Short Communication First Record of Placodontoidea (reptilia, Sauropterygia, Placodontia) from the Eastern Tethys

Growth patterns and life-history strategies in Placodontia (Diapsida: Sauropterygia)

Placodontia is a clade of durophagous, near shore marine reptiles from Triassic sediments of modern-day Europe, Middle East and China. Although much is known about their primary anatomy and palaeoecology, relatively little has been published regarding their life history, i.e. ageing, maturation and growth. Here, growth records derived from long bone histological data of placodont individuals ar...

Short communication: The first record of Philometra rischta (Nematoda: Philometridae) in Blicca bjoerkna of Anzali wetland, Iran

  The aim of the present study was to report Philometra rischta from Blicca bjoerkna from the Caspian Sea. During this study, from August (2008) to April (2009), 78 fish specimens were collected and transferred to the aquatic research laboratory of Shahid Beheshti University and were examined for parasitic infection. Parasites were fixed in formalin (10%). The parasites were indentified accordi...

Short communication: The first record of Philometra rischta (Nematoda: Philometridae) in Blicca bjoerkna of Anzali wetland, Iran

  The aim of the present study was to report Philometra rischta from Blicca bjoerkna from the Caspian Sea. During this study, from August (2008) to April (2009), 78 fish specimens were collected and transferred to the aquatic research laboratory of Shahid Beheshti University and were examined for parasitic infection. Parasites were fixed in formalin (10%). The parasites were indentified accordi...

Short Communication: Serranus cabrilla (Linnaeus, 1758) (Perciformes, Serranidae ) a new host record for Nerocila orbigyni (Guérin-Mèneville, 1832) (Isopoda, Cymothoidae)

A gigantic nothosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from the Middle Triassic of SW China and its implication for the Triassic biotic recovery

The presence of gigantic apex predators in the eastern Panthalassic and western Tethyan oceans suggests that complex ecosystems in the sea had become re-established in these regions at least by the early Middle Triassic, after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME). However, it is not clear whether oceanic ecosystem recovery from the PTME was globally synchronous because of the apparent la...