New records of the lower Oxfordian ammonite Protophites insociale (Bukowski, 1887) from southern Poland

ABSTRACT

Three adult specimens of the rare lower Oxfordian ammonite species Protophites insociale (Bukowski) are described from two sections of southern Poland, Ogrodzieniec and Zalas. Based on their globular phragmocone, geniculate body chamber, suture line, looped ribs, and age, they have been included in the Pachyceratidae. In the present study Protophites (microconch) and Tornquistes (macroconch) are considered as a sexual dimorphic pair.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual dimorphism
• Protophites
• Tornquistes
• Oxfordian
• Poland

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the four reviewers (Günter Schweigert, Stuttgart, Germany) Christian Klug (Zurich, Switzerland) and two anonymous for their time and constructive comments that greatly improved the manuscript. The authors are also grateful to the Historical Biology Editor-in-Chief Dr. Gareth Dyke for his continued support. This research was supported financially by the ‘Fast Track Grants 2.0 Back2Mobility’ (University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Natural Sciences) to SJ. The authors would also like to thank the employees of the Polish Geological Institute (Warsaw, Poland): Tatiana Woroncowa-Marcinowska and Cezary Krawczyński for finding and counting the remains of the Różycki’s collection destroyed during the World War II. Martin Maslo and Martin Zuschin (Department of Paleontology, University of Vienna, Vienna), Sylvain Charbonnier (Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Origines & Evolution, Paris), and Jocelyn Falconnet (Muséum d’Orléans, Orléans) are greatly acknowledged by photographs of type and figured specimens. Philippe Quereilhac for literature and a small collection of specimens of Neomorphoceras from Poitou for comparison, and Didier Bert (La Mure-Argens), Günter Schwigert (Stuttgart), Atilio Benetti (Verona), Vasili Mitta (Moscow), and Mikhail Rogov (Moscow) for literature and information.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Natural Sciences [Fast Track Grants 2.0 Back2Mobility] to SJ.