A new erinaceid (Mammalia, Insectivora) from the Late Paleocene of western Canada

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 1695-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig S Scott

A new genus and species of erinaceid lipotyphlan (Mammalia, Insectivora) from the late Paleocene of western Canada is described. Oncocherus krishtalkai gen. et sp. nov. is known from three late Tiffanian localities in central Alberta and southeastern Saskatchewan and is but one of several erinaceomorph and soricomorph taxa known from the Late Paleocene of western Canada. Oncocherus possesses apomorphies that link it to other primitive erinaceids (e.g., enlarged upper and lower fourth premolars, lower molars markedly decreasing in size from m1-m3, talonid basins V-shaped), yet its affinity with any of the recognized erinaceid subfamilies is uncertain. Although Oncocherus is phenetically, and probably phylogenetically, closest to Litolestes Jepsen, the genus is clearly distinguished from Litolestes and other erinaceid taxa by its proportionately larger and more inflated premolars and lower crowned molars, features that were likely adaptations for durophagy. Oncocherus joins a number of endemic mammalian taxa that were apparently confined to more northerly latitudes of the Western Interior of North America during the Late Paleocene.

1994 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 473-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Rohr

Gastropods are abundant in the Middle Ordovician (Whiterockian) Antelope Valley Formation of Nevada. Because Whiterockian rocks are absent in much of central and eastern North America, these Nevada gastropods play a significant role in understanding the Early to Middle Ordovician transition of the class. The shell and operculum of a new genus and species of macluritoid, Monitorella auricula, is described. New euomphaloid taxa include Walcottoma frydai n. gen. and sp., Rossospira harrisae n. gen. and sp., Barnesella measuresae n. sp., Helicotoma gubanovi n. sp., Lytospira yochelsoni n. sp., and Malayaspira hintzei n. sp.


2012 ◽  
Vol 86 (6) ◽  
pp. 973-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregg F. Gunnell

Uintasoricines are diminutive plesiadapiforms that are found in the latest Paleocene through middle Eocene, predominantly in North America. They are not a diverse group but individual species may be locally abundant and they are a persistent element of the plesiadapiform radiation in North America surviving over a span of approximately 16 million years. Recent field work in southern Wyoming at South Pass has led to the discovery of a new genus and species of uintasoricine. The new form is smaller in tooth dimensions compared to other known uintasoricines, being slightly smaller thanUintasorex montezumicusfrom California. Both the newly described taxon andU. montezumicusare among the smallest plesiadapiforms yet known with body weights estimated to be 20 to 25 g. The sediments of the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of the Wasatch Formation at South Pass contain a unique upland fauna—the presence of a distinctive uintasoricine in this assemblage adds further evidence to support the notion that this upland environment was a biodiversity hotspot during the latest early Eocene.


Biologia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuiyan Zhang ◽  
Ding Yang ◽  
Dong Ren

AbstractRhagionidae is one of the most primary families of the lower Brachycera. Many rhagionid genera and species have been found in the Mesozoic. Their fossils came from Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. In the present paper, descriptions of a new genus and species of Rhagionidae from the Middle Jurassic of China, Achrysopilus neimenguensis gen. et sp. n. and a key to genera of Chinese fossil rhagionids are given.


Zootaxa ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2063 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN ◽  
S. BRUCE ARCHIBALD

A new genus and species Allorapisma chuorum gen. sp. nov. is described from the Early Eocene locality at Republic, Washington, U.S.A. The forewing venation of Allorapisma is most similar to that of the genus Principiala Makarkin & Menon from the Early Cretaceous of Brazil and Britain. A new, informal suprageneric taxon consisting of these genera is proposed, the Principiala group. The habitats of extant and fossil Ithonidae are briefly discussed.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Shear

A new trigonotarbid arachnid, Gigantocharinus szatmaryi new genus and species, is described from Upper Devonian (Late Famennian) sediments in Pennsylvania. Devonian trigonotarbids were known before from only a single North American locality and several European ones. The new trigonotarbid occurs in what had previously been a significant time gap between the faunas of the Middle Devonian and the late Carboniferous. Gigantocharinus szatmaryi is assigned with some hesitation to the family Palaeocharinidae.


1988 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 880-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louella R. Saul

Four species belonging in Tudiclidae and one in Melongenidae have been confused with perissityids. The new genus Rapopsis is proposed for a tudiclid species, R. joseana n. sp. of early Maastrichtian age. Three other tudiclid species may belong in the Tethyan genus Pyropsis, P. fantozzii n. sp. of early to middle Paleocene age, P. striata (Stanton, 1896) of later Paleocene age, and ?P. gabbi (Stanton, 1896) probably of early to middle Paleocene age. The melongenid genus Protobusycon, represented by P. judithae n. sp. of late Paleocene age, has not previously been recognized in eastern Pacific faunas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig S. Scott ◽  
Daniel N. Spivak ◽  
Arthur R. Sweet

Although mammals of Paleocene age are well known from Alberta, their record is largely restricted to one lithological unit, the Paskapoo Formation (a record that includes mammals from the Cochrane area erroneously attributed to the Porcupine Hills Formation). We report here the first occurrence of Paleocene mammals from the Porcupine Hills Formation at exposures near the western edge of the city of Calgary. The assemblage, termed the Bearspaw local fauna, documents a diversity of multituberculate and eutherian mammals, including new species of the pentacodontid Aphronorus bearspawensis sp. nov., the mixodectid Eudaemonema bohachae sp. nov., the hyopsodontid Promioclaenus thnetus sp. nov., and a new genus and species of multituberculate (Alopocosmodon hadrus gen. et sp. nov.) tentatively referred to the Microcosmodontidae. The Bearspaw local fauna also details the first Canadian occurrences of several taxa, including Ptilodus wyomingensis, Aphronorus fraudator, Bryanictis microlestes, Elpidophorus minor, and possibly Goniacodon. Preliminary biostratigraphic analyses suggest that the Bearspaw local fauna is middle Torrejonian (To2) in age, correlating most closely with near-coeval Gidley Quarry of Montana and Rock Bench Quarry of Wyoming. In addition to improving the depauperate record of Torrejonian mammals in western Canada, the new fauna is important in documenting a mammal assemblage from a lithological unit that is thought to have been deposited in semi-arid conditions, rather than the wetter and more humid conditions of the Paskapoo Formation. Further, the Bearspaw localities, along with several other recently discovered localities in the Calgary and Cochrane areas, closely bracket the 27n–26r chron boundary and as such will be important in detailing the Torrejonian–Tiffanian transition in western Canada.


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