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The succession of 38 upper Llandovery-lower Wenlock chitinozoan taxa from graptolitic horizons in the Banwy River section (Powys, Wales) is described. Five new species are named: Bursachitina nestoraeConochitina leviscapulaeConochitina mathrafalensisBelonechitina caveiBelonechitina meifodensis. A further ten taxa are described under open nomenclature. Seven chitinozoan biozones are recognized in the Banwy River section, three of which (Cingulochitina bouniensisConochitina acuminataSalopochitina bella) are new.

• Read more about Integrated Silurian chitinozoan and graptolite biostratigraphy of the Banwy River section, Wales

A new fossil spider, Vectaraneus yulei gen. et sp. nov., from the Eocene Bembridge Marls Insect Bed of the Isle of Wight, shows internal anatomy, including book lungs and tracheae, preserved by calcium carbonate replacement. The wide, medially positioned, tracheal spiracle and large tracheae which enter the prosoma are adaptations for an amphibious mode of life. The spider is placed in Cybaeidae Simon, 1898, Argyronetinae Menge, 1869, a subfamily which includes the Recent European Water Spider, Argyroneta aquatica (Clerck, 1757).

• Read more about Eocene spiders from the Isle of Wight with preserved respiratory structures

The helcionelloid mollusc Chuiliella elenae gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Ordovician of Kazakhstan. It represents the geologically youngest record of a group of mainly bilaterally symmetrical ancient molluscs which originated in the earliest Cambrian, flourished during the early-mid Cambrian and was thought to have become extinct during the late Cambrian. Chuiliella is a typical helcionelloid in terms of shell shape, although the comarginal ornamentation characteristic of many helcionelloids is lacking.

• Read more about Latest helcionelloid molluscs from the Lower Ordovician of Kazakhstan

Fossil bones of the frog Platymantis are reported for the first time. Platymantis megabotoniviti sp. nov. is described from fossil bones of late Quaternary age from caves on Viti Levu, Fiji, south-west Pacific, where it was associated with fossils of the extant P. vitianusP. vitiensis. The new species is much larger than any extant congeners, and its robust form indicates that it was a ground-dwelling frog. It appears to have become extinct in the late Holocene after humans arrived on Fiji with commensal rodents.

• Read more about A new species of Platymantis (Anura: Ranidae) from Quaternary deposits on Viti Levu, Fiji

An elaboration of a little known technique involving the use of polarised light sources, together with a polarising filter over the camera lens is described and used to demonstrate its usefulness in the photography of low contrast fossils.

• Read more about The use of polarised light in photography of macrofossils

The Callovian Zohar and Matmor formations in the Negev, southern Israel, consisting of marls, shales and limestones, have yielded 13 brachiopod species (2 rhynchonellids, 11 terebratulids), referred to 12 genera, of which one genus and five species are new: Apatecosia inornata, Bihenithyris mediocostata, Digonella boylani sp. nov., Dissoria bretti sp. nov., Burmirhynchia jirbaensis, Kutchithyris landeri sp. nov., Pleuraloma triangulatum, Polyplectella debriani gen. et sp. nov., Ptyctothyris daghaniensis, Somalirhynchia africana, Striithyris saudiarabica, S. telemi sp. nov., and Zeilleria sp.

• Read more about Brachiopods from the Jurassic (Callovian) of Hamakhtesh Hagadol (Kurnub Anticline), southern Israel

A primitive 'ictidosaur' from lower Norian beds of southern Brazil, Riograndia guaibensis gen. et sp. nov., represented by a fragmentary skull and a lower jaw bearing a complete dentition, shows a more generalized morphology than Chaliminia from the Upper Triassic of Argentina and PachygenelusDiarthrognathus from the Lower Jurassic of South Africa, Canada and Greenland. The frontal bone borders the orbit, and ventrally contacts the dorsal process of the palatine. The secondary bony palate extends back to the last postcanine. I1 and i2 are reduced, whereas I2-3 and i1 are hypertrophied.

• Read more about A primitive Late Triassic 'ictidosaur' from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Benthic foraminifera are described for the first time from the Gibraltar Limestone Formation of the Rock of Gibraltar. The new species Siphovalvulina colomiS. gibraltarensisRiyadhella praeregularis occur with Duotaxis metula Kristan, Everticyclammina praevirguliana Fugagnoli, Siphovalvulina sp.,an atypically early example of Textulariopsis sp., and Nodosaria sp. Microflora are present as the probable cyanobacterium Cayeuxia ?piae Frollo, the alga Palaeodasycladus ?mediterraneus (Pia), and the disputed alga Thaumatoporella ?parvovesiculifera (Raineri).

• Read more about Lower Jurassic foraminifera and calcified microflora from Gibraltar, western Mediterranean

Sediment and organic facies as well as leaves, pollen, and diaspores co-occurring in a tuffite exposed in Oberdorf (Kouflach/Voitsberg lignite area, Styria, Austria) were investigated. The tuffite is distinguishable from the under- and overlying clastic sediments and shows locally normally-graded lapilli, which is assumed to be a sign of direct airfall. The plant assemblage partly resulted from a volcanic eruption that coincided with the season in which many woody plants were flowering; deciduous ones were leafless or in the state of opening their buds; diaspores were not yet developed.

• Read more about An Early Miocene plant assemblage severely influenced by a volcanic eruption, Styria, Austria

A study of pyritic and three-dimensional specimens of sinograptids from the early Middle Ordovician Ningkuo Formation of western Zhejiang Province, south-east China, indicates that the proximal development of both TylograptusSinograptus is of modified isograptid type. The thecal apertures of the two genera are reconstructed and display a complex morphology more typical of stratigraphically younger graptoloids. Because of differences in its prothecal folds and thecal apertures Tylograptus is distinguished from Holmograptus and regarded as a valid genus.

• Read more about The proximal development and thecal structure of the Ordovician graptolites Tylograptus and Sinograptus