Devonian Of Poland Research Articles

Affinities of Palaeozoic encrusting ascodictyid ‘pseudobryozoans’

Small encrusting marine organisms belonging to the genera Ascodictyon, Eliasopora and Vinella were originally described as ctenostome bryozoans. Well-preserved ascodictyid specimens from the Early and Middle Devonian of Poland allow us to exclude such an affinity due to the absence of any aperture in the ascodictyid vesicles for the protrusion or withdrawal of the lophophore during feeding. The ctenostome bryozoans are soft-bodied, but the ascodictyid vesicles and filaments have calcified walls. Reinterpretation of Eliasopora stellata (Nicholson & Etheridge, 1877), Eliasopora sparsiforme (Kiepura, 1965) and ‘Ascodictyon’ venustum Kiepura, 1965, provides a basis for the recognition of a new group of extinct Palaeozoic organisms, defined by a combination of morphological features including the presence of a thread-like network of perforate branching filaments, perforate vesicles formed by swollen tips of the filaments, and the ability of filaments to fuse. This distinguishes Ascodictyidae from all other known extant microorganisms. The shape, size and perforated walls of vesicles make ascodictyids similar to the Palaeozoic tuberitinid ‘foraminifers’. It remains to be determined which morphology is plesiomorphic and which is derived.

Syndesmorion gen. nov.—A coenobial alga of Chlorococcalean affinity from the continental Permian–Triassic deposits of Dalongkou section, Xinjiang Province, China

Abundant algal remains, represented by at least five different types of coenobia, have been recovered from continental sediments of the upper lower Guodikeng Formation, from the North Limb of Dalongkou Anticline, Xinjiang Province, China. Some of these forms have been recognized in assemblages from lower Triassic sediments of Poland, Germany, and Australia. The preservation of the Chinese material shows that all these planar, coenobial morphotypes belong to one natural species within the Order Chlorococcales. They are assigned to the genus Syndesmorion gen. nov., type species S. stellatum (Fijałkowska) comb. nov. Algal remains, described as Bijugum by Wood and Turnau in 2001, from the Devonian of Poland are planer and have comparable elongate coenobia but lack star-shaped and reticulate coenobia of Syndesmorion gen. nov. and so the genera are maintained separately.

Maksymilianites, a new name forSyringella Nowiński, 1970 (Anthozoa, Tabulata) preoccupied bySyringella Schmidt, 1868 (Porifera)

A new name,Maksymilianites nom. nov. is proposed as a replacing name forSyringellaNowinski, 1970 (Anthozoa, Tabulata), monospecific genus from the Middle/Upper Devonian of Poland preoccupied bySyringellaSchmidt, 1868 (Porifera).

Annotations to the Devonian Correlation Table, R 220–227 di-ds 05: Devonian of Poland

Annotations to the Devonian Correlation Table, R 220–227 di-ds 05: Devonian of Poland

Skeletal microstructure of the heterocoral Oligophylloides from the Devonian of Poland

Skeletal microstructure of the heterocoral Oligophylloides from the Devonian of Poland