Taxonomy and distribution of the buccinid gastropod Brachysphingus from uppermost Cretaceous and Lower Cenozoic marine strata of the Pacific Slope of North America

1997 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 847-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Squires

Brachysphingus is a low-spired bucciniform neogastropod known only from the fossil record of California and northern Baja California. The earliest species, Brachysphingus gibbosus Nelson, 1925, ranges in age from latest Cretaceous or possibly earliest Paleocene to the late Paleocene. During the early Paleocene, the smoothish B. gibbosus evolved into the axially ribbed B. sinuatus Gabb, 1869, which is the senior primary synonym of B. gabbi Stewart, 1927. During the late Paleocene, B. sinuatus evolved into B. mammilatus Clark and Woodford, 1927, which is the youngest species of Brachysphingus and which lasted into the early Eocene.All three species of Brachysphingus were shallow-marine dwellers subject to transport into deeper waters via turbidity currents.

1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 880-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louella R. Saul

Four species belonging in Tudiclidae and one in Melongenidae have been confused with perissityids. The new genus Rapopsis is proposed for a tudiclid species, R. joseana n. sp. of early Maastrichtian age. Three other tudiclid species may belong in the Tethyan genus Pyropsis, P. fantozzii n. sp. of early to middle Paleocene age, P. striata (Stanton, 1896) of later Paleocene age, and ?P. gabbi (Stanton, 1896) probably of early to middle Paleocene age. The melongenid genus Protobusycon, represented by P. judithae n. sp. of late Paleocene age, has not previously been recognized in eastern Pacific faunas.


1995 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Squires ◽  
Robert A. Demetrion

The cassiduloid echinoid Calilampas californiensis n. gen. and sp. is described from middle lower Eocene (“Capay Stage”) shallow-marine sandstones in both the middle part of the Bateque Formation, Baja California Sur, Mexico, and the lower part of the Llajas Formation, southern California. The new genus is tentatively placed in family Pliolampadidae. The cassiduloid Cassidulus ellipticus Kew, 1920, previously known only from the “Capay Stage” in California, is also present in “Capay Stage” shallow-marine sandstones of the Bateque Formation.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2063 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN ◽  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD

A new genus and species Allorapisma chuorum gen. sp. nov. is described from the Early Eocene locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A. The forewing venation of Allorapisma is most similar to that of the genus Principiala Makarkin & Menon from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and Britain. A new, informal suprageneric taxon consisting of these genera is proposed, the Principiala group. The habitats of extant and fossil Ithonidae are briefly discussed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 803-813
Author(s):  
Gerald Mayr ◽  
S. Bruce Archibald ◽  
Gary W. Kaiser ◽  
Rolf W. Mathewes

We survey the known avian fossils from Ypresian (early Eocene) fossil sites of the North American Okanagan Highlands, mainly in British Columbia (Canada). All specimens represent taxa that were previously unknown from the Eocene of far-western North America. Wings from the McAbee site are tentatively referred to the Gaviiformes and would constitute the earliest fossil record of this group of birds. A postcranial skeleton from Driftwood Canyon is tentatively assigned to the Songziidae, a taxon originally established for fossils from the Ypresian of China. Two skeletons from Driftwood Canyon and the McAbee site are tentatively referred to Coliiformes and Zygodactylidae, respectively, whereas three further fossils from McAbee, Blakeburn, and Republic (Washington, USA) are too poorly preserved for even a tentative assignment. The specimens from the Okanagan Highlands inhabited relatively high paleoaltitudes with microthermal climates (except Quilchena: lower mesothermal) and mild winters, whereas most other Ypresian fossil birds are from much warmer lowland paleoenvironments with upper mesothermal to megathermal climates. The putative occurrence of a gaviiform bird is particularly noteworthy because diving birds are unknown from other lacustrine Ypresian fossil sites of the Northern Hemisphere. The bones of the putative zygodactylid show a sulphurous colouration, and we hypothesize that this highly unusual preservation may be due to the metabolic activity of sulphide-oxidizing bacteria.


1984 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 1262-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Fox

Nearly complete lower dentitions (with c?, p2–4, m1–3) and the first discovered upper dentitions (with P2–4, M1–3) are described and illustrated for the late Paleocene primate Micromomys Szalay. These fossils, from the Paskapoo Formation of central Alberta, Canada, represent a new species, the geologically earliest known species of the genus. Micromomys appears to have been a primitive microsyopid most closely related to the early Paleocene Purgatorius Van Valen and Sloan and the middle Paleocene Palenochtha Gidley; a relationship between Micromomys and the early Eocene Tinimomys Szalay may not be as near as previous workers had supposed.Micromomys is the smallest primate known and was probably insectivorous. Its occurrence with the rare European primate Saxonella Russell, a new, primitive carpolestid, and an unusual mammal possibly related to palaeanodonts documents a facies not yet encountered in other Paleocene mammal local faunas, in Canada or elsewhere.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 386-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. R. Saul ◽  
R. L. Squires

Nerineoids, so typical of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous in Europe, are usually rare and lacking in diversity in North America north of Mexico. This is especially true of the Pacific slope faunas. Only three species of nerineoid gastropods have previously been reported from the Cretaceous of California (Saul and Squires, 1998). The oldest of these species, Aphanoptyxis andersoni Saul and Squires, 1998, is from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) in northern California. The other two species are Late Cretaceous (Turonian): Aphanoptyxis californica Saul and Squires, 1998, is from northern California, and Nerinella santana Saul and Squires, 1998, is from a locality and strata in southern California near the occurrence of Nerinella califae n. sp. The description of N. califae n. sp. gives California the greatest diversity of Turonian northeastern Pacific slope nerineoids, namely, Aphanoptyxis californica and two species of Nerinella. These Turonian nerineoids are also, thus far, the geologically youngest North American Pacific slope nerineoids.


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