Paleontologičeskij žurnal

Numerous representatives of the Pseudodictyomitra Pessagno, 1977 were studied from the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Cyprus. Description of P. pseudomacrocephala (Squinabol, 1903), emend. nov. is emended. New species P. coronata sp. nov. is described. Stratigraphic ranges and phylogenetic relationships in the family Pseudodictyomitridae are detalized.

Two new species of ostracods of the genus Aparchitellina – A. lenis sp. nov. and A. reticulata sp. nov. from the carbonate shallow-shelf deposits of the Yba Formation (Givetian?–Frasnian) of the Southern Timan are described. The species A. lenis sp. nov. is restricted to its lower part of the section, while A. reticulata sp. nov. appears stratigraphically higher and is distributed almost throughout the section. The described species complete the biostratigraphic characterisation of the Givetian-Frasnian boundary interval in carbonate facies.

The new species Neurocythere margaritae, N. parva, and Terquemula pseudoflexicosta from Callovian of the Russian Plate are described. The first two form a stratigraphic sequence with N. margaritae occurring in the lower and middle Callovian in the Subpatruus – Jason zones and N. parva in the middle and upper Callovian, Coronatum – Lamberti zones. The morphology of both species is identical, but their sizes are different, which allows us to distinguish these taxa and prove their genetic relationship. The daughter N. parva originated from N. margaritae by gerontomorphosis with minification. The fact that the new species belong to a single lineage allows to establish new homonymous lineage zones for the lower-middle and middle-upper Callovian of the Russian Plate. The species T. pseudoflexicosta is known from the lower Callovian, Koenigi Zone.

A new species of conodonts Polygnathus ovaliformis sp. nov. from the Upper Devonian deposits of the northeastern margins of the Kuznetsk Basin is described. This species is most closely related to the Late Frasnian species Po. brevis Miller et Youngquist and Po. costulatus Aristov.

The article describes a tail vertebra of a giant sea turtle Chelonioidea indet. from the Upper Cretaceous Malyy Prolom locality (Ryazan Province, Russia; middle Cenomanian – middle Santonian). The tail vertebra, probably IV–X, with a preserved length of 3.8 cm belonged to a turtle comparable in size with the type specimen of the protostegid Archelon ischyros from the Campanian of USA. The proportions of the vertebral centrum suggest that it belonged to a female.

The article presents the first complete data on the finds of mammals of the mammoth fauna in the Upper Yana basin (Verkhoyansky Ulus, Oldzho River). A list of mammal species of the locality on the Oldzho River was compiled. 11 mammal species were identified. The snow sheep was noted for the Upper Yana area for the first time. The absolute age of the locality is over 49 thousand years. It was formed during the beginning of Karginsky interstadial (MIS 3). A small amount of remains of species adapted to the conditions of the Arctic zone (reindeer, musk ox) and the complete absence of such species as the arctic fox and wolverine, indicate significant differences between the fauna of Oldzho and the later typically Sartan Fauna. The geomorphology of the locality differs from the typical permafrost sections in the north of the Yana-Indigirka Lowland. In the Oldzho upper part of the section consist of edom loss-ice sediments. On Oldzho the ice thickness does not exceed 4–4.5 meters and it is confined the top of the 50 meters terrace. The base of the terrace is a sandstone and mudstone bedrock. Bones bed layer located under the ice in the loess-like loams with layers of peat and inclusions of plant detritus. Bones of bison, horse, woolly rhinoceros, red deer dominate quantitatively. All age groups of herbivorous mammals are provided. Predators (bear, cave lion, wolf) are represented only by adult individuals. Relatively common pathologies of the limb bones in herbivorous mammals caused by traumatic injuries have been noted.