An Early Albian Arctic-type ammonite Arcthoplites from Hokkaido, northern Japan, and its paleobiogeographic and paleoclimatological implications

An Early Albian Arctic-type ammonite Arcthoplites was discovered from the Kamiji Formation of the Yezo Group in the Nakagawa area, northern Hokkaido, northern Japan. This is the first reliable record of a hoplitid ammonite from Japan and clearly indicates the distribution of an Arctic fauna in the middle latitudes of the North Pacific at that time. Synchronously with the appearance of this Arctic-type ammonite, the tropical Tethyan biota (Mesogean taxa) disappeared from Hokkaido and elsewhere in the Northwest Pacific. These biogeographic changes suggest the existence of a “cooling” episode in the Early Albian North Pacific.