Swiss Journal of Palaeontology最新文献

{"title":"A report on palaeontological excavations and sampling in mudrocks: some guidelines","authors":"Walter Etter","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00305-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-024-00305-w","url":null,"abstract":"More than 60% of the world’s sedimentary rocks are mudrocks (Potter et al., 1980; Schieber, 1998; Potter, 2003; the term mudrock is favored here over mudstone because the latter term was used to characterize a limestone texture; Dunham, 1962). From a palaeontological perspective these are, compared to sandstones and limestones, heavily undersampled. The main reason for this is that mudrocks decay in surface exposures to small chips, which develop with sun/heat and rain into an awkward pulp. The decay of the mudstone concomitantly destroys all macrofossils which are not durable. This comprises fossils with an aragonitic or delicate calcitic shell unless they are preserved as pyritic or internal calcitic molds or preserved within calcareous concretions. Therefore, most of the fossils are not recorded in surface exposures. In addition, sedimentologic investigations of mudrocks are hampered because (i) compaction makes sedimentary structures hardly recognizableand (ii) good thin sections of mudrocks are exceedingly difficult to manufacture. For micropalaeontological investigations, mudrocks rich in organic material are especially difficult to process. Standard treatments with boiling water, sodium carbonate solution, or peroxide H2O2 generally fail to dissolve much of the sediment so that the fine fraction (and in mudrocks we usually need the 63μm-fraction) largely consists of clay particle aggregates. Yet there are methods to dissolve these aggregates. Otherwise, picking the microfossils would become extremely laborious. In this paper, some guidelines for successful palaeontological work in mudrocks are outlined. These are based on the author’s personal experience. Examples from Jurassic mudrocks of Switzerland/Europe show that such excavations can be very rewarding.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"201 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139754236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Simoniteuthis, a new vampyromorph coleoid with prey in its arms from the Early Jurassic of Luxembourg","authors":"Dirk Fuchs, Robert Weis, Ben Thuy","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00303-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-024-00303-y","url":null,"abstract":"The evolutionary history of the cephalopod order Vampyromorpha with its only recent representative, Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the deep-sea vampire squid, is still obscure and a new specimen from the Early Jurassic of Luxembourg, provides new information on the vampyromorph morphology at this period. The new taxon Simoniteuthis michaelyi. gen. n. sp., which is based on a nearly complete gladius with associated head–arm complex, is morphologically intermediate between the families Loligosepiidae and Geopeltidae. Interestingly, the arm crown displays only four arm pairs, although an arm configuration consisting of five arm pairs should be expected in vampyromorph stem lineage representatives. This observation encouraged us to critically review the presumed homology of the filaments of Vampyroteuthis and the lost arm pair in cirrate and incirrate octopods. Moreover, two bony fishes in the mouth region implicated that Simoniteuthis michaelyi n. gen. n. sp. preyed upon them in hostile water depths, a taphonomic phenomenon called distraction sinking. By contrast to modern Vampyroteuthis infernalis, Simoniteuthis michaelyi n. gen. n. sp. roamed and hunted in shallower waters as typical for Mesozoic stem lineage vampyromorphs. According to the current fossil record, a vertical migration into deeper waters (probably associated with a shift in feeding behaviour) occurred at least since the Oligocene.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"49 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139753752","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pachycormid fish fed on octobrachian cephalopods: new evidence from the ‘Schistes bitumineux’ (early Toarcian) of southern Luxembourg","authors":"Robert Weis, Dominique Delsate, Christian Klug, Thodoris Argyriou, Dirk Fuchs","doi":"10.1186/s13358-023-00295-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-023-00295-1","url":null,"abstract":"A re-examination of the early Toarcian fish fossils preserved in public paleontological collections in Luxembourg revealed 70 specimens of large Toarcian pachycormid fish with an excellent three-dimensional preservation within calcareous nodules. Six of them are associated with octobrachian coleoid gladii in their oesophagus or stomach, an association not previously described from Luxembourg. The pachycormids are ascribed to Pachycormus macropterus (Blainville, 1818) and Saurostomus esocinus Agassiz, 1843 while the octobrachian gladii are ascribed to Teudopsis bollensis Voltz, 1836, Teudopsis sp. indet. and Loligosepiidae indet. The position and orientation of the gladii provide direct evidence of these fishes feeding on coleoids and thus a teuthophagous diet, rather than an accidental joint burial. Together with evidence from coeval deposits in Germany, these findings suggest that teuthophagy was a widespread feeding strategy at the base of the clade that contains the suspension-feeding pachycormid giants of the Jurassic–Cretaceous.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139753998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Callovian corals from the Swiss Jura","authors":"Hannes Löser, Andreas Wetzel, Bernhard Hostettler","doi":"10.1186/s13358-023-00298-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-023-00298-y","url":null,"abstract":"Twelve solitary and platy, colonial coral taxa assigned to the families Microsolenidae, Misistellidae, Montlivaltiidae, Rayasmiliidae, and Thamnasteriidae are described and illustrated from the Callovian (Ifenthal Formation, Herznach Member) of the area of Andil near Liesberg, about 20 km WSW of the town of Basel, Switzerland. The platy growth forms and the presence of five species of the superfamily Cyclolitoidea suggests that these corals lived under low-level light conditions.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139552787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Updated cranial and mandibular description of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) baenid turtle Saxochelys gilberti based on micro-computed tomography scans and new information on the holotype-shell association","authors":"Gaël E. Spicher, Tyler R. Lyson, Serjoscha W. Evers","doi":"10.1186/s13358-023-00301-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-023-00301-6","url":null,"abstract":"Saxochelys gilberti is a baenid turtle from the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation of the United States of America known from cranial, shell, and other postcranial material. Baenid turtles are taxonomically diverse and common fossil elements within Late Cretaceous through Eocene faunas. Detailed anatomical knowledge is critical to understanding the systematics and morphological evolution of the group. This is particularly important as baenids represent an important group of continental vertebrates that survived the mass extinction event associated with the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary. High-resolution micro-computed tomography scanning of the holotype skull reveals additional anatomical details for the already well-known Saxochelys gilberti. This includes the revision of some anatomical statements from the original description, but also detailed knowledge on internal anatomical features of the braincase and the description of a well-preserved axis (cervical vertebra 2). Our new detailed description and previous work on the shell and postcrania make Saxochelys one of the best-described, nearly complete baenid turtles, which are often only known from either isolated shell or cranial material. A revised phylogenetic analysis confirms the position of Saxochelys gilberti as a derived baenid (Eubaeninae) more closely related to Baena arenosa than to Eubaena cephalica.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"57 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139552388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new pachypleurosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of southwestern China and its phylogenetic and biogeographic implications","authors":"Yi-Wei Hu, Qiang Li, Jun Liu","doi":"10.1186/s13358-023-00292-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-023-00292-4","url":null,"abstract":"After the devastating Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction, several new groups of large reptilian predators invaded the sea in the early part of the Triassic. Among these predators, sauropterygians, consisting of placodonts, pachypleurosaurs, nothosaurs and pistosaurs (including the iconic plesiosaurs), displayed the greatest diversity at both the generic and species levels, and persisted from the Early Triassic to the Late Cretaceous. Here, we report a new species of Pachypleurosauria, Dianmeisaurus mutaensis sp. nov., from a recently discovered Lagerstätte in the Upper Member of the Anisian Guanling Formation. The only known specimen of the new species was collected from a quarry near Muta village, Luxi County, Yunnan Province, South China. Our new phylogenetic analysis based on a novel data matrix recovered the new taxon as a sister group to Dianmeisaurus gracilis—a small pachypleurosaur from the Middle Triassic Luoping biota. The new phylogenetic analysis also collapsed the monophyly of the traditionally recognized Eusauropterygia. Pistosauroidea, Majiashanosaurus, and Hanosaurus comprise the consecutive sister groups to a new clade including Pachypleurosauria and Nothosauroidea. A monophyletic Pachypleurosauria, within which the clade consisting of Dianmeisaurus and Panzhousaurus occupies the basal-most position, is recovered by this study. The clade consisting of Dawazisaurus and Dianopachysaurus forms the sister group to the remaining pachypleurosaurs included in this study. Since Dianmeisaurus, Panzhousaurus, Dawazisaurus, and Dianopachysaurus are all exclusively known from South China, our study provides further evidence to the hypothesis that pachypleurosaurs had a palaeobiogeographic origin in the eastern Tethys.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"99 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139103728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phylogenetics and systematics of the subfamilies Cheirurinae and Deiphoninae (Trilobita).","authors":"Francesc Pérez-Peris, Jonathan M Adrain, Allison C Daley","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00338-1","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13358-024-00338-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cheiruridae is one of the most diverse families of trilobites known from the Ordovician with 453 species assigned. Within Cheiruridae eight subfamilies (Acanthoparyphinae, Cheirurinae, \"Cyrtometopinae\", Deiphoninae, Eccoptochilinae, Heliomerinae, Pilekiinae, and Sphaerexochinae) have historically been recognised. Insights about the evolution of the family and the relationships within and between subfamilies have been published. However larger scale phylogenetic hypotheses are needed in order to explore the monophyly, the basal structure, the deep nodes and the relationships of the subfamilies. Cheirurinae, Deiphoninae and \"Cyrtometopinae\" have historically been defined by various morphological features (e.g., anteroposterior constriction of the thoracic pleura, pleural furrow morphology, pygidial morphology) that differentiate them from the rest of Cheiruridae. However, the phylogenetic status of \"Cyrtometopinae\" is unclear owing to a lack of obvious synapomorphies. Here, we present phylogenetic analyses of Cheirurinae, Deiphoninae, and \"Cyrtometopinae\". The results indicate that both Cheirurinae and Deiphoninae are monophyletic. \"Cyrtometopines\" are resolved as a paraphyletic grade at the base of Deiphoninae and Cyrtometopinae should be considered a junior subjective synonym of Deiphoninae. The new phylogenetic hypothesis reveals that paedomorphosis plays an important role in the evolution of Deiphoninae. Within Cheirurinae two major clades are identified, the '<i>Ceraurus</i>-like' clade and the '<i>Ceraurinella</i>-like' clade.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13358-024-00338-1.</p>","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"143 1","pages":"43"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11652639/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142866543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Swiss ichthyosaurs: a review.","authors":"Christian Klug, Timur Sivgin, Feiko Miedema, Beat Scheffold, Achim G Reisdorf, Iwan Stössel, Erin E Maxwell, Torsten M Scheyer","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00327-4","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13358-024-00327-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Switzerland is an ichthyosaur country: it has a rich record of marine reptile fossils, particularly the fish-shaped ichthyosaurs, and the according research. Here, we provide an overview over the 12 or more genera and at least 13 species plus numerous fragmentary remains of ichthyosaurs from the Triassic to the Cretaceous that have been discovered in twelve cantons thus far, of which four species are based on Swiss holotypes. This wealth of ichthyosaur species can be explained by their abundance in the Middle Triassic conservation deposits (Konservat Lagerstätte) of Monte San Giorgio, as well as occasional discoveries in strata of Middle Triassic to Early Cretaceous age. The moderate abundance of outcrops in reasonable conditions in combination with the long history of palaeontological research in Switzerland explains this good fossil record. In addition to this unique overview, we provide more data for further studies and update the knowledge of these taxa.</p>","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"143 1","pages":"31"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11366730/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142127433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Complex dental wear analysis reveals dietary shift in Triassic placodonts (Sauropsida, Sauropterygia).","authors":"Kinga Gere, András Lajos Nagy, Torsten M Scheyer, Ingmar Werneburg, Attila Ősi","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00304-x","DOIUrl":"10.1186/s13358-024-00304-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Placodonts were durophagous reptiles of the Triassic seas with robust skulls, jaws, and enlarged, flat, pebble-like teeth. During their evolution, they underwent gradual craniodental changes from the Early Anisian to the Rhaetian, such as a reduction in the number of teeth, an increase in the size of the posterior palatal teeth, an elongation of the premaxilla/rostrum, and a widening of the temporal region. These changes are presumably related to changes in dietary habits, which, we hypothesise, are due to changes in the type and quality of food they consumed. In the present study, the dental wear pattern of a total of nine European Middle to Late Triassic placodont species were investigated using 2D and 3D microwear analyses to demonstrate whether there could have been a dietary shift or grouping among the different species and, whether the possible changes could be correlated with environmental changes affecting their habitats. The 3D analysis shows overlap between species with high variance between values and there is no distinct separation. The 2D analysis has distinguished two main groups. The first is characterised by low number of wear features and high percentage of large pits. The other group have a high feature number, but low percentage of small pits. The 2D analysis showed a correlation between the wear data and the size of the enlarged posterior crushing teeth. Teeth with larger sizes showed less wear feature (with higher pit ratio) but larger individual features. In contrast, the dental wear facet of smaller crushing teeth shows more but smaller wear features (with higher scratch number). This observation may be related to the size of the food consumed, i.e., the wider the crown, the larger food it could crush, producing larger features. Comparison with marine mammals suggests that the dietary preference of <i>Placochelys</i>, <i>Psephoderma</i> and <i>Paraplacodus</i> was not exclusively hard, thick-shelled food. They may have had a more mixed diet, similar to that of modern sea otters. The diet of <i>Henodus</i> may have included plant food, similar to the modern herbivore marine mammals and lizards.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13358-024-00304-x.</p>","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"143 1","pages":"4"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10844150/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139704139","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Thalattosauria in time and space: a review of thalattosaur spatiotemporal occurrences, presumed evolutionary relationships and current ecological hypotheses.","authors":"Dylan Bastiaans","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00333-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-024-00333-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In the wake of the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history, the End-Permian Mass Extinction, the Triassic was a time of recovery and innovation. Aided by warm climatic conditions and favorable ecological circumstances, many reptilian clades originated and rapidly diversified during this time. This set the stage for numerous independent invasions of the marine realm by several reptilian clades, such as Ichthyosauriformes and Sauropterygia, shaping the oceanic ecosystems for the entire Mesozoic. Although comparatively less speciose, and temporally and latitudinally more restricted, another marine reptile clade, the Thalattosauriformes, stands out because of their unusual and highly disparate cranial, dental and skeletal morphology. Research on Thalattosauriformes has been hampered by a historic dearth of material, with the exception of rare material from Lagerstätten and highly fossiliferous localities, such as that from the UNESCO world heritage site of Monte San Giorgio. Consequently, their evolutionary origins and paleobiology remain poorly understood. The recent influx of new material from southwestern China and North America has renewed interest in this enigmatic group prompting the need for a detailed review of historic work and current views. The earliest representatives of the group may have been present from the late Early Triassic onwards in British Columbia. By the Ladinian the group had achieved a wide distribution across the northern hemisphere, spanning the eastern Panthalassic as well as the eastern and western Tethyan provinces. Distinct morphological and likely ecological differences exist between the two major clades of Thalattosauriformes, the Askeptosauroidea and the Thalattosauroidea, with the latter showing a higher degree of cranial and skeletal morphological disparity. In-group relationships remain poorly resolved beyond this bipartition. Overall, thalattosaurs may be closely related to other marine reptile groups such as ichthyopterygians and sauropterygians. However, their exact position within Diapsida remains elusive. Future focal points should utilize modern digital paleontological approaches to explore the many fragmentary specimens of otherwise poorly sampled localities.</p>","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":"143 1","pages":"36"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11427521/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142333120","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}