Natural history museums house numerous previously undescribed species and unknown information hidden in their collections. We describe lower Carboniferous slit-bearing gastropods (order Pleurotomariida, subclass Vetigastropoda; and family Goniasmatidae, subclass Caenogastropoda) from previously unreported gastropod collections made by Jane Longstaff (Jane Donald), one of the pioneering paleontologists of Paleozoic gastropods in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The gastropods were collected from the Lower Limestone Formation (Visean, Brigantian) near Dalry, Ayrshire, Scotland. The collection consists largely of microgastropods, many of which are unusually well-preserved including delicate ornament and protoconchs (larval shells). Three new pleurotomariidan species are described—Biarmeaspira heidelbergerae new species, Neilsonia seussae new species, Tapinotomaria longstaffae new species—in addition to seven species belonging to Borestus Thomas, 1940, Stegocoelia (Stegocoelia) Donald, 1889, Stegocoelia (Hypergonia) Donald, 1892, Donaldospira Batten, 1966, and Platyzona Knight, 1945. The caenogastropod-type protoconch is documented for the first time in Hypergonia, which is therefore placed in Goniasmatidae. The new data confirm that Neilsonia Thomas, 1940 (type genus of Neilsoniinae) belongs to Pleurotomariida and is distinct from the morphologically convergent Peruvispira Chronic, 1949 (Goniasmatidae). The selenizone morphology is identical in Biarmeaspira Mazaev, 2006 and Baylea de Koninck, 1883 during their early ontogeny, and Biarmeaspira develops an angulation on the selenizone (the diagnostic feature) in late ontogeny. This corroborates earlier suggestions that Biarmeaspira evolved from Baylea. Biarmeaspira heidelbergerae n. sp. is the first Carboniferous record of Biarmeaspira, which was previously only known from the Permian. The angulated selenizone evidently evolved several times in Pleurotomariida and the repeated appearance of this character in different groups (e.g., Phymatopleuridae, Eotomariidae, Pleurotomariidae) needs further studies using phylogenetic methods.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/92ae9a99-5774-4ee9-bf5d-9a9319494ef6

Lobopodians are an iconic and diverse group of animals from the Cambrian, which alongside radiodonts, present an important window into the evolution of arthropods and the development of Paleozoic ecosystems. Of these, a rare few species outside of Radiodonta possess lateral swimming flaps. The recent discovery of Utahnax provided much-needed insight into the evolution of swimming flaps, suggesting that the ventrolateral flaps of Kerygmachela evolved independently from other flap-bearing lobopodians and radiodonts. Here a new pelagic lobopodian species is described, Mobulavermis adustus new genus new species, the first lobopodian to be reported from the Cambrian-age Pioche Shale of Nevada. Mobulavermis adustus was large and possessed more ventrolateral flap pairs than any other known lobopodian or radiodont. It is found to be a close relative of both Kerygmachela and Utahnax, allowing the establishment of the new lobopodian family Kerygmachelidae new family. In addition, an indeterminate euarthropod fossil from the Pioche Formation is described in brief, and the recently described Chengjiang species Parvibellus avatus Liu et al., 2022, thought to have been related to the “gilled lobopodians,” is reinterpreted as a juvenile siberiid lobopodian.

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Newly discovered, relatively well-preserved specimens of Cholaster whitei n. sp. (Ophiuroidea, Echinodermata) are described from a small area of extensive outcrop of the Bangor Limestone (Mississippian, Chesterian) exposed on the edge of Cedar Creek Reservoir in northern Alabama, USA. The only other known species of the genus, C. peculiaris Worthen and Miller, is based on a single specimen exposed in dorsal aspect and collected from strata of similar age from southwestern Illinois. Incomplete preservation of the single C. peculiaris specimen limits comparisons, but differences between the two occurrences support separation at the species level.

Skeletal remains of both asteroids and ophiuroids are first recognized from Early Ordovician sediments, and representatives of the two classes have retained plesiomorphies or converged morphologically since that time, thereby suggesting important evolutionary potentials and limitations. Cholaster is asteroid-like and unusual among ophiuroids in that the arms are comparatively broad and strap-like, and lateral ossicles are similar to asteroid adambulacrals and marginals, whereas the “vertebrae” (i.e., fused axial pair) and oral frame configurations of C. whitei n. sp. are typical of the Ophiuroidea. The oral frame of C. peculiaris is unknown.

A poorly preserved specimen of the asteroid Delicaster? also was recovered from nearby strata associated with the C. whitei n. sp.

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Three new species of Cyphaspides are proposed: C. ammari, C. nicoleae, and C. pankowskiorum. These species are based on specimens obtained from Middle Devonian (Eifelian) strata of the Bou Tchrafine Group, near Erfoud, in the Province of Errachidia, southeastern Morocco. The present contribution enhances our knowledge of Cyphaspides by providing details of three new species that are based on well-preserved, complete, and articulated types. The genus Cyphaspides is discussed, and an emended diagnosis is provided. The paleobiogeography, ontogeny, and relationships of the genus are discussed.

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The fossil record of octocorals from Cenozoic marine strata of western North America is quite limited, and they have not been reported previously from rocks in Washington State, USA. Two late Oligocene specimens from the upper part of the Lincoln Creek Formation in western Washington, referred to Radicipes? sp., are the first fossil record of the family Chrysogorgiidae. The family Isididae is represented by an internode and two holdfasts identified as Isidella sp. collected from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, along with specimens questionably identified as Lepidisis sp., possibly the first fossil record for this genus. Together, these are the first confirmed fossils of the Alcyonacea from north of California in western North America. The axes of sea pens from several late Eocene or early Oligocene localities in the Lincoln Creek Formation in the central part of western Washington, and the Pysht and Makah formations on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, are the first fossil record for the Pennatulacea from western North America; all are tentatively referred to the genus ‘Graphularia’. Large axes from the Lincoln Creek Formation and Makah Formation are referred to ‘Graphularia’ (?) aff. sasai, because they are similar to the species known only from late Eocene and early Oligocene rocks in Japan.

Based on extensive new material, 2088 valves resulting from search sampling of ~500 kg of sediment, the Pliocene chiton biodiversity of the Mondego Basin (Portugal) is reassessed. Twelve species were identified, assigned to seven genera. Eight species are new for the Pliocene of Portugal, as well as two of the genera: Hanleya, Acanthochitona. Two taxa are described as new: Ischnochiton loureiroi n. sp. and Lepidochitona rochae n. sp. Until now, the polyplacophoran European Neogene record was too poorly known to be of help in generating a clear picture of the Miocene to present-day biogeography of the group. This new wealth of data from western Iberia, in conjunction with recent data from the Loire Basin Upper Miocene assemblages (France), allows clarification the Late Miocene to Recent eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean biogeography of the Polyplacophora. The northern range of warm-water northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Polyplacophora experienced a sharp contraction since, at least, Late Miocene to Early Pliocene times. Warm-water chiton species represented in the Upper Miocene of the Loire Basin of NE France (European-West African Province) and the Pliocene of the Mondego Basin of central-west Portugal (Pliocene French-Iberian Province) are today confined to the southern Mediterranean-Moroccan Molluscan Province.

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New linguliform microbrachiopods from the Middle Ordovician are described and illustrated. This fauna was recovered from the uppermost beds of the San Juan Formation in two sections of the Central Precordillera (Argentina), which are accurately dated to the Lenodus pseudoplanus Zone (middle Darriwilian). The fauna consists of the obolid Luthieria diminuta n. gen. n. sp., and the acrotretids Eoconulus tucunucoensis n. sp., Conotreta andina Lavié, Serra, and Feltes, Scaphelasma zharykensis Popov, and Numericoma rowelli Holmer et al. This low-diversity lingulate association displays close similarities with coeval faunas that inhabited the Laurentia, Baltica, and Kazakhstanian regions, in agreement with evidence from other linguliform and rhynchonelliform brachiopods.

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The last clade-level extinction episode affecting the Phylum Brachiopoda has been long-established in the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event (ETMEE) around the Pliensbachian-Toarcian transition, when several rhynchonellide groups became extinct and others underwent a notable renewal in the western Tethys. Among them, Wellerelloidea is a long-ranging superfamily severely affected by this environmental crisis, embodying the subfamily Cirpinae as the last wellerelloids worldwide, prior to their global extinction in the Pb-To transition. The profuse record of Lower Jurassic cirpines in the peri-Iberian paleomargins provides an opportunity to clarify the taxonomy of wellerelloid species in the pre-extinction interval. A new species (Cirpa lucentina) is erected and the revision of the Cirpinae taxa around the ETMEE is carried out. Morphometric analysis and the study of internal structures of the shells support separation of the genera Cirpa and Salgirella, adding new supplementary diagnostic criteria. The biogeographic distribution of this clade in the western Tethys and its evolutionary history in the Early Jurassic reveal a pervasive colonization pattern of both epicontinental and epioceanic habitats. The Mediterranean origin of the last representatives of this group is ascertained, but while diversification of Salgirella took place in epioceanic habitats, speciation of Cirpa is unrelated to biochorema boundaries, even colonizing epicontinental seas until their extinction prior to the hyperwarming event that occurred in the basal Serpentinum Zone. A rhynchonellide morphogroup epitomized by cirpines was resilient to this event in the epicontinental seas. This morphogroup is also recorded after the extinction interval by means of the genus Pseudogibbirhynchia, thus postulating potential pre- and post-extinction phyletic relationships.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/100b06c0-a803-4f6f-b0fa-2d9e2d6678d2