Category: Important Scaphopod Publications

New species of Scaphopoda listed from the Russian Jurassic

Jordy van der BeekLeave a comment
Annulipulsellum_alternoides_Paratype_PIN_53496
Annulipulsellum (Mesopulsellum) alternoides Guzhov, 2017. Paratype PIN 5349/6. Mikhalenino, Russia. Upper Oxfordian (Jurassic). Picture: Alexandr Guzhov.

Fossil scaphopods aren’t well studied, the Jurassic period isn’t an exception. The number of publications dealing with this subject can be counted on the fingers of one hand. So, we are extremely lucky this literature gab is partly filled due to a publication by A. V. Guzhov from the Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The paper, titled ‘Jurassic Scaphopoda from the Russian Platform: Pulsellidae and Gadilidae’, is published in Paleontological Journal and can be accessed/purchased at Springer.

Mikhalenino_locality_side_view
Unzha River, seen from the Mikhalenino locality side. Picture: © Alexandr Guzhov.

All described and figured material is from the European part of Russia. Which means that some extremely remote localities are included. Due to these rare localities and the lack of other research results in the fact that all 13 listed species are described as new by the author. The publication also lists 4 new genera (i.e. Gracilipulsellum, Gardneridentalium, Mesoentalina and Mesoantalis) and one new subgenus of Annulipulsellum (i.e. Mesopulsellum). A list of all 13 new species can be found below.

Laevidentalium_
Compressed and fragmented Laevidentalium shells, in the Oxfordian clays of Mikhalenino. Picture: © Alexandr Guzhov.

Alexandr said he will continue with research on taxonomy of scaphopods. So, we will most likely hear more from his side!

Reference:

Guzhov, A., 2017. Jurassic Scaphopoda from the Russian Platform: Pulsellidae and Gadilidae. — Paleontological Journal, 51(1): 13–29, 14 figs.

 New species included:

  • Annulipulsellum (Annulipulsellum) ambiguum
  • Annulipulsellum (Annulipulsellum) rugosum
  • Annulipulsellum (Mesopulsellum) alternoides
  • Annulipulsellum (Mesopulsellum) calloviense
  • Annulipulsellum (Mesopulsellum) hirtistriatum
  • Annulipulsellum (Mesopulsellum) medium
  • Gracilipulsellum iodaense
  • Gardneridentalium primitivum
  • Gardneridentalium reticulatum
  • Mesoentalina fabulosa
  • Mesoantalis clava
  • Mesoantalis expolitum
  • Mesoantalis volgense
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Important Scaphopod Publications: “I molluschi del Messiniano di Borelli (Torino). 2. Scaphopoda.”

Jordy van der BeekLeave a comment

Pavia title page
I haven’t posted anything on my blog for a while, due to a lack of time. It is my intention to start publishing about my activities and the activities of my friends more regularly here.

This is the first of a series of posts called “Important Scaphopod Publications”. There is still a big gap in the availability of (older) works online. The main problem is that scanning large amounts of documents is expensive. This is the reason why we find poor scans online and institutions start asking insane prices for just a few pages. Luckily, for the private/amateur researchers, there are several good projects nowadays (such as BHL, GDZ and for Dutch journals natuurtijdschriften.nl). In this series I’ll publish some of the scaphopod publications from own scans. Making these works available is done with both the permission of the author(s) and the publisher.  Please contact me if there is any problem or if you want to contribute in this project.

Pavia Plate II
Plate 2, showing Antalis interrupta (Gmelin) [fig. 1-4, 6] and Antalis bouei (Deshayes) [fig. 5]
Pavia G, 1991. I molluschi del Messiniano di Borelli (Torino). 2. Scaphopoda. – Bollettino Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturalli Torino, 9(1): 105-172, 9 plates. (click for pdf)

This work by Giulio Pavia, although already backdating to 1991, still is the best work with regards to the Italian Miocene. This work lists three new species and (maybe more importantly) synonymized several taxa. The nomenclatural actions render it important enough to make this work available online (you can find the link to the pdf above).

IMPORTANT: Giulio told me (in litt.) that there is a significant change in the stratigraphy of the Borelli site. Based on studies on planktonic foraminifera the site is now referred to the middle-upper part the Tortonian, which was confirmed by nanoplanktonic and holoplanktonic mollusc studies by Arie Janssen in 2010.

Enjoy!

Thanks to Giulio Pavia, who allowed to distribute the pdf in this website.