New starfish (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) from the Cenomanian and Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) of Seine-Maritime (France) and a revision of Cretaceous stauranderasterid genera

The asteroid fauna from the upper lower Campanian rocky coastline at Ivö Klack is described, and its palaeoecology is discussed in comparison with other Cretaceous and present-day shallow-marine assemblages. Twenty-six taxa are recorded, belonging predominantly to the Goniasteridae (11 species), with smaller representatives of the families Podosphaerasteridae (4 taxa), Astropectinidae (3 taxa), Forcipulatida (2 taxa), Pterasteridae, Korethrasteridae, Pseudarchasteridae, Pycinasteridae, Asterinidae, and Stauranderasteridae (all one species each). Five new genera are described (Scaniasterina, type species S. surlyki sp. nov.; Granulasterias, type species G. ivoensis sp. nov.; Rugametopaster, type species Metopaster rugissimus Gale, 1987a; Ivoaster, type species I. soerensenae sp. nov. and Vectisaster, type species V. enigmaticus sp. nov.). In addition, new species erected include Astropecten erectus sp. nov., Manfredaster graveseni sp. nov., Metopaster asgaardae sp. nov., Nymphaster macrogranularis sp. nov., N. minigranularis sp. nov., Pycinaster christenseni sp. nov. and Remaster cretaceus sp. nov. Metopaster tamarae Gale, 1987a, is transferred to the genus Weitschataster Neumann and Girod, 2018. The asteroid fauna shows marked similarities to a Cenomanian–Turonian assemblage from rocky shorelines in the Bohemian Basin, Czech Republic, but differs in important respects from present-day shallow-marine asteroid assemblages from around the world.

R. P. W. Stancliffe, W. A. S. Sarjeant, The Complex Chorate Dinoflagellate Cysts of the Bathonian to Oxfordian (Jurassic): Their Taxonomy and Stratigraphic Significance, Micropaleontology, Vol. 36, No. 3 (1990), pp. 197-228

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A Late Cretaceous terebratulid brachiopod from Jamaica, and its significance for Mesozoic brachiopod palaeobiogeography and evolution

Palynology of Upper Cretaceous (uppermost Campanian–Maastrichtian) deposits in the South Yellow Sea Basin, offshore Korea

How does the choice of size metric, specimen selection, and taxonomic level affect the results of macroevolutionary or ecological analyses? Four molluscan data sets are used to address this question as follows. First, the relationships among various size metrics are examined using a morphometric data set of Late Cretaceous–Oligocene veneroid bivalves. Second, the relationship between the size of bulk-sampled specimens and the size of species' type specimens is examined using bulk-sampled bivalves and gastropods from the Coffee Sand (Upper Cretaceous, Mississippi). Third, the same relationship is examined using mollusk-dominated field censuses from the type Cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky). Fourth, the relationship between the size of the type species of a genus and median species size is examined using literature-derived measurements of bivalve type specimens from the recent eastern Pacific continental shelf. Together these data sets provide estimates of the biases imposed by measuring different kinds of specimens and using different methods of estimating body size. The geometric mean of length and height is highly correlated with more complex morphometrically based metrics and is our preferred bivalve size metric. Bulk or randomly sampled specimens are significantly smaller than species' type specimens for the Cretaceous dataset but significantly larger for the Ordovician dataset. Genus' type-species size is an unbiased estimate of median species size. These results suggest that large-scale studies can use the size of the type species of a genus as an unbiased proxy for a type-specimen size of a genus' median species, but that species' type-specimen size is a biased proxy for bulk or randomly sampled specimens. In addition, this study emphasizes the importance of using a single type of measurement within studies and suggests that combining multiple types of specimens (e.g., type specimens and bulk-sampled specimens) could lead to substantive errors.

The fossil species Monosulcites prominatus was described from Early Eocene sediments in Canterbury, New Zealand. It resembles the pollen of the mangrove palm Nypa fruticans. Subsequently, the new genus Spinizonocolpites was proposed with a type species, S. echinatus, which we consider to be a junior synonym of S. prominatus. However, S. prominatus has not always been recognised as the type species, with many authors deferring to the ‘original’ type, S. echinatus. Some 37 species of Spinizonocolpites have been described, though several are undoubtedly synonyms. Many have an affinity to Nypa and the earliest appeared in the Late Cretaceous, especially in northern South America, Africa, India and Borneo. The Indian subcontinent appears to have been the global centre of diversity of Nypa-like species during the Paleocene with a high diversity of Spinizonocolpites species. Nypa was most widespread globally during the Eocene, but the onset of global cooling in the late Middle Eocene resulted in the ultimate range contraction to Northern Australia, the Indonesian Archipelago, the Philippine Islands and China present day. The presence of Nypa pollen in sediment samples indicates a mangrove environment of muddy, slow moving tidal estuaries or rivers influenced by fresh and brackish waters.

The very common and species-rich Scleractinian genus Actinastrea (family Actinastraeidae, suborder Archeocaeniina) is revised on the basis of the type material of its type species and additional material from the type locality. A lectotype is designated for the type species. It was discovered that Jurassic to Early Cretaceous corals currently assigned to Actinastrea do not fit into the concept of this genus. These species belong to the genus Stelidioseris, which is also revised on the basis of the type of the type species, including designating a lectotype. These two genera are distinguished by various characteristics: septal external parts are swollen in Actinastrea but not in Stelidioseris, the costae are confluent in Stelidioseris but not in Actinastrea, the coenosteum is granulated in Actinastrea but narrow than in Actinastrea and only with costae in Stelidioseris. Actinastrea is restricted to the Late Cretaceous (Late Turonian—Maastrichtian), whereas Stelidioseris originates in the Jurassic and reaches into the Late Cretaceous, but is less common from the Turonian on.

A group of asteropygine trilobites with 10 thoracic segments from the lower Emsian to lowermost Eifelian of western Europe and northwest Africa is deemed monophyletic. Available names for this clade are Hollardops Morzadec, 1997, Philipsmithiana Lieberman & Kloc, 1997, Modellops Lieberman & Kloc, 1997 and Pennarbedops Bignon & Crônier, 2013, the first of which has priority. Well-preserved Hollardops specimens from southern Morocco have revealed previously undescribed details of the mineralised exoskeleton that are interpreted here as coaptative and sensory devices. It is proposed that Hollardops, like many other asteropygines, practised a dual mode of coaptation: fully locked enrolment was alternated with a retracted pygidium, allowing temporary influx of oxygenated seawater and excretion through slits between the pygidial lappets. This putative ‘breathing device’ enabled the trilobite to remain enrolled for a longer period of time while maintaining vital body functions. A poor understanding of the problematic type species of Hollardops, H. mesocristatus (Le Maître, 1952), has clouded actual diversity in Algeria and Morocco. Hollardops klugi sp. nov. is the oldest known member of the genus and extends its confirmed stratigraphic range into the lower Emsian. Two species, H. kyriarchos sp. nov. and H. multatuli sp. nov., are recorded from just above the base of the upper Emsian. Additionally, H. angustifrons sp. nov., H. luscus sp. nov. and the first well-preserved specimens of H. boudibensis Morzadec, 2001 are recorded from the upper Emsian. The types of H. hyfinkeli (Lieberman & Kloc, 1997) and H. burtandmimiae (Lieberman & Kloc, 1997) are refigured and original species concepts reiterated. Feruminops Haas, 1968, including its junior subjective synonym Morzadecops Bignon & Crônier, 2013, from the lower Emsian of Morocco and Türkiye, may comprise the sister group of Hollardops. Additionally, the enrolment strategies and systematics of several other members of Asteropyginae are discussed. Platykardiapyge gen. nov. (type species: Metacanthina maderensis Morzadec, 2001) is erected for a group of Pragian–early Emsian asteropygines from Morocco, Spain and Türkiye with a widely heart-shaped pygidium and comparatively many pygidial pleurae, among other features. Bignonops gen. nov. (type species: Kayserops tamnrhertus Chatterton et al., 2006) is erected for some species previously included in Gandlops Bignon & Crônier, 2013. Minicryphaeus suavius sp. nov. is described from the lower Emsian of Morocco. The identity and generic affinity of the oldest known asteropygine, Ganetops gdoumontensis (Asselberghs, 1930) from the Pridolian of Belgium, are discussed.

Water crickets of the subfamily Haloveliinae are semi‐aquatic bugs occurring in freshwater and marine habitats throughout the Indo‐Australian region, presently including six genera with more than 80 extant species. Whether lineage diversification in Haloveliinae is associated with the utilization of new ecological niches caused by transition events between freshwater and marine habitats remains poorly understood. We investigate the evolutionary history of Haloveliinae using large‐scale phylogenomic datasets and a set of novel redefined morphological characters based on 24 ingroup taxa representing all recognized genera. Our phylogenetic results based on the novel datasets definitively indicate that the freshwater genus Strongylovelia Esaki as currently defined is paraphyletic and supports the establishment of a new genus: Metavelia gen. nov., including three congeneric species: Metavelia patiooni comb. nov. (type species), Metavelia priori comb. nov. and Metavelia albicolli comb. nov. Reconstruction of ancestral habitats suggests a freshwater origin for the Haloveliinae. Divergence time estimations reveal that the origin of the monophyletic marine clade occurred at around 83 Ma (95% highest posterior density: 71–98 Ma) in the Late Cretaceous, involving a single transition event from freshwater to marine habitats. This time coincides with the period of high global sea levels in the Late Cretaceous. During this period, the marine incursions caused by the massive sea level rise flooded the continental margins, especially in Southeast Asia, where ancestral Haloveliinae were probably distributed. The appearance of new marine habitats after the marine incursions (e.g., intertidal, mangroves and estuarine) probably led to a subsequent establishment and diversification of the marine lineages.

A Paleocene occurrence of cornelian cherries Cornus subg. Cornus in the land-mammal site of Berru (Paris Basin, France)

A new species of Gladiopycnodus (Coccodontoidea, Pycnodontomorpha) from the Cretaceous of Lebanon provides new insights about the morphological diversification of pycnodont fishes through time

Five Cenomanian successions, situated in contrasting positions within the Anglo-Paris Basin and on its margins, are described in detail, and their sequence stratigraphies analyzed and compared. The Cenomanian Stage was chosen specifically for this study because of the high biostratigraphical resolution (about 0.5 my/zone/subzone) achievable for this stage by the use of ammonites. The successions in Kent (south east England) and the Boulonnais (north east France) are the most basinward in position and comprise rhythmically bedded argillaceous micrites (chalks and marls) with few major hiatuses. The thinner succession of coarser carbonates in Normandy (north west France) contains larger gaps. The succession in Maine (north west France) was deposited in relatively shallow water near the basin margin and includes several sand bodies and well-developed hardgrounds. The highly condensed succession of sandy limestones, containing major hardground-bounded hiatuses in Devon (south west England) represents deposition closest to the basin margin. Systems tracts are characterized and defined by diverse criteria, including geometry of sediment bodies, basin margin onlap, discontinuity surfaces (omission surfaces and hardgrounds) and lithological characters, including variations in quartz sand content, clay:carbonate ratios and the presence of authigenic glauconite and phosphate. Detailed comparison of the successions enables us to demonstrate the existence of five basinwide sequences and the lower part of a sixth.

Enamel dentition microstructure of Mariliasuchus amarali (Crocodyliformes, Notosuchia), from the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian–Santonian) of the Bauru Basin, Brazil

A new fossil frog (Lissamphibia: Anura) from the Late Cretaceous of Brazil and the early evolution of neobatrachians