Well-preserved Late Cambrian radiolarian faunas were recovered from carbonate rocks of the Cow Head Group of the Great Northern Peninsula of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Several different faunal assemblages were recognized from three strata at Green Point, one from a stratum at Martin Point, and three from strata at Broom Point South in Gros Morne National Park. The faunas contain nine genera, five of which are new, and 33 species, all but two of which are new. The five new genera are Curvechidnina, Grosmorneus, Pararcheoentactinia, Ramuspiculum, and Subechidnina. Most of the genera belong to the families Archeoentactinidae, Echidninidae, Palaeospiculumidae, and Protoentactiniidae; a few taxa have an uncertain taxonomic position. Echidnina, whose taxonomic identity was uncertain, is shown to be a radiolarian.

The diversity of each of these faunas is similar, but the difference in faunal compositions among the faunas examined is distinct. From this analysis, the Late Cambrian strata between Martin Point and Green Point can be more precisely correlated, and the previous correlation has been revised. With the recovery of the conodonts in this study, the provisionally placed boundary between the Franconian and Trempealeauan at Martin Point by earlier researchers is revised and positioned between unit 30 and unit 31.

The biostratigraphic range of the co-occurring conodonts indicates that the youngest fauna described in this paper belongs to the Eoconodontus notchpeakensis Zone of late Trempealeauan age and that the other faunas (from Martin Point and Green Point) are of Franconian age.

Coenothyris oweni new species is described from the Lower Member (Upper Anisian-Ladinian) of the Triassic Saharonim Formation (Upper Anisian–Lower Carnian) at Har Gevanim, Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel. The Saharonim Formation was deposited under normal, calm, shallow marine conditions as part of the ingression of the Saharonim Sea. The presence of Coenothyris along with characteristic conodonts, ostracodes, foraminiferans, bivalves, cephalopods, gastropods, echinoderms and vertebrate remains is 1) indicative of the Sephardic Province; 2) diagnostic of the Middle Triassic series of Israel; and 3) important in differentiating the Sephardic Province from the Germanic Muschelkalk and Tethyan Realm faunas to the north and correlating the Triassic rocks in the Negev.

Four new molluscan species, a bivalve and three gastropods, are named from shallow-marine, lower Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian Stage) strata in Oregon. The laternulid bivalve Cercomya (Cercomya) hesperia new species is from the Bernard Formation in east-central Oregon and from the Osburger Gulch Sandstone Member of the Hornbrook Formation in southwest Oregon. It is the first Cenomanian record of this genus.

The iteriid gastropods, Vernedia pacifica new species and Sogdianella oregonensis new species, are from unnamed Cenomanian strata in east-central Oregon and represent the first records of these genera in western North America. The actaeonellid gastropod Trochactaeon (Neocylindrites) allisoni new species from these same deposits represents the first record of this genus in Oregon.

The new species of Cercomya sensu stricto, Vernedia, and Neocylindrites are very similar to western European species, and the new species of Sogdianella is most similar to a Peruvian species.

Desmoinesian strata of the lower Bishop Cap Formation in Vinton Canyon, northern Franklin Mountains, west Texas, contain a rich gastropod fauna, in general resembling that of the upper Flechado Formation in north-central New Mexico. Distinctive elements of the Bishop Cap fauna include two new genera and five new species. Each species is represented by 30 or more specimens, sufficient to document ontogenetic change and intraspecific variability. The new taxa described here include the murchisonioid Altadema convexa new genus and species; the pseudozygopleurids Microptychis insolita new species, Trepsipleura chordanodosa new genus and species, and T. nodosa new species; and the orthonemid Hermosanema carinatum new species.

The fluted margins of ammonite septa were thought to resist the hydrostatic pressure upon the phragmocone while the ammonoid dived. However, ammonoids probably did not dive deeper than the extant nautilids, whose conchs, with the simple septa, sustain pressure correlative to depth of about 800 m. The backward and forward stretching lobes and saddles actually provide resistance to pressure perpendicular to the septum. Ammonoids lived for about three to five years, and septa were precipitated in intervals of nearly two weeks to two days, which explain the small dimensions of the scars of the adductor muscles, which were periodically detached and reattached. The weak hold between these small muscles and the buoyant conch was compensated for by the backward branching and expanding folds (forming the sutural lobes), into which the soft tissue penetrated and stiffened for a required period to firmly anchor the body to the conch throughout its whole circumference. The greater the complexity of the septa marginal fluting, the better the ammonoid could withstand the dragging force between the body and the buoyant conch, and hence the more aggressively the ammonoid predated and competed with other creatures.

Lake deposits of the Pagoda Formation (Upper Carboniferous?-Lower Permian) at Mt. Butters, Shackleton Glacier area, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica, yield a low diversity biota including a new species of conchostracan, Cyzicus (Lioestheria) shackletonensis. Locally, conchostracans occur in large numbers near the tops of thin coarsening-upward cycles in siliciclastic sediments. Regionally, the Pagoda Formation consists of glacigenic deposits of the Gondwanide ice sheet that covered much of the land in southern high latitudes. At Mt. Butters, the lake deposits document the presence of an ice-margin lake in front of the advancing ice sheet. Deposition from suspension within the lake was interrupted by introduction of sand and silt deposited in the conchostracan-bearing, upward-coarsening sequences. Conchostracans of the Pagoda Formation are associated with other arthropods (euthycarcinoids and ostracodes), and wood fragments; burrows produced by small animals moving just beneath the sediment surface are abundant in some horizons. Few conchostracan occurrences are known from the Carboniferous-Permian of Antarctica; this is the second recorded occurrence, and it increases the number of described species to three.

Kochaspids are an informal group of ptychopariid trilobites that were both abundant and widespread in the early Middle Cambrian of North America. Based on the reassociation of pygidia and cranidia of some kochaspids, Kochiella Poulsen, 1927, is redefined and Hadrocephalites n. gen. is proposed. Hadrocephalites includes taxa previously assigned by Rasetti and Palmer to Schistometopus Resser, 1938a. Schistometopus is considered nomen dubium. Representatives of Kochiella and Hadrocephalites from the Pioche Shale and Carrara Formation of Nevada are described, including the new species Kochiella rasettii, K. brevaspis, Hadrocephalites lyndonensis, and H. rhytidodes. Other kochaspids previously assigned to Kochaspis Resser, 1935; Eiffelaspis Chang, 1963; Schistometopus; and Kochiella are discussed and some are reassigned. The type specimens of Kochiella augusta (Walcott, 1886); K. crito (Walcott, 1917b); K. chares (Walcott, 1917a); K. mansfieldi Resser, 1939; K. arenosa Resser, 1939; Hadrocephalites carina (Walcott, 1917b), and H. cecinna (Walcott, 1917b) are re-illustrated.

Three important collections of European Devonian and Lower Carboniferous polyplacophorans have been located in United States institutions. The specimens provided a basis for better description of important characters and clarified some taxonomic assignments. Two new polyplacophoran species are in the collections, Helminthochiton carpenteri from the Devonian of Germany and Pterochiton absidatus from the Lower Carboniferous of Belgium. Beloplaxus sagittalis (Sandberger and Sandberger, 1853–1855) is recognized as a multiplacophoran and a new genus and species of turrilepadid, Bouturrilipas scutatus, is proposed.

Cupulocrinus angustatus (Meek and Worthen, 1870) is common and widely distributed in the Maquoketa Formation of the northern midcontinent of the United States, and specimens are known from the Isotelus and Vogdesia Zones of the Elgin, the Clermont, Fort Atkinson, and Brainard Members. Cluster significance tests indicate that crinoids from all stratigraphic horizons are conspecific. The most numerous primibrachs are located in the A and B rays, whereas the C ray exhibits the fewest plates. The largest and smallest numbers of secundibrachs occur in the B and C rays, respectively. The number of brachs is independent of stratigraphic position and the size of the crinoids. Correlation coefficients for the numbers of brachs demonstrate that the arms are divided into two overlapping and covarying levels: the proximal arms from the primibrachs to tertibrachs, and distal arms ranging from the tertibrachs to quintibrachs. Growth of the aboral cup is generally isometric or roughly so. Conversely, the width:height ratios of brachs typically increase in progressively larger individuals. Similarly, most deposition of calcite on the columnals affects their width rather than height. The correlations for the aboral cup and its plates generally exceed those of brachs and stem plates. The contrasts in allometry and integration and coordination between the aboral cup versus the brachs and column are attributed to differences in basic geometry and developmental constraints. Similar patterns are seen in other Paleozoic and perhaps all or most crinoids.

All species of Barycrinus from the early Osagean Burlington Limestone of the United States midcontinent are reviewed. Burlington Barycrinus species include: B. rhombiferus (Owen and Shumard, 1852); B. magister (Hall, 1858); B. spurius (Hall, 1858); B. crassibrachiatus (Hall, 1860); B. scitulus (Meek and Worthen, 1860) n. combination; and B. sampsoni Miller and Gurley, 1896. Cyathocrinus latus Hall, 1861a, is here considered a junior synonym of B. rhombiferus. The stratigraphic practice of dividing the Burlington into upper and lower parts, for purposes of reporting species ranges, is evaluated.

Morphologic data from these Burlington species are combined with data from late Osagean and Meramecian botryocrinid species of Barycrinus and Meniscocrinus, plus four species of Devonian and Mississippian Costalocrinus in a parsimony-based phylogenetic analysis of Mississippian botryocrinids. Results of this analysis indicate that 1) species of Barycrinus form a monophyletic clade that radiated rapidly during the Osagean; 2) B. rhombiferus may have been ancestral to all other Barycrinus species; and 3) M. magnitubus forms a clade with the Mississippian C. cornutus (Owen and Shumard, 1850) and the Devonian C. rex McIntosh, 1984.

The Wilhelmi Formation of Illinois and the Mosalem Formation of Iowa contain monospecific assemblages of the stratigraphically important species Normalograptus parvulus Lapworth. This species is confined elsewhere to the uppermost Ordovician Normalograptus persculptus Biozone and the lower part of the lowermost Silurian Parakidograptus acuminatus Biozone. The presence of this graptolite raises the possibility that the lowermost parts of the Wilhelmi and Mosalem formations are of late Ordovician age rather than of early Silurian age as previously thought.

The diversity and distribution of teleosts in the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada, is evaluated on the basis of precaudal centra. In order to avoid the erection of redundant taxa, and to include all teleost precaudal centra in a single system, a parataxonomic system is erected. Fifteen distinct basal groups, termed morphoseries, are described. Growth-related changes and serial variation along the column are taken into account in defining these groups, so each morphoseries is interpreted as representing a distinct, low-level taxon of teleost. One of the morphoseries could be identified as hiodontid and two as acanthomorph on the basis of derived character-states. This is the first Cretaceous record of hiodontids in North America. In addition, elopomorphs, clupeomorphs, salmoniforms, and osteoglossoforms are recognized on the basis of general similarity with the precaudal centra in extant members of these groups. Two teleosts of intermediate level of evolution, but of uncertain relationships, are also present. Differences in the stratigraphic distributions of the morphoseries allow two distinct assemblages of teleosts to be recognized in the formation. One is present in fluvial-dominated localities of the Dinosaur Park Formation, the second in a complex of mud-filled channels in the Lethbridge Coal Zone. The paleoecological complexity present in the formation, and the high level of diversity of teleosts in these beds, emphasizes the importance of including disarticulated remains in studies of the diversity and distribution of teleosts in the Cretaceous.

A juvenile specimen of the titanosaurid sauropod Alamosaurus sanjuanensis, recovered from just below the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary horizon in Big Bend National Park, Texas, is from an individual less than half the size of adult specimens referred to this species. The disarticulated skeleton was preserved in deposits of a shallow flood-plain pond and includes elements not previously described, allowing for an improved diagnosis for this species. The elongate opisthocoelous cervical vertebrae have non-bifid posteriorly deflected neural spines with deep postspinal fossae. The dorsal vertebrae have wide spatulate neural spines with strong prespinal laminae, and lack hyposphene-hypantrum articulations. Alamosaurus sanjuanensis exhibits a unique morphology of the ischium, evident even in this juvenile specimen. Comparison with other titanosaurid species suggests that A. sanjuanensis is most closely related to an unnamed titanosaur from Peiropolis, Brazil and Neuquensaurus australis from Argentina.

Twenty permineralized ovules were recovered from a mixed marine and terrestrial assemblage from the Finis Shale near Jacksboro, Texas, USA. The strata have been dated as Virgilian (upper Pennsylvanian: Gzhelian) based on ammonoid biostratigraphy, regionally correlated based on the marine assemblage, and globally correlated based on ammonoid, fusulinacean and conodont data. These morphotaxa conform to trigonocarpalean ovules based on their three angled symmetry and the presence of a stalked nucellus attached to the integument only at the base. The ovules share many features with the genus Pachytesta but represent a new genus based on their unique exterior shape, integumentary morphology, and vascular system. In addition, these specimens represent the youngest known occurrence of trigonocarpalean ovules, thereby extending their biostratigraphic range. The presence of these plant remains in a regionally and globally correlatable marine assemblage aids correlation of continental strata with established, biostratigraphically time equivalent, marine strata.

The abundant fusulinids of the Hughes Creek Shale Member of the Foraker Limestone in east-central Kansas are noted for their excellent preservation (Hageman and Kaesler, 1998). Not all these fossils are in pristine condition, however, as taphonomy has taken its toll. We deal in part with necrolysis during predation, but we examine more specifically instances in which predation failed and the fusulinid survived to repair damage to its test.

Gasconsia Northrop, 1939, is a rare trimerellid that appears in the Upper Ordovician (Ashgill) and then reappears in the Upper Silurian (Wenlock/Ludlow) (Hanken and Harper, 1985; Popov and Holmer, 2000). This note is the first documented report of Gasconsia from the type Ludlow of the Welsh Borderland. Gasconsia transversus (Salter) occurs in the Lower Bringewood beds (upper part of Gorstian stage) in a small quarry on the north side of the Holloway to Upper Millichope road, directly opposite the entrance to Millichope Park (grid ref. SO 52748911). The material consists of internal and external molds of one brachial valve and one articulated individual (Fig. 1). This species was described as Obolus Davidsoni var. transversus [Salter MS] by Davidson (1866) from the Wenlock (Homerian stage) of the Dudley and Woolhope areas of the English Midlands and Welsh Borderland. Davidson and King (1874) subsequently referred to it as Dinobolus transversus (Salter), and Cocks (1978), in selecting a lectotype of transversus, retained its assignment to Dinobolus. However, illustrations of transversus in Davidson (1866, pl. 5, figs. 1-6) and Davidson and King (1874, pl. 18, fig. 12) clearly show that it belongs in Gasconsia rather than Dinobolus.

The Pericyclidae are distinctive ancestral (middle Tournaisian-lower Viséan) Goniatitina characterized by prominent transverse sculpture. Ancestry of the group was in Goniocyclus Gordon, 1986 (type species, Goniatites blairi Miller and Gurley, 1896). These diminutive (generally less than 35 mm), coarsely ribbed pericyclids are distinguished by sharply angular ventral sinuses and sutures with primitive, incipiently bifid ventral lobes. Goniocyclus characterizes the late Kinderhookian (late middle Tournaisian) Siphonodella isosticha—Upper Siphonodella crenulata conodont Zone where it is represented by at least six distinctive species in the North American Cordillera and Midcontinent (Gordon, 1986). The earliest record, which extends the generic range back to the base of the traditional middle Tournaisian, is a widely discussed, but previously undescribed, species from the Hannibal Shale of Missouri (Work et al., 1988; Becker, 1993a, 1993b; Popov and Kusina, 1997) described herein as Goniocyclus hannibalensis new species.

Siluriformes constitute an important monophyletic group of mainly freshwater fishes (Fink and Fink, 1996). Presently, there are about 35 families with over 2,000 species in all continents except Antarctica (Lundberg, 1993; Nelson, 1994); however, at least in the Eocene, they also inhabited Antarctica as well (Grande and Eastman, 1986). A small number of catfishes (most of the ariids and many of the plotosids) are marine and some species of other families can enter brackish waters (Nelson, 1994). Pre-Cenozoic catfishes are extremely rare outside of South America.

The specimen catalogue of the Collection of Fossil Vertebrates in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of Wyoming in Laramie is now available on the World Wide Web. The URL for the site is http://paleo.gg.uwyo.edu. The construction of the website is the final step in the collection improvement grant (DBI-9808626) awarded by the National Science Foundation to Jay Lillegraven and Mike Cassiliano. The website was built by Brian Kraatz, a graduate student of Jay's. The specimen catalogue lists over 41,000 vertebrate fossils, an increase of more than 14,000 since the start of the grant. The collection's main focus is on mammals from the late Cretaceous, Paleocene, and early Eocene.