Notes on the genus Gryllacris Audinet-Serville (Orthoptera: Gryllacrididae) with description of a new species from China

In this work we briefly reviewed the genus Gryllacris with some notes on taxonomic issues, note the taxa that have been described in and transferred to the genus and describe a new taxon, Gryllacris (Gryllacris) stylommatoprocera, from Yunnan, China. Materials are deposited in Shanghai Entomological Museum, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Taungurungia gen. nov., from the Lower Devonian of Yea, central Victoria, Australia

This paper records a new genus Taungurungia, which is the first new taxon with emergences to be described from the Lower Devonian of Victoria. The fossil is preserved primarily as a compression and impression, and lacks internal anatomy. The fossil extends our knowledge of known variations within early land plants, with most characteristics, such as emergences and H- or K-branching, redolent of affinities with the zosterophylls. However, having a large ovate terminal sporangium, the fossil adds to taxa that in some cases have been provisonally allied to the zosterophylls with elongate sporangia; this further demonstrates the need for reassessment of the Zosterophyllopsida.

Apomictic species of Alchemilla from the High Atlas Mountains: revision of the genus Alchemilla (Rosaceae) in Morocco

A taxonomic revision of the Alchemilla in the High Atlas Mountains has been carried out. This genus is represented in Morocco by Alchemilla atlantica, A. gourzai, A. litardieri, A. mairei and by a new taxon A. boratynskii, sp. nov., described here from the High Atlas Mountains range. Data on their chorology, ecology and phenology, as well as an identification key, are provided. The conservation status of this newly described narrow endemic and the other four taxa, also endemics previously known from the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, is provided. Alchemilla hirtipes should be excluded from the flora of Morocco.

A New Cynodont from the Late Triassic Los Colorados Formation (Argentina, South America) Reveals a Novel Paleobiogeographic Context for Mammalian Ancestors

Probainognathia is a derived lineage of cynodonts which encompass Mammalia as their crown-group. The profuse record of probainognathians from the Carnian of Argentina contrasts with their Norian representation, with only one named species. Here we describe a new probainognathian, Tessellatia bonapartei gen. et sp. nov., from the Norian Los Colorados Formation of the Ischigualasto-Villa Unión Basin of Argentina. The new taxon, represented by a partial cranium with articulated lower jaws, was analyzed through neutron and X-rays micro-tomography (µCT). The high-resolution neutron µCT data allowed the identification of a unique character state combination, including features inaccessible through traditional techniques. We constructed the largest phylogenetic data-matrix of non-mammalian cynodonts. The new species and its sister-taxon, the Brazilian Therioherpeton, are recovered as probainognathians, closely related to Mammaliamorpha. We conducted the first quantitative paleobiogeographic analysis of non-mammalian cynodonts, focusing in probainognathians. The results indicate that Probainognathia and Mammaliamorpha originated in Brazil, which was an important center of diversification during the Triassic. Finally, China is identified as the ancestral area of Mammaliaformes. These new findings, besides adding to the knowledge of the poorly represented Norian cynodonts from the Los Colorados Formation, are significant to improve our understanding of probainognathian diversity, evolution, and paleobiogeographic history.

A Curious new Caloneurodea from the Bashkirian of the Pas-de-Calais, France (Insecta Archaeorthoptera)

We describe Oudardgramma bruayensis gen. et sp. nov., first representative of the small order Caloneurodea from the Bashkirian of Bruay-en-Artois. It is characterized by the very small size of the wing, and a unique pattern of the vein M+CuA+CuPa. As the previous oldest Caloneurodea were Moscovian, the new taxon corresponds to the oldest record of the order.

Hygrophorus aurantiosquamosus (Hygrophoraceae, Agaricales), a new species of Hygrophorus section Chrysodontes from western China

In China, the European species, Hygrophorus chrysodon, is widely reported in western and northeastern provinces. After carefully comparing H. chrysodon from China and Europe, we found that the European and Chinese materials were different lineages in molecular trees, and there were also obvious differences in morphology between the two lineages. The evidence from morphology and phylogeny indicated that the presence of H. chrysodon in China is doubtful and that the Chinese material represents an undescribed species. Thus, H. aurantiosquamosus is proposed as a new species. This new taxon is characterized by its yellowish white pileus covered with golden yellow squamules, a stipe concolorous with the pileus and covered with yellow floccules, a distinct pileipellis composed of narrow hyphae with inflated terminal elements of various shapes (clavate, cylindrical, lacrymoid to subglobose), and elongate to subcylindrical basidiospores measuring 9.5–12 × 4–5.5 μm. The new species occurs in Picea forests at high elevations of western China, such as Qinghai, Sichuan, and Tibet provinces.

The Biggest Megaraptoridae (Theropoda: Coelurosauria) of South America

Megaraptorans are a theropod clade distributed in former Gondwana landmasses and Asia. Most members of the clade are known from early Cretaceous to Turonian times whereas Maastrichtian megaraptorans are known just from isolated and poorly informative remains. The aim of present contribution is to describe a partial skeleton of a megaraptorid coming from Maastrichtian beds at Santa Cruz province, Argentina. This new taxon constitutes the most informative megaraptoran from post-Turonian beds. Phylogenetic analysis nested the new taxon together with South American megaraptorans in a monophyletic clade, whereas Australian and Asian members constitute successive stem groups. South American forms differ from more basal megaraptorans in several anatomical features and in being much larger and more robustly built. It is possible that the Cenomanian-Turonian extinction of carcharodontosaurids was allowed to megaraptorans to occupy the niche of top predators in South America.

Sporidesmiella lignicola sp. nov., a new hyphomycetous fungus from freshwater habitats in China

Freshwater fungi, growing on submerged wood, can promote the degradation of organisms and the reuse of rotten wood energy and play key roles in freshwater ecosystems. Here, a new hyphomycetous fungus, Sporidesmiella lignicola, was isolated and identified from submerged wood samples collected in a small stream in Jiangxi Province, south-eastern China. The new taxon was studied, based on morphological characters and phylogenetic analyses combined with LSU, ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 sequences data. Sporidesmiella lignicola was morphologically characterised by its pink colonies on PDA medium in prophase, macronematous, mononematous, solitary, brown, septate, unbranched, straight or slightly flexuous conidiophores with holoblastic, polyblastic, integrated, terminal, pale brown conidiogenous cells and cylindrical, narrowly clavate, broadly obovoid to cuneiform, 3–4-distoseptate, olivaceous brown or brown conidia with rounded apex. A phylogenetic tree was constructed, based on the combination of LSU, ITS, TEF1α and RPB2 sequences data.

Ichthyosaurs from the Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) of the New Siberian Islands, Russian Arctic, and their implications for the evolution of the ichthyosaurian basicranium and vertebral column

ABSTRACT The first ichthyosaurian specimens discovered from the Upper Triassic of the Russian Arctic (Kotelny Island, New Siberian Islands) are described herein. They include the remains of large- to small-bodied ichthyosaurians originating from six stratigraphic levels spanning the lower Carnian to middle Norian. The material is mostly represented by isolated vertebrae and ribs, which are not possible to accurately diagnose, but also includes specimens comprising associated vertebrae and a fragmentary skeleton that preserves cranial remains (parabasisphenoid, fragmentary quadrate, partial mandible and hyoids). Based on vertebral and rib morphology, we identify the specimens as representatives of the following taxonomic groups: large-bodied shastasaurids, medium-sized indeterminate ichthyosaurians with a single rib facet in the presacral centra, and small euichthyosaurians with double rib facets present throughout the presacral vertebrae that likely represent toretocnemids and/or basal parvipelvians. In addition, the cranial and mandibular remains preserved in one of the specimens, ZIN PH 5/250, were studied using micro-computed tomography. Its mandible is highly similar to that of toretocnemids, whereas the parabasisphenoid demonstrates a peculiar combination of both plesiomorphic and derived character states, providing the first detailed data on this cranial element in a Late Triassic ichthyosaurian. Furthermore, the specimen also demonstrates a distinctive condition of rib articulation in the anteriormost presacral (cervical) vertebrae, which together with other features allows for the erection of a new taxon – Auroroborealia incognita gen. et sp. nov. Although the phylogenetic position of this taxon is uncertain due to its fragmentary nature, its anatomy, indicating toretocnemid or parvipelvian affinities, further supports the previously hypothesised sister-group relationships between these two clades. The morphology of the parabasisphenoid and vertebral column of the new taxon is discussed in broader contexts of the patterns of evolution of these skeletal regions in ichthyosaurs.