Permian brachiopods from Karakorum (Pakistan)Part. 3.

Lucia Angiolini

Abstract. Late Wordian (Guadalupian) brachiopods from Member 2 of the Panjshah Formation in the Karakorum (N Pakistan) are described. The brachiopod assemblage, dated by the associated fusulinids and conodonts, consists of 29 genera (3 of which are questionable and 1 unidentifiable) of the orders Productida, Orthida, Rhynchonellida, Athyridida, Spiriferida and Terebratulida. Hunzininae, a new subfamily of the Spiriferellidae is proposed; it includes Darbandia n. gen., with type species D. vagabunda n. sp. and Elivina chapursani n. sp. A third new species is assigned to the genus Anchorhynchia of the family Wellerellidae: A. cimmerica n. sp.

A quantitative biostratigraphic analysis demonstrates two major faunal changes in the Elivina chapursani- Chapursania tatianae Assemblage Zone of the upper part of Member 2, which are not strictly linked to lithological changes. This biozone is correlated with the brachiopod faunas of the Gnishik Formation of Armenia and those of the basal Takhtabulak Formation of SE Pamir. 

The faunal elements of the Elivina chapursani- Chapursania tatianae Assemblage Zone are an admixture of wide-ranging, Tethyan (particularly abundant), Gondwanan and endemic (Cimmerian) genera, representing a transitional fauna and a biostratigraphic tool for intercontinental correlation, which are particularly problematic in this time interval. The Panjshah transitional fauna demonstrates the persistence of the Transhimalayan Province of the Cimmerian Region into the late Guadalupian, which originated at the end of the Cisuralian and occupied Armenia, Central Afghanistan, Karakorum and SE Pamir. It provides also some insights into the biodiversity pattern before the mass extinction at the end of the Guadalupian, and suggests that this event was as rapid as the end- Permian mass extinction, at least in Central Asia. 

Actinopterygians from the Middle Triassic of Northern Italy and Canton Ticino (Switzerland): anatomical descriptions and nomenclatural problems

CRISTINA LOMBARDO

Abstract.The actinopterygians Allolepidotus bellottii (Rüppell), Furo trottii (Balsamo Crivelli, 1839) and Perleidus altolepis (Deecke, 1889), so far known from the Perledo Member (upper member of the Perledo-Varenna Formation), are here redescribed on the basis of well-preserved material coming from the late Ladinian Kalkschieferzone of Ca' del Frate (Viggiù, Varese) and Meride (Canton Ticino, Switzerland). These new finds in the Kalkschieferzone are particularly important because they allow the first detailed anatomical description of Allolepidotus bellottii and the complete anatomical restoration of Perleidus altolepis; the presence of the caturid Furo in the Middle Triassic, which has previously been questioned, is confirmed. Besides the anatomical descriptions, the complicated and problematical nomenclature adopted by previous authors for the species of the Perledo Member is discussed. The stratigraphical distribution of the genus Perleidus is questioned, as the Triassic species previously ascribed to this genus are here considered as not related to it. Finally, a new genus of Perleidiformes is erected.

TURRIGLOMINA? ANATOLICA, N. SP. (FORAMINIFERIDA) FROM THE CRETACEOUS OF NORTH-WESTERN ANATOLIA (TURKEY): REMARKS ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE MESOZOIC MEANDROSPIRIDS

DEMIR ALTINER, ROBERTO RETTORI, LOUISETTE ZANINETTI & ROSSANA MARTINI

Abstract. A new species of foraminifer, Turriglomina? anatolica n. sp., is erected from the Lower Cretaceous of North-Western Anatolia, Turkey. The species is characterized by a well developed meandrospirid stage followed by a rectilinear, helicoidal stage. The morphology of the new taxon is similar to that of the Triassic genus Turriglomina zaninetti, however, the generic attribution is doubtful as the evolutionary path of meandrospirids is not documented from Triassic to Cretaceous.

MIDDLE EOCENE TO EARLY MIOCENE FORAMINIFERAL BIOSTRATIGRAPHY 

IN THE EPILIGURIAN SUCCESSION (NORTHERN APENNINES, ITALY)

Nicoletta Mancin* & Camilla Pirini**

Abstract A quantitative biostratigraphical study was performed on the foraminiferal assemblages from 15 stratigraphic sections of the Epiligurian Succession (Middle Eocene-Early Miocene, Northern Apennines, Italy).

These bioevents include the massive extinction of the muricate species at the Bartonian/Priabonian boundary; the increasing abundance of Paragloborotalia opima opima near Subzone P21a/P21b and the Rupelian/Chattian boundaries; and the FO of Globoquadrina dehiscens at the Subzone N4a/N4b boundary.

Middle Miocene Ostracods from the Salentine Peninsula

Barbara DallíAntonia ¹ & Alessandro Bossio ²

Abstract.The ostracod faunas of the S. Caterina and S. Maria al Bagno sections (Salentine Peninsula, Apulia) were studied. These sections comprise the lower and middle levels of the Pietra Leccese formationand range collectively from the uppermost Burdigalian or the lower Langhian to the middle Serravallian. Forty-one species, belonging to twenty-seven genera were identified. Nineteen species known previously are illustrated and discussed; six (Carinocythereis messapica n. sp., Celtia multicostata n. sp., Cytherella obesa n. sp., Cytherella polygonalis n. sp., Cytherella salentinensis n. sp. and Cytherelloidea ? rectangularisn. sp.) are described as new, and two are left in open nomenclature. The stratigraphic distribution of a remarkable number ofshelf ostracod species,known previously from the Upper Miocene upwards, includes also part of the Middle Miocene. 

The Early Pliocene mammal assemblage of Val di Pugna (Tuscany, Italy) in the light of calcareous plankton biostratigraphical data and paleoecological observations

Giovanni Bianucci , Paul Mazza , Donato Merola, Giovanni Sarti & Antonio Cascella

Abstract. The stratigraphy of clayey and sandy beds outcropping in Val di Pugna locality near Siena (Tuscany, Italy) celebrated for the past finds of fossil mammalian remains, is studied here. The research is aimed to date and define the depositional environment of the sediments that yielded fossil bones of known provenance.

Two sequences have been studied in detail; they are located near the hamlets of Ruffolo and Case il Poggio, where both marine and land mammal remains had been found. The integrated biostratigraphic analysis of the planktonic foraminifers and calcareous nannoplankton indicates that the deposits straddle the transition from the Zone MPL3 to MPL4 of the planktonic foraminifer biostratigraphic scale, which is correlated with the Reticulofenestra pseudoumbilicus Zone (MNN14-15 Zone) of the calcareous nannoplankton scale.

The sedimentary characters and the faunal content are suggestive of a progressively deepening marine environment, with a transition from upper shoreface deposits to lower shoreface-offshore deposits. The vertebrates include a cetacean (Tusciziphis crispus) and a sirenid (Metaxyterium gervaisi) amongst the marine mammals, while the land mammals are represented by a rhino (Stephanorhinus jeanvireti) and a bovid (Alephis lyrix). The sirenid remains are likely the only autochthonous elements because of their ecologic consistency with the depositional environment of the embedding sediments. The other fossil specimens are interpreted here as parts of decaying and floating carcasses that deposited their bones as they drifted away, inflated by decomposition gasses. 

The biostratigraphy of the sites permits to date the fossil bones. Noteworthy occurrences are those of Stephanorhinus jeanvireti and Alephis lyrix in levels correlated with Zone MN14, since they are usually reported in Zone MN16 and Zone MN15 assemblages, respectively.

Euspira magenesi, a new species of the Naticidae (Gastropoda) from the Pliocene of Italy

Luca Pedriali* & Elio Robba**

Abstract. The new naticid species Euspira magenesi is described and figured. The type-material was recovered from Pliocene deposits exposed along the stream Rio Rosello (Emilia region, Piacenza province) and near Villalvernia (Piedmont, Alessandria province).The small-sized Euspira magenesi is featured by channeled suture, open, rather wide umbilicus and abapically produced aperture. It is an uncommon infralittoral element likely related to ecotones between paleobiocoenoses similar to the modern Mediterranean SFBC and DC.

THE HOLOTYPE OF CERVALCES GALLICUS (AZZAROLI, 1952) FROM SENEZE (HAUTE LOIRE, FRANCE) WITH NOMENCLATURAL IMPLICATIONS AND TAXONOMICAL PHYLOGENETIC PROBLEMS

MARZIA BREDA

The remains of Cervalces (Libralces) gallicus (Azzaroli, 1952) from the Middle-Upper Villafranchian of Sénèze (Haute-Loire, France), kept in the Paleontological Museum of the University Claude Bernard - Lyon 1, are here studied again. The remains consist of an assembled skeleton, with skull, antlers and all postcranial elements, described by Azzaroli (1952) as holotype, and in the limb bones of a second specimen, designated as cotype by the same author. The cotypeís limb bones are here attributed to the holotype, while the smaller assembled limb bones cannot be determined over the family taxonomic level, due to the bad state of preservation.

The characters determining the genus Cervalces are described here and, in accordance with Azzaroli, the species C. (L.) latifrons from the Middle-Upper Pleistocene is attributed to it. All the species of the genus Cervalces show characters of cranial and facial morphology, which differ from that of present-day Alces. The narrow, deep occipital and the short nasals, not articulated with the long premaxillaris, are in this view considered apomorphic characters of Alces alces.

Ursus spelaeus from Grotta Sopra Fontana Marella, Campo dei Fiori Massif (Varese, Italy): morphometry and paleoecology.

renata Perego, emanuela Zanalda & andrea Tintori *

Abstract. The paleontological study on cave bear remains from the Grotta Sopra Fontana Marella (Campo dei Fiori massif, Varese, Italy) is here presented. The cave bear material was collected in three different levels of the cave stratigraphical sequence which are assigned to Late Pleistocene by radiometric ages and aminoacid racemization analysis. This deposit gives us the rare opportunity to compare cave bear remains that lived in the same geographical areas but at different time intervals. Cave bears from the oldest level (FM4) had a peculiar mandible morphology and a smaller body size than cave bears from the uppermost levels (FM1 and FM2). We propose that this change in body size is related to a paleoclimatic trend from FM4 towards a colder phase (FM1 and FM2), the latter corresponding to the last maximum expansion of glaciers in the Italian Alps. Morphometric analysis of bones and teeth allowed to determine minimum number of individuals, class ages and sex ratio for each cave bear fossil assemblage. 

SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES RECONSTRUCTION OF THE LAST 16,000 YEARS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

Simona Giunta, Kay-Christian Emeis & Alessandra Negri

Abstract A detailed study has been performed on two eastern Mediterranean box cores (BC02 and BC06) and on a southern Adriatic piston core (AD91-17) on the alkenone unsaturation ratio, a molecular proxy for past sea surface temperatures. The aim was to identify climatic events of the last 16 Ky, with particular attention on the conditions during formation of sapropel S1. All three temperature curves lack evidence for cooling in the Younger Dryas stadial and warming in the Boelling/Alleroed interstadial events. Just prior to the sapropel S1 base, SST cooled and increased by about 5°C during the sapropel deposition interval. Within sapropel S1, SST show a marked warming followed by a clear cooling. In the topmost intervals of the cores SST are mostly constant, but a warming event is always observed. This warming phase may correspond to the ìMedieval climatic Optimumî (in the AD91-17 core) and to the ìRoman Optimumî (in the box cores).