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Friday, March 10th, 2023
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| 2:27p | [Paleontology • 2022] Edowa zuniensis • A New baenid (Paracryptodira: Baenidae) and Other Fossil Turtles from the Upper Cretaceous Moreno Hill Formation (Turonian), New Mexico, USA
Highlights: • Edowa zuniensis is the first baenid turtle described from Turonian of North America. • Edowa is similar to Plesiobaena antiqua from the Campanian of Montana and Alberta. • Other Moreno Hill fossil turtle material includes Naomichelys and a trionychid. • These turtle fossils fill a temporal gap in the middle Cretaceous Laramidian record. • Trace fossils on Edowa suggest ectoparasitic infection and crocodile attack. Abstract We describe the first Turonian baenid turtle, Edowa zuniensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Moreno Hill Formation in New Mexico, which is located within a baenid temporal hiatus of approximately 12 million years. It was retrieved in a phylogenetic analysis as sister to the well understood basal baenodd (derived baenid) Plesiobaena antiqua from the Campanian of Montana and Alberta, with which it is morphologically similar. The two are sister taxa, forming a “Plesiobaena-grade” clade that is in a basal position within the derived clade Baenodda, outside of the two main clades of derived baenids, Palatobaeninae and Eubaeninae. Its occurrence in the middle Turonian Moreno Hill Formation suggests a southern Laramidian origin for Baenodda. The new site is (along with the Menefee Formation) younger and stratigraphically continuous with the Fruitland and Kirtland Formations, which are among the most productive Upper Cretaceous fossil sites in North America. New material of the endemic helochelydrid stem turtle Naomichelys is also described, as are several ichnotaxa on the type specimen of E. zuniensis gen. et sp. nov. The Moreno Hill Formation fossil turtle assemblage contains relict, derived, and immigrant components and is transitional between typical Early and Late Cretaceous faunas. Preliminary comparisons are made between the Moreno Hill Formation turtle assemblage and those of later San Juan Basin fossil sites, showing significantly greater baenid diversity in younger strata, the presence of trionychids throughout, and Naomichelys, which is also known from the younger Menefee Formation. Keywords: Phylogeny, Baenidae, Paracryptodira, Naomichelys, Karethraichnus lakkos, Testudinata      Brent Adrian, Heather F. Smith, Kara Kelley and Douglas G. Wolfe. 2023. A New baenid, Edowa zuniensis gen. et sp. nov., and Other Fossil Turtles from the Upper Cretaceous Moreno Hill Formation (Turonian), New Mexico, USA. Cretaceous Research. 144, 105422. DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105422 Discovery of 90-million-year-old turtle fossil reveals a new species | ||||
| 6:06p | [Arachnida • 2023] Siler niser • A New Species of the Genus Siler Simon, 1889 (Araneae: Salticidae: Chrysillini) from India
Abstract A new chrysilline jumping spider species belonging to the genus Siler Simon, 1889 is described from Odisha, India. Detailed morphological descriptions, illustrations of the male palp and female genitalia and phylogenetic relationships of the new Siler species are presented. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that the new species is sister to a clade of predominantly Southeast Asian Siler species. Furthermore, the results indicate the presence of multiple cryptic species masquerading as S. semiglaucus sensu lato. We also briefly discuss some unique behavioural observations on the newly-described species. Key Words: Jumping spider, NISER, Odisha, phylogeny, species description, taxonomy
Genus Siler Simon, 1889 Type species: Siler cupreus Simon, 1889. Siler niser sp. nov. Diagnosis: Siler niser sp. nov. resembles Siler semiglaucus (Simon, 1901) in general morphology and colour pattern (cf. Fig. 1A, B, D, E with images 1a, b in Kulkarni and Joseph (2015)), but can be easily distinguished by the morphology of the copulatory organs which are rather most similar to S. cupreus Simon, 1889 and S. severus (Simon, 1901): male palp with short beak-like embolus (slender and needle-like in S. cupreus and S. severus); relatively smaller RTA (smallest of all congeners, remaining below the small retrolateral tegular lobe); RTA directed anteriad in ventral view, with pointed tip and broad base in retrolateral view, ventral margin vertical, dorsal margin gradually sloping, gently curved (RTA directed retrolaterally in ventral view, thick, relatively long reaching beyond the retrolateral tegular lobe and curved in S. cupreus and S. severus) (cf. Figs 2E, F, 3A, B with illustrations on pg. 133, 135 in Prószyński (1984), figs 246, 247 in Bohdanowicz and Prószyński (1987) and figs 12, 13 in Prószyński (1985)); females can be recognised by the short and bent copulatory ducts and globular spermathecae separated by more than their radius (copulatory ducts relatively longer, almost straight and copulatory openings closely placed along the median in S. cupreus) (cf. Figs 2K, L, 3C, D with illustrations on pg. 134, 135 in Prószyński (1984) and figs 249, 251 in Bohdanowicz and Prószyński (1987)). Etymology: The specific epithet is an acronym derived after the type locality, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) campus from where the specimens were collected. The name is treated as a noun in apposition. Suggested common name: Glossy jumping spider. John T. D. Caleb, Ayush Parag and Aniruddha Datta-Roy. 2023. A New Species of the Genus Siler Simon, 1889 (Araneae, Salticidae, Chrysillini) from India. Zoosystematics and Evolution. 99(1): 209-216. DOI: 10.3897/zse.99.99285 |
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