Bollettino SPI: Vol. 51 (2) 2012

A preliminary account is presented herein of the revision of 473 slabs containing macrofossil plant remains from the Domenico Lovisato plant Collection. The latter is housed in the Museo Sardo di Geologia e Paleontologia “D. Lovisato” of the Università di Cagliari. The material examined encompasses palaeobotanical remains collected from the Genna Selole Formation and from the basal part of the Dorgali Formation, both of Jurassic age at a variety of localities in Barbagia and Sarcidano, eastern Sardinia. A reconstruction is given of the history of the collection, initiated in 1888, and the scientific studies of the flora by a variety of palaeobotanists. Based on a preliminary revision of the specimens the following genera are recognized: Phlebopteris Brongniart, 1836, Hausmannia Dunker, 1846, Coniopteris Brongniart, 1849, Cladophlebis Brongniart, 1849, Sagenopteris Presl in Sternberg, 1838, Cycadeospermum Saporta, 1875, Ptilophyllum Morris in Grant, 1840, Williamsonia Carruthers, 1870 emend. Harris, 1969, Weltrichia Braun, 1847 emend. Harris, 1969, Taeniopteris Brongniart, 1828, Czekanowskia Heer, 1876 emend. Harris et al., 1974, Brachyphyllum Brongniart, 1828, Elatocladus Halle, 1913 emend. Harris, 1979 and Carpolithes Brongniart, 1822. Some plant remains have been putatively assigned to the following genera: Ptilozamites Nathorst, 1878 emend. Antevs, 1914, Nilssonia Brongniart, 1825, Pterophyllum Brongniart, 1828 and Geinitzia Endlicher, 1847. Several of these genera are known also from the Jurassic flora of Yorkshire and from other Jurassic floras of Italy.

A new species of the genus Faorina Gray, 1851 (Echinoidea, Pericosmidae) from the early Miocene of Sardinia, F. maullui sp. nov., is described. This is the first fossil evidence of Faorina and the first record from the Mediterranean area. The new species differs from the Recent F. chinensis Gray, 1851, so far considered to be the only valid species of the genus, in having a depressed test, with oblique posterior face and thinner margin, a different pathway of the peripetalous fasciole and larger periproct. The diagnostic characters stated in the literature to distinguish Faorina are discussed on the basis of the new material under study, and the meridoplacous structure in the interambulacrum 1 adorally is herein considered to be the only safe feature to distinguish Faorina from the closely related genus Pericosmus L. Agassiz, in L. Agassiz & Desor, 1847. Three species from the Miocene of Italy, originally attributed in the literature to the genus Pericosmus, are transferred into Faorina.

A new genus and species of cheilostome bryozoan, Antoniettella exigua gen. et sp. nov., is described from East Kalimantan (Indonesia) in rocks around the Burdigalian-Langhian boundary (Lower-Middle Miocene). Colonies encrust the undersides of platy scleractinian corals that formed patch reefs in turbid shallow waters. Included in the cribrimorph ascophorans, the monospecific genus Antoniettella differs from all existing cribrimorph genera and can be distinguished by a combination of its keyhole-shaped orifice and lack of pelmata, intercostal lacunae and ovicells. Colonies are always small in size, subcircular in outline, thick and usually multilayered, with new layers spreading outwards from the centre of the colony. Ecological categorization of Antoniettella as a ‘spot colony’ is discussed and its life history inferred. A survivorship curve suggests low initial rates of mortality followed by a constant rate of mortality. Colonies appear to have been well adapted to occupy and defend small patches of substrate space, possibly in a low-nutrient microenvironment.

A pair of Paleogene nautilid cephalopods (Angulithes hilarionis) composed of dimorphed shells are interpreted as having been buried while mating. A similar behaviour was previously reported for ampullinid gastropods (Dieni, 2008), the specimens being “frozen” when covered suddenly by a mass of sediment, primarily volcanoclastics. The formation of the latter also involved acidification and consequent poisoning and/or overwarming of sea water, causing mass mortality in some cases. As the syntypes of Nautilus hilarionis De Gregorio, 1880 result as being no longer available, a Lutetian neotype from the type area is proposed.

The study presents the findings of four peculiar fossil species of Ostracoda from sandy-silty bathyal sediments of Early Pleistocene age from Punta Messinese (Capo Milazzo Peninsula, NE Sicily). Three species are newly described, Bythocypris antoniettae n. sp., Cytheropteron italoi n. sp. and Cytheropteron rossanae n. sp.; one species is assigned in open nomenclature to the genus Buntonia Howe & Chambers, 1935.

South Canyon, località tipo della Zona a Desatoyense, la prima zona del Carnico nella scala cronostratigrafica nordamericana, nel 2010 e 2011 è stata oggetto di campionamenti strato-per-strato che hanno permesso di individuare una specie nuova di Trachyceras, che viene descritta in questo lavoro. La specie è dedicata a Norman J. Silberling (1928-2011) che per 50 anni è stato l’autorità indiscussa per la stratigrafia del Triassico marino nella parte occidentale degli Stati Uniti. Trachyceras silberlingi n. sp. è caratterizzato da un’ornamentazione molto particolare, che consiste in due serie spirali di bullae sul fianco, una in posizione vicina al margine ombelicale e una a circa il 70% di altezza del fianco, e da coste che spesso si congiungono a coppie alla bulla laterale. La nuova specie è stata raccolta dal sito F, il sito stratigraficamente più alto del membro medio della Augusta Mountain Formation di South Canyon, ove rappresenta la prima sicura presenza del genere Trachyceras Laube, 1869. Per questo motivo la nuova specie T. silberlingi è estremamente utile per una prima revisione della Zona a Desatoyense, basata originariamente su raccolte di ammonoidi effettuate nella parte inferiore del membro medio della Augusta Mountain Formation, senza distinzione sui livelli di raccolta. Si propone quindi la sostituzione della Zona a Desatoyense con due unità biostratigrafiche. I Daxatina beds sono una biozona informale caratterizzata dalla presenza di Daxatina e Frankites sutherlandi, e sono seguiti dalla biozona a Trachyceras silberlingi. Quest’ultima è una zona di distribuzione formalmente istituita in questo lavoro, caratterizzata dalla presenza di Trachyceras. Viene delineato il significato cronostratigrafico delle due biozone, ma il completamento della revisione del Carnico Inferiore della scala nordamericana sarà possibile solo dopo il completamento della revisione tassonomica di tutte le faune raccolte.

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The aim of this work is to review the Middle-Late Pleistocene fossil remains of the genus Cuon Hodgson, 1838 from Italy. The geographical distribution of hypercarnivorous canids belonging to the genus Cuon is presently restricted to Southeastern Asia, whereas during the Pleistocene occurrences are documented in Eurasia and North America. Due to the fragmentary nature of the fossil record of this genus, resolution of many aspects of its origins, phyletic relationships, and evolutionary trends prove difficult. In the Italian Peninsula the occurrence of this canid has been reported from several sites of Middle-Late Pleistocene age. However, the latter have rarely been accompanied by descriptions of the material. This paper presents an update of the Italian record of the genus Cuon, description of the material from these different sites and includes unpublished data related to new localities. It represents a starting point for a broader review of the Mediterranean Plio-Pleistocene hypercarnivorous canids.

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