scholarly journals Anomuran and brachyuran trackways and resting trace from the Pliocene of Valduggia (Piedmont, NW Italy): environmental, behavioural, and taphonomic implications

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Angela Baldanza ◽  
Lorenzo M. Gallo ◽  
Alessandro Garassino ◽  
Hiroaki Karasawa

We report a rich ichnofacies including trackways and a resting trace made by indeterminate anomuran and brachyuran crabs, and other organic sedimentary structures produced by invertebrates. This is the first fossil record of crab trackways and resting trace in a shoreface intertidal environment from the Pliocene sediments of Valduggia area (Vercelli, Piedmont, NW Italy). Behavioural and palaeoenvironmental data allow reconstruction of the possible scenario of the upper shoreface surface in this area of the northern paleo-Adriatic Gulf during the Pliocene. The resting trace is tentatively compared to the rehydrating and respiration behaviour of a semiterrestrial (?Ocypodidae) crab, documented for the first time in the fossil record. A single trackway is tentatively assigned to the locomotion of a land hermit crab, the first such fossil record from the paleo-Mediterranean area. Moreover, among other invertebrate burrows, hypichnal <em>Halopoa</em> cf. <em>H. imbricata</em> is reported in shallow marine deposits for the first time. Palaeontological, petrological, sedimentological, taphonomic, and ethological implications are discussed and compared with neoichnological data. This notable discovery enlarges our scant knowledge on the palaeo-ichnology of decapod crustaceans.

2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-223
Author(s):  
Mohammed Nadir Naimi ◽  
◽  
Amine Cherif ◽  

Shallow marine deposits characterize the upper Albian – lower Cenomanian deposits of Northern Algeria. In Djebel Azzeddine (Ouled Nail Mounts), the corresponding sediments have been subdivided into three distinctive units A to C. The first discovered ammonite fauna from the Bou Saada area allowed the attribution of a part of the mid-Cretaceous post-Continental Intercalaire deposits to the upper Albian. The ammonite-bearing level indicates a maximum flooding surface and could be correlated with similar levels from Northern Algeria. The studied succession is characterized by a low ichnodiversity containing eight ichnotaxa with abundant Thalassinoides, common Skolithos, and rare Gyrolithes, Oichnus, Planolites and cf. Tisoa. This ichnoassemblage is dominated by domichnion, fodinichnion and praedichnion trace fossils, and is attributed to the Skolithos and Glossifungites ichnofacies. These traces are produced mainly by decapod crustaceans, polychaetes and naticid gastropods. The sedimentological and ichnological data suggest shoreface to backshore environments with mixed tide/storm energy, and long subaerial exposures indicated by Lofer cyclothems in the lowermost part and dinosaur footprints in the upper part of the section.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matúš Hyžný ◽  
Mathias Harzhauser ◽  
Wolfgang Danninger

AbstractDecapod crustaceans from the Ottnangian (middle Burdigalian, Lower Miocene) of the Western and Central Paratethys remain poorly known. In this study, we review and re-describe mud shrimps (Jaxea kuemeli), ghost shrimps (Gourretiasp.,Calliax michelottii) and brachyuran crabs of the families Leucosiidae, Polybiidae and Portunidae. A dorsal carapace of the genusCalliaxis reported for the first time in the fossil record. Re-examination of the type material ofRandallia strouhali(Leucosiidae) andGeryon ottnangensis(Geryonidae) resulted in a transfer of these species intoPalaeomyra(Leucosiidae) andLiocarcinus(Polybiidae), respectively.Achelous vindobonensis, originally described as a chela of a portunid crab, probably belongs to a member of Polybiidae and is provisionally treated asLiocarcinussp. Only two species,J. kuemeliandC. michelottii, are also known from the Karpatian, the succeeding Paratethyan stage. In most cases, the decapod assemblages of the Ottnangian consist of rather shallow-water taxa whereas the assemblages of the Karpatian consist of deep-water taxa from the middle and outer shelf. The Central Paratethyan assemblages show similarities in genus composition to the Proto-Mediterranean and recent Indo-Pacific regions.Gourretiasp. represents the earliest occurrence of the respective genus in the fossil record. The Oligocene–Early Miocene appearance ofPalaeomyraandLiocarcinusin the circum-Mediterranean implies that sources of present-day diversity hotspots in the Indo-Pacific trace to the Western Tethys (as for other decapod genera), although coeval decapod assemblages in the Indo-Pacific remain poorly known.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Alessandro Garassino ◽  
Piero Damarco

Some brachyuran crabs from the Pliocene of a new outcrop nearby Borgomanero (Novara, Piedmont, NW Italy) are reported. This study allows us to recognize a peculiar brachyuran crabs assemblage including: Macropipus cf. M. tuberculatus Prestandrea, 1833 (Polybiidae Ortmann, 1893), first report for this species from the Pliocene fossil record, and an indeterminate representative of Mursia Leach in Desmarest, 1822 (Calappidae De Haan, 1833), genus never recorded previously in the Mediterranean basin. Finally, a single chela is referred to Calappa sp. (Calappidae De Haan, 1833).


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adiël A. Klompmaker ◽  
Torrey Nyborg ◽  
Jamie Brezina ◽  
Yusuke Ando

Crustaceans including decapods, copepods, amphipods, cumaceans, tanaidaceans, ostracods, and isopods are major components of modern marine methane seeps, where they play a key role in structuring these hotspots of diversity in relatively deep waters. There is every reason to suspect they were common too in ancient seeps, but relatively few studies have focused on crustaceans from fossil seep deposits thus far. We hypothesize that crustaceans can be commonly found in Meso-Cenozoic seeps when many of the aforementioned groups were present and/or radiated. To this end, we review the global fossil record of crustaceans in seeps for the first time using the primary literature and newly collected specimens from the Late Cretaceous of South Dakota, USA. We find that seep crustaceans are much more common than previously known, are found on each continent, and occur more frequently starting in the Jurassic. Decapod crustaceans are represented by body fossils and traces (coprolites, repair scars in mollusks, and burrows), whereas only body fossils of ostracods and barnacles are known. Other groups are lacking. While modern seep decapods are dominated by galatheoid squat lobsters, alvinocaridid shrimps, king crabs, and true crabs, the fossil record is consisting primarily of callianassid ghost shrimps and true crabs thus far. Preservation and recognition are likely to have influenced this discrepancy. Finally, the relatively unexplored fossil record of seep crustaceans provides many opportunities for systematic and paleoecological research.


2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. David Archibald

Studies of the origin and diversification of major groups of plants and animals are contentious topics in current evolutionary biology. This includes the study of the timing and relationships of the two major clades of extant mammals – marsupials and placentals. Molecular studies concerned with marsupial and placental origin and diversification can be at odds with the fossil record. Such studies are, however, not a recent phenomenon. Over 150 years ago Charles Darwin weighed two alternative views on the origin of marsupials and placentals. Less than a year after the publication of On the origin of species, Darwin outlined these in a letter to Charles Lyell dated 23 September 1860. The letter concluded with two competing phylogenetic diagrams. One showed marsupials as ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals, whereas the other showed a non-marsupial, non-placental as being ancestral to both living marsupials and placentals. These two diagrams are published here for the first time. These are the only such competing phylogenetic diagrams that Darwin is known to have produced. In addition to examining the question of mammalian origins in this letter and in other manuscript notes discussed here, Darwin confronted the broader issue as to whether major groups of animals had a single origin (monophyly) or were the result of “continuous creation” as advocated for some groups by Richard Owen. Charles Lyell had held similar views to those of Owen, but it is clear from correspondence with Darwin that he was beginning to accept the idea of monophyly of major groups.


Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 410
Author(s):  
Irene Sánchez-Gavilán ◽  
Esteban Ramírez ◽  
Vicenta de la Fuente

Many halophytes have great nutritional and functional potential, providing chemical compounds with biological properties. Salicornia patula Duval-Jouve is a common euhalophyte from saline Mediterranean territories (Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy). In the present work we quantified for the first time the bioactive compounds in S. patula (total phenolic compounds and fatty acids), from Iberian Peninsula localities: littoral-coastal Tinto River basin areas (southwest Spain, the Huelva province), and mainland continental territories (northwest and central Spain, the Valladolid and Madrid provinces). Five phenolic acids including caffeic, coumaric, veratric, salicylic, and transcinnamic have been found with differences between mainland and coastal saltmarshes. S. patula contain four flavonoids: quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, kaempferol/luteolin, apigenin 7-glucoside, and pelargonidin-3-O-rutinoside. These last two glycosylated compounds are described for the first time in this genus of Chenopodiaceae. The fatty acid profile described in S. patula stems contains palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids in high concentrations, while stearic and long-chain fatty acids were detected in low amounts. These new findings confirm that S. patula is a valuable source of bioactive compounds from Mediterranean area.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Alessandro Garassino

<em>Ethusa</em> sp. (Decapoda, Brachyura, Ethusidae) from Valduggia (Vercelli, Piedmont, NW Italy) is here reported for the first time from the Pliocene of Italy. This new finding enlarges our knowledge on the distribution and stratigraphic range of this genus in the paleo- Mediterranean basin.


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