SELECTED STUDIES IN PERMIAN AMMONOIDS (PALEONTOLOGY, INDONESIA, STRATIGRAPHY, TUNISIA, AUSTRALIA, NORTH AMERICA)

Five new undescribed collections of "Middle" Permian ammonoid faunas (Lower Permian-Sakmarian through Upper Permian-Capitanian/Dzhulfian stages) from Western Australia, Tunisia, and Western North America were studied. An additional fauna from Timor contains representatives of an older collection that were reviewed and redescribed.; Two separate locations in Western Australia yielded new occurrences. The Upper Permian Cherrabun Member of the Hardman Formation, Liveringa Group, has produced its first ammonoid and the first report of Cyclolobus from Australia (C. persulcatus Rothpletz, 1892). A second Australian collection, from the basal Permian Callytharra Formation, Carnarvon Basin, includes representatives of cf. Mescalites sp. (Furnish and Glenister, 1971) and Svetlanoceras irwinense (Teichert and Glenister, 1952). These occurrences suggest that the Western Australian succession may represent one of few sequences for strata across the Lower/Upper Permian boundary.; The Timor collection includes specimens from the Tae Wei Beds near Basleo that were reported by Gerth (1950). This material was reevaluated because representatives referred to Waagenoceras by Gerth prove to be precise evolutionary intermediates between Lower Permian marathonitids and Upper Permian Hyattoceras. A new genus and species is established.; Upper Permian ammonoids from the Djebel Tebaga Biohermal Complex of Tunisia comprise a collection characteristic of Upper Permian Wordian faunas from the Sosio Limestone of Sicily. Included are: Neogeoceras cf. N. marcoui (Gemmellaro, 1887), Waagenoceras mojsisovicsi Gemmellaro, 1887, Sosiocrimites cf. S. insignis (Gemmellaro, 1887) and Paraceltites cf. P. hoeferi Gemmellaro, 1887.; Western North American collections are from the Owens Valley Formation (Sakmarian?) of eastern California, and the Loray Formation, east-central Nevada. A disparate age suggested by members of the fauna (Daubichites/Roadian; Properrinites/Sakmarian) is most likely the result of tectonic displacement or stratigraphic admixture. The Loray faunas consist of specimens assigned to new species of Neocrimites that are comparable to representatives of the type species, Neocrimites (Neocrimites) fredericksi (Emeliantsev, 1929) and Crimites elkoensis Miller, Furnish, and Clark, 1957.