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.

New intensive bed-by-bed ammonoid collecting efforts conducted in 2010 and 2011 at South Canyon, the type locality of the lowest Carnian Desatoyense Zone of the North American chronostratigraphic scale, have lead to the recognition of a new species of Trachyceras that is herein described. The new species is dedicated to Norman J. Silberling (1928-2011), who was widely recognized as the leading authority on marine Triassic stratigraphy in western US for over 50 years. T. silberlingi n. sp. is characterized by a peculiar ornamentation consisting of two spiral rows of bullae on the flank (first row on umbilical shoulder and second row at about 70% of whorl height) and by ribs frequently looped in pairs at the lateral bulla. The new species, from South Canyon site F, the stratigraphically highest level of the fossiliferous succession of the middle member of the Augusta Mountain Formation, represents the first definite occurrence of the genus Trachyceras Laube, 1869 in this succession. For this reason T. silberlingi n. sp. is of great importance for the revision of the Desatoyense Zone, a unit defined on the basis of a large collection of ammonoids described in 1941 from the lower part of the middle member of the Augusta Mountain Formation, without regard for the number and position of fossil bearing levels. We herein propose the subdivision and replacement of the former Desatoyense Zone with two biostratigraphic units: the lower unit referred to as the Daxatina beds, is an informal biozone characterized by the occurrence of Daxatina and Frankites sutherlandi, and the overlying Trachyceras silberlingi biozone is a range zone characterized by the occurrence of Trachyceras, based on the new species. The chronostratigraphic potential of this proposed subdivision is briefly outlined, but it will be more accurately defined upon completion of the taxonomic revision of the South Canyon ammonoid faunas.

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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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