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A new conulariid from the Upper Mississippian (early Serpukhovian) of Central Russia (Moscow Basin): systematics, microstructure, and growth abnormalities

PalZ volume 97, pages 311–322 (2023)Cite this article

Abstract

?Holoconularia rossica sp. nov. is described from interstratified shale and siltstone beds in the Dashkovka Member of the Upper Mississippian (early Serpukhovian) Gurovo Formation in the Moscow Basin, Central Russia. The status of the genus Holoconularia, originally described from the Devonian of Germany, is discussed, and it is argued that at least one species previously assigned to it may belong in Paraconularia instead. Another species, P. mosquensis from the Middle Pennsylvanian of Central Russia, may be more closely related to ?H. rossica than to species in Paraconularia. Comparisons are also made with Conularia, Ctenoconularia, and Tasmanoconularia, three genera that are very similar to certain species in Holoconularia. The well-preserved periderm of ?H. rossica sp. nov. exhibits microscopic circular pores (micropores) and (in one specimen) malformed, cleft or scalloped ornamentation. The micropores in this and other conulariids appear to be primary anatomical features that may have housed an extremely slender, very short pillar of non-mineralized (organic) periderm connecting successive microlamellae composed predominantly of organic material. Cleft and scalloped features may represent healed injuries inflicted by predators, possibly nautiloids and/or gnathostomes.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for Olev Vinn was provided by a Paleontological Society Sepkoski Grant and by Estonian Research Council Grant PRG836. Permission to examine specimens of Conularia and Ctenoconularia in the collections of the British Museum (London), the Hunterian Museum (Glasgow), and the Cincinnati Museum Center (Ohio, USA) was granted by Jill Darrell, Jeff Liston, and Brenda Hunda, respectively. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the work of reviewers Nigel C. Hughes (University of California, Riverside) and Mike Reich (State Natural History Museum in Braunschweig, Germany).

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  1. Department of Geology, Hanover College, Hanover, IN, 47243, USA

    Heyo Van Iten

  2. Department of Invertebrate Paleontology, Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, OH, 45203, USA

    Heyo Van Iten

  3. Geological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevski Lane 7, 119017, Moscow, Russia

    Alexandr Mironenko

  4. Department of Geology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Ravila 14a, 50411, Tartu, Estonia

    Olev Vinn

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Van Iten, H., Mironenko, A. & Vinn, O. A new conulariid from the Upper Mississippian (early Serpukhovian) of Central Russia (Moscow Basin): systematics, microstructure, and growth abnormalities. PalZ 97, 311–322 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-022-00636-4

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