Ascidian spicules are reported for the first time from the upper Eocene (Paleogene) biosiliceous marls and mudstones of the Blanche Point Formation in the St. Vincent Basin, southeastern Australia. The spicules that belong to the family Polycitoridae are identified as a Recent species Cystodytes cf. dellechiajei, and Cystodytes sp. and spicules of the family Didemnidae are indentified as representing genera Lissoclinum, Didemnum, and Polysyncraton. Five other different morphological spicule types which can be classified only at the family level also belong to the Didemnidae. This study demonstrates that ascidians had a very wide distribution by the late Eocene and that ascidian fauna was already of a modern character.

Unique among the Rugosa are specialized cyst-like structures in corals from an upper Carboniferous limestone within the Baird Formation in the Klamath Mountains, northern California. These structures, here referred to as septal cysts, occur mostly along the distal margins of the dark line extending along the axes of the major septa as seen in transverse section. However, they also commonly extend beyond the distal extent of those lines and may interrupt the fibrous coating in the more proximal parts of some septa. Their function is uncertain. Also present are small dissepiments which form a ring around the distal margins of the minor septa. These structures, however, do not appear to be related to the development of those septa. Some other taxa, including corals from the Bashkirian of Spain and the Kasimovian of Kansas, possess some specialized structures similar to those in the California specimens suggesting at least a remote relationship.

A new species of Apiocrinites is described from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Matmor Formation of the Negev, Israel. Apiocrinites negevensis is from the tropical latitudes in the Tethys, in contrast to all other reported species of this genus. With a narrow radial facet and adjacent arms not in lateral contact and large aboral cup plates, A. negevensis is quite unusual for this genus.

The Emu Bay Shale Konservat-Lagerstätte (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, is the source of two new non-biomineralized artiopodan arthropods. Squamacula buckorum n. sp. is the first record outside of China of a genus otherwise known only from its type species, S. clypeata, from the Chengjiang biota. The Australian species displays the long cephalic doublure and spiniform exopod setae that are apomorphic for this genus, provides new information on the alimentary tract and midgut glands (the latter preserved as three-dimensional, permineralized structures), and indicates interspecific variability in trunk segment numbers. The distribution of Squamacula strengthens the biogeographic connections between early Cambrian “Burgess Shale-type” biotas of Australia and South China. Australimicola spriggi n. gen. n. sp. represents a monotypic genus resolved in a cladistic analysis of Cambro-Ordovician artiopodans as most closely related to or within Conciliterga (a clade containing Helmetia, Kuamaia, Kwanyinaspis, Rhombicalvaria, Saperion, Skioldia, and Tegopelte). Compared with other members of this clade from Chengjiang and the Burgess Shale, the new genus is diagnosed by an elongate trunk with 23 thoracic tergites having spatulate pleural tips and a small pygidium possessing a single, elongate pair of pleural spines, with specimens also showing a hypostome attached to an anterior (or prehypostomal) sclerite, antennae, short endopods, an annulated alimentary tract, and a series of three-dimensional, permineralized midgut glands. An alternative relationship between Australimicola and the Early Ordovician–Early Devonian Cheloniellida explains the shared anterior flexure of trunk pleurae but forces dubious homologies in other characters, such as dorsally-articulated furcae versus spines.

The middle and late Permian to Triassic sequence of carbonate rocks in the Takachiho area, central Kyushu, Japan, originated as a Panthalassan seamount and formed parts of far-traveled accreted terranes. This succession is divided into the Permian Guadalupian Iwato and Lopingian Mitai formations, and the Triassic Kamura Formation. The Iwato Formation is further into three zones, the Neoschwagerina, Yabeina higoensis, and Neoendothyra permica zones in ascending order; the Mitai Formation includes the Nanlingella suzukii Zone. Biotic turnovers are recorded twice in the Iwato and Mitai formations. The first and more remarkable biotic event is the total disappearance of fusulines at the top of the Yabeina higoensis Zone. The Neoendothyra permica Zone is characterized by black fine-grained micritic limestones having only sparse non-fusuline foraminifers. The second biotic event is the first appearance of Wuchiapingian fusulines by which the Nanlingella suzukii Zone is defined. The Capitanian–Wuchiapingian boundary is drawn between the Neoendothyra permica and Nanlingella suzukii zones. Above this boundary both the numbers of individual foraminifers and diversity of species gradually increase. The turnovers recorded in the Takachiho area were the result of late Capitanian–Wuchiapingian environmental changes which were sufficient to cause the disappearance of large, multi-chambered fusulines and allow the new appearance of an ‘ultimate’ Paleozoic foraminiferal assemblage. Ten species of foraminifers, including Yabeina higoensis and Yabeina Columbiana, are described.

A conspicuous silicified microfossil, Frankbaronia polyspora n. gen. n. sp., occurs in plant litter and as an inhabitant of microbial mats from the Lower Devonian Rhynie chert, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Specimens are elongate-cylindrical, oval, or spherical, thin-walled, and may possess conical or column-like surface projections. Most specimens occur isolated, some are arranged in pairs or short chains. Each specimen contains several small spheres, each in turn with a (sub)centric opaque inclusion. Immature specimens indicate that ontogenesis in this fossil includes the formation of a single centric body of opaque material that subsequently is apportioned among the developing small spheres. Frankbaronia polyspora is quite similar in size and morphology to the oogonia containing oospores seen in certain extant members of the Peronosporomycetes. The Rhynie chert is known to contain the oldest fossil evidence of the Peronosporomycetes but only a single form (Hassiella monospora) has previously been documented. The discovery of a second putative representative of this group of organisms proves that this paleoecosystem is still an important source of new information on the paleodiversity of microbial life.

A new turtle, Puentemys mushaisaensis, from the middle to late Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of Colombia, is described on the basis of a partial skull and many partial to nearly complete carapaces and plastrons representing multiple ontogenetic stages. Whereas P. mushaisaensis is unique in aspects of its shell morphology, it shares many diagnostic characteristics of bothremydid pleurodirans, including a long exoccipital-quadrate contact, a very low and rounded almost circular carapace, and a thinner internal bone cortex than that of the external cortex in both the carapace and plastron. With a maximum carapacial length of 151 cm, P. mushaisaensis is the largest known bothremydid turtle and represents the first occurrence of bothremydids in the Paleogene of South American tropics. Results from a cladistic analysis of bothremydids indicate that P. mushaisaensis shares a close relationship with Foxemys mechinorum from the Late Cretaceous of Europe, indicating a wide-spread geographical distribution for bothremydines during the Late Cretaceous–Paleocene.

Biogenic structures, herein interpreted as coprolites, were recorded in the ?upper Paleocene–Eocene Las Flores Formation, southeast Argentina. The coprolite origin is supported by several features, such as recurrent extrusive external morphology, longitudinal wrinkles, flattening of the ventral side, concentric and radial cracks, cryptocrystalline groundmass, and a phosphatic composition. A detailed comparative study with modern fecal masses, based on morphology, surface texture, micromorphology, mineralogical and chemical composition, suggest a crocodylian as the most probable producer, an interpretation also supported by the Patagonian paleontological record. This discovery, the first record on coprolites from Central Patagonia, provides new paleoenvironmental and paleoecological information for the studied successions.

Recognition of a fossil previously identified as a “large Cretaceous beetle” as a glypheid lobster permits the definition of a new species, Glyphea wiffenae. The specimen was collected from the richly fossiliferous, Upper Cretaceous Maungataniwa Sandstone in eastern North Island, New Zealand. Several other fossil decapods with high southern latitude affinities have been described previously from the unit, supporting the placement of the Zealandia region within the Weddellian Biotic Province. This is only the fourth glypheid known from New Zealand and the first Cretaceous occurrence of the genus in the country.

Four distinct fossil turtle assemblages (Chelonia) are recognized from the Panama Canal Basin. The oldest, from the late Eocene–early Oligocene Gatuncillo Formation, is dominated by podocnemidid pleurodires. The early Miocene Culebra Formation includes both podocnemidids and trionychids. The early to middle Miocene Cucaracha Formation includes taxa classified in Geoemydidae (including Rhinoclemmys panamaensis n. sp.), Kinosternidae (represented by Staurotypus moschus n. sp.), large testudinids, trionychids, and podocnemidids, and finally, the late Miocene Gatun Formation records cheloniid sea turtles. These fossils include the oldest known representatives of Rhinoclemmys, the oldest record of kinosternids in Central America with a more extensive southern paleodistribution for Staurotypus and staurotypines in general, early occurrences of giant tortoises in the Neotropics, the oldest occurrence of soft-shell turtles in the tropics, the oldest late Eocene–early Oligocene Neotropical occurrences of podocnemidids. The Panamanian fossil turtles represent clades that are primarily endemic to North America, showing their very early arrival into the Neotropics prior to the complete emergence of the Isthmus of Panama, as well as their first contact with Caribbean-South American pleurodires by the early Miocene.

The Early Cretaceous non-marine ostracod genera Hourcqia Krömmelbein and Pattersoncypris Bate are reinstated. A previously published referral of Hourcqia to Cypridea Bosquet is rejected due to the absence of an anteroventral rostrum in the holotype of the type species Hourcqia africana Krömmelbein. The genus Hourcqia is characterized by an “inverse” valve ratio (right valve larger than left) and the lack of an anteroventral rostrum, and the diagnosis of the genus is broadened to accommodate ornamented forms, resulting in the acceptance of five species: Hourcqia africana, H. confluens (Krömmelbein and Weber), H. kouilouensis (Grosdidier), H. bateke (Grosdidier) and H. sylvesterbradleyi (Bate). The previously published synonymy of Pattersoncypris with the genus Harbinia Tsao is also rejected. The diagnosis of Pattersoncypris is refined, meaning that three species are recognized: Pattersoncypris micropapillosa Bate, P. salitrensis (Krömmelbein and Weber), and P. sinuata (Krömmelbein and Weber). The new genus Kroemmelbeincypris is erected for two species initially assigned to Hourcqia, and subsequently to Pattersoncypris and Harbinia by different authors: Kroemmelbeincypris symmetrica (Krömmelbein and Weber) and K. angulata (Krömmelbein and Weber). The genus Hourcqia is diagnostic of latest Barremian non-marine settings, whilst Pattersoncypris and Kroemmelbeincypris characterize Aptian saline lacustrine environments. The geographic ranges of all three genera are restricted to northeastern and eastern Brazil and northern and western Africa, though a species of Pattersoncypris (P. dakotaensis Tibert and Colin) is also present in the United States.

Members of the Etyidae and Feldmanniidae new family have unique arrangements of the spermatheca and gonopores that permit placement of each in different families and that differentiate each from all other brachyurans. Spermathecal openings are not always positioned along the sternal suture between sternites 7 and 8, suggesting that reproductive architecture within the Brachyura and what was formerly regarded as the Podotremata is considerably more diverse and disparate than previously thought. Etyidae and Feldmanniidae radiated in the early Cretaceous and survived into the Paleogene. New taxa include Steorrosia new genus, Bretonia new genus, Faksecarcinus new genus, and sixteen new combinations.

The Moncure microvertebrate locality in the Cumnock Formation, Sanford sub-basin, North Carolina, dramatically increases the known Late Triassic age vertebrate assemblage from the Deep River Basin. The ∼50,000 recovered microvertebrate fossils include osteichthyans, amphibians, and numerous lepidosauromorph, archosauriform, and synapsid amniotes. Actinopterygian fossils consist of thousands of scales, teeth, skull, and lower jaw fragments, principally of redfieldiids and semionotids. Non-tetrapod sarcopterygians include the dipnoan Arganodus sp., the first record of lungfish in the Newark Supergroup. Temnospondyls are comparatively rare but the preserved centra, teeth, and skull fragments probably represent small (juvenile) metoposaurids. Two fragmentary teeth are assigned to the unusual reptile Colognathus obscurus (Case). Poorly preserved but intriguing records include acrodont and pleurodont jaw fragments tentatively assigned to lepidosaurs. Among the archosauriform teeth is a taxon distinct from R. callenderi that we assign to Revueltosaurus olseni new combination, a morphotype best assigned to cf. Galtonia, the first Newark Supergroup record of Crosbysaurus sp., and several other archosauriform tooth morphotypes, as well as grooved teeth assigned to the recently named species Uatchitodon schneideri. Synapsids represented by molariform teeth include both “traversodontids” assigned to aff. Boreogomphodon and the “dromatheriid” Microconodon. These records are biogeographically important, with many new records for the Cumnock Formation and/or the Newark Supergroup. In particular, Colognathus, Crosbysaurus, and Uatchitodon are known from basins of Adamanian age in the southwestern U.S.A. These new records include microvertebrate taxa more typical of non-Newark basins (abundant archosauriforms, temnospondyls, lungfish) as well as more typical Newark osteichthyans and synapsid-rich faunal elements.

The fruits of the extinct genus Hemitrapa Miki (Trapaceae) are described from the Miocene Shanwang Formation, representing its first fossil record in the Cenozoic of China. Bearing a fusiform, relatively small fruit body with a very long stalk and four sub-equal, strongly ascending, horn-like arms, the Chinese fossil fruits are described as H. shanwangensis Q. Wang new species. Prior to this discovery, a dispersed, trapaceous pollen Sporotrapoidites erdtmanii (Nagy) Nagy was documented from the same formation. Recent paleobotanical and palynological studies in Europe demonstrated that Hemitrapa was closely related to S. erdtmanii, so the co-occurrence of Hemitrapa fruits and S. erdtmanii pollen at Shanwang implies that they may stem from the same parental plant population. Hemitrapa fruits have been widely recognized from the Miocene of mid-latitudes in France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Russia, Korea, Japan and the U.S.A. as well as from the late Oligocene–Miocene of Germany and the late Eocene of the Czech Republic. In contrast, dispersed S. erdtmanii pollen has been recovered from the Miocene in central Europe as well as from the late Eocene to the Pliocene of eastern Asiatic shelf basins near the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan. Overall, the microfossil and macrofossil records demonstrate that the parental plants of Hemitrapa might have begun to diversify from the mid-latitudes of Eurasia since the Eocene, flourished in eastern Asia and Central Europe during the Miocene, and become extinct after the Pliocene.

Numerous exuviae of three Dechenella species (D. givetensis, D. ziegleri and D. calxensis) from the Middle Devonian (Givetian) of NE France (Ardenne Massif) provide the opportunity to identify the evolutionary modifications of ontogeny of the three Dechenella species and to elaborate a conceptual framework of developmental shape changes. First we used biometric and morphometric approaches to characterize shape modifications. Then we computed ontogenetic trajectories by multivariate regression of geometric shape variables on centroid size in order to compare them. Finally, we compared parallelism between trajectories and rates of development relative to size. These analyses demonstrate a significant difference in the cranidial developmental trajectories of D. givetensis and D. ziegleri indicating an allometric repatterning. However, pygidia of these species share the same allometric pattern with a distinct developmental rate suggesting that heterochrony could be a partial explanation for the body shape evolution. Pygidial ontogeny of D. calxensis corresponds to an allometric repatterning with respect to both other species. This work illustrates the complexity of evolutionary modifications of ontogeny constituting an important process in morphological novelties.