The volcanosedimentary sequence of the Carolina slate belt in south-central North Carolina was long thought to be unfossiliferous; however, the 5,484–7,315 meters of dominantly evenly bedded siltstones and mudstones have recently yielded body fossils of the late Precambrian Ediacarian fauna and a Middle Cambrian trilobite assemblage. Ongoing stratigraphic studies in the Carolina slate belt of southern North Carolina have now revealed trace fossils representing the ichnotaxa Gordia arcuata?, ?Helminthopsis sp., Monocraterion sp., Neonerites biserialis, N. uniserialis, ?Neonerites sp., Planolites beverlyensis, P. montanus, ?Planolites sp., Syringomorpha nilssoni?,? Tomaculum sp., Torrowangea sp., and three additional indeterminate ichnogenera. These trace fossils, lacking ornamentation and complex patterns, compare favorably with ichnofossil assemblages from Late Proterozoic stratigraphic sequences (Ichnofossil Zone I) elsewhere and support the late Precambrian age interpretation for the Carolina slate belt in south-central North Carolina.

An investigation of middle Eocene calcareous nannofossils from Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 162 and 361 has revealed a new species, Discoaster praebifax, and prompted the emendation of Discoaster bifax Bukry. Based on their morphologic similarities and stratigraphic relationship, D. praebifax is suggested to be the ancestor of D. bifax. Because the new species closely resembles D. bifax, the use of the latter as an index species for Subzone CP14a should be cautioned. The first occurrence of D. praebifax is, however, a potentially useful datum in Zone CP12.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a chitinozoan zonation of the Ordovician of Quebec and western Newfoundland. On the basis of chitinozoan assemblages previously described from various sections, covering almost the entire Ordovician System, 22 biozones, based on first appearance of index species, are distinguished. As the strata from which the chitinozoan microfaunas were extracted are well dated by other fossils, especially graptolites, it is possible to establish a correlation between the chitinozoan and the established graptolite and conodont zonations of North America and Great Britain.

Proconchidium brodeurensis n. sp. occurs 212 m above the base of member B of the Baillarge Formation on Brodeur Peninsula, Baffin Island, 8 m below the Ordovician–Silurian boundary. Study of Proconchidium shows that it can be easily distinguished from Eoconchidium but possesses many characters that are similar to those in Tcherskidium. Analysis of internal structures suggests that the three genera can be distinguished from each other and belong to Virgianidae. Tcherskidiidae is a synonym of Virgianidae and should be abandoned.

This represents the first recorded occurrence of Proconchidium in North America. Although this genus and its related genera Tcherskidium Sapelnikov, 1972, and Eoconchidium Rozman, 1967, are common in Ashgill strata of Eurasia, they have not been recorded or illustrated from North America. This led to the suggestion that distinct brachiopod biogeographic provinces may have existed during the Ashgill. The occurrence of these genera probably indicates that they may have lived in mostly tropical and subtropical zones.

Many specimens of the conulariid Paraconularia magna (Ries) from the Tackett Formation (Upper Pennsylvanian, Missourian) of Oklahoma exhibit repaired or unrepaired injured exoskeletons. Scalloped, cleft, and embayed patterns are interpreted to be repaired sublethal damages produced by unknown events or organisms. Punctures, which are the first reported in conulariids, were not followed by exoskeletal repair and were probably lethal. Cladodont sharks are implicated as possible predators of P. magna because of a close correspondence in size and pattern between the dentition of some sharks and the punctures preserved in conulariid exoskeletons.

A new genus, Calorebama, is proposed for a clade of pseudolivine gastropods (family Buccinidae) that has its earliest species in the lower Paleocene (Danian) of Alabama, its next earliest species in the upper Paleocene (Thanetian) of Alabama, and its subsequent species in the Eocene of California, Oregon, and Washington. Calorebama is characterized by an inflated biconical shape, a biangulate body whorl usually with strong nodes on the shoulder, and fine to medium spiral ribbing that is coarser anterior to the medial pseudolivine groove.

Previously, these pseudolivines now being placed in Calorebama were assigned to the genus Pseudoliva. Study of the literature and every available museum specimen showed Calorebama to have five species and two subspecies, all of which have biostratigraphic integrity.

Calorebama unicarinata (Aldrich) is the earliest species, and it, along with C. tuberculifera (Conrad), are the only known Gulf Coast species. Calorebama dilleri dilleri (Dickerson) is the earliest representative of the genus on the West Coast of North America, and it arrived during the early Eocene (Ypresian). Probable geographic isolation of C. dilleri dilleri in central and southern California resulted in lineage splitting and the appearance of C. dilleri lineata (Gabb), which phyletically evolved into C. inornata (Dickerson). Calorebama dilleri dilleri persisted in northern California and phyletically evolved into C. dilleri kirbyi (Clark), which similarly evolved into C. volutaeformis (Gabb).

Calorebama inornata and C. volutaeformis, the youngest species of the genus, became widely distributed along the West Coast of North America before becoming extinct by the end of the earliest late Eocene.

Two new spine-bearing gastropods, Chlupacispira spinosa n. gen. and sp. and Spinulrichospira cheeneetnukensis n. gen. and sp., are described from the late Early Devonian (Emsian) and early Middle Devonian (Eifelian), respectively, of west-central Alaska. These represent the earliest reported spiny pleurotomariacean gastropods. Otherwise, spinose pleurotomariaceans are known from strata no older than Carboniferous age. Spinulrichospira cheeneetnukensis n. gen. and sp. appears to represent a more highly ornamented derivative of Ulrichospira Donald. Both new genera are part of the more highly ornamented fauna which occurred in warm equatorial waters of the Old World Realm during the Early and Middle Devonian, in contrast to more weakly ornamented shells of the Eastern Americas Realm and even more weakly ornamented (almost totally “plain”) shells of the Malvinokaffric Realm. The latter two realms are thought to represent subtropical to warm temperate and cool temperate to cool polar conditions, respectively.

Propeamussium (Parvamussium) holzense n. sp. and Propeamussium (Parvamussium) robinsonense n. sp. are described from the Upper Cretaceous Holz Shale Member of the Ladd Formation, Santa Ana Mountains, southern California. These species occur with Bostrychoceras elongatum (Whiteaves), Glyptoxoceras subcompressum (Forbes), and Inoceramus orientalus (Sokolow), which are indicative of a late medial Santonian age (Bostrychoceras elongatum Biochron). Propeamussium (Parvamussium) cowperi (Waring), from the Campanian Chatsworth Formation of the Simi Hills, southern California, is also redescribed and reillustrated for comparative purposes.

Twenty-eight specimens of well-preserved macrurous decapod crustaceans, collected from the Lopez de Bertodano and Sobral Formations on Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula, form the basis for description of Metanephrops jenkinsi n. sp. Based upon associated cephalopods, foraminiferans, and palynomorphs, the age of the occurrences ranges from Maastrichtian to Paleocene. The discovery extends the range of the genus from the Pliocene into the Cretaceous and extends the southern limit of the geographic extent of the genus from New Zealand to Antarctica.

A new genus and species of raninid crab, Rogueus orri, is described from the Tenmile Member of the Lookingglass Formation in southwestern Oregon. Based upon previous studies of foraminiferans, the rock unit has been assigned an early middle Eocene age. Distinct from other raninids with its sinuous fronto-orbital margin, bifid rostrum, and uniquely branched anterolateral teeth, Rogueus orri may be descended from Notopocorystes (Cretacoranina) fritschi.

A new species of fossil isopod, Palaega goedertorum, is described from late Eocene to early Miocene rocks of the Twin River Group, the Astoria Formation, and unit B of Wolfe and McKee (1968) in the state of Washington. These fossil forms are similar to living forms referred to the genus Bathynomus A. Milne-Edwards, 1879; hence, Bathynomus is considered a junior subjective synonym of Palaega Woodward, 1870. Since extant species of Palaega are known only from bathyal habitats, these occurrences tend to corroborate the deep-water paleoenvironmental setting of these rock units. This is the first report of Palaega from the eastern Pacific region.

The crinoid Ectenocrinus has unusual trimeric columnals which make it instantly recognizable. In northern New York State such columnals first appear in the deep shelf facies of the lower Trenton Group (the Sugar River Limestone). In these strata the columnals display nearly triangular shapes with triangular lumina and represent a new species, E. triangulus. A small minority of the columnals of these early forms are round with five-pointed lumina.

A definite cline had developed by middle Trentonian time. Deep-water columnals display the ancestral triangular form, whereas adjacent, shallow-water forms are rounder and have the five-pointed or pentagonal lumina. These round types came to be the beneficiaries of middle Trentonian facies changes. This was a time when the eastern bank margin steepened and narrowed. The deep shelf habitat shrank to the east and disappeared. Trapped in this shrinking sea floor setting, the populations of the deep-water members of the cline dwindled and disappeared before late Trentonian time. Only the round form with a pentagonal lumen survived. This form, Ectenocrinus simplex, was a great success; its numbers increased and its range expanded throughout the remainder of Trentonian time.

The transition from Ectenocrinus triangulus to E. simplex is seamless. No boundary, other than an arbitrary one, can be recognized. A simple and gradual shift of phenotype abundance characterized the event.

Conodonts from the upper Burgen, Tyner, and Fite Formations (Middle Ordovician) of eastern Oklahoma include two new species, Phragmodus harrisi and Plectodina tynerensis. The conodont fauna indicates that the upper Burgen through middle Tyner is Whiterockian (pre- to earliest Chazyan) and that the upper Tyner–Fite is probably Kirkfieldian in age.

The Whiterockian Burgen–Tyner preserves a regressive succession of shoreface, lagoonal, and intertidal deposits. That change is reflected by the conodont succession, which shows replacement of a fauna dominated by species of Neomultioistodus, Scandodus?, and Paraprioniodus by one dominated by species of Phragmodus, Plectodina, and Erismodus.

Carbonate deposits of the Kirkfieldian(?) upper Tyner and Fite Formations follow a major hiatus and reflect shallow, subtidal to intertidal conditions. The conodont fauna is composed of species of Aphelognathus, Plectodina, Curtognathus, Erismodus, and Oulodus, among others.

Amia? chauliodeia, a new amiid fish from the Late Cretaceous Fruitland Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, is described from material that includes vertebral centra, elements of the mandibular arch, dermal skull roof, palatal complex, hyoid arch, pectoral girdle, branchial apparatus, ribs, and both pelvic basipterygia. The new form differs from previously described amiiforms in the length of the dentary tooth row, in the anterior thickness of the dentary, and in the apparent lack of internal sensory canals in the dentary and angular. The New Mexico amiid also retains a primitive metapterygoid. Although the new form shares several features in common with the Late Cretaceous amiid Melvius thomasi described by Bryant (1987), it is unquestionably distinct from this form. Material from the Fruitland and Kirtland Formations of New Mexico referred by Bryant (1987) to M. thomasi is now included within Amia? chauliodeia.