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One hundred and forty‐four published successions of shallow‐water carbonates, deposited between the Palaeocene and the Miocene, from the Levant to the Himalayas, have been re‐analysed using a standardised approach to investigate the distribution of carbonate facies and carbonate‐producing organisms. Large benthic foraminifera were found to be the volumetrically most important group of carbonate producers during the whole period, with a peak in abundance during the Eocene. Colonial corals are relatively abundant during the Palaeocene and Miocene, their abundance peaks during the Oligocene and has a minimum during the Eocene. Red calcareous algae have a similar pattern although their peak in abundance covers both the Oligocene and Miocene. Green calcareous algae decrease from the Palaeocene onward. Facies related to very shallow and/or restricted marine conditions peak during the Miocene and in particular during the Aquitanian. Both the pattern of large benthic foraminifera and of colonial corals seems to be related to temperature, with warm periods favouring the former group and cool periods the latter group. Red calcareous algae display a pattern similar to that of colonial corals suggesting that the periods favourable for one group are, on a large scale, also favourable for the other. The progressive decrease of green calcareous alga could be tentatively related to a preservation bias connected to the transition from Palaeogene assemblages that included presumably calcitic taxa of green algae to Neogene assemblages entirely constituted by aragonitic taxa with limited preservation potential. The Aquitanian peak in facies related to very shallow and/or restricted marine conditions is most likely connected to the progressive narrowing of the Tethys related to the collision between Arabia and Eurasia. These results denote an overall agreement between the abundance of the various types of shallow‐water carbonate facies and large‐scale environmental and geological processes, highlighting the potential for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction locked in the shallow‐water record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fossil history of turtle and whale barnacles (Coronuloidea: Chelonibiidae, Platylepadidae, Coronulidae and †Emersoniidae) is fragmentary and has only been investigated in part. Morphological inferences and molecular phylogenetic analyses on extant specimens suggest that the roots of whale barnacles (Coronulidae) are to be found among the chelonibiid turtle barnacles, but the hard‐part modifications that enabled early coronuloids to attach to the cetacean skin are still largely to be perceived. Here, we reappraise a fossil chelonibiid specimen from the Miocene of insular Tanzania that was previously referred to the living species Chelonibia caretta. This largely forgotten specimen is here described as the holotype of the new species †Chelonibia zanzibarensis. While similar to C. caretta, †C. zanzibarensis exhibits obvious external longitudinal parietal canals occurring in‐between external longitudinal parietal septa that abut outwards to form T‐shaped flanges, a character so far regarded as proper of the seemingly more derived Coronulidae and Platylepadidae. Along with these features, the presence of a substrate imprint on the shell exterior indicates that †C. zanzibarensis grasped its host's integument in much the same way as coronulids and platylepadids, albeit without the development of macroscopic parietal buttresses and bolsters. Thin section analyses of the inner parietal architecture of some extant and extinct coronuloids conclusively demonstrate that vestiges of comparable external parietal microstructures are present in some living members of Chelonibiidae. This observation strengthens the unity of Coronuloidea while significantly contributing to our understanding of the evolution of the coronuloid shell structure in adapting to a diverse spectrum of hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their strong Raman scattering and importance in several applications in the geological and biological sciences, Mg-calcites have not been thoroughly investigated by Raman spectroscopy. In this study, we investigated whether Raman spectra of carbonates are sensitive to the structural and chemical changes occurring when Mg2+ substitutes Ca2+ in the calcite lattice. Different carbonate samples with variable Mg content (from 0 to 20 mol% MgCO3) of biological and inorganic origin have been first beamed under a Raman spectrometer and then analysed by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometer and electron microprobe analysis-wavelength dispersive spectrometer microprobes to determine their chemistry. The biological samples (foraminifers, algae, barnacles and echinoderms) were collected from areas situated at different latitudes and water temperature and saturation, factors affecting the chemical and isotopic composition of shells in marine organisms. The Raman band positions are directly linked to the amount of magnesium present in the calcite lattice, and all peaks of Mg-calcite spectra show a consistent and linear increase in Raman shifts according to their Mg content, which is a consequence of the decreased inter-atomic distances following the substitution of Ca2+ with the smaller Mg2+ ion. This study demonstrates that Raman spectroscopy provides an innovative work perspective in marine biology, provenance studies and oil exploration when estimates of mineralogical and chemical changes are the focus of the study. Raman spectroscopy is even more attractive - for the mentioned fields of research - than many other methods because of the non-destructive nature and its very short analytical time. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]