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The earlier discovery of mantle canals lining the interareas of protrematous brachiopods and the implication that these areas were lined with mantle and not simply outer epithelium is supported by evidence from Crozonorthis. In this genus the ventral interareas show a clear external differentiation, reflecting a lining of mantle laterally and of outer epithelium medianly. Moreover, this morphology provides clear evidence, contrary to popular opinion, that setae could develop along the growing margin of a protrematous interarea.

• Read more about Mantle-body arrangement along the hinge of early protrematous brachiopods: evidence from Crozonorthis

A new and nearly complete forefin has been discovered on a slab containing a specimen of the ichthyosaur Grippia longirostris. It is the only well-articulated forefin of this poorly known species, and is one of the most complete forefins known for the earliest ichthyosaurs from the Lower Triassic (Spathian). Contrary to the proposals of previous authors, the terminal phalanges did not support 'hooves'.

• Read more about First complete forefin of the ichthyosaur Grippia longirostris from the Triassic of Spitsbergen

The sauropterygian Cymatosaurus, C. minor sp. nov., from the Lower Muschelkalk of Hetschburg near Bad Berka, Thuringia, Germany, is described. It differs from other species of its genus by its relatively small overall size, the development of a parietal sagittal crest, a comparatively long and narrow upper temporal fossa, the anterior extent of the parietals reaches to a level well in front of the posterior margins of the orbits, and the vomers are fused.

• Read more about A new species of the sauropterygian Cymatosaurus from the Lower Muschelkalk of Thuringia, Germany

Silicified assemblages of Silurian chitons (polyplacophorans) from Gotland, Sweden are dominated quantitatively by a new, Wenlock species of the long-ranging genus Chelodes; C. actinis sp. nov. is described herein. Head sclerites, previously unknown for Chelodes, are recognized for this species, but no tail sclerites are identified. Other Gotland Chelodes species, including the type species C. bergmani, are revised. Spicuchelodes pilatis, a closely related new genus and species, is also described. Silicification took place by delayed replacement, before significant compaction.

• Read more about Chelodes and closely related Polyplacophora (Mollusca) from the Silurian of Gotland, Sweden

Stromatoporoids are epibenthic calcified sponges in many Phanerozoic (especially Palaeozoic) reef, and reef-related environments, and may be used as tools for all scales of palaeoenvironmental analysis. Palaeozoic stromatoporoid classification uses the calcified skeleton, and although higher level taxa may be convergent, genera and species are normally readily identifiable and have palaeobiological utility.

• Read more about The applications of stromatoporoid palaeobiology in palaeoenvironmental analysis

The type material of eight coralline algal species of the 27 established by Lemoine (1939) from the Cretaceous and Cenozoic of Algeria is preserved in Emberger's Collection at the University of Nantes. This is one of the very few extant collections of the original fossil material of Mme Lemoine, probably the most influential and prolific author of coralline algal palaeontology in this century.

• Read more about Redescription of Lemoine's (1939) types of coralline algal species from Algeria

Two genera of subtropical to tropical, nearshore-marine nerineid gastropods, Aphanoptyxis and Nerinella, are recognized for the first time in the Cretaceous of California. A listing of Cretaceous nerineid species from between British Columbia and Baja California, an area presently north of the tropics, records 12 species of nerineids, including two new species, Aphanoptyxis californica and Nerinella santana. Aphanoptyxis andersoni nom. nov., of Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian) age from near Ono, northern California, is the earliest Aphanoptyxis recorded in the western hemisphere; A.

• Read more about New Cretaceous Gastropoda from California

Eleven late Arenig—Llanvirn trilobite taxa, including one new species, Neseuretus elongatus, are described from the Hsiangyang Formation east of Dali, in the eastern part of west Yunnan, China, an area that may have been part of the Indo-China Terrane. The trilobites are mostly typical representatives of Gondwana cold-water faunas, and their close biogeographical relationships with south-central Europe and the Yangtze region are discussed.

• Read more about Early Ordovician trilobites from Dali, west Yunnan, China, and their palaeogeographical significance

New evidence for predation on graptoloids is presented from collections made from the uppermost Llandovery and lower Wenlock of Wales. Mediograptus morleyae occurs in dense ovoid masses, interpreted as faecal pellets. Rhabdosomes of both M. morleyae and M. cf. inconspicuus occur folded, with a stipe length of a few thecae between folds: these specimens may have a faecal origin, or may represent rhabdosomes dropped during manipulation prior to ingestion. The predation appears to have been species specific: none of the other species present in the collections is affected.

• Read more about Predation on graptoloids: new evidence from the Silurian of Wales

A first attempt is made to integrate the plant, insect and tetrapod elements of the Late Triassic (Carnian) intracontinental, braidplain ecosystems of the Karoo Basin, South Africa. These are probably the richest known for this pivotal early Mesozoic interval when the dinosaurs, mammals, some insect orders and possibly the birds and flowering plants made their earliest appearance. Intensive sampling of 100 Molteno Formation taphocoenoses has yielded 56 genera with 206 species of plant (vegetative taxa) and 117 genera with 335 species of insect.

• Read more about Late Triassic ecosystems of the Molteno/Lower Elliot biome of southern Africa