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The Early Cretaceous Spanish localities of El Montsec and Las Hoyas have yielded the fish trails Undichnabritannica and Undichna unisulca ichnosp. nov. respectively. The former consists of two intertwined waves, and wasprobably produced by the elopiform Ichthyemidion vidali.

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A new genus of plesiadapiform mammal, Toliapina, with two new species, Toliapina vinealis and T. lawsoni, is described from the middle Ypresian (lower Eocene) Sables a` Unios et Te´re´dines of Avenay (Marne), France, and the London Clay Formation, division C/D, of Sheppey, Kent, England. Toliapina is considered to be most closely related to Avenius, also from Avenay, and Berruvius from the Thanetian (upper Paleocene) of Cernay and Berru (Marne). The new genus Sarnacius is erected for the species ‘Berruvius’gingerichi, the most primitive member of this related group.

• Read more about A new family of plesiadapiformes (Mammalia) from the Old World lower Paleogene

• Read more about A replacement name for the trilobite Lalax Holloway and Lane non Hamilton

Gigantonoclea is a distinctive and enigmatic plant from the Permian of North China proper, with an unusual frond architecture and a pollen organ and vascular structure which are unique; it demonstrates a sudden rise and a rapid extinction. This paper reviews previous work on Asian gigantopterids and describes new material from the Upper Permian of Shanxi Province, including a new type of pollen organ (Jiaochengia lagrelii) and two new species of frond (Gigantonoclea crenataG. pubescens).

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Allochthonous Lower and Middle Jurassic (Pliensbachian-Bathonian) permineralized and charcoalified woods from the Cleveland Basin (North Yorkshire, England) are assigned to five genera of gymnospermous wood (Cupressinoxylon spp., Taxodioxylon spp., Cedroxylon spp., XenoxylonAraucarioxylon) and two species (Xenoxylon phyllocladoidesAraucarioxylon lindlei). Cell structure is commonly well preserved, particularly in calcified and charcoalified samples, and several features of the growth rings have palaeoclimatological significance.

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Sampling of hiatal horizons within the Hauterivian part of the Speeton Clay Formation of north-east England has produced teeth of several species of sharks and rays, four of which are previously unnamed. One species of shark, Cretorectolobus doylei sp. nov., and two species of rays, Spathobatis rugosus sp. nov. and Dasyatis speetonensis sp. nov., are named, whilst the presence of an indeterminate triakid shark is also noted. Synechodus dubrisiensis (Mackie) is shown to be a senior synonym of S. michaeli Thies.

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Fossil Apis species from the Oligocene, Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene of Eurasia are described and their relationships with Recent species are discussed. Several new populations of fossil bees are reported from the Oligocene and Miocene of France and Spain, including Apis aquisextusensis sp. nov. The present state of knowledge of fossil bee systematics is poor because of the general lack of preserved characters. Some of the problems, and items requiring further investigation, are identified.

• Read more about A revision of the Eurasian fossil species of the bee Apis

It has been suggested that certain families of rudist bivalves (superfamily Hippuritoidea) were 'preadapted' to inhabit different environments and radiated to fill them. This scenario was based on a hypothesis of a geometric constraint of shell growth, a differential increase in the number of rudist genera possessing uncoiled shells relative to those possessing spirogyrate (i.e. coiled) shells, and a speculative phylogeny.

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The helcionelloid molluscs Oelandiella korobkoviO. sibirica Vostokova are redescribed on the basis of type material from the lowest Cambrian of northern Siberia. Oelandiella is reinstated as a recognizable genus separated from Latouchella Cobbold, of which it has been considered generally to be a junior synonym, by differences in the prominent comarginal plication. The bilaterally symmetrical shells of both of these genera are readily delimited from Oelandia Westergard, originally described from the Middle Cambrian of Sweden, which has a characteristic asymmetrical alternation of plicae.

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Pleionastraea gen. nov. of the family Lithostrotionidae is described from the Lower Carboniferous Brigantian Stage of northern England. Two species, P. magnaP. matura, are referred to it. This astraeoid/thamnasterioid genus is distinguished from Orionastraea by its larger dimensions, but is considered to have followed the same evolutionary trend of a gradual breakdown of the corallite wall.

• Read more about A new Carboniferous rugose coral genus from northern England