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A small collection of cephalopods from the middle Ordovician of the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia consists entirely of orthoconic longicones tentatively referred to the actinocerid genus Mesaktoceras? and pseudorthocerid Sactoceras?. Both taxa have Australasian affinities. Circumpolar Gondwana cephalopod faunas in the mid Ordovician were of low diversity and dominated by orthocerids, whilst actinocerids were largely restricted to low palaeolatitudes. The presence of Mesaktoceras? and Sactoceras? in a benthonic fauna belonging to the Neseuretus community is regarded as anomalous.

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Newly discovered coniferous shoots from the Cretaceous of Nanjing are attributed to the xeromorphic coniferous genus Glenrosa Watson and Fisher, which is found in China as well as in Eurasia for the first time. G. nanjingensis sp. nov. is known from shoots bearing scale-like leaves with thick epidermal cuticle and hypodermis. Stomata are confined to the abaxial surface deeply sunken in stomatal chambers which are filled with papillae.

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A new specimen, comprising eight articulated caudal vertebrae in a cut slab of blue/grey carbonate mudstone, is comparable to the early thyreophoran dinosaur Scelidosaurus harrisonii Owen from the English Lower Jurassic. Palynological analysis indicates that the specimen is probably late Hettangian-Sinemurian (Early Jurassic), but the exact horizon and locality remain uncertain. The slab has been cut longitudinally in a parasagittal plane along the vertebral series and exposes several articulated centra, haemal arches, neural arches and osteoderms.

• Read more about A new specimen of the thyreophoran dinosaur cf. Scelidosaurus with soft tissue preservation

The tetrapodomorph sarcopterygian Livoniana multidentata gen. et sp. nov. is described on the basis oflower jaw fragments from the Middle Devonian (late Givetian) of Latvia and Estonia. It possesses a suite of derivedcharacters previously only known from tetrapods, which first appear in the late Devonian (late Frasnian), and aphylogenetic analysis places it on the internode between Panderichthys and the base of the Tetrapoda. The analysisalso reveals that the 'Elpistostegalia' are paraphyletic to Tetrapoda, with Elpistostege closer to tetrapods than isPanderichthys.

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A biostratigraphical and taxonomic revision of the genus Euhoploceras is presented using new material collected from the Upper Aalenian-Lower Bajocian of south-west England and the Betic Cordillera (Spain). Euhoploceras is shown to range from the uppermost Aalenian (Concavum Zone, Limitatum Subzone) to the Lower Bajocian (Laeviuscula Zone). S. S.

• Read more about The sonniniid ammonite Euhoploceras from the Middle Jurassic of south-west England and southern Spain

The Quercymegapodiidae, primitive galliforms resembling recent megapodes, have been described from the Upper Eocene of Quercy, France. They have also been identified in the Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene of Brazil, where they are represented by the genus Ameripodius Alvarenga. A new species of this genus, Ameripodius alexis sp. nov., from the Lower Miocene of France, is described here. The occurrence of the same genus on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean emphasizes the similarities between South American and European avifaunas during the early Tertiary.

• Read more about A new species of Ameripodius (Aves: Galliformes: Quercymegapodiidae) from the Lower Miocene of France

An exceptionally well-preserved collection of Tertiary opisthobranch molluscs from the Aquitaine Basin, France, includes species of the order Notaspidea [Umbraculum sanctipaulensis sp. nov., Tylodina perversa (Gmelin), Spiricella unguiculus Rang and Des Moulins, Berthella aquitaniensis sp. nov., Berthella ateles sp. nov.], of the order Anaspidea [Akera cf. bullata Muller, Floribella corrugata (Cossmann), Floribella cossmanni sp. nov., Floribella rozieri sp. nov., Limondinia ornata gen. et sp. nov.] and of the order Sacoglossa [Volvatella faviae sp. nov.]. Berthella aquitaniensis, B.

• Read more about Opisthobranch molluscs from the Tertiary of the Aquitaine Basin (south-western France), with descriptions of seven new species and a new genus

Aspidella terranovica Billings, 1872 was first described from the late Neoproterozoic Fermeuse Formation (St. John's Group) on the Avalon Peninsula of eastern Newfoundland, approximately 1 km stratigraphically above the famous Ediacaran biota at Mistaken Point, and several kilometres below the base of the Cambrian. Aspidella has been reinterpreted perhaps more than any other Precambrian taxon, and has variously been regarded as a fossil mollusc or 'medusoid', a gas escape structure, a concretion, or a mechanical suction mark.

• Read more about The first named Ediacaran body fossil, Aspidella terranovica

The Kundaram Formation, a Lower Gondwana unit of the Pranhita-Godavari valley, contains the only known Permian dicynodonts in India. This dicynodont assemblage is dominated by Endothiodon. Two species (Endothiodon mahalanobisi sp. nov and Endothiodon uniseries Owen 1879) are described here. This is the first detailed study of Endothiodon from outside Africa. The study shows that Endothiodon jaw articulation permitted propalinal action when the opposing serrations in the upper and the lower jaw teeth occluded with the horn covered areas and helped in shearing and mastication.

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A taxonomic and biostratigraphical re-assessment of Subterraniphyllum Elliott (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) is presented. Results from studies of the type collection and of newly collected material from north-eastern Italy and northern Slovenia have shown that this taxon is not a geniculate coralline red alga as originally suggested by Elliott and most subsequent authors.

• Read more about Taxonomic and biostratigraphical re-assessments of Subterraniphyllum Elliott (Corallinales, Rhodophyta)