Bollettino SPI Vol. 45 - Issues 1, 2-3
Issue 1
Published in September 2006
- Aiello G., Barra D., Coppa M.G., Valente A. & Zeni F. (2006)
Recent infralittoral Foraminiferida and Ostracoda from the Porto Cesareo Lagoon (Ionian Sea, Mediterranean)
pp. 1-14
Recent benthic Foraminiferida (111 species, 45 genera) and Ostracoda (150 species, 43 genera) assemblages were studied. Samples were collected in the southern part of the Porto Cesareo Lagoon, on the south-western coast of Apulia, Ionian Sea. Thirty-two bottom samples were collected by hand at a water depth of 0.12 to 4.78 m. Assemblages are characteristic of marine infralittoral warm waters, in agreement with the previous records of benthic organisms with tropical affinity. Dominant taxa are either phytophilous or typical of sandy bottom. Abundance and diversity are controlled by environmental factors such as the type of substrate, hydrodynamic conditions and distance from the open sea. Anthropic pollution negatively influences microfaunal assemblages only for a few dozens of meters away from the urbanized area.
- Barattolo F. (2006)
Re-description of Cymopolia miocenica (Karrer) (Chlorophyta, Dasycladales) from the Late Miocene of Sicily (Italy) and the Middle Miocene of Banat (Romania)
pp. 15-28
Professor Giuliano Ruggieri found a rich dasyclad flora in siliciclastic sediments of a Late Miocene (lower Messinian) succession from Sicily (Petralia Sottana, Palermo). The algal remains belong to the genus Cymopolia Lamouroux (Cretaceous-Recent). Morphological and biometrical characters allow the Sicilian taxon to be attributed to Cymopolia miocenica, a species formerly described by Karrer in 1868 as Dactylopora miocenica, and known only in the Middle Miocene of the Paratethys area (Romania and Hungary). A lectotype, chosen among Karrer’s material housed in the Naturwissenschaften Museum of Vienna, is here indicated. The remains of Cymopolia miocenica consist of sterile and fertile calcareous articles. The sterile bodies are usually cylindrical, while the fertile ones are elongated to short barrel-shaped. All the articles are strongly calcified except around the outer swollen part of primary laterals of fertile whorls. The original aragonitic calcification looks still preserved, a fact probably related to the conservation in clay. The calcified structure exhibits the same pattern as in the extant species. A reconstruction of the alga is supplied.
- Bartiromo A., Barone Lumaga M.R. & Bravi S. (2006)
First finding of a fossil fern (Matoniaceae) in the paleontological site of Pietraroja (Benevento, Southern Italy)
pp. 29-34
The Fossil–Lagerstätte of Pietraroja (Benevento province, Southern Italy) is a paleontological site of international relevance mostly known for the discovering of the theropod dinosaur Scipionyx samniticus. The site has been recently dated to the early (basal) Albian on the grounds of the microfossils yields. The fossil fern described in this paper has been collected at “Le Cavere” (a quarry close to the Pietraroja village). It is preserved as a fossil plant impression and is at present stored at the Museo di Paleobotanica (Orto Botanico di Napoli). General and fine morphology of the fossil, a pinna fragment, allow us to ascribe it to the family Matoniaceae and probably to the genus Phlebopteris.
- Cherchi A. & Schroeder R. (2006)
Landereria decastroi n. gen., n. sp., a giant dasyclad (Chlorophyta) from the lower Aptian of eastern Spain
pp. 35-42
A new dasyclad alga, Landereria decastroi n. gen., n. sp., is described from the lower Aptian of Morella (Castellon province, Iberian Ranges, eastern Spain). The only weakly calcified thallus of this taxon is compared with morphologically similar dasyclads (Ordovician-Silurian Cyclocrinites spaskii Eichwald; Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian Goniolina hexagona d’Orbigny; Recent Bornetella sphaerica [Zanardini]) in order to get supplementary indications to the construction of this new form.
- De Castro P. (2006)
Praerhapydionina murgiana Crescenti, 1964: emendation and transfer to the genus Pseudorhipidionina De Castro, 1972 (Foraminiferida, Upper Cenomanian, Italy)
pp. 43-59
Praerhapydionina murgiana Crescenti, 1964, and Rhipidionina casertana De Castro, 1965, later designated as type species of Pseudorhipidionina De Castro, 1972, were erected for vertical partition-bearing peneropline foraminifera of upper Cenomanian carbonate-platform facies of Southern Italy (Bari Murge and western Campania respectively). According to the original diagnosis Praerhapydionina murgiana differs from Pseudorhipidionina casertana mainly in having a single aperture (distinctive of Praerhapydionina) instead of a multiple one (distinctive of Pseudorhipidionina). Most papers on Mediterranean Cenomanian (Portugal versus the Balkans, through North Africa and neighbouring East) usually report Pseudorhipidionina casertana while they mention neither Praerhapydionina murgiana nor Pseudorhipidionina murgiana. In the early eighties, taking into consideration the poor quality of the Praerhapydionina murgiana original pictures, the writer pointed out that Praerhapydionina murgiana Crescenti (transferring however to Pseudorhipidionina) may be a senior valid synonym of Pseudorhipidionina casertana. A few years ago, a study on the type-locality material was carried out, and the present paper documents, among other things, that the aperture of this species is not simple, as reported in its diagnosis, but multiple; accordingly, it is transferred from Praerhapydionina to Pseudorhipidionina. An emended diagnosis is proposed for Pseudorhipidionina murgiana (Crescenti, 1964) and its neotype is established because the searches for the original type material have proved unsuccessful. With the reservations due to the scarce measurements of some characters of the topotypes of both species, it seems that Pseudorhipidionina murgiana (Crescenti, 1964) differs from P. casertana in its usually slightly smaller proloculus while other features are often more developed.
- Graziano R., Buono G. & Taddei Ruggiero E. (2006)
Lower Toarcian (Jurassic) brachiopod-rich carbonate facies of the Gran Sasso range (central Apennines, Italy)
pp. 61-74
Several stratigraphic studies have proved that Early Toarcian carbonate platforms and basins suffered a sharp sedimentary and palaeoecologic evolution worlwide reflecting the onset of dramatic environmental perturbations in the atmosphere/ hydrosphere system. An upper Liassic slope carbonate succession cropping out in the Gran Sasso range (Abruzzi, central Italy) and pertaining to the transition between the Latium-Abruzzi carbonate platform and the Umbria-Marche basin has been studied in this light. According to our sedimentologic, biostratigraphic and palaeoecologic analyses on a reworked biotic facies, a prominent brachiopodrich assemblage with the remarkable occurrence of cyanobacteria, crinoids and echinoids thrived during the early Toarcian (Serpentinum Zone) in open shelf/proximal ramp setting. A microbially-induced sedimentation could develop also in deeper-water settings since automicrite partly infilled brachiopod shells after their basinward reworking. This points out the spreading of deteriorated environmental conditions in the oceanic waters which supported r-competitor forms to thrive in connection with the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. The related environmental disruption induced a sharp drop in the sediment productivity of the shallow-water carbonate factory as well as a marked starvation of the basin. Biostratigraphic study has allowed us to correlate the recovered association to the Lower Toarcian Soaresirhynchia Beds. The typespecies S. bouchardi has been recovered for the first time in Italy. This species can be considered as a disaster taxon thriving after the Early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event.
- Hottinger L. (2006)
The “face” of benthic foraminifera
pp. 75-89
Surfaces on the foraminiferal shell delimited by usually angular modifications of shell shape, characterized by a differentiation of wall texture and/or ornamentation and including the apertures and/or orifices of an interlocular space are conceived as functional units and called “face”. The links between number and distribution of apertures on faces of non-lamellar shells and chamber cavity volume or the number of chamber compartments during ontogeny and phylogeny reflects relationships with the rates of metabolic activity of the animal. Neither for teeth and toothplates nor for peristomes there are convincing functional interpretations. Ornaments on the face are interpreted as reflecting mechanical functions such as motility or temporary fixation of paired shells during plastogamy. Ornaments may participate in the masking of apertures. The concept of “face” as a functional unit in the external morphology of the foraminiferal shell complements the current concepts of internal morphology (architecture) and enhances the biological understanding of foraminiferal shells.
- Mancinelli A. & Chiocchini M. (2006)
Cretaceous benthic foraminifers and calcareous algae from Monte Cairo (southern Latium, Italy)
pp. 91-113
A total of ten species of foraminifers and three species of dasycladaceans from the lower Cretaceous carbonate sediments of the Monte Cairo area (southern Latium) are discussed and illustrated. The species chosen from among the less known and/ or those never recorded in the southern central Apennines are: Arenobulimina cochleata, Cuneolina sliteri, Dictyoconus algerianus, D. pachymarginalis, Nezzazata isabellae, Orbitolinidae ind., Paracoskinolina tunesiana, Praealveolina sp. cf. P. tenuis, Pseudonummoloculina aurigerica and Pseudorhapydionina (?) anglonensis among the foraminifers, and Bakalovella elitzae, Heteroporella (?) graeca and Milanovicella pejovicae among the dasycladales. The identified taxa come from the Barremian-Cenomanian shallow water carbonate sediments; their local stratigraphic distribution in the Monte Cairo area is given and their paleobiogeographic significance is discussed.
- Rao A., Guido A., Mastandrea A., Perri E., Romano C., Russo F. & Di Stefano E. (2006)
Integrated calcareous plankton biostratigraphy of selected Miocene successions in the Northern Calabria (Italy)
pp. 115-132
An integrated calcareous plankton biostratigraphic approach on six sections cropping out in Northern Calabria allowed to define a revised chronostratigraphic framework for Tortonian-Messinian deposits. Four sections have been investigated in the Amantea Basin (Timpone Napoli, Vallone Salina, Case Vespano, and Cozzo Salice) and two in the Rossano Basin (Vallone Casino and Cozzo Sant’Isidoro). Biostratigraphic analyses have been based on quantitative counting of planktonic foraminifers and semiquantitative counting of nannofossils. The Timpone Napoli and Vallone Salina sections are Late Tortonian in age and referable to the Globorotalia suterae Zone. In terms of nannofossils zonal scheme these sections fall within the Coccolithus pelagicus – Amaurolithus primus Zones. The Case Vespano and Cozzo Salice sections can be ascribed to the Messinian. The Case Vespano section is wholly characterized by the common occurrence of Globorotalia miotumida group. The co-occurrence of Amarolithus delicatus, A. cf. amplificus,. and Reticulofenestra rotaria confirms a Messinian age. The lower part of the Cozzo Salice section is rich of Gt. conomiozea, while its middle and the upper part is barren in planktonic foraminifers. In the Vallone Casino and Cozzo Sant’Isidoro sections the Tortonian-Messinian boundary corresponds to the first occurrence (FO) of Gt. miotumida group (sensu Hilgen et al., 2000), just above the first occurrence of A. delicatus. Biostratigraphic data allowed to correlate the Messinian silty layers of Amantea Basin with the coeval diatomitic beds of Rossano Basin indicating that the two areas, during the Messinian, had different paleogeographic and palaeoecological evolution.
- Roghi G., Kustatscher E. & Van Konijnenburg-Van Cittert J.H.A. (2006)
Late Triassic Plants from the Julian Alps (Italy)
pp. 133-140
Abundant and well-preserved plant macrofossils have been recently collected near Dogna in the Julian Alps (Northeastern Italy). The macroflora is borne by a thick succession of subtidal clays, marls and bioturbated to nodular wackestone-packstones ascribed to the Rio del Lago Formation. The ammonoids and palynomorphs from the formation indicate typically an early Carnian age. The plant association includes mainly conifers and pteridosperms, but rare ferns and horsetails have been found as well. Several conifers are represented both by shoots, leaves and less abundant fructifications, including well-preserved cuticles of cheirolepidiaceous affinity. The seed fern leaves belong to the genus Ptilozamites, the fern pinnae to the genus Marantoidea and the horsetail stems to the genus Equisetites. Small amber drops have been also found in association with the macroflora. The palynological samples are dominated by pollen attributed to the conifers (58%), mostly represented by species of cheirolepidiaceous affinity. Pteridosperm pollen is also well-represented, while spores of ferns and lycopods are rare.
- Signore M., Pede C., Bucci E. & Barbera C. (2006)
First report of the genus Cladocyclus in the Lower Cretaceous of Pietraroja (Southern Italy)
pp. 141-146
Among the ichthyofauna of Pietraroja, Ichthyodectiformes have been reported only from a post-cranial partial skeleton attributed to the species Chirocentrites cf. coroninii, at the beginning of the 20th century. The recent discovery of a complete and articulated skull and pectoral girdle, which we attribute to Ichthyodectidae, confirms the fossil record of this family in the Lower Cretaceous of Southern Italy. Preliminary research on the cranial material suggest this specimen can be placed within the genus Cladocyclus. The preservation of the specimen is exceptional, as it is usual with fossils coming from the Pietraroja area. It preserves not only a fully articulated skull and pectoral girdle, but also soft tissue preservation of muscles around the ribs. This specimen is possibly the most complete ichthyodectid known from Southern Italy. Preliminary geochemical studies suggest that the specimen has been phosphatized, which may be a common process of fossilization in the Pietraroja area.
- Vecchio E. & Barattolo F. (2006)
Periloculina (?) decastroi n. sp., a new foraminifer from the Eocene (uppermost Ypresian – lowermost Lutetian) Trentinara Formation (southern Apennines, Italy)
pp. 147-158
A new species, Periloculina (?) decastroi is described from a restricted shallow water facies (Trentinara Formation) of the southern Apennines, Tyrrhenian side. It was collected from a succession located near Lauria (Potenza, Basilicata, southern Italy). The megalospheric form shows an early quinqueloculine stage followed by a triloculine one, later tending to become biloculine. No monoloculine stage was observed. The microspheric form is very rare. Thickening of the endoskeletal basal layer gives rise to rough ribs, that usually reach the chamber roof. The aperture is simple and provided with a tooth; a multiple one (trematophorate aperture?) may occur sometimes in the ultimate adult chambers. The new species was found in the upper part of the Trentinara Formation (uppermost Ypresian-lowermost Lutetian).
Issues 2-3
Published in January 2007
- Girone A. (2006)
Piacenzian otolith assemblages from northern Italy (Rio Merli section, Emilia Romagna)
pp. 159-170
The Middle Pliocene sediments from the Rio Merli section (Ravenna, Emilia Romagna-Northern Italy) provided otoliths representing at least 39 teleost taxa. The otolith assemblages recognised at various stratigraphic intervals of the section were studied in their taxonomic, palaeoecological, and stratigraphical features. The studied material furnishes additional taxonomic comments for taxa subject to discussion. The analysis of these assemblages in their composition and structure allows comparison of palaeocological significance of the Pliocene otolith assemblages with regard to well-known Pleistocene and Recent assemblages. The available palaeoecological data based on molluscan assemblages allow further comparison of the palaeoecological changes of the otolith assemblages. The teleostean fauna from Rio Merli includes species reported previously in the Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits of the Mediterranean area, but about 40% are represented by species unknown for the Middle Pliocene, and in several cases, they registered the first appearance of taxa, mainly with temperate and subpolar-temperate affinities, in this basin. The studied Middle Pliocene assemblages clearly show transitional biogeographic affinities with the Zanclean and the Upper Pliocene and Pleistocene fauna of the Mediterranean realm. The compositional modifications seem to be closely related to gradual climate changes that took place during this unit time.
- Bicchi E., Dela Pierre F., Ferrero E., Maia F., Negri A., Pirini Radrizzani C., Radrizzani S. & Valleri G. (2006)
Evolution of the Miocene Carbonate Shelf of Monferrato (North-western Italy)
pp. 171-194
A multidisciplinary study including sequence stratigraphy, biostratigraphy, paleoecology and paleoclimatology was performed on Lower Miocene carbonate sedimentary rocks, the “Pietra da Cantoni Group” within which two depositional sequences bound by discontinuity surfaces were recognized. Sequence 1 consists of bioturbated inner-middle shelf packstones and wackestones (lower Burdigalian), resting unconformably on the silty slope facies sediments of the Marne di Antognola Fm. In this sequence the benthic foraminiferal assemblages, dominated by epifaunal and epiphytic taxa, indicate a well-oxygenated substratum within the photic zone. Climatic indices, among the planktonic foraminifera, suggest cool-temperate climate conditions. These sediments likely record the Burdigalian transgression at the beginning of the TB2 supercycle, as defined by Haq et al. (1987). Sequence 2 includes two superimposed units. The lower unit (upper Burdigalian) consists of rhodalgal rudstones and packstones of shelf environment with a mobile substrate and well-oxygenated water, rich in benthic foraminifera and Corallinaceae, deposited in warm-temperate conditions. A drowning unconformity surface bounds this unit from the second and reflects a relative sea-level rise that could be correlated with the maximum flooding surface within the cycle TB2.2. The upper unit (upper Burdigalian-lower Langhian) consists of foraminifera and glaucony-rich packstones ranging from inner shelf environment, characterized by epiphytic foraminifera and Miogypsinids, to outer shelf environment suggested by the increase of planktonic and benthic deep-water taxa and rhodoliths, deposited in warm-temperate conditions. This succession grades upward to upper Langhian-lower Serravallian planktonic foraminifer-rich marls of the Mincengo Fm. . Deposition of the carbonate sediments of the Sequence 2 is linked to the combined effect of: (1) tectonic reorganization of the basin; (2) sea level oscillations; (3) upwelling of nutrient-rich waters; (4) increase of trophic resources connected to increasing erosion of uplifted alpine relieves, favoring the development of “temperate-type” rhodalgal-foramol facies, similar to the coeval carbonate deposits reported in many places of the Mediterranean area.
- Garilli V. & Messina R. (2006)
The genus Chileutomia (Gastropoda: Eulimidae) in the Pliocene to Recent Mediterranean area
pp. 195-200
The authors provide data on the presence of the gastropod eulimid genus Chileutomia Tate & Cossmann in Tate, 1898 in the Pliocene to Recent Mediterranean area. This genus is present with the eastern Atlantic-Mediterranean, Pliocene to Recent species C. miranda (Dautzenberg, 1925) and with a possible new species, Chileutomia (?) sp. This last one is tentatively assigned to Chileutomia because of the presence of the typical varices which characterize the species of this genus. C. miranda is recorded for the first time from the Plio-Pleistocene of the central Mediterranean area (N Italy and NW Peloponnesus). The bathymetric distribution of C. miranda is probably limited to infra-circalittoral bottoms, whereas the original record from deep waters might be based on down-slope transported material. The pitted microsculpture on the teleoconch surface in both species, formerly believed to be caused by corrosion (in C. miranda), is instead a shell character, which could be of taxonomic value.
- Santi G. (2006)
Lower Permian invertebrate ichnocoenosis from the Orobic Basin, northern Italy
pp. 201-212
The Lower Permian invertebrate palaeoichnofauna from the Collio Formation (Orobic Basin, North Italy) has been enriched by the new finding of arthropods (Bifurculapes isp., cf. Heteropodichnus variabilis Walter, 1983 and Eisenachichnus isp.), probable gastropods (Paleobullia isp.), possible myriapod traces, and also an undetermined trail. The ichnoassociation including Medusina atava (Pohlig, 1892) Walcott, 1898 is also, as well as the vertebrate ichnocoenosis, very similar to the one which existed in the neighbouring countries of France and Germany, thus showing a great uniformity in the geographic distribution of the fauna. The invertebrate ichnocoenosis composition shows: (a) a dominance of surface traces and not infaunal burrows, (b) low biodiversity, (c) a lack of monospecificity. The ichnodiversity and taxonomic composition suggest a terrestrial-freshwater origin.
- Della Bella G. & Tabanelli C. (2006)
Il genere Bornia Philippi, 1836 (Bivalvia, Kelliidae) nel Pliocene italiano
pp. 213-216
In the Italian Pliocene the genus Bornia Philippi, 1836 is present with Bornia sebetia (Costa O.G., 1829) and a new species with a similar shape, here described as Bornia confusa n. sp. The new species differs from the first one for the smaller size, different shape of cardinal teeth and thickened growth lines along the shell margin. Bornia kautskyi (Glibert, 1945), a Late Cenozoic species from North Europe, is very similar to the new species in shape and size, but cardinal teeth are different. Bornia deltoidea (Wood S.V., 1851), another Late Cenozoic European species, is also notably different. The new species was more common than B. sebetia in the Italian Pliocene and it has been checked that it occurs in the Pliocene of the following regions of Italy: Piedmont, Tuscany, and Emilia Romagna.
- Pavia G. (2006)
Lissoceras monachum (Gemmellaro), a ghost Ammonitida of the Tethyan Bathonian
pp. 217-226
L. monachum has been frequently recorded in the Upper Bajocian and Lower Bathonian, but references in literature differ in morphological details as they are based on a juvenile and poorly-preserved holotype. In addition, the type of L. monachum comes from a bed affected by taphonomical condensation mixing fossils from Early and Middle Bathonian times, i.e. the biochronological meaning of Gemmellaro’s taxon cannot be specified with biostratigraphic criteria from the type-locality. These references are here revised and refused on the basis of two topotypes recently sampled at Monte Erice in western Sicily, which allow a precise morphological definition of L. monachum by means of architectural and sutural characteristics. The only acceptable biostratigraphic datum comes from a Lower Bathonian specimen from southern France. The differences from L. ferrifex, L. magnum, and L. ventriplanum are discussed. Finally, the suture-line of topotype PU111502 of L. monachum and those specimens from the Upper Bajocian of the Venetian Alps, here named L. aff. monachum, support the phyletic relationships between L. ferrifex and L. magnum through transitional forms of L. monachum aged for the Tethyan Early Bathonian.
- Ragaini L., Cantalamessa G., Di Celma C., Didaskalou P., Impiccini R., Lori P., Marino M., Potetti M. & Ragazzini S. (2006)
First Emilian record of the boreal-affinity bivalve Portlandia impressa Perri, 1975 from Montefiore dell’Aso (Marche, Italy)
pp. 227-234
We report the first record of the bivalve Portlandia impressa from Pleistocene sediments of Marche. The finding is represented by a few shells retrieved from inner shelf deposits exposed at Grotti, in the municipality of Montefiore dell’Aso (Ascoli Piceno). The sediments that yielded the fossils belong to the upper part of the Marchean Quaternary marine sequence (Qm), here referred to the Early Pleistocene. In particular, the integration among foraminifer, calcareous nannoplankton, and mollusk data supports an Emilian age for the fossiliferous level.
This record extends the chronostratigraphical range of the Early Pleistocene boreal affinity species P. impressa, traditionally retained Santernian in age. From the paleoecological point of view, the comparison among the very few mollusk assemblages containing P. impressa enables us to retain this fossil protobranch as a tolerant pelophilous taxon that inhabited inner-shelf soupy bottoms.