Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-m9kch Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-22T02:35:49.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Endemic thelodonts (Vertebrata: Thelodonti) from the Lower Silurian of central Asia and southern Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2013

Živilė Žigaitė
Živilė Žigaitė*
Affiliation:
Evolution and Development, Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18A, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden CNRS FRE 3298 Géosystèmes, University of Lille - 1, Palaeozoic Palaeontology and Palaeogeography, F-59655 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France. Email: Zivile.Zigaite@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

New fossil vertebrate microremains from the Lower Silurian of NW Mongolia, Tuva and S Siberia have been discovered, and previous collections of thelodonts (Vertebrata: Thelodonti) from this region re-studied, figured and described, following recent advances in morphology and systematics of thelodont scales. As a result, six thelodont species are described here and attributed to two families and three genera. An emended diagnosis is given for each species. Morpohological scale varieties of each species are revised, and the squamation types are introduced to the species descriptions, resulting in newly grouped morphological sets of scales. The previously monotypic genus Talimaalepis Žigaitė, 2004, is proposed to contain two different species; therefore, two new combinations of morphological scale sets of two species are described for the first time. Both of them show transitional scale structure between the genera Loganellia (family Loganellidae) and Helenolepis (family Phlebolepididae). Two of the thelodont genera, Angaralepis and Talimaalepis, as well as all the six species, are endemic and not known anywhere else in the world. They are accompanied by a variety of other peculiar early vertebrates, such as mongolepids, two endemic genera of acanthodians, and putative galeaspids. This work enhances our knowledge of early Silurian vertebrate diversity, and provides evidence of regional palaeoenvironmental conditions and palaeogeographical relationships of the Siberia and Tuva terranes.

Keywords

Angaralepisearly vertebratesLoganelliaMongoliapalaeobiogeographyTalimaalepisTuva
Type
Articles
Information
Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of The Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 104 , Issue 2 , July 2013 , pp. 123 - 143
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Society of Edinburgh 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

8. References

Afanassieva, O. & Janvier, P. 1985. Tannuaspis, Tuvaspis and Ilemoraspis, endemic osteostracan genera from the Silurian and Devonian of Tuva and Khakassia (USSR). Geobios 18(4), 493–506.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berg, L. S. 1940. [Systematics of modern and fossil fishes.] Russian Academy of Sciences, Proccedings of the Institute of Zoology 5, 87–517. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Blieck, A. & Janvier, P. 1993. Silurian–Devonian vertebrate biostratigraphy of Siberia and neighbouring terranes. In Long, J. A. (ed.) Palaeozoic vertebrate biostratigraphy and biogeography, 87–103 (Chapter 5). London: Belhaven Press. [Also published by John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1994].Google Scholar
Blom, H., 1999. Vertebrate remains from Upper Silurian–Lower Devonian beds of Hall Land, North Greenland. Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 182, 1–80.Google Scholar
Cocks, L. R. M. & Torsvik, T. H. 2002. Earth geography from 500 to 400 million years ago: a faunal and palaeomagnetic review. Journal of the Geological Society 159(6), 631–44.Google Scholar
Cocks, L. R. M. & Torsvik, T. H. 2007. Siberia, the wandering northern terrane, and its changing geography through the Palaeozoic. Earth-Science Reviews 82, 29–74.Google Scholar
Fredholm, D. 1990. Agnathan vertebrates in the Lower Silurian of Gotland. Geologiska Foreningens i Stockholm Forhandlingar 112, 61–84.Google Scholar
Gross, W. 1967. Über Theledontier-Schuppen. Palaeontographica 127A, 1–67.Google Scholar
Gross, W. 1968. Porenschuppen und Sinneslinien des Thelodontiers Phlebolepis elegans Pander. Palaeontographica 42, 131–46.Google Scholar
Hairapetian, V., Blom, H. & Miller, G. C. 2008. Silurian thelodonts from the Niur Formation, central Iran. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 53(1), 85–95.Google Scholar
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) 1999. International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, 4th edition. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. 306 pp.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. 1978. [Silurian and Devonian Thelodonts of the USSR and Spitsbergen.] Vilnius: “Mokslas”. 334 pp. [In Russian.] Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. 1997. Taxonomy of loganiid thelodonts. Modern Geology 21, 1–15.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. 1998. Determination Methods for the Exoskeletal Remains of Early Vertebrates. Mitteilungen aus dem Museum für Naturkunde zu Berlin, Geowissenschaftliche 1, 21–52.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N., Novitskaya, L. I., Rozman, K. S. & Sodov, I. 1990. [ Mongolepis – a new Lower Silurian elasmobranch genus from Mongolia.] Paleontologicheskiy Zhurnal 1, 76–86. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Brazauskas, A. 1994. Distribution of vertebrates in the Silurian of Lithuania. Geologija 17, 106–14.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. & Märss, T. 2004. Subclass Thelodonti – reference chapter. In Novitskaya, L. I. & Afanassieva, O. B. (eds.) [Agnathans and Early Fishes, Russian Academy of Sciences] GEOS, 12–68. [in Russian.]Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Predtechenskyj, N. 1995. The ditribution of the vertebrates in the Late Ordovician and Early Silurian palaeobasins of the Siberian Platform. In Arsenault, M., Lelièvre, H. & Janvier, P. (eds) Etudes sur les Vertébrés inférieurs (VIIe Symposium International, Miguasha, Québec, 1991). Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 4e serie 17C(1–4), 39–55.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Ratanov, L. S. 2002. Distribution of vertebrates in Upper Ordovician–Lower Devonian of Tuva (Russia). In Satkūnas, J., Lazauskienė, J. (eds) Basin Stratigraphy – modern methods and problems, The Fifth Baltic Stratigraphic Conference, Abstracts, 75–76.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Smith, M. M. 2003. Early acanthodians from the Lower Silurian of Asia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 93(for 2002), 277–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karatajute-Talimaa, V. N. & Žigaitė, Ž. 2005. Tesserae of a new early vertebrate genus from Lower Silurian (Llandovery) of South Siberia – the exoskeleton of Galeaspida? In Hairapetian, V. & Ginter, M. (eds) IGCP 491 meeting, Yerevan, Ichthyolith Issues Special Publication 8, 18.Google Scholar
Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Žigaitė, Ž. 2006. New early vertebrate genus from Lower Silurian of south Siberia – the case of tesserated Galeaspida. In 2nd International Palaeontological Congress, Beijing, Ancient Life and Modern Approaches, Abstracts, 145–46.Google Scholar
Kiaer, J. 1932. New Coelolepids from the Upper Silurian on Oesel (Estonia). In Heintz, A. (ed.) Publications of the Geological Institution of Tartu University 10(1), 1–8.Google Scholar
Märss, T. 2003. Paralogania from the Paadla Stage, Ludlow, of Estonia. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology 52(2), 98–112.Google Scholar
Märss, T. 1986. Squamation of the thelodont agnathan Phlebolepis . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 6(1), 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Märss, T., Wilson, M. V. H. & Thorsteinsson, R. 2002. New thelodont (Agnatha) and possible chondrichthyan (Gnatosthomata) taxa established in the Silurian and Lower Devonian of Arctic Canada. Proceedings of Estonian Academy of Sciences: Geology 51(2), 88–120.Google Scholar
Märss, T., Wilson, M. V. H. & Thorsteinsson, R. 2006. Silurian and Lower Devonian thelodonts and putative chondrichthyans from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (Cornwallis, Baillie-Hamilton, Devon, and Prince of Wales Islands). Special Papers in Palaeontology 75, 1–140.Google Scholar
Märss, T., Turner, S. & Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. 2007. Agnatha II –Thelodonti. Handbook of Palaeoichthyology 1B, 143.Google Scholar
Märss, T. & Karatajute-Talimaa, V. 2002. Ordovician and Lower Silurian thelodonts of Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. Geodiversitas 24(2), 381–404.Google Scholar
Märss, T. & Miller, C. G. 2004. Thelodonts and distribution of associated conodonts from the Llandovery-lowermost Lochkovian of the Welsh Borderland. Palaeontology 47(5), 1211–66.Google Scholar
Märss, T. & Ritchie, A. 1998. Articulated thelodonts (Agnatha) of Scotland. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences 88(for 1997), 143–95.Google Scholar
Minjin, Ch. 2001. Notes to Accompany the Correlation of the Ordovician and Silurian Rocks of Mongolia. In Webby, B. D., Talent, J. A., Minjin, Ch., Tumenbayar, B. & Sersmaa, G. (eds) Mongolian Field Guide, Ordovician and Silurian stratigraphy of Mongolia. Tempus-Tacis Project 20091–98 Publication, 96–107. Ulaanbaatar.Google Scholar
Moskalenko, T. A. 1968. Llandoverian Agnathan Fossils in Siberia. In Obruchev, D. V. (ed.) Studies on Phylogeny and Systematicsof fossil fishes and agnathans, 29–32. Moscow: Nauka.Google Scholar
Rozman, K. S. 1986. The early Silurian brachiopods of the genus Tuvaella from Mongolia. Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 1986(2), 29–38.Google Scholar
Sansom, R. S. 2009. Endemicity and palaeobiogeography of the Osteostraci and Galeaspida: a test of scenarios of gnathostome evolution. Palaeontology 52(6), 1257–73.Google Scholar
Stetson, H. C. 1931. Studies on the morphology of the Heterostraci. Journal of Geology 39, 141–54.Google Scholar
Tesakov, Y. I., Predtetchensky, N. N., Khromych, V. G., Berger, A. Ya. & Kovalevskaya, E.O. 2003. Stratigraphy and Palaeogeography of the Silurian of East Siberia. In Landing, E. & Johnson, M. E. (eds) Silurian Lands and Seas: Paleogeography Outside of Laurentia. New York StateMuseum Bulletin 493, 345–400.Google Scholar
Traquair, R. H. 1898. Report on fossil fishes. Summary of progress of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom for 1897, 72–76. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Turner, S. 1991. Monophyly and Interrelationships of the Thelodonti. In Chang, Mee-Mann, Liu, Yu-Hai & Zang, Guo-Rui (eds) Early Vertebrates and Related Problems of Evolutionary Biology, 87–119. Beijing: Science Press.Google Scholar
Turner, S. 1999. Early Silurian to Early Devonian thelodont assemblages and their possible ecological significance. In Boucot, A. J. & Lawson, J. (eds) Palaeocommunities – a case study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian. IGCP Project “Ecostratigraphy”, Final Report, 42–78. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge university Press.Google Scholar
Turner, S. 2000. New Llandovery to early Pridoli microvertebrates including Early Silurianzone fossil, Loganellia avonia nov. sp., from Britain. In Blieck, A. & Turner, S. (eds) IGCP: 328, Final Report. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 223, 91–127.Google Scholar
Turner, S. & Nowlan, G. S. 1995. Early Silurian microvertebrates of eastern Canada. Bulletin du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle 4ème series, section C 17, 513–29.Google Scholar
Turner, S. & Peel, J. S. 1986. Silurian thelodont scales from north Greenland. In Peel, J. S. (ed.) North Greenland Lower Palaeozoic Palaeontology and Stratigraphy: shorter contributions. Rapport Grønlands Geologiske Undersøgelse 132, 79–88.Google Scholar
Vladimirskaya, E. V., Eltysheva, R. S. & Krivobodrova, A. V. 1986. [The questions of paleobiogeography and stratigraphy of Silurian of Tuva according to the new data on brachiopods from Tchergak Series]. Transactions of Leningrad Institute of Mines 107, 26–35. [In Russian.]Google Scholar
Wang, Ch., Li, N., Sun, Y. & Zong, P. 2011. Distribution of Tuvaella Fauna and Its Tectonic Significance. Journal of Earth Sciences 22(1), 11–19.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž. 2004. A new thelodont from Lower Silurian of Tuva and north-west Mongolia. Acta Universitatis Latviensis 679, 158–65.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž., Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. & Blieck, A. 2011. Vertebrate microremains from the Lower Silurian of Siberia and Central Asia: palaeobiodiversity and palaeobiogeography. Journal of Micropalaeontology 30, 97–106.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž. & Blieck, A. 2006. Palaeobiogeographical significance of Early Silurian thelodonts from central Asia and S Siberia. GFF 128, 203–06.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž. & Blieck, A. 2013. Palaeobiogeography of Early Palaeozoic vertebrates. In Servais, Th. & Harper, D. A. T. (eds) Lower Palaeozoic Palaeobiogeography and Palaeogeography. Geological Society, London, Special Publications. In press.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž. & Goujet, D. 2012. New observations on the squamation patterns of articulated exoskeletons of Loganellia scotica (Vertebrata: Thelodonti) from the Lower Silurian of Scotland. Geodiversitas 34(2), 253–70.Google Scholar
Žigaitė, Ž. & Karatajūtė-Talimaa, V. N. 2008. New genus of chondrichthyans from the Silurian–Devonian boundary deposits of Tuva. In Ginter, M. (ed.) Acta Geologica Polonica 58(2), 127–31.Google Scholar