Editorial [BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETÀ PALEONTOLOGICA ITALIANA, vol. 55(2), 2016]

Editorial to the Volume

Editorial [BOLLETTINO DELLA SOCIETÀ PALEONTOLOGICA ITALIANA, Vo. 54, 2015]

Editorial to the Volume

Magnetobiostratigraphy of the Spathian to Anisian (Lower to Middle Triassic) Kçira section, Albania

Magnetobiostratigraphic data are presented from three Early/Middle Triassic Han-Bulog Limestone successions from Kçira, northern Albania. A total of 206 standard palaeomagnetic samples were obtained for thermal demagnetization and statisticalanalysis from the 42, 10 and 5m thick sections. The reversal-bearing characteristic component, carried by haematite and magnetite, defines a composite sequence of six main polarity intervals (Kçln to Kç3r) in which are embedded four short polarity intervals, one at the base of Kçln and three towards the top of Kçlr. The early acquisition of the characteristic remanence is supported by the lateral correlation of magnetozones between sections. The Early/Middle Triassic boundary, approximated by the first occurrence of the conodont Chiosella timorensis, falls close to the Kçlr/Kç2n polarity transition. This is in good agreement with recently published magnetobiostratigraphic data from the coeval Chios (Greece) sections. The palaeomagnetic pole calculated from the Kçira characteristic directions lies close to the Triassic portion of the apparent polar wander path for Laurussia (in European coordinates). However, a 40-45" clockwise rotation of the external zone of the Albano-Hellenic Belt to the south of the Scutari-Pec Line is thought to have occurred since the Early-Middle Miocene. The Kçira pole acquires a West Gondwana affinity when restored for the Neogene clockwise rotation. If the clockwise rotation was entirely related to Neogene tectonics, the Kçira area was evidently associated with West Gondwana and located at 12-16"N of the western Tethys margin

Towards a better definition of the Middle Triassic magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy in the Tethyan realm

Magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data for the Middle Triassic (Anisian) were obtained from the Han-Bulog facies in the Nderlysaj section from the Albanian Alps and the Dont and Bivera formations in the Dont–Monte Rite composite section from the Dolomites region of northern Italy. The Nderlysaj section is biochronologically bracketed between the late Bithynian and early Illyrian substages (i.e., late-early and early-late Anisian), whereas the Dont–Monte Rite section comprises the late Pelsonian and the early Illyrian substages. The data from Nderlysaj and Dont–Monte Rite, in conjunction with already published data, allow us to construct a nearly complete composite geomagnetic polarity sequence tied to Tethyan ammonoid and conodont biostratigraphy from the late Olenekian (late-Early Triassic) to the late Ladinian (late-Middle Triassic). New conodont data require revision of the published age of the Vlichos section (Greece)

LARDAROCERAS GEN. N., A NEW LATE ANISIAN AMMONOID GENUS FROM THE PREZZO LIMESTONE (SOUTHERN ALPS)

On the basis of ammonoids collected in the uppermost part of the Prezzo Limestone (Anisian), the new genus Lardaroceras and two new species L.  krystyni (type species) and L. pseudohungaricum are described; a third one is left in open nomenclature. The genus Lardaroceras comprises involute and compressed ceratitids, whose subtrapezoidal whorl section is characterized by an evident periumbilical margin and a rounded ventral keel. The ornamentation is made of umbilical and lateroventral nodes, to which sometimes lateral nodes are added, and of lightly proverse and sinuous, primary, intercalatory and bifurcate ribs. The very distinctive suture line is subammonitic. The two species, L. krystyni and L. pseadohungaricam, differ mainly in the ornamentation and in the adult body chember: the former has umbilical and lareroventral nodes and its ornamentation fades on the adult body chamber, the latter has also lateral nodes and its ornamentation strengthens in the latest stage of growth. Because of the suture line the genus is attributed to the subfamily Beyrichitinae. The stratigraphic significance of the new genus is also discused

CAST PHOTOCOPYING: A SIMPLE METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS AND THE ILLUSTRATION OF THE OUTLINE OF CEPHALOPOD SHELLS

A simple way to get accurate figures of the outline of cephalopod shells is hereunder described. It consists in photocopying carefully sectioned casts made of plaster. The usefulness of the method is evaluated in comparisons with the other available techniques

TAXONOMY,STRATIGRAPHY AND PHYLOGENY OF THE NEW GENUS LANCEOPTYCHITES (AMMONOIDEA, ANISIAN)

For the first time a population analysis of compressed Ptychitidae (Ammonoidea) bed-by-bed collected from Prezzo Limestone (Upper Anisian, Southern Alps) is performed. The analysis allows to demonstrate that within some populations of compressed ptychitids during the growth the venter may become subacute/fastigate and the section lanceolate. This modification is not due to growth anomalies, as sometimes believed in literature, but is a normal ontogenetic development. The ammonoids with this peculiar ontogeny are moved from the genus Flexoptychites, that groups the compressed ptychitids with rounded venter, into the new genus Lanceoptychites. The new genus is a secondary descendent of Flexoptychites and comprises 4 species: L. velox (type) sp. n., L. styx sp. n., L. indistinctus (Mojsisovics) and L. charlyanus (Diener). L. styx and its peramorphic descendant L. velox are stratophenetic species. They are described from the Prezzo Limestone, where they are confined to the middle part of the Paraceratites trinodosus zone (Illyrian). No bed-by-bed information is available for L. indistinctus (Mojsisovics) and L. charlyanus (Diener). These morphospecies are revised on the basis of the type material.&nbsp

MIDDLE TRIASSIC CERATITIDS (AMMONOIDEA) COLLECTED BY C. RENZ FROM HYDRA (GREECE)

This paper  is focused on the description of an assemblage of ceratitids collected more than 50 years ago by C. Renz from the Han-Bulog Limestone of Hydra (Greece), up to the present never described. The identified forms are Asseretoceras camunum  (Assereto, 1963), Megaceratites aff. fallax Balini, 1992b, Ronconites sp. n. A, "Kellnerites"  sp. ind., Nevadites sp. ind. Two ceratitids of uncertain attribution are also described. These species have only paleoecological implications, since a stratigraphic bed-by-bed sampling has not been performed. A. camunum and the genera Megaceratites and Ronconites are reported for the first time from the Han-Bulog Limestone. Megaceratites and Ronconites are also reported for the first time out of the Southern Alps

LADINIAN/CARNIAN AMMONOIDS AND CONODONTS FROM THE CLASSIC SCHILPARIO-PIZZO CAMINO AREA (LOMBARDY): REVALUATION OF THE BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC SUPPORT TO CHRONOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOGEOGRAPHY

This area played a key role in defining Middle Triassic stratigraphy. In the nineteenth century the study of several ammonoids collected in the Wengen Formation served as a basis for the definition of the Longobardian substage of the Ladinian. Moreover, during the 1960’s the modern Triassic Lithostratigraphy of Lombardy was founded on sections from this area. The present study represents the first bed-by-bed sampling of this area and is focused mainly on the Wengen Formation and Pratotondo Limestone. In particular, conodonts were found in both units for the first time. The age of some Middle Triassic formations is revised: the top of the Wengen Formation belongs definitively to the Lower Carnian in a sizeable portion of the study area. The overlying carbonate platform, previously attributed to the Upper Ladinian Esino Limestone, is instead Carnian and is coeval to the Breno Formation in the Southern Camonica Valley. the Pratotondo Limestone is dated Late Ladinian/Early Carnian, while the overlying Lozio shale is Carnian. These new data contradict the equivalence "Wengener Schichten" = Archelaus Zone = Longobardian so common in the literature. We demonstrate that the Regoledanus Zone represents a great part of the Wengen Formation. Moreover, at the top of the Wengen Formation the ammonoid and conodont fauna represents the early Carnian Daxatina or Aon Zone. The biochronostratigraphic revision of the basinal formations requires modification of both the chronostratigraphic schemes and the paleogeographic history of the lombardian Southern Alps during Ladinian-Carnian time.&nbsp