Fossil of 2020
Recent nautilids are iconic externally shelled cephalopods and a well-studied group, today being restricted to a few species populating relatively small relict habitats in deeper waters. During the Cretaceous, nautiloids were common and environmentally / palaeobiogeographically much more widespread but were rather bradytelic in their evolutionary patterns, commonly resulting in prolonged stratigraphic ranges. Furthermore, many taxa are characterized by inflated shells that indicate overall low hydrodynamic efficiency. However, in the latest Early Cretaceous, a genus of compressed forms with narrow, partly sharp venters arose, i.e. Angulithes de Montfort, 1808, some representatives of which obtained truly oxycone shells and showed fairly short-lived stratigraphic ranges during the Cenomanian age (ca. 100–94 Ma), associated by increased septal folding and decreased inter-septal distances as well as a more-and-more dorsal position of the siphuncle. The late Cenomanian species Angulithes mermeti (see illustration) represents in most of these aspects a climax form. Based on a detailed description, a taxonomical, autecological, stratigraphical and palaeobiogeographic discussion of this exceptional oxycone nautiloid species that successfully conquered (sub-)tropical shallow-water habitats that are today devoid of nautilids has been provided (see Wilmsen & Nagm 2019). Furthermore, the evolutionary trends in Cenomanian species of Angulithes are evaluated in the light of contemporaneous palaeoenvironmental changes and inferred functional traits.
Wilmsen, M. & Nagm, E. (2019): Palaeobiology and evolutionary context of Angulithes mermeti (Coquand, 1862), a streamlined early Late Cretaceous shallow-water nautiloid. – Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 64: 831–849; Warszawa. [open access]
Karl-Armin Tröger memorial volume in the ZDGG 171(2), 2020
At the beginning of 2019, Prof. Dr. Karl-Armin Tröger (Freiberg), a highly decorated geoscientist, passed away. During his complete academic career he had a close scientific relationship to the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology of the Senckenberg Natural History Collections in Dresden. A special volume in the journal of the German Society for Geosciences – Journal of Applied and Regional Geology (ZDGG) was dedicated to him in honor of his memory:
Wilmsen, M., Voigt, T. & Linnemann, U. (2020, Eds.): A life dedicated to the geosciences – Tribute to Prof. Dr. Karl-Armin Tröger (1931–2019). – Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, 171(2): 99–266; Stuttgart.
ZDGG Website: https://www.schweizerbart.de/journals/zdgg
Revisions
The first and the second part of the revision of the Cretaceous fauna of Saxony already have been published. Part 3 will follow …
NIEBUHR B. & WILMSEN M. (2014, Eds.): Kreide-Fossilien in Sachsen, Teil 1. – Geologica Saxonica 60(1): 1–254; Dresden.
NIEBUHR B. & WILMSEN M. (2016, Eds.): Kreide-Fossilien in Sachsen, Teil 2. – Geologica Saxonica 62: 1–245; Dresden.
All articles are available in open access here.
New publications 2020
Niebuhr, B., Wilmsen, M. & Voigt, T. (2020): Die Oberkreide (Cenomanium–Mittelconiacium) im Zittauer Sandsteingebirge (Deutschland, Tschechien). – Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, 171: 163–197; Stuttgart.
Wilmsen, M., Voigt, T. & Linnemann, U. (2020, Eds.): A life dedicated to the geosciences – Tribute to Prof. Dr. Karl-Armin Tröger (1931–2019). – Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, 171(2): 99–266; Stuttgart.
Wilmsen, M., Berensmeier, M., Fürsich, F.T., Schlagintweit, F., Hairapetian, V., Pashazadeh, B. & Majidifard, M.R. (2020.): Mid-Cretaceous biostratigraphy (ammonites, inoceramid bivalves and foraminifers) at the eastern margin of the Anarak Metamorphic Complex (Central Iran). – Cretaceous Research, 110: article 104411 (21pp.).
Wilmsen, M., Voigt, T. & Linnemann, U. (2020): Editorial: A life dedicated to the geosciences – tribute to Prof. Dr. Karl-Armin Tröger (1931–2019). – Zeitschrift der deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, 171: 99–103; Stuttgart.