Two New Cassis (Gastropoda: Cassidae) and a New Malea (Gastropoda: Tonnidae) from the Pliocene and Pleistocene Beds of Southern Florida

The Festivus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Edward Petuch ◽  
David Berschauer

Two new fossil Helmet Shells of the genus Cassis Scopoli, 1777 (Cassidae) and a new fossil Grinning Tun Shell of the genus Malea Valenciennes, 1832 (Tonnidae) are described from the Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil beds of southern Florida. The new Helmet Shells, Cassis rasae n. sp. and Cassis viliusi n. sp., were both collected in the rich fossil beds of the Holey Land Member of the Bermont Formation (Calabrian Stage, Early Pleistocene) and the new Grinning Tun, Malea hyaducki n. sp., was collected in the Fruitville Member (Kissimmee River Valley equivalent beds) of the Tamiami Formation (late Piacenzian Stage of the Pliocene). The discovery of two new large Helmet Shells in the Holey Land Member demonstrates that four species of Cassis are present in the Bermont Formation, making this the single largest fossil Cassis fauna found anywhere on Earth. The new Grinning Tun represents the oldest-known Malea found in Florida, and is the direct ancestor of the Gelasian Pleistocene Malea springi (Caloosahatchee Formation) and the Calabrian Pleistocene Malea petiti (Bermont Formation).

The Festivus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-85
Author(s):  
John Daughenbaugh

Four species of the Pahayokea (Gardnericypraea) Petuch and Drolshagen, 2011 subgenus are reclassified as Akleistostoma (Gardnericypraea) subgenus species. This represents a continuation of geographically separate, but parallel, evolutionary tracks throughout the Piacenzian Pliocene Tamiami Formation


The Festivus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-153
Author(s):  
John Daughenbaugh

Unit 2 was the last member of the Tamiami Formation of the Late Piacenzian Pliocene. Its ending signaled the commencement of a two stage extinction event. The first stage wounding event resulted in the disappearance of the Akleistostoma (Gardner, 1948), Calusacypraea (Petuch, 1996) and Pseudadusta (Petuch, 2004) genera and the end of the Tamiami Formation.


The Festivus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
John Daughenbaugh

Following the disappearance of the seven Buckingham Member (Unit 10) Cypraeidae from the Myakka Lagoon System (Myakka), there was a hiatus represented by two strata at Sarasota (Pinecrest Members 9 & 8) in the early Piacenzian Pliocene, 3.6 million years ago (“mya”), from which no Cypraeidae have been recorded. This was followed by the warmest and most tropical conditions of the entire Pliocene. The sea grass beds and mud flats, which were the preferred habitats of the Pinecrest Cypraeidae, returned in force. The depositional strata which resulted, Pinecrest (Unit 7) and its Kissimmee River Valley Equivalent, were very thick and probably represent a long period of uninterrupted deposition. Eight new species in six genera emerged in Myakka. In the Kissimmee River Valley (Kissimmee), six new species in three genera (one new) emerged as the first and earliest known Cypraeidae species from that area. This represented geographically separate, but parallel, evolutionary tracks. Pinecrest Members 6 & 5 represented a repeat of the conditions experienced during Pinecrest Members 9 & 8, resulting in the disappearance of all Pinecrest (Unit 7) Cypraeidae from Myakka and Kissimmee.


The Festivus ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 273-283
Author(s):  
John Daughenbaugh

The disappearance of all Pinecrest and equivalent Cypraeidae species from most of their habitats was caused by the circa 200,000 year cooling period in the mid Piacenzian Pliocene, c. 3.2-3.0 mya, and the associated significantly lower sea levels and dry terrestrial conditions in southern Florida. The cooling period was followed by a warming period, which resulted in the Tamiami Subsea being flooded to its maximum size and produced wide-spread tropical conditions throughout southern Florida, roughly similar to today’s southwest Pacific. This resulted in the renewed radiation and speciation of the Cypraeidae populations. In the Myakka Lagoon System, the eight Pinecrest Member (Unit 7) Cypraeidae species in five genera were followed by ten new species in five genera which emerged in Fruitville (Unit 4) time. In the Kissimmee River Valley, the five Unit 7 equivalent species in three genera were followed by eight new species in three genera, which emerged in that area. The number of genera remains consistent at three with the only species previously assigned to Pseudadusta Petuch, 2004 placed into synonymy with Akleistotoma bairdi (Petuch, 2004). This represented a continuation of geographically separate, but parallel, evolutionary tracks.


Iraq ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Casana ◽  
Claudia Glatz

While the Diyala (Kurdish Sirwan) River Valley is storied in Near Eastern archaeology as home to the Oriental Institute's excavations in the 1930s as well as to Robert McC. Adams’ pioneering archaeological survey, The Land Behind Baghdad, the upper reaches of the river valley remain almost unknown to modern scholarship. Yet this region, at the interface between irrigated lowland Mesopotamia and the Zagros highlands to the north and east, has long been hypothesized as central to the origins and development of complex societies. It was hotly contested by Bronze Age imperial powers, and offered one of the principle access routes connecting Mespotamia to the Iranian Plateau and beyond. This paper presents an interim report of the Sirwan Regional Project, a regional archaeological survey undertaken from 2013–2015 in a 4000 square kilometre area between the modern city of Darbandikhan and the plains south of Kalar. Encompassing a wide range of environments, from the rugged uplands of the Zagros front ranges to the rich irrigated basins of the Middle Diyala, the project has already discovered a wealth of previously unknown archaeological sites ranging in date from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic through the modern period. Following an overview of the physical geography of the Upper Diyala/Sirwan, this paper highlights key findings that are beginning to transform our understanding of this historically important but poorly known region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 553 ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
Claire E. Terhune ◽  
Sabrina Curran ◽  
Roman Croitor ◽  
Virgil Drăgușin ◽  
Timothy Gaudin ◽  
...  

1977 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Reynolds ◽  
J. Richard Conner

In many areas of the country, there is strong competition among agricultural, municipal, industrial and other users of water. Water managers are faced with the problem of allocating available water among alternative uses.The study [11] upon which this paper is based was a cooperative effort with the Central and Southern Florida Control District which is typical of many water management districts making decisions regarding allocation of a limited amount of water among uses and users. When the District was formed, it was developed with emphasis on facilities to provide relief from flooding. Water management responsibilities such as water supply, recreation and the preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife have become important to the public and consequently have received recognition by those responsible for managing the water.


Author(s):  
Andriy Yatsyshyn

The geomorphological structure of one of the least explored river valleys of the north-west part of the Fore-Carpathians was discovered. Morphological, morphometric characteristics of the BystrytsiaPidbuzka terraces, the structure features of their deposits’ sections were described. The progress of the glacial morpholithogenetic processes in the north-west part of the Fore-Carpathians was detailed. It was found that the river valley has been actively developing during the Early Pleistocene epoch, when the Galician (the fifth over-floodplain) terrace and four different-age terraces, which have formed the Loyeva level (the sixth over-floodplain terrace) till now, and starosilska terrace, which is hypsographically above the Loyeva level and below the Krasna level, were formed. The benches between the bases of the multiple altitude horizons of alluvium of the identified terraces were mainly disguised by the loess cover that is why actually they were not evident in the terrain. During the Early Pleistocene epoch (the Oka stage), at the time of the deglaciation of the adjacent to the Carpathian Mountains interfluve areas of Stryvihor–Dnister and Dnister–Bystrytsia-Pidbuzka, the glacial meltwater flowed along the river valley to the south. This was illustrated by the fact of the covering of the “warm” alluvium of the channel and flood plain facies by the periglacial alluvium in the section of the Galician terrace of the Bystrytsia-Pidbuzka River. During the deglaciation process of the north-west part of the Dnister valley, the Chukva-Vilshanyk palaeovalley was also invoked. The history of its formation and the structure requires further appraisal up to now. Younger Middle-Upper Pleistocene terraces that were obviously “hidden” in the broad bottom of the river valley morphologically were not clearly demonstrated. According to the morphometric, morphological characteristics they corresponded to the first over-floodplain terrace and BystrytsiaPidbuzka floodplain. However, it has been reliably determined that only its upper 6 meters of the total 24–26-meter of the soft sediments of the mass, which was discovered in the bottom of the BystrytsiaPidbuzka River valley, have accumulated during the Holocene. The formation time of the middle and lower parts was not accurately determined so far. It is possible that it has begun to accumulate during the period of the glacial meltwater discharge, which flowed to the river valley, through both the ChukvaVilshanyk palaeovalley and the Upper-Dnister depression. The surface of the fluvioglacial deposits was covered with the Middle-Upper Pleistocene alluvium, and the section of the mentioned mass was finished by the Holocene alluvium. From the beginning of the Holocene the river valley was surrounded by the ascending tectonic movements, which were especially active on the area that is adjacent to the Carpathians, where their base was outcropped in sections the first over-floodplain terrace and the floodplain. Key words: terrace, Loyeva level, alluvium, loess, glacial meltwater, Upper-Dnister depression, Chukva-Vilshanyk palaeovalley.


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