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An assemblage of three-dimensionally preserved insects and millipedes from the lale Oligocene/early Miocene limestones of Riversleigh (north-west Queensland) augments a sparse Tertiary insect record from Australia. The fauna includes four species of Coleoptera, one of Trichopiera represented only by the larva, and a myriapod. The arthropods are uncompacted and have been replicated in calcium phosphate. Early phosphatization has preserved original structures such as the overlapping layers and helicoidal pore canals of the procuticle, and wrinkles in the arthrodial membrane.

• Read more about Three-dimensionally mineralized insects and millipedes from the Tertiary of Riversleigh, Queensland, Australia

Members of the malacostracan order Pygocephalomorpha are among the most characteristic elements in nearshore marine and freshwater communities in the Carboniferous and Permian of Europe and North America. A new family of pygocephalomorph Eumalacostraca, Tylocarididae, with two nev monospecific genera, is described from China, where it occurs in the Early Permian Tungtzeyen Formation of Fujian, and in the Late Permian Lungtan Formation of Hunan. The descriptions of Fujianocaris bifurcate. gen. et sp. nov. and Tylocaris asiaticus gen. et sp. nov.

• Read more about New pygocephalomorph crustaceans from the Permian of China and their phylogenetic relationships

The nephropid lobster, Hoploparia gazdzicki sp. nov., is described from Early Miocene glacio-marine sedimentary rocks of King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Such an occurrence considerably extends the stratigraphical range of a widespread lobster genus that reached its acme in the Late Cretaceous. The previous youngest records were from the Eocene of western Europe, and it would appear that by the Early Miocene, the genus may have become a relict in relatively cold and deep waters in Antarctic.

• Read more about The significance of a new nephropid lobster from the Miocene of Antarctica

The anomalocystitid mitrate Rhenocystis latipedunculata, from the Lower Devonian Hunsruckschiefer of Rhineland, Germany, is reconstructed and redescribed.

• Read more about A redescription of the anomalocystitid mitrate Rhenocystis latipedunculata from the Lower Devonian of Germany

Multivariate statistical analysis of the absolute abundance of amino acids extracted from the intracrystalline sites of brachiopods has the potential for constructing a molecular phylogeny. In all cases, separation of the brachiopods was possible to subordinal level and in some cases to subfamilial level. Older samples showed a merging of closely related genera, indicating the loss of specificity caused by the degradation of amino acids.

• Read more about Problems for taxonomic analysis using intracrystalline amino acids: an example using brachiopods

A precise laser based technique has been used to measure changes in fluid velocity over a range of graptolite models mounted in a wind tunnel. Results from this laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) show the flow to be altered significantly by spines on the sicula and by the morphology of the thecae. A single virgellar spine retards flow along the 'naked' (ventral) side of the sicula and directs it instead over the thecae. More complicated sicular spine arrays in Ordovician biserial graptolites produce trailing vortices and turbulence. These results are important for three reasons.

• Read more about Fluid dynamics of the graptolite rhabdosome recorded by laser doppler anemometry

Sixteen trilobite taxa are described from the type section of the Dawangou Formation (late Arenig-early Llanvirn) at Dawangou, Kalpin, north-western Tarim, Xinjiang, north-west China. They include two new genera: the asaphine Mioptychopyge and the pterygometopine Yanhaoia. Evidence from the lithofacies and from the composition and taphonomy of the assemblages suggests that the fauna lived in a generally calm, upper slope environment.

• Read more about Ordovician trilobites from the Dawangou Formation, Kalpin, Xinjiang, north-west China

A vertebrate assemblage from the Coniacian-Santonian Ibeceten Formation of southern Niger includes pipid frogs, which are described herein. The fossils occur within fluviatile-lacustrine strata and consist of disarticulated elements. Two pipid taxa are present: the hyperossified Pachybatrachus taqueti gen. et sp. nov., and another unidentified taxon. The phylogenetic relationships of both are discussed in the context of recent hypotheses of pipid evolution. Pachybatrachus exhibits some derived features unknown in other pipids.

• Read more about Pipid frogs from the Upper Cretaceous of In Beceten, Niger

The late Ordovician Soom Shale of South Africa contains exceptionally preserved fossils of several taxa, the soft tissues of which are uniquely composed of clay and alunite group minerals. In addition, originally phosphatic brachiopod shells and conodont elements have been replaced by clays. Sub-cellular structural details of conodont muscle tissues are faithfully replicated by the clay minerals. Geochemical analyses have constrained interpretation of the conditions in the sediment and bottom waters of the Soom Shale basin during deposition and early diagenesis.

• Read more about Taphonomy of the Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte: an example of soft tissue preservation in clay minerals

A new genus and species of trematopid amphibian, Tambachia trogallas, is described on the basis of the greater portion of a skeleton, including the skull. The holotype was collected from the Early Permian Tambach Formation, the lowermost unit of the Upper Rotliegend, of the Bromacker locality in the midregion of the Thuringian Forest near Gotha, central Germany. Not only is this the first trematopid to be reported outside the United States, but it is the first specimen to include the greater portion of the postcranial skeleton.

• Read more about A new trematopid amphibian from the Lower Permian of central Germany