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Two specimens of slender sunfish R. laevis were recorded from two locations in İskenderun Bay at depths between 0 and 24 m. The first specimen, a female, was collected via purse seine net during a benthic survey carried out in Iskenderun coast on April 2016, and the other specimen, a male, was caught at the sea surface by gill net from the Payas coast on May 2018. The fishes were 565 mm and 375 mm in total length (TL) and 4450 g and 1750 g total weight (TW), respectively. Morphometric measurements and meristic counts of the fishes are detailed and presented in this paper. This is the first substantiated confirmation of Ranzania laevis from the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The paper reports an experimental campaign to study the effectiveness of strengthening measures proposed for rammed earth (RE) wall in an out-of-plane direction. Two simple and feasible strengthening techniques were explored, namely, mesh-wrapped and timber-framed strengthening techniques. The test involved testing three full-scale U-shaped RE walls in an out-of-plane direction. The first specimen without any intervention served as the reference wall, while the two others were strengthened with two different strengthening methods. It was observed that both proposed strengthening techniques improved the load-carrying capacity of the wall and the maximum displacement and the energy absorption. The mesh-wrapped strengthening technique was found to be more effective than the timber-framed strengthening technique, which disrupted the visual aspects of the wall&rsquo, s facade and needed proper anchoring to the foundation.

A substantial number of reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with seismically substandard beam-column joints have suffered severe damage in past earthquakes. This paper focuses on the installation of RC wing walls to upgrade weak beam-column joints and to rehabilitate those moderately damaged by earthquakes. Cyclic load tests were conducted using four specimens representing an exterior 1.5-story frame with a beam-column joint. The first specimen was for a benchmark specimen, the second and third were strengthened by installing wing walls to the interior or exterior of the columns, and the fourth was rehabilitated after the existing frame was moderately damaged. Consequently, the benchmark specimen suffered severe damage to the beam-column joint. The two strengthened specimens showed different damage behaviour: the second one was ductile with beam yielding, and the third one prevented the column-sway mechanism. For the rehabilitated specimen, the beam yielded and the maximum strength was nearly equivalent to that of the second specimen in which wing walls were installed to the interior side of the columns, but damage to the joint was more severe. The test results indicated that the developed wing wall installation method is practical not only for strengthening poorly detailed beam-column joints but also for rehabilitating such joints moderately damaged by earthquakes.

Two large-scale structural assemblages, which had equivalent PreWEC (Precast Wall with End Columns) rocking-wall systems but different surrounding structures, were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading to study the impact of wall-floor interaction on the performance of rocking-wall buildings. The first specimen (PFS1) included cast-in-place (CIP) edge columns and a CIP unbonded post-tensioned slab with rigid wall-floor connections, which maximized wall-floor interaction. The second specimen (PFS2) included precast edge columns and a precast slab with special vertical-isolation wall-floor connectors, which minimized wall-floor interaction. Test results showed that both structural assemblages demonstrated great seismic performance with limited damage and self-centering behavior. The strength of PFS1 was more than twice that of PFS2; PFS2 encountered less damage and had better self-centering performance than PFS1, but it possessed less energy-dissipation capacity. The difference in the performance of the two assemblages was mainly attributed to the different gravity load transfer paths and constraint effects of the surrounding structures. Contributions to the strength and the self-centering behavior of the two assemblages from different structural elements were quantified and compared.

Two new hemipteran taxa are described: Dysmorphoptiloides losrastrosensis sp. nov. and Gualoscarta obscura gen. et sp. nov. (Auchenorryncha: Dysmorphoptilidae). Likewise, we report the first specimen of a corixid (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) from the Triassic of Gondwana. The fossil material studied in this paper comes from the Gualo locality, the Carnian Los Rastros Formation, Ischigualasto-Villa Union Basin, La Rioja Province, Argentina. From new available material, we present a new forewing reconstruction of Saaloscytina carmonae Martins-Neto et al., 2006a and discuss its taxonomic position. As an additionally contribution, three genera from the Los Rastros Formation are revised: Gualoscytina Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2003, Argentinopheloscyta Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2003, and Australocicada Martins-Neto and Gallego, 2001 are synonymized to Apheloscyta Tillyard, 1922 (Apheloscyta mayae comb. nov.), Mesoscytina Tillyard, 1919 (Mesoscytina forsterae comb. nov.), and Fulgobole Shcherbakov, 2011 (Fulgobole arcucciae comb. nov.), respectively. Finally, the authors discuss the paleobiological and paleogeographical implications of this new material from the Triassic of Gondwana.

From an initial isolated position as the oldest evolutionary prototype of a bird, Archaeopteryx has, as a result of recent fossil discoveries, become embedded in a rich phylogenetic context of both more and less crownward stem-group birds, prompting debate over whether Archaeopteryx is simply a convergently bird-like non-avialan theropod. Here we show, using the first synchrotron microtomographic examination of this genus, that the eighth or Daiting specimen of Archaeopteryx possesses a character suite that robustly constrains it as a basal avialan (primitive bird). The specimen, which comes from the Mörnsheim Formation and is thus younger than the other specimens from the underlying Solnhofen Formation, is distinctive enough to merit designation as a new species, Archaeopteryx albersdoerferi sp. nov., but is recovered in close phylogenetic proximity to Archaeopteryx lithographica. Skeletal innovations of the Daiting specimen, such as fusion and pneumatization of the cranial bones, well vascularized pectoral girdle and wing elements, and a reinforced configuration of carpals and metacarpals, suggest that it may have had more characters seen in flying birds than the older Archaeopteryx lithographica. These innovations appear to be convergent on those of more crownward avialans, suggesting that Bavarian archaeopterygids independently acquired increasingly bird-like traits over time. Such mosaic evolution and iterative exploration of adaptive space may be typical for major functional transitions like the origin of flight.

We report the oldest known specimen of the metriorhynchid crocodylomorph genus Geosaurus, and the first specimen discovered from the Lower Kimmeridge Clay Formation of England (Kimmeridgian stage, Rasenia cymodoce Sub-Boreal ammonite Zone). This specimen, an isolated tooth, has the tri-facetted labial surface morphology that is unique to Late Jurassic species of Geosaurus. Its dimensions suggest that it is one of the posterior teeth. Macrowear on the labial surface (enamel spalling) shows evidence of tooth–food abrasion. The presence of Geosaurus near the base of the lower Kimmeridgian, along with the recently re-described middle Oxfordian specimen attributable to Torvoneustes, shows that the subclade Geosaurini evolved and diversified prior to the Kimmeridgian. Members Geosaurini evolved a diverse array of sophisticated feeding mechanisms, including durophagous forms (Torvoneustes), barracuda-like forms with ‘scissor-like’ occlusion (Geosaurus), species reminiscent of false killer whales/Type 1 North Atl...

The dynamic behavior of an unreinforced masonry wall is investigated through a shaking table test of two specimens. In order to represent a non-engineering one-story house, the first specimen consists of a Cshaped structure with masonry walls connected only at their ends. The second specimen is built to represent an upper story, so the C wall is connected at the top by a wooden diaphragm floor, and a weight is suspended onto it. The test results show each specimen exhibits different behaviors. In the first specimen, an out-of-plane failure mode governs. In the second specimen, a shear failure mode governs.

Prefaced by the discovery of a single fossilized feather in 1861, the recognition of Archaeopteryx from the Upper Jurassic lithographic limestones of Germany only five years after the publication o...

The first specimen of Aturoidea to be recorded in East Asia has been found in the Upper Cretaceous Sada limestone in Shimanto City, Kochi Prefecture, Japan. The specimen is one of the few representatives from the Upper Cretaceous, along with species known from Libya, Angola, and India. The specimen is very similar to A. mathewsonni from the Paleocene deposits in California. However, we describe the specimen as A . cf. mathewsonni , as it slightly differs from A. mathewsonni in the shape of the lateral lobe of the suture. The finding reveals that Aturoidea had already lived in waters around East Asia in the Late Cretaceous.

This work provides the description of the first specimen of the species Gillicus arcuatus (Cope, 1875) collected in Mexico. This ichthyodectiform fossil was collected in a marl flagstone quarry on Los Pilotes Ranch, Muzquiz County, Coahuila. The rocks of the quarry are of Turonian age, and constitute part of the Eagle Ford Formation. This Gillicus arcuatus specimen fits within the known temporal distribution of Gillicus, but extends the geographical distribution of this species to include Northern Mexico, where once the North American Western Interior Sea and the Western Tethys Sea converged. Los Pilotes Ranch is the southernmost fossil locality so far known where Gillicus has been found.

The rare and inadequately‐defined abyssal slickhead, Mirognathus normani Parr (F. Alepocephalidae), is redescribed based on Atlantic material and the first specimen collected from the Pacific Ocean.

An anadromous Arctic char (male) was recorded in southwestern Spitsbergen, in a very muddy glacial river, in August 2008. This is apparently the first specimen of this species observed in such an unfavourable habitat in Svalbard.

The first specimen of the ankylosaur genus Polacanthus from the mainland Barremian of southeast England is described as Polacanthus rudgwickensis sp.nov. Polacanthus rudgwickensis is larger than Polacanthus foxii, and there are significant differences in the dermal armour, the tibia and caudal vertebrae of the two species. Polacanthus foxii appears to be restricted at present to the Isle of Wight with one specimen from southwest England, whilst Polacanthus rudgwickensis is only known from Sussex. This geographical distribution, the palaeobiological implications and possible sexual dimorphism are discussed for this genus.

The first specimen of the giant marine snake Pterosphenus Lucas is recorded from a carbonate platform environment in the Late Eocene (Jackson Age) of the Crystal River Formation of Alachua County, Florida. The great enlargement of the marrow cavities and concomitant thinning of the vertebral walls are interpreted as specializations to a completely aquatic and fully marine habitus. The Florida specimen indicates that Pterosphenus was not limited to estuarine and low salinity environments as previously proposed.

A specimen of Eusthenopteron foordi Whiteaves containing the acanthodian Homalacanthus concinnus (Whiteaves) was discovered in the Escuminac Formation (Frasnian). It represents the first specimen that demonstrates that E. foordi was carnivorous.

The photometric method of fabric analysis is used to map variations in quartz c-axis fabrics in two folded quartzite specimens. The first specimen contains two isoclinal folds which were refolded in a later deformation. The quartz fabrics are interpreted as having been generated under a uniform strain environment during development of the isoclinal folds. During the later refolding the fabrics were passively rotated, together with the layering, about the new fold axes. In the second specimen the fabric patterns change in style around the fold and these changes are interpreted as related to the deformation. The advantages of the photometric method in fabric mapping are discussed.

As already stated in a former paper, the occurrence of manganepidote or piedmontite is often associated with glaucophane-bearing rocks in the crystalline-schist system in Japan. The rock which contains piedmontite as an essential component is well characterized in outward appearance, being of a dark violet colour; hence it is locally named the ‘murasaki’ or violet rock, and it is most typically developed in the Island of Sikoku, especially in the neighbourhood of the city of Tokusima. The first specimen that came under my notice was brought from Mount Otakisan, one mile to the south-west of the last-named city; and many localities have since been added to the list of places where it occurs, so that we are now able to trace out the geological horizon of the piedmontite-bearing rock everywhere within the crystalline-schist system of that island. The rock is, however, not exclusively confined to this region. It also has a wide distribution in the provinces of Musasi and Kozuke, on the main island, Honsiu. The piedmontite is associated with fine quartz-grains; and by the parallel position of the former, the rock itself assumes a schistose structure, a vertical section presenting a regularly banded appearance resulting from the alternation of fine piedmontite layers with those of quartz. The accessory components are muscovite (hydrous mica of Prof. Bonney†), greenish-yellow garnet, rutile, some felspars (probably orthoclase), blood-red iron-glance, and also opaque crystals of the same mineral. This is the typical piedmontite-sehist. In the glaucophane-bearing rocks‡ manganepidote also makes its appearance, but it

An isolated edentulous dolphin mandible from the Tangahoe Mudstone (Waipipian Stage, Pliocene), Waihi Beach, probably represents a species of Delphinus or Sienella (Delphinidae). Other fossil dolphins have been reported from New Zealand, but this is the first specimen to be described formally.

Some years have now elapsed since I first became aware of the occurrence of a large species of Cestraciont in the shale-beds of the Lanarkshire coal-field; but I have postponed from time to time the task of describing it, partly from an unwillingness to rush before the public, on the discovery of each new species, with inconsiderate haste in the general scramble for priority of credit, now, I regret to say, so much the vogue, but principally in the hopes that some cognate materials might come to light to render the communication more worthy of the time and attention of the Society. The recent discovery of a second species, and the increased and increasing interest which the researches of the last few years have imparted to the fauna of the Carboniferous epoch, may perhaps now be considered a sufficient justification for the present memoir, meagre tough it be. The first specimen which attracted my attention to this subject was a defence-bone discovered by a collector named Doran in the black shales of the Carluke district. This is now in the British Museum. Similar rays have since been found in several localities. The Museum of Practical Geology possesses specimens from the Talwyn works, near Mold in North Wales, in shale; and from Hady, near Chesterfield, in ironstone. And Lord Enniskiilen and myself have several very perfect examples from the neighbourhood of Dalkeith, where they are associated with finer specimens of Gyracanthus spines than I have seen from any other locality. Ctenacanthus

It was the Great London Exhibition of 1851 that first decided my taste for scientific inquiry. Afterwards, Mr. Edward Tindall’s geological and archaeological collections at Bridlington fired me with a strong desire to make a similar collection. A curious chalk cast was the first specimen I obtained, whilst a small Ammonite, which I bought of Mr. Tindall, was the first of its kind I possessed. My brother, the late Robert Mortimer, of Fimber, had a like love for collecting. For the first ten or twelve years the late Edward Tindall, of Bridlington, and the late George Pycock, of Malton, were almost our only rivals; yet we accumulated specimens but slowly. We had, however, during this period, trained many of the farm servants in this neighbourhood to distinguish, and keep for us any geological and archaeological specimens they could find. The small collection we then made mainly consisted of chalk fossils and a very few stone and flint tools. These we exhibited in cases in my offices at Fimber. Small though this display was it seemed to stimulate others to indulge in the same hobby, and soon our neighbourhood was more or less periodically visited by the thirteen competitors hereinafter named, and their agents, during a period of about 35 years, ranging from 1861 to 1896. None, however, of these enthusiasts, except Mr. Tindall and Mr. Chadwick, collected geological specimens, though all of them were active competitors for stone, flint, and bronze weapons. They constantly visited the district, and not infrequently ...

In the year 1860, when engaged in drawing up a list of the fossils known to occur in the Lower Old Red Sandstone of Scotland, we had occasion to remark that, with the exception of the Pteraspis, we had found in our northern rocks the various fossils of the equivalent beds in England, and many others besides, indicating an extensive piscine fauna in that epoch of geological history. We have now to remove that exception, for Pteraspis does occur with us. Some very fine specimens have recently been found in our Scottish rocks, and from their examination we are not only able to discern that fragments which have been many years in our possession, and which we could not refer to any known fossil, belong to that palæozoic fish, but we are also encouraged to attempt the restoration of the remarkable buckler, composed of solid bone, in which this ancient denizen of the deep was encased. Figure 1. In the construction of this diagram three fossil specimens have been employed. These specimens are similar in their proportions and in the method of their preservation, and their exact measurements have been followed in the figure. The first specimen, used for this diagram, exhibits very beautifully the form of the shield with the terminal horns, and the distinct eye-sockets. The eyes are placed on the margin of the shield, and their impression is also seen on a cast in the stone of this specimen. The second specimen is the prolonged central termination of the shield, which has been broken off at the ridge which terminates on either side in the horns. The third specimen show’s the junction of this central prolongation with the shield. All the three specimens have a high central ridge, and still retain something of the graceful outline of the living form. As preserved in the stone these specimens show only the nacreous layer, the other component layers of the bone of the Pteraspis having perished in their case.

In the summer of 1904, while on Ben Nevis, I collected two specimens of what at the time were believed to represent:— (1) A typical specimen of the andesite of that mountain, (2) a brecciated form of the same rock. On examining these in micro-section over a year afterwards, I was surprised to find that the first, which was supposed to be a typical example of the andesite, showed the fine brecciation and injection of one andesite by a second andesite, while the other was found to be a typical volcanic tuff. Brecciation on a large scale of the andesite of Ben Nevis has been described by Nicol, and at a later date by Judd; but there is no record, so far as known to me, of finer fragmental volcanic rocks occurring on that mountain, and certainly none of the occurrence of tuffs. The first specimen was collected from the right side of the footpath as one ascends, at a point just where it reaches the level of the plateau on which the lake is situated, and from what is probably the very first outcrop of andesite encountered in the ascent. Between the lake and the mountain mass to the east, many of the loose blocks which have fallen from the cliffs or have weathered out of the rocky platform show a rough nodular aspect on a weathered surface, and break with a brecciated, hackly fracture under the hammer. The second specimen was collected from the centre of one of

Gargantuavis philoinos is a large terrestrial bird, initially described from several bones (synsacrum, cervical vertebra, femora) discovered in the Late Cretaceous deposits of southern France. The synsacrum described here comes from the late Campanian (Late Cretaceous) site of Lano, in north-western Spain, and is similar in all respects to the other synsacra of Gargantuavis philoinos described from France. This is therefore the first specimen attributed to this species to be reported outside France. This find increases the diversity of the fossil assemblage from Lano and the geographical distribution of this bird, which existed on the Ibero-Armorican island, which included southern France and the Iberian Peninsula, during the Late Cretaceous.

SPECIMENS of calcareous sandstone containing foraminifera from the submerged Aliwal Shoal, about 5 km east of Green Point on the Natal coast, 50 km south of Durban, were received from Mr. M. J. McCarthy of the University of Natal. They have been investigated with a view to determining the age of the rock. The first specimen was obtained from the damaged bow of the ship Aimee Lykes following a collision between this ship and the Shoal. Later, a larger specimen was collected by a diver. The specimens were gently crushed to free the grains and, from the −28, +100 Tyler mesh fraction, all the foraminifera were picked out and mounted.

The material studied by the author belongs to the Geological Survey of Canada (Calgary, Alberta), and it was entrusted to him for description after the congress in Montreal in 1972. It is not large but surprisingly multiform, dominated with specimens, whiCh in one way or other resemble true Lycopsids, and with those the study of the material started. These specimens have alI of them more or less distinct rhombs arranged in quincunx, a pattern that seems to have been considered an infalIible indicator of Lycopsids. But when the first specimen was closely exarnined no fu rthe r lycopsidean characters could be discovered. The only openings within the rhombs were single ones situated near the upper comer of each rhomb, and around these openings a thin f11m of coal with a striation of rows of very smalI cells comes up, and they are stuffed with crystals of calcite. Where an opening is damaged, part of a tube leading inwards from it is exposed (Fig. 10). By and by more extensive portions of tubes were discovered at spots where the surface of the specimen was damaged, and a reconstitution could be made of a system with main, straight tubes, width c.l mm, running through the entire length of the specimen, and diagonal secondary tubes, strongly winding, raising the covering epithelium so that ridges delirniting the rhombs were formed (schematized in the stripe above the measurement (in Fig. 8). Gradually fmer tubes were formed through branching, the fmest ones capillaries, 100 to the rnillimetre or even more across. Such fine tubes also had walIs composed of minute cells, and they were in the interior of the plant so densell packed that a coal resembling anthracite was formed (Figs. 4 & 5).

That the known specimens of Bison (Gigantobison) latifrons are extremely rare, and that much more extensive and accurate data are to be desired on this species, has been pointed out by Skinner and Kaisen (1947). J. R. Schultz (1937), discussing the problem of Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary and the correlation of European and North American vertebrate faunas, states that "further explorations coupled with exact field work and careful collecting in the Snake River region of Idaho, the Valley of Mexico, and in the Paso Robles and Tulare beds of California may throw much needed light on the problem..." and that "as yet the terrestrial faunas of the Western States have not been tied in with either the marine section or the glacial drift." It is the purpose of this paper to present data on two unusually large and complete skulls of Bison (Gigantobison) latifrons, both of which came from the same stratigraphic horizon in the American Falls Lake beds near Pocatello, Idaho, which have been exposed by the erosive action of American Falls Reservoir. This is the first account, I believe, of latifrons as related to Idaho. The evidence points toward both skulls being in situ when excavated. Their inclusion in the literature would bring to five the known total of nearly complete skulls of this species. Fortunately, the apparent stratigraphic position of the two latifrons skulls reported here, relative to the three local and heretofore undescribed specimens of Bison (Simobison) alleni, can also be given. Perhaps these data may eventually help to throw light on the chronologic sequence of these two species of bison in the intermontane west, and to clarify this relationship in this region as compared with findings relative to the same problem in the Great Plains, as reported by Schultz and Frankforter (1946) and in California by Donald E. Savage (1950). The first specimen of latifrons to be found in this region was found by Mr. Wayne B. Whitlow, teacher of zoology at Pocatello High School. He and his student, Mr. Woodrow Benson, excavated it late in the fall of 1933 from the east beach of American Falls Reservoir, SE j Sec. 9, T 6 S, R 32 E. This specimen is now in the possession of Mr. Whitlow at Pocatello High School. When discovered about midway between the cliff and the water's edge, only one horn core tip was protruding above the sand. The upper skull was complete when found, but the facial portion was so badly disintegrated that only nasals, four teeth, and the cranium and horn cores were recovered. The degree of fusion of the cranial sutures and the extent of tooth wear indicate that this is a skull of a fully mature and possibly old individual. The teeth show a little more wear than those of the Hopkins specimen, (PI. I) to be described later. In the Whitlow specimen both; horn core tips are somewhat incomplete, the right more so than the left. The more complete left side measure3 1051 mm. from the frontal suture to the end of the horn core tip. If allowance is made for the eroded conditions of the tips, this skull probably exceeds the 192 Vol. 82, No. 2