Permian non-marine bivalves of the Falkland Islands and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Permian bivalves of the Taciba Formation, Itarare group, Parana basin, and their biostratigraphic significance

A small and poorly diversified bivalve fauna from Taciba Formation, Itarare Group, Parana Basin (State of Santa Catarina, Mafra Municipality), is described in this paper for the first time, based on new findings. The fauna is recorded in a 30 cm thick interval of fine sandstone locally at the top of Taciba Formation, in the Butia quarry. The studied fossil-bearing sand-stone bed is a marine intercalation recording a brief eustatic rise in sea-level, probably following glacier retreat and climate amelioration at the end of a broad glacial scenario. The fauna is mainly dominated by productid brachiopods, which are not described here, and rare mollusk shells (bivalves and gastropods). Two bivalve species were identified: Myonia argentinensis (Harrington, 1955), and Aviculopecten multiscalptus (Thomas, 1928). The presence of Myonia argentinensis is note-worthy since this species is also present in the Baitaca assemblage found in marine siltstones (Baitaca assemblage) of the Rio do Sul Formation, cropping out at the Teixeira Soares region, Parana State. This species is also recorded in the bivalve fauna from the Bonete Formation, Pillahinco Group, Sauce Grande Basin, Buenos Aires Province, in Argentina. Hence, the marine bivalves of the Taciba Formation are associated with the transgressive event that characterizes the Eurydesma fauna, indicating a Late Asselian-Sakmarian age for the bivalve fauna. Presence of the Myonia argentinensis megadesmid species reinforces the Gondwanic nature of the studied fauna.

Early Miocene bivalves from the Cape Melville Formation, King George Island, West Antarctica

Seven species of marine bivalves, including six new taxa, are described from the Cape early Miocene Melville Formation which crops out on the Melville Peninsula, King George Island, West Antarctica. The bivalve assemblage includes representatives of the families Nuculidae, Ennucula frigida sp. nov., E. musculosa sp. nov.; Malletidae, Neilo (Neilo) rongelii sp. nov.; Sareptidae, Yoldia peninsularis sp. nov.; Limopsidae, Limopsis psimolis sp. nov.; Hiatellidae, Panopea (Panopea) sp. cf. P. regularis; and Pholadomyoida (Periploma acuta sp. nov.). Species studied come from four sedimentary sections measured in the upper part of the unit. Detailed morphologic features of nuculoid and areoid species are exceptionally well preserved and allow for the first time reconstruction of muscle insertions as well as dentition patterns of Cenozoic taxa. Known geological distribution of the species is in agreement with the early Miocene age assigned to the Cape Melville Formation. The bivalve fauna from Cape Melville Formation is the best known from Antarctic Miocene rocks, a time of complex geologic, paleogeographic and paleoclimatic changes in the continent. The new fauna introduces new taxonomic and palaeogeographic data that bear oil the question of opening of sea gateways and distribution of Cenozoic biota around Antarctica.

Pennsylvanian Pteriomorphian bivalves from the Piaui Formation, Parnaiba Basin, Brazil

Dolostones of the upper Piaui Formation, Parnaiba Basin, northern Brazil, preserve a rich and diversified invertebrate fauna of Morrowan to Desmoinesian age. Among bivalves, Heteroconchia (15 species) is the most diversified, followed by Pteriomorphia (11 species), and rare endobenthic species of the Palaeotaxodonta. (three species). Eleven species of Pteriomorphia are described, including representatives of the genera Parallelodon?, Myalina?, Septimyalina, Caneyella?, Leptodesma (Leptodesma), L. (Leiopteria), Meekopinna?, Aviculopinna?, and Aviculopecten. A new combination, Etheripecten trichotomus, and the oldest member of the Anomiidae recorded, Pindorama nordestina n. gen. and sp., also are described. Details of muscle scars and hinge characters have been recovered for several taxa, thereby refining the knowledge for species diagnoses. Fossil beds in the Esperanca and Mucambo dolostones reveal episodic burial of bivalves in life position. These are internally complex, multistory fossil concentrations recording background and episodic processes. Hence, those fossil concentrations show high degrees of time-averaging and poor palcoecological resolution (except for the bivalves preserved in situ).

Aspartic acid racemization dating of Holocene brachiopods and bivalves from the southern Brazilian shelf, South Atlantic

The extent of racemization of aspartic acid (Asp) has been used to estimate the ages of 9 shells of the epifaunal calcitic brachiopod Bouchardia rosea and 9 shells of the infaunal aragonitic bivalve Semele casali. Both taxa were collected concurrently from the same sites at depths of 10 m and 30 m off the coast of Brazil. Asp D/L values show an excellent correlation with radiocarbon age at both sites and for both taxa (r(Site)(2) (9) (B. rosea) = 0.97 r(Site)(2) (1) (B.) (rosea) = 0.997, r(Site)(2) (9) (S.) (casali) = 0.9998, r(2) (Site) (1) (S.casali) = 0.93). The Asp ratios plotted against reservoir-corrected AMS radiocarbon ages over the time span of multiple millennia can thus be used to develop reliable and precise geochronologies not only for aragonitic mollusks (widely used for dating previously), but also for calcitic brachiopods. At each collection site, Bouchardia specimens display consistently higher D/L values than specimens of Semele. Thermal differences between sites are also notable and in agreement with theoretical expectations, as extents of racemization for both taxa are greater at the warmer, shallower site than at the cooler, deeper one. In late Holocene marine settings, concurrent time series of aragonitic and calcitic shells can be assembled using Asp racemization dating, and parallel multi-centennial to multi-millennial records can be developed simultaneously for multiple biomineral systems. (c) 2006 University of Washington. All rights reserved.

Biodisponibilidade de metais na baía da Ilha Grande, RJ: avaliação pelas técnicas de bivalves transplantados (Nodipecten nodosus) e difusão de filmes finos por gradiente de concentração

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Bivalves permianos da fase de continentalização das bacias do Gondwana Ocidental: sistemática, paleogeografia e bioestratigrafia

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Bivalves da Formação Taciba, Cisuraliano, Grupo Itararé, Bacia do Paraná, e seu significado bioestratigráfico e paleoambiental no contexto da glaciação neopaleozóica no Gondwana central

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Anatomia interna de alguns moluscos bivalves fósseis do grupo Bauru (Cretáceo Superior, Bacia Bauru), Brasil: implicações paleoecológicas

Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Uso do bivalve límnico Anodontites tenebricosus (LEA, 1834) no biomonitoramento de metais do Rio Ribeira de Iguape

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Permian stromatolites associated with bivalve coquina beds-Angatuba, SP, Brazil (Teresina Formation, Parana Basin)

Silicified stromatolites have been described in the Permian Teresina Formation, Passa Dois Group, of the Parana Basin. These stromatolites occur as blocks in the Fazenda Monte Alegre area at the headwaters of the creek known as Corrego Catanduva in the municipality of Angatuba. These blocks originate from the Serra de Angatuba region and were recognized in a road that was cut in the midst of sandstones and siltites. The stromatolites are isolated bioherms that are domed to subspherical with a flat base in profile and a rounded to lenticular shape in plan view. The stromatolites exhibit a reddish coloration and are composed of microcrystalline quartz. Lamination is continuous, non-columnar, and anastomosed, showing parallel to divergent growth; however, divergent columns also occur, especially at the tops of the bioherms. The lamination is fine and well preserved, with alternating light and dark laminas. Microfossils of filamentous cyanobacteria are preserved and were related to the genera Microcoleus and Rivularia. Silicified bivalves occur in association with the stromatolites and are preserved in the form of coquina beds and rare isolated specimens within the bioherms. The described specimens belong to the Pinzonella illusa biozone, with representatives of the species Pinzonella illusa, Angatubia cowperesioides, and Houldausiella elongata. The formation environment of these stromatolites is associated with tidal plains of shallow, brackish, relatively calm, warm waters of good luminosity with the presence of weak currents. There was likely a low level of predation, and the environment may have been hypersaline. The coquina beds associated with the stromatolites indicate a probable proximal tempestite, i.e., they were formed near the coastline. The stromatolites were originally composed of carbonates, although these were replaced by silica during early diagenesis.

Tafonomia de moluscos fósseis do Grupo Bauru (Cretáceo Superior, Bacia Bauru), na região do município de Monte Alto, São Paulo, Brasil

Bivalves mollusks fossils of Bauru Group (Late Cretaceous, Bauru Basin) deposited in scientific collections and collected in outcrops from Monte Alto municipality, São Paulo, are analyzed in their taphonomy. The preservation of recrystallized individual in carbonatic matrix indicates substrate remobilization by unidirectional energetic event in fluvial discharge. The specimens with conjugated valves possess internal sediment similar to the external indicating low exposition to Taphonomical Active Zone, suggesting a bioclastic low time-averaging. The truncate and fragmented posterior portion of specimens from scientific collections is probably related to the incapacity of the taxa to reburrowing the substrate in drowning periods. Both taphonomic patterns corroborate evidences of a fluvial paleoenvironment in the Bauru Group.

Quantitative comparisons and models of time-averaging in bivalve and brachiopod shell accumulations

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

TAXONOMIC POSITION of GUIRATINGIA MENDESI (MEGADESMIDAE) and THE EVOLUTION of PERMIAN ENDEMIC BIVALVE FAUNA of THE PARANA BASIN, BRAZIL

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

PENNSYLVANIAN HETEROCONCHIA (MOLLUSCA, BIVALVIA) FROM THE PIAUI FORMATION, PARNAIBA BASIN, BRAZIL

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)