First record of Rhabdoceras suessi (Ammonoidea, Late Triassic) from the Transylvanian Triassic Series of the Eastern Carpathians (Romania) and a review of its biochronology, paleobiogeography and paleoecology

Abstract The occurrence of the heteromorphic ammonoid Rhabdoceras suessi Hauer, 1860, is recorded for the first time in the Upper Triassic limestone of the Timon-Ciungi olistolith in the Rarău Syncline, Eastern Carpathians. A single specimen of Rhabdoceras suessi co-occurs with Monotis (Monotis) salinaria that constrains its occurrence here to the Upper Norian (Sevatian 1). It is the only known heteromorphic ammonoid in the Upper Triassic of the Romanian Carpathians. Rhabdoceras suessi is a cosmopolitan species widely recorded in low and mid-paleolatitude faunas. It ranges from the Late Norian to the Rhaetian and is suitable for high-resolution worldwide correlations only when it co-occurs with shorter-ranging choristoceratids, monotid bivalves, or the hydrozoan Heterastridium. Formerly considered as the index fossil for the Upper Norian (Sevatian) Suessi Zone, by the latest 1970s this species lost its key biochronologic status among Late Triassic ammonoids, and it generated a controversy in the 1980s concerning the status of the Rhaetian stage. New stratigraphic data from North America and Europe in the subsequent decades resulted in a revised ammonoid biostratigraphy for the uppermost Triassic, the Rhaetian being reinstalled as the topmost stage in the current standard timescale of the Triassic. The geographic distribution of Rhabdoceras is compiled from published worldwide records, and its paleobiogeography and paleoecology are discussed

Présence de Thécidées et de Thécospires dans les dépôts détritiques du Norien des Monts Apuseni (Roumanie)

The oldest Thecideids from Europe were collected with Thecospirids and Halobies out of a decalcified clay layer from Monts Codru (Romania), Upper Norian. Brachiopods are preserved as matrix. They represent an interesting landmark between paleozoic Strophomenids and their jurassic descendants.Les plus anciennes Thécidées connues en Europe viennent d'être récoltées en compagnie de Thécospires et d'Halobies dans un niveau d'argile décalcifiée des Monts Codru (Roumanie) rapporté au Norien inférieur. Les Brachiopodes sont conservés à l'état de moules. Ils représentent un jalon intéressant dans l'histoire qui mène des Strophoménides paléozoïques à leurs descendants jurassiques.Patrulius D., Pajaud Daniel. Présence de Thécidées et de Thécospires dans les dépôts détritiques du Norien des Monts Apuseni (Roumanie). In: Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de la Faculté des Sciences de Lyon, n°62, 1974. Notes et mémoires. pp. 129-136

Ekalakia

Description of a new species of crab, Ekalakia exophthalmops, brings to two the number of species within this Late Cretaceous genus from the upper mid-west in North America. Discovery of eyes and orbital structures in both species permits placement of the genus within the superfamily Glaessneropsoidea Patrulius, 1959 and family GlaessneropsidaePatrulius, 1959, extending the range of those taxa from the Late Jurassic into the Late Cretaceous. The extraordinarily large eyes relative to body size suggests that the Jurassic reef-dwelling crabs were adapted for a cryptic lifestyle which preadapted them for the deep-water, dysphotic, level-bottom habitat occupied by the Cretaceous descendants