scholarly journals The swimming trace Undichna from the latest Devonian Hangenberg Sandstone equivalent of Morocco

2021 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Klug ◽  
Abdelouahed Lagnaoui ◽  
Melina Jobbins ◽  
Wahiba Bel Haouz ◽  
Amine Najih
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Black Shale ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
First Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Systematic Position ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis

AbstractTrace fossils occur in several strata of the Devonian and Carboniferous of the eastern Anti-Atlas, but they are still poorly documented. Here, we describe a fossil swimming trace from strata overlying the Hangenberg Black Shale (correlation largely based on lithostratigraphy; Postclymenia ammonoid genozone, ca. 370 Ma old). We discuss the systematic position of the tracemaker and its body size. This ichnofossil is important for three main reasons: (1) it is considered here to be the first record of Undichna from the Devonian of Gondwana, as far as we know; (2) it is the oldest record of vertebrate trace fossils from Africa; (3) it provides a unique window into the behaviour of Late Devonian fishes for which body-fossils cannot provide direct evidence. Further, we put this discovery into the macroecological context of the palaeoenvironment following the Late Devonian Hangenberg biodiversity crisis.

scholarly journals First record of Pachycrocuta brevirostris (Gervais, 1850) from Ukraine on the background of the European occurrence of the species

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Marciszak ◽  
Yuriy Semenov ◽  
Piotr Portnicki ◽  
Tamara Derkach
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
First Record ◽  
The Body ◽  
Crocuta Crocuta ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Eastern Asia ◽  
South Eastern

AbstractCranial material ofPachycrocuta brevirostrisfrom the late Early Pleistocene site of Nogaisk is the first record of this species in Ukraine. This large hyena was a representative of the Tamanian faunal complex and a single specialised scavenger in these faunas. The revisited European records list ofP.brevirostrisdocumented the presence of this species in 101 sites, dated in the range of 3.5–0.4 Ma. This species first disappeared in Africa, survived in Europe until ca. 0.8–0.7 Ma, and its last, relict occurrence was known from south-eastern Asia. The main reason of extinction ofP.brevirostrisprobably was the competition withCrocuta crocuta. The cave hyena was smaller, but its teeth were proportionally larger to the body size, better adapted to crushing bones and slicing meat, and could also hunt united in larger groups.

First record of a large Callixylon trunk from the late Devonian of Gondwana

1997 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 847-853 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. MEYER-BERTHAUD ◽  
J. WENDT ◽  
J. GALTIER
Keyword(s):  
First Record ◽  
Growth Patterns ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Reliable Evidence

A 5 m long permineralized trunk from the Upper Kellwasser member of southern Morocco represents the first record of a large trunk of an identifiable species of Callixylon, C. erianum, from Gondwana. This occurrence constitutes the most reliable evidence based on plant megafossils for a floral connection between Laurussia and Gondwana in late Devonian times and for a proximity of these continents in Famennian times. The potential of this trunk for studies of the architecture and growth patterns of the earliest trees with a gymnospermous type of arborescent habit is discussed.

Spatangoid echinoids from the Eocene of Jamaica

2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen K. Donovan ◽  
Deborah-Ann C. Rowe
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
First Record ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Upper Eocene ◽  
Area Effects ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
First Time ◽  
Incomplete Sampling

Paleocene spatangoids are unknown from the Antilles, apart from evidence from trace fossils. The peak of spatangoid diversity was the Eocene. Jamaican Oligo-Miocene spatangoids have a relatively low diversity compared with that of the Antillean region. Plio-Pleistocene spatangoids are poorly known from the Antilles (four genera), in contrast to the Oligo-Miocene (16 genera) and Holocene (17 genera). The depauperate Paleocene and Plio-Pleistocene spatangoid faunas are probably in part artifacts of incomplete sampling, facies-related absences, outcrop area effects and the relative brevity of these stratigraphic intervals.To the large echinoid fauna of the Swanswick Formation (Middle-Upper Eocene) of Jamaica is added the schizasterid Aguayoaster schickleri new species. This is the first record of this genus outside Cuba; it is distinctly more elongate than all other known specimens of this genus. The schizasterid Caribbaster loveni (Cotteau, 1875) is recorded from the Swanswick Formation for the first time, the youngest occurrence of this genus in Jamaica. The coeval Claremont Formation has not previously yielded spatangoid echinoids; the brissid Eupatagus cf. antillarum (Cotteau) from a new locality is the first spatangoid known from a lagoonal unit of the White Limestone Group.

scholarly journals First record of trace fossils from the Oxfordian Argiles rouges de Kheneg Formation (Tiaret, northwestern Algeria)

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-94
Author(s):  
Belaid Mourad ◽  
Amine Cherif ◽  
Olev Vinn ◽  
Mohammed Nadir Naimi
Keyword(s):  
First Record ◽  
Trace Fossils

scholarly journals Guppies prefer to follow large (robot) leaders irrespective of own size

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bierbach ◽  
Hauke J. Mönck ◽  
Juliane Lukas ◽  
Marie Habedank ◽  
Pawel Romanczuk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Behavioral Patterns ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Leaders And Followers ◽  
Biomimetic Robotic Fish ◽  
Risk Taking Behavior ◽  
Swimming Capacity

AbstractBody size is often assumed to determine how successful an individual can lead others with larger individuals being more likely to lead than smaller ones. However, direct evidence for such a relation is scarce. Furthermore, even if larger individuals are more likely to lead, body size correlates often with specific behavioral patterns (e.g., swimming capacity) and it is thus unclear whether larger individuals are more often followed than smaller ones because they are larger or because they behave in a certain way. To control for behavioral differences among differentially-sized leaders, we used biomimetic robotic fish – Robofish – of different sizes. Robofish is accepted as a conspecific by live guppies (Poecilia reticulata) and provides standardized behaviors irrespective of its size. We specifically asked whether larger leaders are preferentially followed when behavior is controlled for and whether the preferences of followers depend on their own body size or their risk taking behavior (‘boldness’). We found that live guppies followed larger Robofish leaders closer than smaller ones and this pattern was independent of the followers’ own body size as well as risk-taking behavior. This is the first study that shows a ‘bigger is better’ pattern in leadership in shoaling fish that is fully independent of behavioral differences between differentially-sized leaders and followers’ own size and personality.

scholarly journals Olmiana argentina, a new genus and species of Achilidae (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha) from Argentina

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2661 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. GUGLIELMINO ◽  
C. BÜCKLE ◽  
A. F. EMELJANOV
Keyword(s):  
New Genus ◽  
Larval Instar ◽  
First Record ◽  
Systematic Position ◽  
New Genus And Species

The first record of the planthopper tribe Achilini from Argentina is established with the description of Olmiana argentina gen. and sp. nov.. Details of the fifth larval instar are described. The systematic position of the new genus within the Achilidae is discussed, and a key to the genera of the subtribe Achilina is provided.

scholarly journals Tachinobia repanda (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) From Egg Sacs of a Colonial Spider, Cyrtophora moluccensis (Araneae: Araneidae) in Papua New Guinea

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoya A Yefremova ◽  
Yael Lubin
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
First Record

Abstract We report the discovery of the wasp Tachinobia repanda Bouček collected from egg sacs of the colonial spider Cyrtophora moluccensis (Doleschall) in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea (PNG) by Lubin, Y.D. in 1980. This is the first record of T. repanda from egg sacs of a colonial spider. The likely host of this eulophid wasp was the larvae of a sarcophagid fly that parasitizes the egg sacs of these spiders. The 67 T. repanda collected were all females and varied little in body size. We suggest that this species is a gregarious hyperparasitoid.

First record and a new species of Neolygus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae) from Nepal, with a checklist of Old World species of Neolygus

Zootaxa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 3413 (1) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
TOMOHIDE YASUNAGA ◽  
RAM KESHARI DUWAL ◽  
MICHAEL D. SCHWARTZ
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Male Genitalia ◽  
First Record ◽  
Systematic Position ◽  
North India ◽  
New Combinations ◽  
World Species ◽  
Old World ◽  
First Time ◽  
A New Species

The mirine plant bug genus Neolygus Knight is reported from Nepal and North India for the first time, thus representing the first confident distributional record of this genus from the Himalayas. A new species, Neolygus machanensis, is described from Nepal. Two known members, N. bui Lu & Zheng and N. keltoni (Lu & Zheng), newly recognized as occurring in Nepal and/or North India, are diagnosed. Habitus images of live individuals and illustrations of the male genitalia are provided for all treated species. A checklist of the Old World species, and discussion of the systematic position and zoogeography of Neolygus are included. Neolygus partitus (Walker, 1873) [Capsus], N. mjohjangsanicus (Josifov, 1992) [Lygocoris], and Neolygus zebei (Günther, 1997) [Lygocoris] are proposed as new combinations.

Latest Devonian–Earliest Mississippian nearshore trace-fossil assemblages from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland

1987 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 865-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Bjerstedt
Keyword(s):  
West Virginia ◽  
Trace Fossils ◽  
Price Formation ◽  
Late Devonian ◽  
Tidal Channel ◽  
Fair Weather ◽  
The West ◽  
North Central ◽  
The North ◽  
Channel Systems

Trace fossils are used in deposystem analysis of Late Devonian–Early Mississippian nearshore facies in the north-central Appalachian Basin. These nearshore facies resulted from separate transgressions during latest Devonian (Cleveland Shale) and earliest Mississippian (Sunbury Shale) time. Emphasis is placed on a well-exposed section at Rowlesburg, West Virginia, where the Oswayo, Cussewago Sandstone, and Riddlesburg Shale Members of the Price Formation are exposed.The Oswayo Member at Rowlesburg preserves an offshore-to-lower shoreface transition in a complex of euryhaline, protected-bay, lagoon, and possible estuarine facies. Cruziana is common and occurs along with Arthrophycus, Bifungites, Chondrites, Planolites, Palaeophycus, Rhizocorallium, Rosselia, Rusophycus, and Skolithos in intensely bioturbated mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone. These lithologies were deposited below fair-weather wave base and grade upsection to upper shoreface facies comprised of thick, horizontally-laminated sandstones with thinner, burrowed mudstone interbeds. Upper shoreface traces consist of Arenicolites, Cruziana, Diplocraterion, Dimorphichnus, Planolites, Thalassinoides, and Skolithos. Skolithos “pipe rock” sandstones occur at the toe of upper shoreface facies. Eastward the Oswayo Member grades into a restricted-bay facies and finally into beach and tidal flat facies near its stratigraphic wedge-out in eastern West Virginia and western Maryland. The Cussewago Sandstone Member at Rowlesburg overlies the Oswayo and is bounded at the top by a disconformity. The Cussewago contains Arenicolites, Isopodichnus, Phycodes, Planolites, and Skolithos in upper shoreface sandstones possibly related to deposition in deltaic or tidal channel systems.Regionally, the Riddlesburg Shale records a range of euryhaline environments in shallow-shelf, open-bay, and probable estuarine facies. The Riddlesburg Shale Member at Rowlesburg is comprised of dark-grey silty shales, siltstones, and hummocky cross-stratified sandstones. Trace fossils include Bergaueria, Bifungites, Fustiglyphus?, Helminthopsis, Planolites, and Skolithos. Lithofacies of the Riddlesburg Shale in West Virginia were markedly influenced by a syndepositionally active basement feature, the West Virginia Dome. Riddlesburg-age shoreface sandstones deposited on the crest of the Dome contain apparent omission surfaces with common Rhizocorallium and Arenicolites, Cruziana?, Planolites, and Skolithos.

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