Larger foraminifera of the Devil's Den and Blue Hole sinkholes, Florida

Shallow-water carbonate deposits are well-known from the Eocene of the US Gulf Coast and Caribbean. These deposits frequently contain abundant larger benthic foraminifera (LBF). However, whilst integrated stratigraphic studies have helped to refine the timing of LBF overturning events within the Tethys and Indo-Pacific regions with respect to global bio- and chemo-stratigraphic records, little recent work has been carried out in the Americas. The American LBF assemblages are distinctly different from those of Europe and the Indo-Pacific. It is therefore essential that the American bio-province is included in studies of LBF evolution, biodiversity and climate events to understand these processes on a global scale. Here we present the LBF ranges from two previously unpublished sections spanning 35 and 29 m of the upper Eocene Ocala limestone, as the early stages of a larger project addressing the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of the LBF of Florida. The study indicates that the lower member of the Ocala limestone may be Bartonian rather than Priabonian in age, with implications for the biostratigraphy of the region. In addition, the study highlights the need for multiple sites to assess the LBF assemblages and fully constrain ranges across Florida and the US Gulf and suggests potential LBF events for future integrated stratigraphic study.

Implications for the study of fossil Asteroidea (Echinodermata) of new genera and species from the Eocene of Florida

Oyenaster oblidus, Ocalaster timucum, and Ocalaster seloyi are new genera and species of the family Goniasteridae (Asteroidea) described from the Eocene Ocala Limestone of Florida. Although the fossil record of asteroids is sketchy, goniasterids appear to have been important contributors to marine communities since at least the Middle Jurassic. Similarities between living goniasterids and their fossil precursors indicate that plesiomorphy and convergence have been important in family history, and as a result, taxonomic interpretation is challenging. Even partial fossil goniasterids are rare, forcing systematists to rely heavily on isolated marginal ossicles, although some authors have expressed the need for caution. Building around three new taxa, we suggest that broader approaches can aid systematic interpretation of all crown-group asteroids. We also suggest that the inevitably idiosyncratic interpretations of marginal-based systematics can be partially tested using blind evaluations.

New coral-bivalve association (Actinastrea-Lithophaga) from the Eocene of Florida

The endolithic mytilid bivalve, Lithophaga palmerae n. sp., from the Upper Eocene Ocala Limestone of north-central Florida, sheds new light on the evolution of lithophagids with its unspecialized morphology and highly specialized mode of life. Lithophaga palmerae n. sp. inhabited dead and living coral as indicated by orientation evidence. In living coral, the anterior end of the borehole was sealed off with thick, continuous, “false floors” of CaCO3, as the posterior end was extended to keep pace with coral growth. To date, this new species of lithophagid has been found associated with only one host coral, Actinastrea cf. A. incrustans (Duncan). Association with living coral is found today in L. bisulcata (d'Orbigny) and L. dixonae Scott from the Caribbean and in several Red Sea and Indo-Pacific lithophagids. In the fossil record, live-coral boring has been reported from the Miocene of the Vienna Basin of Austria and from the Pleistocene of Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean. Lithophaga palmerae n. sp. provides a valuable ancestral link in the evolution of Lithophaga by extending the range of live-coral boring back to the Eocene of Florida.