The mid-Moscovian Izvarino section, Donets Basin, eastern Ukraine, exhibits a complete sedimentological record of siliciclastics (sandstones, siltstones, and calcareous shales) with limestone intercalations and, rarely, coal seams. A multidisciplinary study including microfacies analysis, systematic paleontology (conodonts, fusulinoideans, and ostracodes), biostratigraphy, and paleoecology was focused on the limestones, from limestone L4 through limestone M1, and the adjacent marine shales. Based on sedimentology and fossil associations, the cyclic sediments of the Izvarino section were interpreted as entirely marine deposits of open- and shallow-marine, nearshore and offshore environments with variable terrigenous input.The well-preserved ostracode faunas are dominated by representatives of the families Amphissitidae, Hollinellidae, Healdiidae, Cavellinidae, and Paraparchitidae. The total fauna is 18 species, of which four are new: Hollinella (Hollinella) granuloba Fohrer, n. sp., Hollinella (Praehollinella) kamenka Fohrer, n. sp., Jordanites krasnodonensis Fohrer, n. sp., and Asturiella donbassica Fohrer, n. sp. The conodont fauna includes 21 species belonging to nine genera and includes one new species: Idiognathodus izvaricus Nemyrovska, n. sp. The conodont faunas are dominated by idiognathodontids. Representatives of Diplognathodus and Neognathodus play a subordinate role. A total of 56 fusulinoidean species referable to 20 genera has been identified; one is new: Eostaffella brazhnikovae Ueno, n. sp.Conodont and fusulinoidean biostratigraphy led to surprising differences in the age assignment of the Izvarino section and its correlation with the nearby Moscow Basin, Russia. The interval studied is lower Kashirian (Tsninskaya) to middle Kashirian (Narskaya), according to conodonts. It extends to the base of the Podolskian, however, according to fusulinoideans. This discrepancy is possibly related to problems in correlation of the type sections in the Moscow Basin. It calls for reexamination of the mid-Moscovian boundary interval and shows the limits of interbasinal correlations based on a single fossil group.

No abstract

Silicified schwagerinids (superfamily Fusulinoidea v. Moeller 1878) from the Upper Carboniferous (Carnic Alps, Austria and Italy) were isolated from cemented carbonate rocks using hydrochloric acid. The shells show details of the wall texture and of internal structures in three dimensions which are illustrated with SEM pictures. Thin sections from hand specimens provided twodimensional sections of the shell for comparison. The functional significance of fusulinoidean internal structures is discussed and compared with verbeekinoideans and alveolinids. Particular attention is paid on the disposition of the different openings within the shell and from the chamber lumen to the outside which reflects the direction of protoplasmic flow. Based on the knowledge of the nature of protoplasm ultrastructure in Recent foraminifera and its biological significance we draw some conclusions about the nature of protoplasm in fusulinoideans and its change within the Permian verbeekinoideans.

No abstract

Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) ostracodes from the lower part of the Auernig Group, Carnic Alps, Austria, inhabited a shallow-marine and open-marine environment. Paleontological investigations of two ostracode faunas brought significant differences between the ostracode assemblage of the Anthracoporella (dasycladalean algae) mound environment and the one from the overlying nodular limestone. Additionally paleoecological data are obtained from the overall microfacies of mound and mound-cover rocks and from their respective fossil associations. These data are used to interpret ostracode environments.Mound ostracode assemblages show a smaller number of dominant species, contain remarkably tiny forms (for example the bolliid Solleikope parva Fohrer, 1991), and are dominated by smooth-shelled to less ornamented carapaces. This is probably because large size and sculpture elements such as spines and thorns would have been restricting for a life in an Anthracoporella bjungleQ. Some species, for example Carnizzia auricula Fohrer, 1997b, are adapted to the mound environment because of their morphological features, and are very rare to absent outside of the Anthracoporella mounds.Ostracode faunas collected from the overlying nodular limestone are completely different. They are characterized by a higher number of dominant species and show a broad variety of morphological features. These faunas are dominated by the highly ornamented members of the families Amphissitidae, Scrobiculidae, Kirkbyidae, Kellettinidae, and Paraparchitidae.Representatives of the family Bairdiidae, e.g., Bairdia, are the most abundant species in Anthracoporella mounds and in the mound-cover rocks. This group of ostracodes requires open-marine and shallow-marine conditions, but within these parameters there is a high paleoecological tolerance. With regard to these paleoecological limits Bairdia is an opportunistic species. * Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: fohrer@pal.uni-erlangen.de (B. Fohrer), elias.samankassou@unifr.ch (E. Samankassou). 1Published in "Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 225(1-4): 317-330, 2005" which should be cited to refer to this work.http://doc.rero.chAnthracoporella mound ostracodes of other Pennsylvanian shelf regions have so far not been reported. As to the mound-cover ostracodes there are close relationships of the Carnic Alps ostracodes to those of the Cantabrian Mountains, Spain.