NEW DATA ON THE EARLY JURASSIC BIODIVERSITY OF THE LOMBARDY BASIN (SOUTHERN ALPS, ITALY) AND THE EARLIEST RECORD SPHENODUS (CHONDRICHTHYES, NEOSELACHII)

At the beginning of the Jurassic, the initial stages of the rifting that preceded the opening of the Alpine Tethys led to the establishment of the Lombardy basin, characterized by a shallow water marine palaeoenvironment inhabited by highly diversified ecological communities. Macrofossil records from the whole Lower Jurassic succession of Lombardy are currently mostly confined to invertebrates. The earliest occurrence of marine vertebrates is from the Sinemurian Moltrasio Limestone of Osteno (Varese), subsequent to the Triassic/Jurassic boundary (TJB) post-crisis recovery. Here, we describe material from the Roncola section (Roncola San Bernardo, Bergamo) of the Sedrina Limestone (upper Hettangian), consisting of a dense accumulation of crinoid skeletal remains belonging to Balanocrinus ticinensis Hess, 2006. Among them are three isolated neoselachian teeth assigned to the genus Sphenodus Agassiz, 1843. This new discovery is significant and extends our knowledge of the biodiversity of the Lombardy basin Jurassic, mainly because these dental remains represent the earliest vertebrate macrofossils ever documented from this area after the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. Sphenodus (which ranges from the Sinemurian to the Danian) is a fairly ubiquitous Sinemurian neoselachian shark but this new record moves its First Appearance Datum (FAD) back to the Hettangian stage

POVIJESNI PREGLED PERORALNE PRIMJENE NEOBRAĐENOG JANTARA

The organic mineraloid gemstone, amber, a fossilized resin collected from Eocene deposits laid down around 44 million years old on the Baltic coast, has been an important geopharmaceutical in the western materia medica since classical times. Once rendered into powdered form, it could be delivered into the body using a wide range of vehicles including lozenges, pills, tablets, troches, electuaries, solutions and lohochs (lick-pots), and with toast and poached eggs. Acting either alone or in combination with a wide range of botanical, zoological and other geological ingredients, it was employed in the treatment of a huge range of diseases. Most prominent among these were various vascular disorders (e.g. haemoptysis, haemorrhage, excessive menstrual bleeding), problems with the urogenital system (e.g. tendency towards miscarriage, impotence, venereal diseases, strangury, dysuria and bladder stones) and alimentary conditions, particularly dysentery. A variety of infectious diseases, including plague, gonorrhoea, measles and fevers could be targeted with amber-containing preparations, as could epilepsy, melancholy and the ravages of old age. Rather more unusual applications included its use in the treatment of impotence, halitosis, drunkenness and a weak back.Dragi kamen, mineraloid organskog porijekla, jantar, fosilizirani ostatak 44 milijuna godina starih eocenskih naslaga s baltičke obale, bio je važan lijek mineralnog porijekla u zapadnjačkoj materii medici još od antike. U jednom trenutku pretvoren u prašak, mogao je biti unesen u tijelo koristeći široku lepezu sredstava uključujući pastile, pilule, tablete, dražeje, tekućine i lizalice, s prepečencem i prženim jajima. Djelujući zasebno ili u kombinaciji sa širokim spektrom botaničkih, zooloških i drugih mineralnih sastojaka, korišten je u liječenju velikog broja bolesti. Najistaknutije među njima bile su vaskularne bolesti (npr. hemoptiza, hemoragija, ekscesivno vaskularno krvarenje), problemi urogenitalnog sustava (npr. sklonost pobačaju, impotencija, spolne bolesti, strangurije, dizurije i kamenci u mokraćnom mjehuru) i probavne smetnje, osobito dizenterija. Raznolike zarazne bolesti uključujući kugu, gonoreju, ospice i vrućice, mogu biti tretirane preparatima koji sadrže jantar kao što to može biti i padavica, melankolija i staračka iscrpljenost Nešto neuobičajenija primjena bila je pri liječenju impotencije, neugodnog zadaha, pijanosti i križoboljama

Late Viséan pelagic chondrichthyans from northern Europe

The relatively rich assemblages of shark teeth from pelagic limestone (Mississippian, late Viséan, late Asbian–middle Brigantian) of three northern European regions: the Rhenish Mountains (Westenfeld Quarry, Germany), the Holy Cross Mountains (Todowa Grz ą ba at the edge of Ostrówka Quarry, Poland), and Derbyshire (Cawdor Quarry, Matlock, England, UK) display certain similarities, with the absolute predominance of the teeth of Falcatidae (small Symmoriiformes) and the constant presence of Thrinacodus spp. The largest and most diverse assemblage from Todowa Grz ą ba contains at least three species of a falcatid Denaea , a xenacanthimorph Bransonella nebraskensis , a newly described phoebodontid Thrinacodus dziki sp. nov., a few ctenacanthiform and euselachian teeth, and two abraded euchondrocephalan dental elements. Anachronistidae, common in the most of late Viséan pelagic faunas, are absent from Todowa Grz ą ba and Westenfeld. The material under study differs from the shallow-water chondrichthyan fauna, hitherto described from the Mississippian carbonate platform facies, by its taxonomic content (particularly almost total absence of Euchondro- cephali), generally lower diversity, and higher frequency of small teet

Pennsylvanian brachiopod, fish and conodont faunas from the Caliza Masiva (San Emiliano Formation) at the Mina Profunda area, Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain

A rock sample obtained from the Caliza Masiva of the San Emiliano Formation (Bashkirian–early Moscovian) in the Mina Profunda area (NE Villamanín) of the Bodón Nappe (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain) has yielded numerous brachiopods and fish remains not frequently represented in the fossil record. The brachiopod assemblage comprises 13 taxa and is characterized by phosphatic (Langella, Orbiculoidea) as well as exceptionally preserved silicified calcitic elements (a small chonetid, Composita, Crurithyris, Lambdarina, and two minute terebratulids) as the main faunal components. Of special importance is the record of the microbrachiopod Lambdarina winklerprinsi nov. sp., which reduces the large Viséan–Upper Permian gap in the stratigraphic record of this genus. Conodont elements recovered from the same insoluble residue are indicative of the upper Bashkirian Idiognathoides sulcatus parvus Zone. The accompanying fish remains consist of chondrichthyan teeth and scales, an acanthodian scale and osteichthyan tooth-bearing bones, isolated teeth and isolated scales, representing the first Pennsylvanian ichthyoliths analyzed from the Cantabrian Zone. The limestone beds with selective silicification in the San Emiliano Formation provide an exceptional opportunity to improve our knowledge on the patterns of life diversity over geological time.Fil: Voldman, Gustavo Gabriel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Centro de Investigaciones en Ciencias de la Tierra; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Chacón, María Luisa. Universidad de Oviedo; EspañaFil: Duffin, Christopher J.. Natural History Museum; Reino UnidoFil: Fernández, Luis Pedro. Universidad de Oviedo; EspañaFil: Alonso, Juan L.. Universidad de Oviedo; Españ