<i>Chirotherium barthii </i>Kaup 1835 from the Triassic of the Isle of Arran, Scotland

The mould of a track from SE Arran, and several in situ trackways and individual tracks, as well as a partial trackway on a loose block of Triassic sandstone, from western Arran, represent the first verifiable fossil tracks of Chirotherium from the Triassic of Scotland and support a Scythian (Lower Triassic) age for the base of the Auchenhew Beds. The grouping of the I–IV toes with toe V behind and lateral to the group is characteristic of Chirotherium-like tracks. A comparison with European and American Triassic trackways suggests that the tracks belong to the species Chirotherium barthii Kaup, 1835, first described from Hildburghausen, Germany

Review of Dysmorphoptilidae Handlirsch (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) from the Argentinean Triassic, with description of a new subfamily, and a new species

This contribution presents new fossil insect taxa of the order Hemiptera (Cicadomorpha, Dysmorphoptilidae, Gallegomorphoptilinae subfam. n.) from the Ischichuca Formation (late Middle Triassic to early Late Triassic) from La Rioja Province (Argentina). One subfamily, one new species, and three new combinations, are proposed: Gallegomorphoptila kotejai sp. n., G. acostai comb. n., G. gigantea comb. n., G. pulcherrima comb. n. Also, a wide review of the family Dysmorphoptilidae HANDLIRSCH (diverse and well represented in the Argentinean Triassic levels), is madeFil: Martins-Neto, R.G.. Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais; BrasilFil: Gallego, Oscar Florencio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; Argentin

Provenance history of a Late Triassic-Jurassic Gondwana margin forearc basin, Murihiku Terrane, North Island, New Zealand: petrographic and geochemical constraints

The Murihiku Terrane in the North Island was a forearc basin adjacent to a volcanic arc along the eastern margin of Gondwana during the Mesozoic. The rocks that infill the basin are mainly volcaniclastic sandstones and mudstones, often turbiditic, with sparse shellbeds, rhyolitic tuffs, carbonaceous sandstones, plant beds, concretionary horizons, and rare thick granitoid-rich conglomerates. Petrographic studies of the rock fragments in the sandstones show that andesites are the dominant lithic type, but there is a wide range of other lithologies, including dacites, rhyolites, ignimbrites, granitoids, quartzofeldspathic mica schists, rare amphibolites, and reworked mudstones and sandstones. The sandstones are texturally and mineralogically immature and suggest deposition relatively close to a source of high relief, undergoing physical rather than chemical weathering in cool- to cold-temperate conditions. Geochemical analyses of 67 whole-rock volcaniclastic sandstones and siltstones indicate that they were derived from an active and dissected volcanic arc in a convergent margin setting built upon relatively thin continental crust. Modal petrographic data and whole-rock geochemistry both confirm that there were systematic variations with time in the composition of clastic material being supplied to the basin. From the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic, there was a decrease in silicic volcanic material, plutonics, and metamorphics, and an increase in the supply of andesitic detritus. This was followed in the Late Jurassic by a broader range of volcanic detritus, varying from basaltic andesite to rhyolite, which may have been caused by progressive extension of the volcanic arc and thinning of the crust, a precursor to the breakup of Gondwana in the Early-Middle Cretaceous. Comparison with the Southland segment of the Murihiku Terrane in the South Island suggests that there were significant along-arc source variations, with relatively less silicic but greater andesitic and continental crust contributions in the North Island than in Southland. This may be analogous to the modern Taupo-Kermadec arc where there is a south-north along-arc transition from a continental to an oceanic arc

The fossil record of early tetrapods: worker effort and the end-Permian mass extinction

It is important to understand the quality of the fossil record of early tetrapods (Tetrapoda, minus Lissamphibia and Amniota) because of their key role in the transition of vertebrates from water to land, their dominance of terrestrial faunas for over 100 million years of the late Palaeozoic and earlyMesozoic, and their variable fates during the end−Permian mass extinction. The first description of an early tetrapod dates back to 1824, and since then discoveries have occurred at a rather irregular pace, with peaks and troughs corresponding to some of the vicissitudes of human history through the past two centuries. As expected, the record is dominated by the well−sampled sedimentary basins of Europe and North America, but finds from other continents are increasing rapidly. Comparisons of snapshots of knowledge in 1900, 1950, and 2000 show that discovery of new species has changed the shape of the species−level diversification curve, contrary to earlier studies of family−level taxa. There is, however, little evidence that taxon counts relate to research effort (as counted by numbers of publications), and there are no biasing effects associated with differential study of different time intervals through the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. In fact, levels of effort are apparently not related to geological time, with no evidence that workers have spent more time on more recent parts of the record. In particular, the end−Permian mass extinction was investigated to determine whether diversity changes through that interval might reflect worker effort: it turns out that most records of early tetrapod taxa (when corrected for duration of geological series) occur in the Lower Triassic

Late Triassic (Rhaetian) conodonts and ichthyoliths from Chile

The Late Triassic of the back arc Domeyko Basin, Chile is characterized by the onset of marine sedimentation that persisted throughout the rest of the Mesozoic. Carbonate bulk samples from the Punta del Viento Limestone Formation have yielded a numerically small, but apparently widespread, conodont fauna including Epigondolella mosheri, Epigondolella englandi and Neogondolella steinbergensis. These specimens indicate a Rhaetian (Epigondolella mosheri conodont Biozone roughly equivalent to the Paracochloceras amoenum ammonoid Biozone) age for this unit. Their recovery represents the first record of conodonts from Chile, and also indicates a considerable potential for use in correlating sequence stratigraphic events within the Mesozoic Marginal Sea in Colombia, Peru and Chile

The Early Evolution of Rhynchosaurs

The rhynchosaurian archosauromorphs are an important and diverse group of fossil tetrapods that first appeared during the Early Triassic and probably became extinct during the early Late Triassic (early Norian). Here, the early evolution of rhynchosaurs during the Early and early Middle Triassic (Induan-Anisian: 252.2-242 Mya) is reviewed based on new anatomical observations and their implications for the taxonomy, phylogenetic relationships and macroevolutionary history of the group. A quantitative phylogenetic analysis recovered a paraphyletic genus Rhynchosaurus, with “Rhynchosaurus” brodiei more closely related to hyperodapedontines than to Rhynchosaurus articeps. Therefore, a new genus is erected, resulting in the new combination Langeronyx brodiei. A body size analysis found two independent increases in size in the evolutionary history of rhynchosaurs, one among stenaulorhynchines and the other in the hyperodapedontine lineage. Maximum likelihood fitting of phenotypic evolution models to body size data found ambiguous results, with body size evolution potentially interpreted as fitting either a non-directional Brownian motion model or a stasis model. A Dispersal-ExtinctionCladogenesis analysis reconstructed the areas that are now South Africa and Europe as the ancestral areas of Rhynchosauria and Rhynchosauridae, respectively. The reconstruction of dispersal events between geographic areas that are broadly separated paleolatitudinally implies that barriers to the dispersal of rhynchosaurs from either side of the paleo-Equator during the Middle Triassic were either absent or permeable.Fil: Ezcurra, Martin Daniel. University of Birmingham; Reino Unido. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Montefeltro, Felipe C.. University of Birmingham; Reino Unido. Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho; BrasilFil: Butler, Richard J.. University of Birmingham; Reino Unid

Evaluating the Baluti Formation at Sararu village, Ora Anticline, Iraqi Kurdistan : a stratigraphic and geochemical approach

Open access through Springer Compact Agreement Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Colin Taylor and Walter Ritchie from University of Aberdeen for their technical support and assistance with laboratory work. We would also like to thank Mr. Omer Kamil Ali, the Head of the Qumri village, for providing accommodation during fieldwork.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Faulting in prospective CO2 storage sites in the UK Southern North Sea

Post-depositional folding of Triassic strata, formed largely by the development of salt domes and pillows in the underlying Zechstein Group, led to the formation of numerous large anticlinal structures at the level of the Triassic aged Bunter Sandstone Formation (BSF). These structural closures, some of which have formed effective traps to natural gas, have been mapped across the UK Southern North Sea (SNS), and are currently of interest as potential prospects for the storage of anthropogenic CO2

Mesozoic Coleopteran Faunas fromArgentina: Geological Context, Diversity, Taphonomic Observations, and Comparison with Other Fossil Insect Records

The order Coleoptera is the most diversified group of the Class Insecta and is the largest group of the Animal Kingdom. This contribution reviews the Mesozoic insects and especially the coleopteran records from Argentina, based on bibliographical and unpublished materials (86 described species, 526 collected specimens). The material came from different geological units from the late Middle Triassic to the Late Triassic (Bermejo, Cuyo, and Malargüe basins) to the Middle-Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (Deseado Massif, Cañadón Asfalto, and San Luis Basin). The coleopteran record is composed of 29 described species with 262 collected specimens (isolated elytra) mainly represented by Triassic species and only four specimens recorded in Jurassic units, all of them currently unpublished. These fossil coleopterans provide fundamental information about the evolution of insects in the Southern Hemisphere and confirm the Triassic Argentinean insect deposits to be among the most important in the world.Fil: Lara, Maria Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Gallego, Oscar Florencio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; ArgentinaFil: Vaz Tassi, Lara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; Argentin