Archive

The temnospondyl Wantzosaurus elongatus Lehman, 1961, from the Lower Triassic of Madagascar, is redescribed on the basis of a new specimen, which is the most complete trematosaur ever found. Detailed osteological observations and comparisons provide new data on the anatomy, ontogeny, palaeobiology and palaeoecology of this peculiar marine 'amphibian'. The morphology of this aquatically readapted taxon is compared to that of marine 'reptiles': Wantzosaurus might have been able to swim by undulation.

• Read more about The first articulated trematosaur 'amphibian' from the Lower Triassic of Madagascar: implications for the phylogeny of the group

A distinctive shallow-burrowing bivalve with an elongate rostrum, common in the British Middle Jurassic, is frequently referred to as Cuspidaria ibbetsoni (Morris, 1853) and as such is recognised as one of the earliest members of the anomalodesmatan family Cuspidariidae. Since modern cuspidariids are highly specialised bivalves and are voracious carnivores in the deep sea, whereas C. ibbetsoni is prevalent in brackish-water facies, questions have been raised over its true affinities. We have investigated new and pre-existing material of C.

• Read more about The Middle Jurassic bivalve 'Cuspidaria' ibbetsoni: a corbulid not a septibranch

A new genus of palaeomacromiid dragonflies, Curviarculia, based on Curviarculia delicata sp. nov. and Curviarculia lamasi sp. nov., is erected from the upper Paleocene Maiz Gordo Formation of north-western Argentina. Phylogenetic relationships within Palaeomacromiidae are discussed, leading to a new family diagnosis.

• Read more about New palaeomacromiid dragonflies from the upper Palaeocene of Argentina

Rudist bivalves are described from two Upper Aptian-Albian sections in northern Sinai, Egypt. Independent stratigraphical evidence is provided by orbitolinid foraminifera and sequence stratigraphic correlation with other, ammonite-bearing sections of the region. With the exception of Eoradiolites liratus (Conrad) and Sellaea, this is the first record of Lower Cretaceous rudists from Egypt. A rather continuous occurrence of rudists is recorded in the more open marine deposit at Rizan Aneiza, but they occur only in the Middle-Upper Albian at Gebel Raghawi to the south-west.

• Read more about Upper Aptian-Albian rudist bivalves from northern Sinai, Egypt

The oldest described fossils of the extant spider families Segestriidae, Oonopidae, Oecobiidae, Dictynidae and Linyphiidae, previously known from the Tertiary, are presented from Upper Cretaceous amber of New Jersey. The third and oldest known specimen of the fossil spider family Lagonomegopidae is also described and provides further palaeontological evidence of a common Laurasian fauna. The extant genera Segestria and Oecobius are taken back a further 52 and 69-74 myr respectively in the fossil record.

• Read more about Spiders in Upper Cretaceous amber from New Jersey (Arthropoda: Araneae)

The Hamitidae are a family of mid-Cretaceous heteromorph ammonites including lineages leading to four other families. Problems are outlined in trying to describe the phylogeny of completely extinct groups such as these heteromorph ammonites using the existing cladistic terminology, which is largely concerned with extant taxa and their ancestors. To solve these problems, two new terms are proposed: +crown groups and +stem groups, which are equivalent to crown and stem groups in terms of the evolutionary history of a clade, but are not defined on the basis of extant taxa.

• Read more about Cladistic analysis of a problematic ammonite group: the Hamitidae (Cretaceous, Albian-Turonian) and proposals for new cladistic terms

Among the Rugosa operculae were developed by only a few genera. One is the slipper-shaped Calceola and another is the pyramidal shaped Goniophyllum. On the basis of biological and morphological knowledge of recent corals, the two different bauplans of the soft bodies of Calceola and Goniophyllum have been reconstructed. The soft body (i.e. the polyp) of a rugose coral is thought to have all the basic structures of anthozoan polyps: a barrel-like body shape, a flat oral disc with tentacles, and a mouth from which a pharynx reaches inside the gastric cavity.

• Read more about Structural-functional aspects in the evolution of operculate corals (Rugosa)

A wind of change has swept through palaeontology in the past few decades. Contrast Sir Peter Medawar's dismissive: 'palaeontology is a particularly undemanding branch of science' (as recalled by John Maynard Smith in Sabbagh 1999, p. 158) with 'Palaeontology: grasping the opportunities in the science of the twenty-first century', the title of a contribution to a special issue of Geobios by the Cambridge palaeontologist, Simon Conway Morris (1998a).

• Read more about Palaeontology and evolutionary developmental biology: a science of the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries

Silurian brachiopods are described from 21 boreholes in Lithuania. Nine genera are recognized and represented by one or two species, including the atrypids Atrypoidea, Cromatrypa, Lissatrypa and Septatrypa, athyridids Collarothyris, Nucleospira, Meristina and Pseudoprotathyris, and rhynchonellids Ancillotoechia and Plagiorhyncha. Two new species, Cromatrypa? pubes and Lissatrypa lithuanica, are described.

• Read more about Some Silurian brachiopods from Lithuania and their palaeobiogeographical significance

New and rich material of the stereospondyl amphibian Mastodonsaurus giganteus from Kupferzell in southern Germany allows for the first time a detailed study of the neurocranium of this species. Both sections and uncrushed specimens preserved in three dimensions were examined. The sphenethmoid ranges from the sella turcica region far to the anterior almost towards the nasal capsules, which remained unossified. The basisphenoid persisted as cartilage, whose morphology can be traced from imprints in surrounding bones.

• Read more about The neurocranium of the stereospondyl Mastodonsaurus giganteus