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Late Cretaceous record of large soft-bodied coleoids based on lower jaw remains from Hokkaido, Japan

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Tanabe K. , Misaki A. , Ubukata T.

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

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2015

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tom 60

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nr 1

EN

The origin and phylogenetic relationships of most modern coleoid groups have not yet been explained by reliable fossil evidence, in large part because of the reduction or disappearance of a calcified chambered shell during their evolutionary history. Herein we describe two exceptionally large coleoid lower jaws from the Upper Cretaceous strata in Hokkaido, Japan. On the basis of the comparison of gross morphology and morphometric data of the lower jaws of modern and fossil coleoids, we assigned the two lower jaws to the following new taxa: Nanaimoteuthis hikidai sp. nov. of the order Vampyromorpha (superorder Octobrachia) and Haboroteuthis poseidon gen. et sp. nov. of the order Teuthida (superorder Decabrachia). The lower jaw of N. hikidai is distinguished from other species of the same genus from the Upper Cretaceous of Vancouver Island (Canada) and Hokkaido by having a broader, more anteriorly curved hood of the outer lamella. The lower jaw of H. poseidon seemingly exhibits mosaic features like those of modern teuthids and sepiids but is assigned to Teuthida on the basis of the overall shape of the outer lamella and the development of a distinct fold on the lateral wall. Because of the unusually large lower jaws, these new taxa appear to be comparable in body size to modern giant squids (Architeuthis spp.) and the Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas). This and other discoveries of large jaws referable to octobrachian and decabrachian coleoids from the Upper Cretaceous strata of the North Pacific fill the gap in the relatively poor fossil record of mainly soft-bodied coleoids.

2

Precursory siphuncular membranes in the body chamber of Phyllopachyceras and comparisons with other ammonoids

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Tanabe K. , Kulicki C. , Landman N. H.

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nr 1

EN

Organic membranes preserved in the rear part of the body chamber of the Late Cretaceous phylloceratid ammonite Phyllopachyceras ezoense were examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the basis of well−preserved specimens from Hokkaido, Japan. SEM observations revealed that the membranes are continuous with the siphuncular tube wall in the phragmocone and consist of two layers, both of which are made of a dark, primarily conchiolin material; namely, a thinner inner homogeneous layer and a thicker outer layer with gently inclined pillar−like units. Hence, they are interpreted as the precursory siphuncular membranes. The precursory siphuncular membranes are not associated with any other organic components such as the siphuncular sheets reported in some Paleozoic and Mesozoic ammonoids. Unlike the tube−like condition in the phragmocone, the precursory siphuncular membranes in the body chamber of the specimens examined do not form a tube shape; on the ventral side the membranes are truncated and directly contact the outer shell wall. These observations suggest that the inner and outer layers of the precursory siphuncular membranes in the body chamber were respectively formed by the siphuncular epithelium from the inner side and by the invaginated septal epithelium from the outer side. It is also postulated that at the initial stage of septal formation, the rear part of the body moved slowly forward, developing a circumsiphonal invagination of the septal epithelium. Because similar conchiolin membranes are occasionally preserved in the body chambers of other phylloceratids, the above morphogenetic process applies to all members of the Phylloceratina. The tube−shaped structure in the rear part of the body chamber of desmoceratid Damesites consists only of nacreous layer. We interpret it as a pathologically overgrown prochoanitic septal neck.

3

Chemosynthesis-based associations on Cretaceous plesiosaurid carcasses

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Kaim A. , Kobayashi Y. , Echizenya H. , Jenkins R. G. , Tanabe K.

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nr 1

EN

The objective of this report is to document first Mesozoic occurrences of chemosynthesis−based communities developed on large marine reptile carcasses. Micro−grazing provannid gastropods (typical of chemosynthetic communities) are associated with plesiosaurid skeletons in the Upper Cretaceous deposits of Hokkaido, northern Japan. The cancellous bones of the examined plesiosaurid bones contain a ubiquity of iron sulfides within the bone trabeculae, which provides evidence of anaerobic sulfate reduction of the bone lipids. We also report numerous microborings in the bone trabeculae, which might result from the activity of sulfur−oxidizing bacteria. This finding addresses the hotly debated problem of the emergence and radiation of whale bone faunas. We postulate that vertebrate bone environments in the Northwest Pacific region were settled repeatedly by animals from a regional pool of chemosynthesis−based communities that flourished in the methane seeps and/or hot vents that were present during the Late Cretaceous–Miocene.

4

Piggyback whorls: A new theoretical morphologic model reveals constructional linkages among morphological characters in ammonoids

88%

Ubukata T. , Tanabe K. , Shigeta Y. , Maeda H. , Mapes R. H.

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nr 1

EN

A new theoretical morphological model is proposed for the analysis of growth, form and morphospace of ammonoid shells. In this model, the shape of a radial cross section through the shell is simulated by “piggybacking” of successive whorls. The “piggyback whorls model” is defined in terms of the enlarging rate of the perimeter and the proportion of the dorsal wall to the whorl periphery, if an isometric relationship is assumed between perimeter and area of the cross−sectioned whorl. Allometric coefficients on these growth parameters determine how compressed and evolute shells are formed. The present model successfully reproduced some correlations among purely geometric variables that have been reported in previous works and were also observed in our biometric analyses. This model yields a hypothesis of “constructional linkages” between aperture shape and coiling geometry that might provide a functional coupling between hydrostatic and hydrodynamic characters. The model may partly explain Buckman’s Law of Covariation between rib features and shell shapes.

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Worldwide distribution of the modiomorphid bivalve genus Caspiconcha in late Mesozoic hydrocarbon seeps

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Jenkins R. G. , Kaim A. , Little C. T. S. , Iba Y. , Tanabe K. , Campbell K. A.

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2013

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tom 58

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nr 2

EN

Exceptionally well preserved specimens of the bivalve mollusc Modiola major were collected from a Lower Cretaceous (Barremian) hydrocarbon seep deposit in northern California. This material, together with the type series of M. major, and various other specimens from Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous seep localities in California, is redescribed and referred to the hydrocarbon seep−restricted modiomorphid genus Caspiconcha. We include also a description of Myoconcha americana because some previous reports have incorrectly synonymized Myoconcha americana with Caspiconcha major. In addition, we report Caspiconcha sp. from a Lower Cretaceous (Albian) hydrocarbon seep from Hokkaido, Japan, and we review all currently described species of Caspiconcha, and other species that probably belong to this genus. We demonstrate that Caspiconcha had a widespread distribution in Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous hydrocarbon seeps, but became rare thereafter, with the last representative occurring in Upper Cretaceous strata of Japan. This macroevolutionary pattern is similar to that observed in the seep−restricted brachiopods. After the decline of Caspiconcha at the end of the Early Cretaceous and its last occurrence in the Campanian, the ecological niche of epifaunal to semi−infaunal seep endemic bivalves was largely vacant and not reoccupied until the Eocene with the appearance of the vesicomyid and bathymodiolin bivalves. The formal placement of M. major into the genus Caspiconcha restricts the fossil record of mytilids at seeps to post−Mesozoic times, and thus there is less discrepancy between the fossil record of chemosynthetic mytilids and their divergence age estimates from molecular data.