A relict trematosauroid (Amphibia: Temnospondyli) from the Middle Jurassic of the Junggar Basin (NW China)

A temnospondyl ilium from the uppermost Toutunhe Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of the southern Junggar Basin is described. Among the known temnospondyls it is very unusual in morphology because of its very long and slender shaft. It compares closely only to the ilium of one of the latest known trematosaurids from the Ladinian of southern Germany. The Toutunhe Formation has also yielded vertebrae and skull fragments of temnospondyls which belong to the brachyopid Gobiops from the Upper Jurassic of Mongolia. Brachyopoid ilia do not, however, display a morphology similar to that of the new specimen. It is therefore concluded that this specimen represents a second taxon of temnospondyl from the Toutunhe Formation, which probably represents the latest surviving trematosauroid. The Trematosauroidea, which was hitherto exclusively known from the Lower to early Upper Triassic, therefore joins the Brachyopoidea – and possibly the Capitosauroidea – as another group of temnospondyls which survived the end-Triassic mass extinction.     

The Triassic dicynodont Kombuisia (Synapsida, Anomodontia) from Antarctica, a refuge from the terrestrial Permian-Triassic mass extinction

Fossils from the central Transantarctic Mountains in Antarctica are referred to a new species of the Triassic genus Kombuisia, one of four dicynodont lineages known to survive the end-Permian mass extinction. The specimens show a unique combination of characters only present in this genus, but the new species can be distinguished from the type species of the genus, Kombuisia frerensis, by the presence of a reduced but slit-like pineal foramen and the lack of contact between the postorbitals. Although incomplete, the Antarctic specimens are significant because Kombuisia was previously known only from the South African Karoo Basin and the new specimens extend the taxon’s biogeographic range to a wider portion of southern Pangaea. In addition, the new finds extend the known stratigraphic range of Kombuisia from the Middle Triassic subzone B of the Cynognathus Assemblage Zone into rocks that are equivalent in age to the Lower Triassic Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone, shortening the proposed ghost lineage of this taxon. Most importantly, the occurrence of Kombuisia and Lystrosaurus mccaigi in the Lower Triassic of Antarctica suggests that this area served as a refuge from some of the effects of the end-Permian extinction. The composition of the lower Fremouw Formation fauna implies a community structure similar to that of the ecologically anomalous Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone of South Africa, providing additional evidence for widespread ecological disturbance in the extinction’s aftermath.     

The last “pelycosaur”: a varanopid synapsid from the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pristerognathus</Emphasis> Assemblage Zone,Middle Permian of South Africa

We report on a partial varanopid skull and mandible from the Pristerognathus Assemblage Zone of the Beaufort Group, in the South African Karoo Basin, which is probably latest Middle Permian (Capitanian) in age. This mycterosaurine is not only the youngest known varanopid from the Southern Hemisphere, but it is also the youngest known “pelycosaur” (i.e., non-therapsid synapsid). Like all other members of this clade of hypercarnivores, the teeth are strongly flattened, recurved, and have finely serrated cutting edges. The anterior dentary teeth form a caniniform region, and the splenial features a foramen intermandibularis oralis, the first ever to be described in a “pelycosaur.” The last varanopids were the smallest carnivores of latest Middle Permian continental faunas. Occupation of the small carnivore guild appears to have allowed varanopids to achieve a nearly cosmopolitan distribution throughout the Middle Permian, between the great Early Permian radiation of basal synapsids and the spectacular diversification of therapsid synapsids in the Late Permian and Early Triassic.     

Adaptations for marine habitat and the effect of Triassic and Jurassic predator pressure on development of decompression syndrome in ichthyosaurs

Decompression syndrome (caisson disease or the “the bends”) resulting in avascular necrosis has been documented in mosasaurs, sauropterygians, ichthyosaurs, and turtles from the Middle Jurassic to Late Cretaceous, but it was unclear that this disease occurred as far back as the Triassic. We have examined a large Triassic sample of ichthyosaurs and compared it with an equally large post-Triassic sample. Avascular necrosis was observed in over 15?% of Late Middle Jurassic to Cretaceous ichthyosaurs with the highest occurrence (18?%) in the Early Cretaceous, but was rare or absent in geologically older specimens. Triassic reptiles that dive were either physiologically protected, or rapid changes of their position in the water column rare and insignificant enough to prevent being recorded in the skeleton. Emergency surfacing due to a threat from an underwater predator may be the most important cause of avascular necrosis for air-breathing divers, with relative frequency of such events documented in the skeleton. Diving in the Triassic appears to have been a “leisurely” behavior until the evolution of large predators in the Late Jurassic that forced sudden depth alterations contributed to a higher occurrence of bends.     

The change from rifting to thrusting in the Northern Calcareous Alps as recorded in Jurassic sediments

Facies analysis, fossil dating, and the study of the metamorphism in the Late Triassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary successions in the central part of the Northern Calcareous Alps allow to reconstruct the tectonic evolution in the area between the South Penninic Ocean in the northwest and the Tethys Ocean with the Hallstatt Zone in the southeast. The Triassic as well as the Early and Middle Jurassic sediments were deposited in a rifted, transtensive continental margin setting. Around the Middle/Late Jurassic boundary two trenches in front of advancing nappes formed in sequence in the central part of the Northern Calcareous Alps. The southern trench (Late Callovian to Early Oxfordian) accumulated a thick succession of gravitatively redeposited sediments derived from the sedimentary sequences of the accreted Triassic–Liassic Hallstatt Zone deposited on the outer shelf and the margin of the Late Triassic carbonate platform. During a previous stage these sediments derived from sequences deposited on the more distal shelf (Salzberg facies zone of Hallstatt unit, Meliaticum), and in a later stage from more proximal parts (Zlambach facies zone of Hallstatt unit, Late Triassic reef belt). Low temperature–high pressure metamorphism of some Hallstatt limestones before redeposition is explained by the closure of parts of the Tethys Ocean in Middle to Late Jurassic times and associated subduction. In the northern trench (Late Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian) several hundred meters of sediment accumulated including redeposited material from a nearby topographic rise. This rise is interpreted as an advancing nappe front as a result of the subduction process. The sedimentary sealing by Tithonian sediments, documented by uniform deep-water sedimentation (Oberalm Formation), gives an upper time constraint for the tectonic events. In contrast to current models, which propose an extensional regime for the central and eastern Northern Calcareous Alps in the Late Jurassic, we propose a geodynamic model with a compressional regime related to the Kimmerian orogeny.     

Unusual intraosseous fossilized soft tissues from the Middle Triassic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Nothosaurus</Emphasis> bone

Fossilized soft tissues, occasionally found together with skeletal remains, provide insights to the physiology and functional morphology of extinct organisms. Herein, we present unusual fossilized structures from the cortical region of bone identified in isolated skeletal remains of Middle Triassic nothosaurs from Upper Silesia, Poland. The ribbed or annuli-shaped structures have been found in a sample of partially demineralized coracoid and are interpreted as either giant red blood cells or as blood vessel walls. The most probable function is reinforcing the blood vessels from changes of nitrogen pressure in air-breathing diving reptiles. These structures seem to have been built of extensible muscle layers which prevent the vessel damage during rapid ascent. Such suspected function presented here is parsimonious with results of previous studies, which indicate rarity of the pathological modification of bones associated with decompression syndrome in Middle Triassic nothosaurs.     

Associated skeletons of a new middle Triassic "Rauisuchia" from Brazil

For more than 30 million years, in early Mesozoic Pangea, ??rauisuchian?? archosaurs were the apex predators in most terrestrial ecosystems, but their biology and evolutionary history remain poorly understood. We describe a new ??rauisuchian?? based on ten individuals found in a single locality from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) Santa Maria Formation of southern Brazil. Nine articulated and associated skeletons were discovered, three of which have nearly complete skulls. Along with sedimentological and taphonomic data, this suggests that those highly successful predators exhibited some kind of intraspecific interaction. Other monotaxic assemblages of Triassic archosaurs are Late Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) in age, approximately 10 million years younger than the material described here. Indeed, the studied assemblage may represent the earliest evidence of gregariousness among archosaurs, adding to our knowledge on the origin of a behavior pattern typical of extant taxa.     

Uran-Prospektion in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Two deposits that can be considered economically minable have been found during the last twenty years of prospecting for uranium in the Federal Republic of Germany. These deposits, Menzenschwand and Müllenbach, are situated in the northern and southern Black Forest, respectively. In addition, favorable indications have been found in Paleozoic granites of northeastern Bavaria, of the Black Forest, and Odenwald, as well as in Permian and Triassic sediments of Rheinland-Palatinate, Franconia, and Württemberg. The uranium resources that can be expected from all these deposits are insufficient to meet the domestic demand.     

A new bolosaurid parareptile, Belebey chengi sp. nov., from the Middle Permian of China and its paleogeographic significance

A new bolosaurid parareptile, Belebey chengi sp. nov., is described from Dashankou, Gansu Province, China, a Middle Permian locality which is known mostly for its therapsid fauna. The material consists of well-preserved mandibular and anterior skull remains and currently represents the largest and latest surviving member of Bolosauridae. Phylogenetic analysis of bolosaurid interrelationships, the first analysis of any clade of Early Permian parareptiles, indicates that the new taxon groups consistently with the other (Russian) members of the genus Belebey, and forms the sister clade to the genus Bolosaurus from North America. The Early Permian Eudibamus cursoris from Germany falls into the basal most position within Bolosauridae. Our analysis also shows that the split between the main bolosaurid lineages must have occurred near or before the Permo-Carboniferous boundary and that the paleo-equatorial region of Laurasia probably served as the center of origination for these parareptiles. A similar pattern can be found in other clades of Paleozoic amniotes, suggesting that this may be the general trend in early amniote evolution.     

中中新世气候适宜期西北内陆干旱区气候演化特征

中中新世气候适宜期是距离现今最近的一个未受人类活动影响的气候适宜阶段,现有记录大多显示全球在中中新世气候适宜期期间气候以暖湿为特征。我国西北内陆干旱区作为北半球中纬度面积最大的干旱带的重要组成部分,其气候如何响应全球中中新世气候适宜期的气候变化对预测全球变暖背景下西北内陆干旱区气候变化趋势及实现生态建设具有重要的指导意义。本文总结了西北内陆干旱区具有年代控制的15个剖面的孢粉、同位素、磁化率等19项记录,并选取各记录中指示意义明确的气候代用指标进行集成、分析,发现多数剖面在中中新世气候适宜期的不同时段出现了湿润化特征,但湿润化的出现、结束时间不同,自西向东,湿润事件结束(或适宜期后干旱化增强事件出现)的时间变晚。推测西北内陆干旱区中中新世气候适宜期的气候演化主要受全球气候变化影响,但湿润事件结束或适宜期后干旱化增强事件出现及其呈现出的时空差异则受区域构造活动及气候系统等因素控制。     

A new marine reptile from the Triassic of China,with a highly specialized feeding adaptation

The Luoping fauna (Anisian, Middle Triassic) is probably the oldest of Triassic faunas in Guizhou–Yunnan area, China. The reptilian assemblage is comprised of ichthyosaurs, a number of sauropterygians (pachypleurosaur-like forms), saurosphargids, protorosaurs, and archosauriforms. Here, we report on a peculiar reptile, newly found in this fauna. Its dentition is fence or comb-like and bears more than 175 pleurodont teeth in each ramus of the upper and lower jaws, tooth crown is needle-like distally and blade-shaped proximally; its rostrum strongly bends downward and the anterior end of its mandible expands both dorsally and ventrally to form a shovel-headed structure; and its ungual phalanges are hoof-shaped. The specializations of the jaws and dentition indicate that the reptile may have been adapted to a way of bottom-filter feeding in water. It is obvious that such delicate teeth are not strong enough to catch prey, but were probably used as a barrier to filter microorganisms or benthic invertebrates such as sea worms. These were collected by the specialized jaws, which may have functioned as a shovel or pushdozer (the mandible) and a grasper or scratcher (the rostrum). Our preliminary analysis suggests that the new reptile might be more closely related to the Sauropterygia than to other marine reptiles.     

长江中下游中生代沉积盆地的含矿建造

本文讨论了长江中下游地区中生代沉积盆地演化与成矿作用的关系。印支旋回本区在挤压构造环境下，形成坳褶盆地和海退序列的含矿建造；早中三叠世在局限台地-萨布哈环境下形成周冲村组富铁碳酸盐、铅锌、膏（盐）等合矿建造；中三餐世与三角洲前线亚相有关的沉积环境下形成黄马青组含铜砂岩建造。南象运动是一次变格运动，其界面直接控制象山组砂岩铀矿。晚自垩世与拉伸引张构造有关，形成断陷盆地中的巨厚膏盐矿产．作者认为盆地演化及卤水流体是本区多旋回成矿作用最本质的因素。     

An unusual archosaurian from the marine Triassic of China

A new Triassic archosaurian from China shows a number of aquatic specializations, of which the most striking is the extreme lateral compression of the long tail. Others that may also reflect aquatic adaptations include platelike scapula and coracoid, elongate neck with extremely long and slender ribs, and reduction of osteoderms. In contrast, its pelvic girdle and hind limb have no aquatic modifications. Anatomic features, taphonomy, and local geological data suggest that it may have lived in a coastal–island environment. This lifestyle, convergent with some Jurassic marine crocodyliforms that lived at least 40 million years later and the saltwater species of extant Crocodylus, contradicts with the prevailing view that Triassic archosaurians were restricted to nonmarine ecosystems. Its mosaic anatomy represents a previously unknown ecomorph within primitive archosaurians.Electronic Supplementary Material  Supplementary material is available for this article at     

Hepatitis E Seroprevalence and Genotyping in a Cohort of Wild Boars in Southern Germany and Eastern Alsace

In the last few years it has been realized that the hepatitis E virus (HEV) is endemic in most industrialized countries and that it is a zoonotic disease. Potential reservoirs for HEV have been identified to be wild boars and deers, but HEV has also been found in domestic pigs and other animals. Due to the probable spread of the virus via contaminated food or contact to infected animals, HEV antibodies are present in more than 16% of the German adult population and rates are increasing with age. We collected blood from 104 wild boars in southern Germany and the border region of Alsace. We found an anti-HEV seroprevalence of 11.5% in our cohort, using ELISA. Furthermore, we observed active infection in 3.85% of the animals by positive HEV PCR in the sera of the boars. In our cohort, no regional differences of seroprevalence or active infection were seen. Sequencing revealed rather close homology of some detected HEV sequences to genotypes isolated from patients in Germany. Hence wild boars are a potential source of HEV infection in Middle Europe and the rate of infectious animals is quite high.     

Bizarre tubercles on the vertebrae of Eocene fossil birds indicate an avian disease without modern counterpart

Remains of fossil birds with numerous bony tubercles on the cervical vertebrae are reported from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany and the Late Eocene of the Quercy fissure fillings in France. These structures, which are unknown from extant birds and other vertebrates, were previously described for an avian skeleton from Messel but considered a singular feature of this specimen. The new fossils are from a different species of uncertain phylogenetic affinities and show that tuberculated vertebrae have a wider taxonomic, temporal, and geographic distribution. In contrast to previous assumptions, they are no ontogenetic feature and arise from the vertebral surface. It is concluded that they are most likely of pathologic origin and the first record of a Paleogene avian disease. Their regular and symmetrical arrangement over most of the external vertebral surface indicates a systemic disorder caused by factors that do not affect extant birds, such as especially high-dosed phytohormones or extinct pathogens.     

A previously unrecognized group of Middle Jurassic triconodontan mammals from Central Asia

Ferganodon narynensis gen. et sp. nov. is represented by a lower molariform tooth from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Balabansai Svita in Kyrgyzstan. The new genus is allied with Klamelia zhaopengi Chow and Rich 1984 from the Middle Jurassic Shishugou Formation in Xinjiang, northwest China to the new family Klameliidae based on parallelogram-shaped lower molariforms, imbricating rather than interlocking of cusps e-d-f, by a peculiar distolabial cingulid cusp, and by vertical folding of the enamel on the labial crown side. The new family Klameliidae fam. nov. is most similar to Gobiconodontidae by the structure of the molariform teeth and represents a previously unrecognized radiation of eutriconodontan mammals possibly endemic to Central Asia.     

湖南大义山花岗岩南体黑云母40Ar-39Ar定年及地质意义

大义山岩体是一个多时代形成的复式岩体,习惯有大义山南体和北体之分.岩体内外接触带产有较多的W、Sn、Cu、Pb、Zn等多金属矿产.长期以来对南体主体形成的时代归属存在较大的差异,一部分人认为是印支期的产物,另一部人认为是燕山期的产物,这种结果对该区成矿作用的研究和指导找矿都带来很大的不利.本次研究通过对岩体的解体以及精确的黑云母氩氩法定年,确切地将大义山南体归属于两个不同的时代,即南体的北部为中侏罗世,南部为晚三叠世.这一成果对该岩体和成矿作用的研究都具有重要的现实意义.     

Temporal organization among pollination systems in a tropical seasonal forest

The Placerias/Downs’ Quarry complex in eastern Arizona, USA, is the most diverse Upper Triassic vertebrate locality known. We report a new short-faced archosauriform, Syntomiprosopus sucherorum gen. et sp. nov., represented by four incomplete mandibles, that expands that diversity with a morphology unique among Late Triassic archosauriforms. The most distinctive feature of Syntomiprosopus gen. nov. is its anteroposteriorly short, robust mandible with 3–4 anterior, a larger caniniform, and 1–3 “postcanine” alveoli. The size and shape of the alveoli and the preserved tips of replacement teeth preclude assignment to any taxon known only from teeth. Additional autapomorphies of S. sucherorum gen. et sp. nov. include a large fossa associated with the mandibular fenestra, an interdigitating suture of the surangular with the dentary, fine texture ornamenting the medial surface of the splenial, and a surangular ridge that completes a 90° arc. The external surfaces of the mandibles bear shallow, densely packed, irregular, fine pits and narrow, arcuate grooves. This combination of character states allows an archosauriform assignment; however, an associated and similarly sized braincase indicates that Syntomiprosopus n. gen. may represent previously unsampled disparity in early-diverging crocodylomorphs. The Placerias Quarry is Adamanian (Norian, maximum depositional age ~219 Ma), and this specimen appears to be an early example of shortening of the skull, which occurs later in diverse archosaur lineages, including the Late Cretaceous crocodyliform Simosuchus. This is another case where Triassic archosauriforms occupied morphospace converged upon by other archosaurs later in the Mesozoic and further demonstrates that even well-sampled localities can yield new taxa.

     

Genese des mitteleuropäischen Buntsandsteins

The continental Buntsandstein red beds represent the parastratigraphically subdivided germanotype facies of the Lower Triassic in Middle Europe. Fluvial deposits are widespread in proximal and medial parts of the sedimentation area. Additionally, aeolian dune sands, alluvial-fan deposits, mud-flow sediments, palaeosols, lacustrine, deltaic, tidal, lagoonal, brackish, marine and evaporitic deposits are present. Numerous isolated occurrences and several concentrations of faunal and floral elements in the generally poorly fossiliferous sequence reflect a diversified and partially rich biosphere of the Buntsandstein. Evolution and zoning testify the control of tectonics on depositional history. The depositional history leads from the end of the saline Zechstein period via predominantly silty-clayey and oolitic shallow-water sediments to a mainly fluvial series which is characterized by the intercalation of aeolian dune sands in its upper part, before by another fluvial sequence in the marginal areas and precipitation of thick halite layers in the basin centre the marine terminal stage is reached which passes into the carbonate Muschelkalk succession.     

Biomolecules preserved in ca. 168 million year old fossil conifer wood

Biomarkers are widely known to occur in the fossil record, but the unaltered biomolecules are rarely reported from sediments older than Paleogene. Polar terpenoids, the natural products most resistant to degradation processes, were reported mainly from the Tertiary conifers, and the oldest known are Cretaceous in age. In this paper, we report the occurrence of relatively high concentrations of ferruginol derivatives and other polar diterpenoids, as well as their diagenetic products, in a conifer wood Protopodocarpoxylon from the Middle Jurassic of Poland. Thus, the natural product terpenoids reported in this paper are definitely the oldest polar biomolecules detected in geological samples. The extracted phenolic abietanes like ferruginol and its derivatives (6,7-dehydroferruginol, sugiol, 11,14-dioxopisiferic acid) are produced only by distinct conifer families (Cupressaceae s. l., Podocarpaceae and Araucariaceae), to which Protopodocarpoxylon could belong based on anatomical characteristics. Therefore, the natural product terpenoids are of great advantage in systematics of fossil plant remains older than Paleogene and lacking suitable anatomical preservation.