Iran. These species include two new colonial rugose coral species, Antheria fedorowskii and Antheria robusta, and five previously named species of colonial rugose corals, Antheria lanceolata and Streptophyllidium scitulum, and solitary rugose corals, Arctophyllum jiangsiense, Caninophyllum cf. somtaiense, and Pseudotimania delicata. Five species are left in open nomenclature: Antheria sp., Arctophyllum sp., Caninophyllum sp., Nephelophyllum sp., and Yakovleviella sp. These Iranian corals are associated with the fusulinids Rauserites (several species) and Ultradaixina bosbytauensis, indicating a latest Carboniferous age (Gzhelian age). All the described genera and named species belong to the families Aulophyllidae, Bothrophyllidae, Cyathopsidae, and Kepingophyllidae, among which the family Kepingophyllidae has been previously documented only from China and Indochina. They are typical representatives of the Cathaysian rugose fauna, which was widely developed around the South China and Indochina blocks near the paleoequator and was absent from the Gondwanan and Cimmerian continents in high latitudes during the Late Pennsylvanian. Hence, the occurrence of the Cathaysian fauna from central Iran in the latest Carboniferous suggests that it may have had a close biogeographical connection with China and Indochina, which further implies its latitudinal position intermediate between the Gondwanan continent and South China and Indochina blocks during this time.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/5257d2bb-1346-4dee-8f3e-f4b1b33ba5a9

The sponges may be the oldest group of Metazoa, with a long and successful evolutionary history. Despite their intermittent fossil record quality, the group has been considered reliable for paleoecological and paleobiogeographic analyses because they have inhabited various types of aquatic environments, forming a significant part of benthic communities. We have presented a detailed description of a new species from the genus Teganiella, Teganiella finksi new species, which expands the chronologic range and classifies the genus as endemic to the paleoequatorial regions of Laurentia associated with arid climate conditions linked to hypersaline periods. Combining the paleoecological and paleoenvironmental features of the Teganiella species, our findings also suggest a trend toward more closed-inlet conditions, which may be related to competition and/or specific habitat supplies, for example, heavy metals such as vanadium, zinc, and molybdenum.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/12901a63-7cd5-4207-ac7a-0ce12649fcaf

The lower-middle Hetang Formation (Cambrian Stage 2–3) deposited in slope-basinal facies in South China is well known for its preservation of the earliest articulated sponge fossils, providing an important taphonomic window into the Cambrian Explosion. However, the Hetang Formation also hosts a number of problematic animal fossils that have not been systematically described. This omission results in an incomplete picture of the Hetang biota and limits its contribution to the understanding of the early evolution of animals. Here we describe a new animal taxon, Cambrowania ovata Tang and Xiao, new genus new species, from the middle Hetang Formation in the Lantian area of southern Anhui Province, South China. Specimens are preserved as carbonaceous compressions, although some are secondarily mineralized. A comprehensive analysis using reflected light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and micro-CT reveals that the new species is characterized by a spheroidal to fusoidal truss-like structure consisting of rafter-like crossbars, some of which are secondarily baritized and may have been internally hollow. Some specimens have aperture-like structures that are broadly similar to oscula of sponges, whereas others show evidence of a medial split reminiscent of gaping carapaces. While the phylogenetic affinity of Cambrowania ovata Tang and Xiao, n. gen. n. sp. remains problematic, we propose that it may represent carapaces of bivalved arthropods or more likely sponges in early life stages. Along with other problematic metazoan fossils such as hyolithids and sphenothallids, Cambrowania ovata Tang and Xiao, n. gen. n. sp. adds to the diversity of the sponge-dominated Hetang biota in an early Cambrian deepwater slope-basinal environment.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/44de9472-7e3f-42d1-9554-7b3434df91d9

Agetolites is a problematic Late Ordovician genus possessing traits of both tabulate and rugose corals. The presence of numerous mural pores has often been considered to indicate a relation to tabulates, although an affinity to rugosans has also been proposed, based mainly on well-developed septa that alternate in length. To further consider the taxonomic position of Agetolites, growth characteristics of coralla representing three species from the Xiazhen Formation in South China are documented and assessed, focusing on modes of corallite increase. Three major modes of increase are recognized. By far the most common mode involves the development of an offset from a connective mural pore, without a clear relationship to a particular parent corallite. This mode of increase is usually associated with corner pores, but in one case occurs at a wall pore. The lateral mode of increase, which is relatively uncommon, is a typical feature in corallites along the boundary of intergrowths with stromatoporoids. The axial mode of increase is rare, occurring during rejuvenation of a damaged corallite or during regeneration following termination of a corallite. The mode of corallite increase that is characteristic of Agetolites, involving a connective mural pore and occurring without evidence of a particular parent, supports the interpretation that this genus is not a rugosan or a typical favositid tabulate. Mural pores are unknown in rugosans, and offsets arise from distinct parent corallites in favositids. The Ordovician genus Lichenaria, considered a representative of the most primitive stock of tabulate corals, shows the closest similarities with types of increase in Agetolites. Certain aspects of lateral and axial increase in Agetolites are comparable to features in a few more genera of Ordovician tabulates, further supporting a tabulate affinity. The phylogenetic relation of Agetolites to those and other tabulate genera, however, remains unresolved.

In this contribution we describe and illustrate 14 coral morphospecies collected from the early Miocene Siamaná (Aquitanian–Burdigalian) and Jimol (late Burdigalian) formations of the Cocinetas Basin in La Guajira Peninsula, northern Colombia. Eleven were identified as already established species including seven genera belonging to the families Mussidae, Pocilloporidae, Poritidae, Siderastreidae, and Milleporidae; the other three remain in open nomenclature. Nine of the 11 species identified (81%) are extinct. The remaining two living species, Siderastrea siderea and Millepora alcicornis, are common on modern Caribbean reefs. Their presence in the Siamaná Formation extends their temporal range in the Caribbean region to the early Miocene. Most of the taxa described here were hermatypic and zooxanthellate corals of the order Scleractinia, with the exception of the fire coral Millepora alcicornis, of the order Anthothecata, family Milleporidae. The coral fauna recorded in the Siamaná and Jimol formations is typical of shallow and calm waters of the Oligocene–Miocene transition.

The new endemic genus Neuquemya, from Pliensbachian deposits in west-central Argentina, is here described and tentatively referred to the Cuspidariidae on account of its shell characters. The new species Neuquemya leanzaorum has a thin, inflated shell, rounded anteriorly and rostrate posteriorly, with a narrow posterodorsal gape and opisthogyrous umbones. The hinge region bears small cardinal tubercles. The shell is ornamented by commarginal (anterior) and radial (posterior) sculpture, whereas the rostrum is smooth. The general and detailed characters of the shell are thus very similar to those of living cuspidariids. Cuspidariids are extremely specialized bivalves with special features related to their carnivorous habit. Their fossil record is scarce, and their phylogeny is poorly understood. Because a few key shell characters and all soft body features of the new genus are unavailable, the alternative possibility that his taxon could be a remarkable example of a homoeomorphic shell cannot be dismissed. If actually a cuspidariid, Neuquemya n. gen. becomes the oldest known member of the family ca. 100 Myr older than the Late Cretaceous records unequivocally accepted and supports the argument that the origin of the group is much older than its known fossil record. The possible relationships of the new genus with other poorly known Mesozoic genera are discussed. Although septibranchs in general and cuspidariids in particular are now conspicuous elements of deep-sea faunas, this new genus inhabited nearshore environments of the Neuquén Basin.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/8adbd45b-c9c6-4f57-bcfc-c13e5f9182eb

Vase-shaped microfossils (VSMs) occur in dolostone clasts within conglomerates, breccias, and diamictites of the Neoproterozoic Urucum Formation, Jacadigo Group, southwest Brazil. Although their taphonomic history is distinct from those of other VSM assemblages, morphometric comparison of Urucum fossils with five others described previously from North America and Europe show that two of the Urucum species—the long-necked Limeta lageniformis Morais, Fairchild, and Lahr in Morais et al., 2017 and the funnel-necked Palaeoamphora urucumense Morais et al., 2017—occur in the Kwagunt and Callison Lake assemblages, as does Pakupaku kabin Riedman, Porter, and Calver, 2017 recently described from the Togari Group, Tasmania. Obelix rootsii (Cohen, Irvine, and Strauss, 2017) new combination, previously known only from the Callison Lake Formation, is documented here from the Kwagunt Formation. In addition, Trigonocyrillium horodyskii (Bloeser, 1985) and Bonniea dacruchares Porter, Meisterfeld, and Knoll, 2003, first described from the Kwagunt assemblage, have now been found in the Urucum Formation. In light of this survey, 16 of the 18 validly described VSM species are now known to occur in the Kwagunt Formation and 13 in the Callison Lake Formation, with 12 of them shared by both formations. The fact that the Urucum VSM assemblage exhibits six of seven species in common with the Kwagunt Formation—L. lageniformis, P. urucumense, Cycliocyrillium simplex Porter, Meisterfeld, and Knoll, 2003, C. torquata Porter, Meisterfeld, and Knoll, 2003, B. dacruchares Porter, Meisterfeld, and Knoll, 2003, and T. horodyskii (Bloeser, 1985)—and all but the last of these in common with the Callison Lake Formation supports correlation of these three assemblages and indicates that the source of the fossiliferous clasts within the Urucum Formation may well have been a now-vanished late Tonian carbonate platform.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/ac0becd6-29ff-4491-80fa-0291730fba65

Based on multivariate morphometric analysis, Halysites catenularius is identified from the Rumba Formation (Telychian) and Jaagarahu Formation (Sheinwoodian) of Estonia; H. priscus is confirmed as a junior synonym. Halysites catenularius, H. junior, and H. senior are shown to be closely related; H. catenularius is morphologically intermediate. Cyclomorphism in H. catenularius, recorded by fluctuations of corallite tabularial area, indicates an average annual growth rate of 6.0 mm, which is typical for halysitids. Tubules in H. catenularius, generated from small intramural openings between adjacent corallites, were involved in two types of interstitial increase. The intramural openings, three types of lateral increase, temporary agglutinated patches of corallites, and axial increase documented in H. catenularius resemble features in some species of Catenipora. These similarities are consistent with the interpretation that Halysites evolved from Catenipora. Evaluation of the possibility that both genera are polyphyletic will require further detailed analysis of additional species.

The morphology and growth habits of Evactinopora species of the Evactinoporidae (new family) are documented. This distinctive family of free-living bryozoans has a radial colony form at all growth stages. During a brief attachment phase on a hard substrate, the colony morphology grew as an expanding cone with vertical folds. Following detachment of the nascent colony from this hard substrate, it settled on soft sediment and the free-living expanding colony acquired a star-like form by producing slender outrigger rays. Continued growth produced a radial array of vertical vanes containing feeding autozooecia. The colony maintained a vertical orientation on soft sediment by means of outrigger rays and secretion of solid skeleton on the colony base that provided ballast. The radial growth pattern, outrigger rays, and vertical vanes developed as adaptive characters suitable for free-living life on soft sediment. North American species of Evactinopora are redefined and described taxonomically on the basis of zoarial and zooecial characters and a new species, Evactinopora mangeri, erected. The new family Evactinoporidae is established on the basis of the novel characters of early colony detachment from a hard surface, radial growth pattern through life, generation of outrigger rays, and growth of vertical vanes from the top of rays.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/d2cf3b6d-72d2-49d5-afa0-c08710af7874

The atrypide brachiopod Schachriomonia is documented here for the first time from the upper Katian Hadabulaktag Formation on the northeastern edge of Tarim Basin in Northwest China. These shells are conspecific with the earlier reported Rhynchotrema pentagonia Fang in Liu and Fang, 1990 from the same region. This species is most similar to Schachriomonia parva Popov et al., 1999 described from the Upper Ordovician of the Chu-Ili and Chingiz terranes and less closely resembles species from North and South China, indicating a close paleogeographic connection between these plates and terranes and Tarim during the Late Ordovician. Its dominance at three horizons in the study area may indicate that this species was an opportunistic colonizer of the seafloor following ecological disruption, or alternatively that the larvae were substrate-selective. Variation in shell shape from a nearly circular shell outline with a dorsal sulcus and ventral fold in the smallest shells to a wider outline with a more reversed dorsal fold and ventral sulcus in the largest is an example of ontogenic development. This may have been an adaptation to accommodate the growing lophophore or development of gonads in the mantle cavity over the life of the brachiopod. A stronger tooth-socket connection in larger shells strengthened the hinge area to better withstand the stresses caused by the mass of a larger shell.

Lower to probably Middle Devonian bryozoans from western Argentina are reported. Five genera of trepostomes: Leptotrypa, Leptotrypella, Eridotrypella, Cyphotrypa, Boardmanella, and the cryptostome ?Pseudonematopora are described and figured. The paleobiogeographical significance of these bryozoans was analyzed in the context of Southern Gondwana during the Devonian. The group was considered as nearly absent from southwestern marine basins. In contrast with highly endemic groups, supporting the recognition of the Malvinokaffric Realm in this region, bryozoans reported are nearly cosmopolitan. The presence of those genera typical of warm-temperate, carbonate settings from low paleolatitudes, such as the Laurentian-European Eridotrypella, Leptotrypa, and Leptotrypella, or the Eurasians Boardmanella and ?Pseudonematopora, implies that these taxa were euritopic with remarkable capabilities for dispersion to reach high-latitude siliciclastic environments of the Southwestern Gondwanan basins.

Ascocerid cephalopods are described for the first time from high paleolatitudes of Gondwana. Studied material was collected from the Hirnantian?–Llandovery strata of the Eusebio Ayala and Vargas Peña formations, Paraná Basin, southeastern Paraguay. The specimens are poorly preserved and were questionably assigned to the subfamily Probillingsitinae Flower, 1941, being undetermined at genus and species rank because diagnostic characters are not visible. A particular feature seen in our material is the presence of both parts of the ascocerid conch (the juvenile or cyrtocone and the mature or brevicone) joined together, which is a very rare condition in the known paleontological record. The specimens are interpreted as at a subadult stage of development because fully grown ascocerids would have lost the juvenile shell. A planktonic vertical migrant mode of life with a subvertical attitude is proposed for the juvenile, and a horizontal demersal nektonic mode for the adult form, as has been previously suggested. A subvertical orientation near the bottom is proposed for the subadult stage. We suggest that the immigration of ascocerids to southwestern Gondwana was possible through ocean currents that would carry the planktonic juveniles from low to high latitudes during the end-Ordovician postglacial transgression that flooded the intracratonic basins of the region.

Thirteen bryozoan species are described from the Brewer Dock (Hickory Corners) Member of the Reynales Formation (lower Silurian, Aeronian) at the locality Hickory Corners in western New York, USA. Three species are new: trepostomes Homotrypa niagarensis n. sp. and Leioclema adsuetum n. sp. and the rhabdomesine cryptostome Moyerella parva n. sp. Only one species, Hennigopora apta Perry and Hattin, 1960, developed obligatory encrusting colonies whereas the others produced erect ramose colonies of various thicknesses and shapes: cylindrical, branched, and lenticular. Bryozoans display high abundance and richness within the rock. This fauna is characteristic of a moderately agitated environment with a stable substrate. The identified species reveal paleobiogeographic connections to other Silurian localities of New York as well as Ohio and Indiana (USA) and Anticosti (Canada).

UUID: http://zoobank.org/c24f3184-4a8e-44c4-b6c0-d30433e841c9

The rugose corals described in this study were collected from the Gyanyima section in the Ngari region of southwestern Tibet (Xizang) and are assigned to three genera and 11 species, including a new genus and seven new species: Waagenophyllum (Waagenophyllum) ngariense He, 1990; W. (W.) elegantulum He in Luo et al., 1989; W. (W.) minutum Zhao, 1981; W. (W.) tachtabulasicum Ilyina, 1997; W. (W.) gyanyimaense n. sp., W. (W.) intermedium n. sp., Waagenophyllum (Liangshanophyllum) clisicolumellum n. sp., Ipciphyllum naoticum n. sp., I. floricolumellum n. sp., I. zandaense n. sp., and Gyanyimaphyllum crassiseptatum n. gen. n. sp. Ontogeny and intraspecific variation are given special attention when describing and discussing these taxa. Coral reefs, with Waagenophyllum as the major skeletal reef builder, occur in several horizons in the uppermost part of the section. The accompanying foraminifers indicate the rugose coral fauna is a late Permian Changhsingian age. Therefore, this is possibly one of the latest Permian rugose coral reefs in the world known up to now.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/b9e621cb-197d-4208-8267-14d62f382a1b

An assemblage of Cambrian Series 2, Stages 3–4, conchiferan mollusks from the Shackleton Limestone, Transantarctic Mountains, East Antarctica, is formally described and illustrated. The fauna includes one bivalve, one macromollusk, and 10 micromollusks, including the first description of the species Xinjispira simplex Zhou and Xiao, 1984 outside North China. The new fauna shows some similarity to previously described micromollusks from lower Cambrian glacial erratics from the Antarctic Peninsula. The fauna, mainly composed of steinkerns, is relatively low diversity, but the presence of diagnostic taxa, including helcionelloid Davidonia rostrata (Zhou and Xiao, 1984), bivalve Pojetaia runnegari Jell, 1980, cambroclavid Cambroclavus absonus Conway Morris in Bengtson et al., 1990, and bradoriid Spinospitella coronata Skovsted et al., 2006, as well as the botsfordiid brachiopod Schizopholis yorkensis (Ushatinskaya and Holmer in Gravestock et al., 2001), in the overlying Holyoake Formation correlates the succession to the Dailyatia odyssei Zone (Cambrian Stages 3–4) in South Australia.

The Chilean species traditionally assigned to the genera Chlamys Röding, 1798 or Zygochlamys Ihering, 1907 are now placed in two new endemic South American taxa: Dietotenhosen n. gen. (middle Miocene–early middle Pliocene), to include the southeastern Pacific Ocean species D. hupeanus (Philippi, 1887) n. comb. and D. remondi (Philippi, 1887) n. comb., and Ckaraosippur n. gen. (earliest middle Miocene–Pliocene), for C. calderensis (Möricke, 1896) n. comb. (Chile) and C. camachoi n. sp. (Argentina). Both genera are the youngest survivors of the tribe Chlamydini in southern South America. None of them is related to the circumpolar genus Psychrochlamys Jonkers, 2003, and the previous proposal of the dispersal through the Antarctic Circumpolar Current for the species included herein in Dietotenhosen is rejected.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/61b4bb50-321f-4b78-9069-609178ef0817

The Glen Rose and Walnut formations of southcentral and northcentral Texas comprise shallow-water carbonates deposited during the late Aptian to middle Albian on a carbonate platform. The formations are famous for their rich fossil faunas. Although bryozoans are absent in late Aptian sediments, they are frequently found encrusting bivalve shells from the early to middle Albian parts of these formations. Here, we describe the cyclostome bryozoan fauna, which includes six species; Stomatopora sp., Oncousoecia khirar n. sp., Reptomultisparsa mclemoreae n. sp., Hyporosopora keera n. sp., Mesonopora bernardwalteri n. sp., and ?Unicavea sp. Most cyclostomes are found encrusting rudist shells from Unit 2 of the Lower Member of the Glen Rose Formation and units 3 and 6 of the Upper Member of the Glen Rose Formation.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/4380dcb5-63b2-4aa9-959c-09eb6b03831f