Taxonomic affinities and paleogeography of Stromatomorpha californica Smith, a distinctive Upper Triassic reef-adapted demosponge

2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 783-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Senowbari-Daryan ◽  
G. D. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Shallow Water ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Separate Species ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Siliceous Spicules ◽  
Horizontal Layers

Stromatomorpha californica Smith is a massive, calcified, tropical to subtropical organism of the Late Triassic that produced small biostromes and contributed in building some reefs. It comes from the displaced terranes of Cordilleran North America (Eastern Klamath terrane, Alexander terrane, and Wrangellia). This shallow-water organism formed small laminar masses and sometimes patch reefs. It was first referred to the order Spongiomorphidae but was considered to be a coral. Other affinities that have been proposed include hydrozoan, stomatoporoid, sclerosponge, and chambered sponge. Part of the problem was diagenesis that resulted in dissolution of the siliceous spicules and/or replaced them with calcite. Well-preserved dendroclone spicules found during study of newly discovered specimens necessitate an assignment of Stromatomorpha californica to the demosponge order Orchocladina Rauff. Restudy of examples from the Northern Calcareous Alps extends the distribution of this species to the Tethys, where it was an important secondary framework builder in Upper Triassic (Norian-Rhaetian) reef complexes. Revisions of Stromatomorpha californica produce much wider pantropical distribution, mirroring paleogeographic patterns revealed for other tropical Triassic taxa. Review of Liassic material from the Jurassic of Morocco, previously assigned to Stromatomorpha californica Smith var. columnaris Le Maitre, cannot be sustained. Species previously included in Stromatomorpha are: S. stylifera Frech (type species, Rhaetian), S. actinostromoides Boiko (Norian), S. californica Smith (Norian), S. concescui Balters (Ladinian-Carnian), S. pamirica Boiko (Norian), S. rhaetica Kühn (Rhaetian), S. stromatoporoides Frech, and S. tenuiramosa Boiko (Norian). Stromatomorpha rhaetica Kühn described from the Rhaetian of Vorarlberg, Austria shows no major difference from S. californica. An example described as S. oncescui Balters from the Ladinian-Carnian of the Rarau Mountains, Romania, is very similar to S. californica in exhibiting similar spicule types. However, because of the greater distance between individual pillars, horizontal layers, and the older age, S. oncescui is retained as a separate species. The net-like and regular skeleton of Spongiomorpha sanpozanensis Yabe and Sugiyama, from the Upper Triassic of Sambosan (Tosa, Japan), suggests a closer alliance with Stromatomorpha, and this taxon possibly could be the same as S. californica.

scholarly journals Dachstein-type Avroman Formation: An indicator of the Harsin Basin in Iraq

GeoArabia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Agoston Sasvari ◽  
Laura Davies ◽  
Andrew Mann ◽  
Jawad Afzal ◽  
Gabor Vakarcs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depositional Environment ◽  
Carbonate Platform ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Northern Calcareous ◽  
Marine Sedimentation ◽  
Tectonic Position ◽  
Arabian Platform

ABSTRACT A field survey was carried out in 2012 focusing on the tectonic position and the role of Upper Triassic (Upper Norian–Rhaetian) Avroman Formation outcrops located in the Zalm area of Iraq, close to the Iraq-Iran border. At this location, the Cretaceous chert-bearing strata of the Qulqula Formation are overlain by sheared mafic bodies, which are in turn topped by the cliffs of the megalodontaceae-bearing Upper Triassic Avroman Formation. Similarities in lithology, sequence and tectonics position, suggest that the Triassic section of the Bisotoun Unit from the Kermanshah Zone of Iran can be used as a tectonic analogue of the Avroman Formation. According to our model, both the Avroman and the Bisotoun units formed an intra-oceanic carbonate platform, built-up by a characteristic megalodontaceae-bearing carbonate platform assemblage during the Late Triassic. The Harsin oceanic basin, which separated the Avroman-Bisotoun Platform from the Arabian Platform, was characterised by deep-marine sedimentation, the remnants of which form the Qulqula Formation in Iraq, and the Radiolaritic Nappe and the Harsin Mélange in the Kermanshah Zone. This tectonic setting is not unique; numerous authors suggest the existence of an oceanic rim basin, separating carbonate platform units (e.g. Oman ‘exotics’) from the Arabian Platform. The age of the deformation could be Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian), but using analogues from Iran, a Palaeogene deformation also seems possible. The Avroman Formation was interpreted to be a Dachstein-type sediment, similar to the well-studied Dachstein Formation of the Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria. Rock units, with similar lithology, or identical depositional environment and macroscopic fauna, were described by numerous authors along the Neo-Tethys suture zone from Austria to Japan, and from several tectonic units along the Panthalassa margin. The implication of this correlation is important for future studies: using well-described type localities of the marine units from the Northern Calcareous Alps as a reference, it is possible to significantly extend the available background knowledge, and to gain better insight into the Triassic regional depositional environment of the Middle East.

scholarly journals First record of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates from Lithuania: phytosaurs (Diapsida: Archosauriformes) of probable Late Triassic age, with a review of phytosaur biogeography

2012 ◽  
Vol 150 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN L. BRUSATTE ◽  
RICHARD J. BUTLER ◽  
GRZEGORZ NIEDŹWIEDZKI ◽  
TOMASZ SULEJ ◽  
ROBERT BRONOWICZ ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
First Record ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Early Triassic ◽  
Baltic Region ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrate

AbstractFossils of Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrates from Lithuania and the wider East Baltic region of Europe have previously been unknown. We here report the first Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate fossils from Lithuania: two premaxillary specimens and three teeth that belong to Phytosauria, a common clade of semiaquatic Triassic archosauriforms. These specimens represent an uncrested phytosaur, similar to several species within the generaPaleorhinus,Parasuchus,RutiodonandNicrosaurus. Because phytosaurs are currently only known from the Upper Triassic, their discovery in northwestern Lithuania (the Šaltiškiai clay-pit) suggests that at least part of the Triassic succession in this region is Late Triassic in age, and is not solely Early Triassic as has been previously considered. The new specimens are among the most northerly occurrences of phytosaurs in the Late Triassic, as Lithuania was approximately 7–10° further north than classic phytosaur-bearing localities in nearby Germany and Poland, and as much as 40° further north than the best-sampled phytosaur localities in North America. The far northerly occurrence of the Lithuanian fossils prompts a review of phytosaur biogeography and distribution, which suggests that these predators were widely distributed in the Triassic monsoonal belt but rarer in more arid regions.

scholarly journals A thin-shelled reptile from the Late Triassic of North America and the origin of the turtle shell

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1656) ◽  
pp. 507-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter G Joyce ◽  
Spencer G Lucas ◽  
Torsten M Scheyer ◽  
Andrew B Heckert ◽  
Adrian P Hunt
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
North America ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Terrestrial Habitat ◽  
Turtle Shell ◽  
Shell Elements ◽  
Stem Lineage

A new, thin-shelled fossil from the Upper Triassic (Revueltian: Norian) Chinle Group of New Mexico, Chinlechelys tenertesta , is one of the most primitive known unambiguous members of the turtle stem lineage. The thin-shelled nature of the new turtle combined with its likely terrestrial habitat preference hint at taphonomic filters that basal turtles had to overcome before entering the fossil record. Chinlechelys tenertesta possesses neck spines formed by multiple osteoderms, indicating that the earliest known turtles were covered with rows of dermal armour. More importantly, the primitive, vertically oriented dorsal ribs of the new turtle are only poorly associated with the overlying costal bones, indicating that these two structures are independent ossifications in basal turtles. These novel observations lend support to the hypothesis that the turtle shell was originally a complex composite in which dermal armour fused with the endoskeletal ribs and vertebrae of an ancestral lineage instead of forming de novo. The critical shell elements (i.e. costals and neurals) are thus not simple outgrowths of the bone of the endoskeletal elements as has been hypothesized from some embryological observations.

Diagenesis of an Upper Triassic reef complex, Wilde Kirche, Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria

Sedimentology ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 935-950 ◽  
Author(s):  
ARTHUR K. SATTERLEY ◽  
J. D. MARSHALL ◽  
I. J. FAIRCHILD
Keyword(s):  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Reef Complex ◽  
Northern Calcareous

Upper Triassic corals from Nevada, western North America, and the implications for paleoecology and paleogeography

2013 ◽  
Vol 87 (5) ◽  
pp. 934-964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewa Roniewicz ◽  
George D. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Type Species ◽  
New Genus ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Western North America ◽  
North American Cordillera ◽  
Coral Fauna ◽  
Taxonomic Analysis ◽  
The North

Late Carnian–early Norian corals from the Luning and Osobb formations in west-central Nevada represent an important Late Triassic fauna for understanding the paleoecology and the paleogeography of the eastern Panthalassa region during Late Triassic time. The corals occur in bedded limestone representing biostromes and patch reefs and their composition presages the important global changeover of faunas of the intra-Norian interval. A taxonomic analysis of over 60 specimens reveals a majority of colonial corals ranging from cerioid, astreoid (i.e., cerioid-plocoid lacking walls), meandroid and thamnasterioid types. Surprisingly, remnants of the original aragonite microstructure remain in some specimens, allowing a better comparison with more remote Tethyan corals. In total, 14 genera have been identified from Nevada while two genera remain undetermined. The fauna is composed of species considered typical of both the North American Cordillera and cratonal South America. The following genera and species are new and endemic to the Americas:Khytrastrea silberlingiandK. cuifiamorpha,Flexastrea serialis,Nevadoseris punctata,Areaseris nevadaensisand a new genusMinasteria(withAstrocoenia shastensisSmith, 1927 as type species). Likewise are the new species:Margarogyra silberlingiandCurtoseris dunlapcanyonae. GeneraMeandrovolzeia,Margarogyra,Ceriostella,Ampakabastraea,Retiophyllia,Distichomeandra,Curtoseris,ThamnasteriaandAstraeomorphaprovide important links to the former Tethys province. The revised coral fauna changes previous views of the close taxonomic similarity with the Tethys, instead producing a paleogeographic pattern emphasizing a much greater degree of endemism. This pattern emphasizes the isolation of Nevada from the Tethys and the similarities with some outboard terranes of the Cordillera.

scholarly journals Development of early calcareous nannoplankton in the late Triassic (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

2020 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 103254
Author(s):  
Isaline Demangel ◽  
Zsófia Kovács ◽  
Sylvain Richoz ◽  
Silvia Gardin ◽  
Leopold Krystyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Calcareous Alps ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Calcareous Nannoplankton ◽  
Northern Calcareous

scholarly journals A revision of the early neotheropod genus Sarcosaurus from the Early Jurassic (Hettangian–Sinemurian) of central England

2020 ◽  
Vol 191 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín D Ezcurra ◽  
Richard J Butler ◽  
Susannah C R Maidment ◽  
Ivan J Sansom ◽  
Luke E Meade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Type Species ◽  
Lower Jurassic ◽  
Upper Triassic ◽  
Early Jurassic ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Character State ◽  
New Information ◽  
Evolutionary Radiation ◽  
Nomina Dubia

Abstract Neotheropoda represents the main evolutionary radiation of predatory dinosaurs and its oldest records come from Upper Triassic rocks (c. 219 Mya). The Early Jurassic record of Neotheropoda is taxonomically richer and geographically more widespread than that of the Late Triassic. The Lower Jurassic (upper Hettangian–lower Sinemurian) rocks of central England have yielded three neotheropod specimens that have been assigned to two species within the genus Sarcosaurus, S. woodi (type species) and S. andrewsi. These species have received little attention in discussions of the early evolution of Neotheropoda and recently have been considered as nomina dubia. Here, we provide a detailed redescription of one of these specimens (WARMS G667–690) and reassess the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the genus Sarcosaurus. We propose that the three neotheropod specimens from the Early Jurassic of central England represent a single valid species, S. woodi. The second species of the genus, ‘S. andrewsi’, is a subjective junior synonym of the former. A quantitative phylogenetic analysis of early theropods recovered S. woodi as one of the closest sister-taxa to Averostra and provides new information on the sequence of character state transformations in the lead up to the phylogenetic split between Ceratosauria and Tetanurae.

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