Polish Polar Research

On the basis of the distinctly biplicate and carinate leaves in the distal portion Grimmia lawiana J.H. Willis, the only continental Antarctic endemic moss species, is transferred to the genus Coscinodon Spreng. and the new combination C. lawianus (J.H. Willis) Ochyra is proposed. The species is described and illustrated, its affinities are discussed and its geographical distribution in the Antarctic is mapped. Grimmia reflexidens Müll. Hal., a southern South American endemic species from Chile , is briefly assessed and this species is also shifted to Coscinodon as C. reflexidens (Müll. Hal.) Ochyra, comb. nov. A key to all species of the genus Coscinodon is presented. Guembelia longirostris (Hook.) Ochyra et Żarnowiec is reported for the first time from the Antarctic on the basis of a specimen collected from the Nordenskjöld Coast on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Schistidium cupulare (Müll. Hal.) Ochyra, an obscure and poorly known species originally described from Îles Kerguelen as Grimmia cupularis Müll. Hal. and subsequently reported from a single station in the Antarctic, is re-assessed taxonomically. It is considered to be a distinct species of sect. Conferta, closely related to S. amblyophyllum (Müll. Hal.) Ochyra et Hertel, from which it differs in its distal- and mid-leaf areolation of short, isodiametric, quadrate to shortly rectangular cells; stouter costa, 50–75 μm wide in the distal and median part, semi-terete to subrectangular in cross-section and prominently convex on the dorsal surface, (2–)3-stratose above, 3(–4)-stratose below; leaf margins regularly 2–3-stratose in 1–3 rows of cells forming fleshy, bulging limbidia; presence of a distinct central strand; and finely roughened to nearly smooth peristome teeth. S. celatum (Cardot) B.G. Bell from South Georgia and Tierra del Fuego is considered to be conspecific with S. cupulare. Some details of the type specimens of both species are illustrated. The geographical range of S. cupulare is evaluated and it is considered to be an amphiatlantic subantarctic species. A new record of the species from Livingston Island in the Antarctic is provided and a key to species of Schistidium in Antarctica is given.

Nematodes occurring in the Antarctic bony fishes are reviewed, and keys based on morphological features are presented. Five valid species: Ascarophis nototheniae Johnston et Mawson, 1945; Cystidicola beatriceinsleyae (Holloway et Klewer, 1969); Dichelyne fraseri (Baylis, 1929); Hysterothylacium aduncum (Rudolphi, 1802); Paranisakiopsis weddelliensis Rocka, 2002, and one unnamed form, Capillaria (Procapillaria) sp., have been reported from the Antarctic teleosts. Also, larval anisakids, in the adult stage parasites of marine mammals, birds and fishes, occur commonly in the Antarctic and Subantarctic bony fishes. They belong to Contracaecum spp., Anisakis spp., Pseudoterranova decipiens (Krabbe, 1878) and Hysterothylacium aduncum.

The new rich collection of fossil fish remains obtained during the Polish Spitsbergen Expedition of 1998 includes many isolated shark teeth, mostly of the genera Lissodus, Hybodus and Acrodus. The shark microfossils from the Hornsund area (South Spitsbergen) described here and the analysis of the histology of Lissodus teeth contribute to a better understanding of the previously described Early Triassic fish fauna from that region (Birkenmajer and Jerzmańska 1979). There is the evidence for coexistence of two types of histology within a single taxon what closes the discussion considering ortho- and osteodentine as a taxonomic factor.

Palaeomagnetic investigation of the Upper Carboniferous clastic Hyrnefjellet Formation from opposite limbs of the Hyrnefjellet Anticline in southern Spitsbergen (Svalbard Archipelago) uncovered two components of NRM. Direction C1 (D = 224.6°; I = –27.9°; κ = 22.40; α95% = 5.6°) is of prefolding origin and most probably of near-primary origin. High Tb spectra above 575°C indicate hematite as the carrier of C1. Acquisition of the C1 component may be related to an early diagenetic crystallization of hematite, not excluding a detrital origin of the NRM. A paleopole calculated for the C1 component (F = 23.3°N; L= 147.7°E) falls into the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous sector of APWP for Baltica. This result suggests that Svalbard remained in the present day orientation with respect to Baltica since the Carboniferous time. A second component with intermediate unblocking temperatures, determined in the Hyrnefjellet Formation deposits, is labelled C2. Its mean orientation for in situ position is D = 11.2°; I = 69.2° (κ = 44.05; α95% = 6.3°), thus being similar to Late Mesozoic directions for Baltica. After 100% tectonic correction for tilting of anticline limbs and axis, the C2 component orientation is D = 265.7°; I = 59.7°, thus being distant from any directions for Baltica. Detailed analysis suggest that the C2 component is most probably of synfolding origin, and it was formed during the Tertiary Alpine Tectonic Event.