Proetid trilobites from the middle Telychian (Llandovery,Silurian) Ningqiang Formation,Shaanxi, China

Four proetid trilobite species, Chuanqianoproetus guizhouensis Yin in Yin and Li, 1978, C. shuangheensis Wu, 1977, C. sp., and Latiproetus guizhouensis Yin in Yin and Li, 1978, are described from the Ningqiang Formation in Ningqiang County, Shaanxi, China. They are middle Telychian (Llandovery, Silurian) in age. Chuanqianoproetus and Latiproetus are both regarded as members of the subfamily Warburgellinae; the former has been considered to be a junior subjective synonym of Astroproetus, but on the basis of its morphology we argue here that they represent two independent genera. The poorly sorted bioclastic grainstones containing trilobite sclerites may indicate their deposition in turbulent conditions on an open marine platform.     

黔北志留系石牛栏组松坎段上部近岸——远岸的相分异

华南板块上扬子区滇黔桂古陆以北的陆表海缓坡带,因海水深度变化导致志留纪兰多维列世埃隆晚期石牛栏组的岩相—生物相差异,这种差异始于松坎段上部沉积期。本文选择2个剖面,分别代表近岸和远岸带的古地理位置,作松坎段上部灰岩岩相学和沉积环境指标分析。余庆大庄村剖面位于近岸带,可频繁出现薄层泥粒状灰岩和颗粒灰岩,属浅水高能带常见的壳相生屑滩堆积;而桐梓水坝塘剖面位于远岸带,偏深水低能环境中的瘤状灰岩和含泥灰岩透镜体多含灰泥和粉砂屑。这些证据从细节上揭示松坎段上部沉积时,靠近黔中古陆近岸带存在壳相动物大量繁衍的生态位,还伴随有钙质微生物形成的叠层石和核形石,但空间展布上可能是狭窄的,大部分陆表海区的海水深度处于最大风浪暴浪基面以下。     

A new Silurian graptolite,Reticuloplectograptus, and its bearing on retiolitid evolution

Abstract: The retiolitid graptolite Reticuloplectograptus serpaglii gen. et sp. nov. from the Gorstian, lower Ludlow, has been found in two localities: the Bartoszyce borehole of Poland (Baltica), and the Bykoš section, Barrandian, Czech Republic (PeriGondwanan Europe). The Polish material is isolated and was studied under the SEM. The main characters of Reticuloplectograptus are similar to those of Plectograptus: an asymmetrical ancora, simple ancora umbrella with an incompletely developed rim and parallel ventral walls with mid‐ventral lists. The paired genicular processes of the new species are similar to but much wider than those of Plectograptus trijunctus and Plectograptus robustus. The main differences between the new genus and Plectograptus are the dense ancora sleeve wall and small proximal lateral orifices of the former. These primitive characters suggest that Reticuloplectograptus might be ancestral to genera with strong reduction in the proximal end, such as Plectograptus, Valentinagraptus and Kirkigraptus. However, Reticuloplectograptus appeared stratigraphically later than Plectograptus, indicating that this aspect of retiolitid evolution is more complicated, needing further study.     

Sea level and faunal changes during the latest Llandovery and earliest Ludlow (Silurian)

It is now recognized that the late Telychian and early Gorstian sea level changes are, like many others in the Silurian, of world‐wide extent. The 30–50 m deepening events at these times were between 1 and 2 Ma in duration, so melting continental ice caps appear to be the most probable cause. The faunal changes associated with the two events are respectively very close to the base and the top of the Wenlock Series and thus segregate many of the faunas diagnostic of the Llandovery, Wenlock, and Ludlow series. Permanent extinctions (often followed by radiations) are more prevalent in the graptolites, conodonts, and acritarchs, while benthic faunas are more affected by regional shifts in community distributions. This means that, in the benthos, slowly evolving lineages are the only reliable guides to time. Such phyletic evolution, however, appears to have been unaffected by sea‐level events.     

Cuticles of Nematothallus: a further enigma

EDWARDS, D. & ROSE, V. 1984. Cuticles of Nematothallus: a further enigma. Cuticles of Nematothallus Lang scnsu Edwards are described from a Lower Devonian (Ditton) exposure on the M50 motorway (Hereford and Worcester, England). Some bear highly distinctive cuticular thickenings sometimes surrounding perforations. The affinities of the cuticles, and the development and possible functions of the perforations are considered.     

Radial perforations in crinoid stems from the Silurian of Gotland

Radiating intracolumnal canals are a characteristic feature of large (diameter 10 mm or more) crinoid stems from the Silurian of Gotland. They are found in nodals as well as in internodals where the columnal height exceeds one millimetre. They were formed secondarily in the median and distal portions of crinoid stems with pseudocirriferous holdfasts. Intercolumnal canals are found in the distal parts of stems with true cirri regardless of the size of the stem. It is suggested that these canals played an important role in crinoid physiology. The crinoids are believed to have sustained a large proportion of their tissues through cutaneous digestion and uptake of dissolved substances from the surrounding sea water. The intra- and intercolumnal canals increased the surface of the axial canal in relation to volume. They provided a connection between the axial canal and the surrounding sea water, thus facilitating nutrient transport to the tissues.     

Genetically controlled cortical tissue deposition inNormalograptus scalaris (Hisinger, 1837)

A specimen ofNormalograptus scalaris (Hisinger) from the Llandovery of Dalarna, Sweden, shows a highly asymmetrical rhabdosome in which one stipe was abandoned at an early stage in the growth of the colony. The surface of the rhabdosome is thickly covered by cortical tissue, but the remaining dorsal side of the second stipe is left free. Even though the symmetry of the colony is strongly distorted, it survived for a considerable time. It is suggested that this unusual development involved genetic control of cortical tissue deposition in the graptolite colony.      

Geochemical parameters of sedimentation and the distribution of Silurian brachiopod communities in Lithuania

Silurian rocks from borehole cores in the Baltic Basic were analyzed for Si, Al, Ti, Fe, Ca and Mg oxide content and chemical data were related to sedimentary environment, lithology and brachiopod community distribution. Evaluation of these relationships enables precise positioning of closely related communities within Boucot's (1975) brachiopod Benthic Assemblages. Preliminary attempts are made to evaluate climatic change based on Al/Ti oxide ratios.     

A Silurian short-great-appendage arthropod

A new arthropod, Enalikter aphson gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Silurian (Wenlock Series) Herefordshire Lagerstätte of the UK. It belongs to the Megacheira (=short-great-appendage group), which is recognized here, for the first time, in strata younger than mid-Cambrian age. Discovery of this new Silurian taxon allows us to identify a Devonian megacheiran representative, Bundenbachiellus giganteus from the Hunsrück Slate of Germany. The phylogenetic position of megacheirans is controversial: they have been interpreted as stem chelicerates, or stem euarthropods, but when Enalikter and Bundenbachiellus are added to the most comprehensive morphological database available, a stem euarthropod position is supported. Enalikter represents the only fully three-dimensionally preserved stem-group euarthropod, it falls in the sister clade to the crown-group euarthropods, and it provides new insights surrounding the origin and early evolution of the euarthropods. Recognition of Enalikter and Bundenbachiellus as megacheirans indicates that this major arthropod group survived for nearly 100 Myr beyond the mid-Cambrian.     

Cardiolinka bohemica (Barrande, 1881) – A first representative of the Late Silurian Bohemian type Bivalvia fauna from the northern Arabian Plate,Southeast Turkey

The Rheic Ocean was a major oceanic domain between Baltica, Laurentia, Perunica and Gondwana in Ordovician-Silurian times. The cosmopolitan nepiomorphian bivalves Praecardioidei Newell, 1965 and Antipleuroidei Kříž, 2007 are characteristic of the Silurian of Perunica, peri-Gondwana, and Baltica, and occur also in Laurentia and Siberia. The Bohemian-type bivalve Cardiolinka Kříž, 1981 (Nepiomorphia Kříž, 2007, Cardiolidae Hoernes, 1884), from the Late Silurian of the Bahar-1 well core, has been found for the first time in southeastern Turkey. The strata containing the species Cardiolinka bohemica (Barrande, 1881) occur in the middle part of the Dadaş Formation in the interior Petroleum District X-Siirt of the northern parts of the Arabian Plate. The cosmopolitan species C. bohemica was until now known from the Latest Ludlow to Pridoli of the Prague Basin, France, Carnic Alps, Sardinia, East European Platform (Poland), eastern Serbia, Moesian Platform, and Arctic Canada. The new surprising subsurface data on C. bohemica in Diyarbakır-Bismil area (southeastern Turkey) therefore represent another piece of evidence in favour of strong faunistic affinity between Perunica, peri-Gondwanan Europe and the northern Gondwana margin.