Redescription of tetrapod trackways from the Mississippian Mabou Group, Lepreau Falls, New Brunswick, Canada

Red-bed strata exposed at Lepreau Falls, southern New Brunswick, were originally interpreted as belonging to the Triassic Lepreau Formation. Poorly preserved tetrapod trackways within the strata were previously assigned to two ichnospecies; one to a new Triassic ichnospecies, Isocampe lepreauense Sarjeant and Stringer, and the other to Rhynchosauroides cf. R. franconicus (Heller). Both were attributed to reptiles. Subsequent mapping of the rocks and reassignment of the exposed strata at Lepreau Falls to the Mississippian Mabou Group prompted our re-examination of the trackway fossils. Isocampe lepreauense was described from a specimen block preserving three trackways and the original description was based on erroneous interpretation of extramorphological digit drags. Rhynchosauroides cf. R. franconicus was a tentative assignment in a letter accompanying a cast in the New Brunswick Museum, but was never formally published. We redescribe and re-interpret all the trackways as gait variations produced by temnospondyls, and most closely resemble the Carboniferous ichnotaxon Matthewichnus.

Fore limb bones of late Pleistocene dwarf hippopotamuses (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla) from Madagascar previously determined as belonging to the crocodylid Voay Brochu, 2007

A humerus and two radii of juvenile dwarf hippopotamuses are redescribed. The subfossil bones from the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin were erroneously assigned to the horned crocodile <i>Voay robustus</i> (Grandidier & Vaillant, 1872) by Bickelmann & Klein (2009). All three limb bones presented here belong to immature animals. The epiphyses are not fused, except the proximal extremity of the right radius; and the radius and ulna are also unfused. The two radii are from individuals of different size, whereas the left radius and the humerus are from animals of similar size. Morphologically, the limb bones cannot be identified to species level. A tentative assignment to <i>Hippopotamus madagascariensis</i> is discussed based on the knowledge of the geographic origin on the island. <br><br> doi:<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mmng.201000003" target="_blank">10.1002/mmng.201000003</a>

Stereochemical Elucidation of New Sagittamides C - F from a Didemnid Ascidian

Four new minor congeners, sagittamides C–F, were isolated from an unidentified Didemnid tunicate that previously afforded sagittamides A and B. The structures were determined by interpretation of spectroscopic data, degradation to amino acids, and comparisons with sagittamide A. An unexpected change in relative configuration of the hexacetoxy C5–C10 stereoelement is present in sagittamides D and F. A tentative assignment of configuration was possible through a systematic deduction based on analysis of 13C NMR data and symmetry considerations.

Bembicosoma re-examined: a xiphosuran from the Silurian of the North Esk Inlier, Pentland Hills, Scotland

ABSTRACTThe Silurian arthropod Bembicosoma pomphicus Laurie, 1899 is re-studied in relation to other Palaeozoic chelicerate taxa. All three known specimens of Bembicosoma originate from the Silurian (late Llandovery) Eurypterid Bed of the Gutterford Burn Flagstones, Reservoir Formation, Pentland Hills, Scotland. Bembicosoma is removed from its previous tentative assignment to Eurypterida and re-assigned to Xiphosura. A morphological reconstruction of this taxon is presented for the first time. This work continues a reappraisal of the systematics of a number of taxa that belong within the synziphosurines, a loose grouping of early Palaeozoic chelicerate arthropods aligned with the Xiphosura (horseshoe crabs), but which have been mistakenly identified as eurypterids in the past. Bembicosoma is significant as it is one of the earliest known synziphosurines.