Search

Over the last 25 years, researchers, mostly paleontologists, have developed a system of rank-free, phylogenetically defined names for the primary clades of turtles. As these names are not considered established by the PhyloCode, the newly created nomenclatural system that governs the naming of clades, we take the opportunity to convert the vast majority of previously defined clade names for extinct and extant turtles into this new nomenclatural framework. Some previously defined names are converted with minor adjustments. We also define a number of new clade names to close apparent nomenclatural gaps. In total, we establish 113 clade names, of which 79 had already received phylogenetic definitions and 34 are new.

Despite today’s controversy regarding several aspects of his legacy, Swiss-born Harvard Professor Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) was one of the most eminent scientists of his time. After his death, Washington-based photographer and amateur naturalist, Henry Ulke (1821–1910), honored his ‘esteemed friend’ which is clear from his personal letter of condolence addressed to Agassiz’s eldest son Alexander, and a posthumous portrait (oil on canvas) dated 1876. In 1877, his portrait was purchased by the United States Capitol, but it was not accepted by the Joint Committee on the Library. Thereafter, it soon went missing and remained unnoticed for nearly 150 years, until the same portrait (or at least a second, original version) was brought to auction in 2013 by heirs of the Ulke family. The painting is based on a rare carte-de-visite photograph, which bears the 1876 backstamp of Henry’s brother, Julius Ulke (1833–1910). Both the painting and the card, undoubtedly depicting Agassiz, were once mislabeled as General Francis E. Spinner, United States Treasurer (1802–1890), probably by Henry’s son, Titus Ulke (1866–1961) or another descendent. The rediscovery of the painting is of major historic and artistic importance. It is now on display in the library of Elasmobranch Research, Belgium.

For the first time gastropods from the Besano Formation (Anisian/Ladinian boundary) are documented. The material was collected from three different outcrops at Monte San Giorgio (Southern Alps, Ticino, Switzerland). The taxa here described are Worthenia (Humiliworthenia)? aff. microstriata, Frederikella cf. cancellata, ?Trachynerita sp., ?Omphaloptycha sp. 1 and ?Omphaloptycha sp. 2. They represent the best preserved specimens of a larger collection and document the presence in this formation of the clades Vetigastropoda, Neritimorpha and Caenogastropoda that were widespread on the Alpine Triassic carbonate platforms. True benthic molluscs are very rarely documented in the Besano Formation, which is interpreted as intra-platform basin sediments deposited in usually anoxic condition. Small and juvenile gastropods could have been lived as pseudoplankton attached to floating algae or as free-swimming veliger planktotrophic larval stages. Accumulations of larval specimens suggest unfavorable living conditions with prevailing disturbance in the planktic realm or mass mortality events. However, larger gastropods more probably were washed in with sediments disturbed by slumping and turbidite currents along the basin edge or storm activity across the platform of the time equivalent Middle San Salvatore Dolomite.

We here describe turtle remains from the late Miocene (Tortonian) of Cessaniti (Calabria, southern Italy), an area that recently has been palaeogeographically reconstructed as being, at that time of the Neogene, directly connected (or at least rather proximate) to northern Africa, instead of Europe. The material pertains to three different turtle clades, i.e., pan-trionychids, pan-cheloniids, and pan-geoemydids. Although the material is incomplete, it nevertheless permits a more precise identification for the pan-trionychid specimens, which are referred to the speciesTrionyx pliocenicus, as well as the pan-geoemydid, which is attributed to the genusMauremys. Especially for the case ofT. pliocenicus, the new Cessaniti specimens expand its geographic and stratigraphic distribution and further comprise the sole existing material known for this species, considering that its holotype and so far only known material is currently lost. Overall, besides its taxonomic significance, the Cessaniti chelonian assemblage affords the potential for important biogeographic implications, attesting that the lineages ofTrionyxandMauremyscould have potentially used the Sicily–Calabria arch for their dispersal from Europe to Africa during the Tortonian. The new turtle specimens further complement the associated mammal remains in envisaging the Cessaniti assemblage as a mosaic of both African and Eurasian (Pikermian) faunal elements.

Ammonoid soft parts have been rarely described. Here, we document the soft parts of a perisphinctid ammonite from the early Tithonian of Wintershof near Eichstätt (Germany). This exceptional preservation was enabled by the special depositional conditions in the marine basins of the Solnhofen Archipelago. Here, we document this find and attempt to homologize its parts with various organs such as the digestive tract, reproductive organs, the mantle cavity with gills, and the hyponome, with differing degrees of reservation. Alternative interpretations are also taken into account. We suggest that the soft parts were separated from the conch either taphonomically (following necrolytical processes affecting the attachment structures) or during a failed predation, where a predator (fish or coleoid) removed the soft parts from the conch but then dropped them. This find is interesting because it adds to the knowledge of ammonite anatomy, which is normally hidden in the conch. The reproductive organs show traces of what might have been spermatophores, thus supporting the hypothesis that the microconchs represented the males.

In the Acknowledgements in the original published article [Georgalis et al. 2020], we thanked by mistake Antonella Cinzia Marra as follows: “We thank […] A.C. Marra (Messina) for discussion and field work at Cessaniti”. Under request of Antonella Cinzia Marra (University of Messina), the authors specify that the discussion and the field work at the Cessaniti Site she has been involved with were not related to this research.

International audience; Due to the lower fossilization potential of chitin, non-mineralized cephalopod jaws and arm hooks are much more rarely preserved as fossils than the calcitic lower jaws of ammonites or the calcitized jaw apparatuses of nautilids. Here, we report such non-mineralized fossil jaws and arm hooks from pelagic marly limestones of continental Greece. Two of the specimens lie on the same slab and are assigned to the Ammonitina; they represent upper jaws of the aptychus type, which is corroborated by finds of aptychi. Additionally, one intermediate type and one anaptychus type are documented here. The morphology of all ammonite jaws suggest a desmoceratoid affinity. The other jaws are identified as coleoid jaws. They share the overall U-shape and proportions of the outer and inner lamellae with Jurassic lower jaws of Trachyteuthis (Teudopseina). We also document the first belemnoid arm hooks from the Tethyan Maastrichtian. The fossils described here document the presence of a typical Mesozoic cephalopod assemblage until the end of the Cretaceous in the eastern Tethys.

Two [1, 2] articles in volume 139 of the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology published with an incorrect article number, this error was caused by a technical problem during publication. This correction article is to publish the incorrect and correct article numbers.