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Crioceratites (Paracrioceras) asiaticum, Shasticrioceras nipponicum, Shasticrioceras patricki and S. intermedium sp. nov. are described from Barremian strata of southwest Japan. The occurrence of these ammonites in southern Japan provides important evidence for the existence of a cold water current originating in the Arctic and separating northeast Japan from the Asian continent. The lineage of crioceratids from Japan is discussed. Crioceratites (C.) ishiwarai, C. (Emericiceras) emerici and C.

• Read more about The ammonites Crioceratites (Paracrioceras) and Shasticrioceras from the Barremian of southwest Japan

The genus Stromatopora has been widely misinterpreted as characterized by vertical structural elements, but the type species, Stromatopora concentrica, has a structure, here called cassiculate, dominated by oblique elements like a chainlink fence. Only twenty-six species of the several hundred attributed to Stromatopora conform to a redefinition of the genus presented here. Cellular microstructure is distinct from microreticulate microstructure. As presently defined the Order Stromatoporida is polyphyletic.

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Thin sedimentary sequences associated with the Deccan Traps (infra- and intertrappean) of peninsular India have previously been dated as ranging in age from Late Cretaceous to Early Oligocene. Systematic work carried out in recent years on the fauna and flora of these sedimentary beds has led to the discovery of many previously unknown microvertebrate, invertebrate, and plant remains. The present paper deals with the systematics and stratigraphical significance of batoid fish remains from Asifabad and Marepalli, Andhra Pradesh state, India.

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Palynomorph assemblages comprising sporomorphs (cryptospores and miospores) and plant fragments (cuticle-like sheets and tubular structures) were recovered from red-bed sequences in the Lesmahagow, Hagshaw Hills and North Esk inliers from the Midland Valley of Scotland. The assemblages all indicate an early Wenlock age and probably belong to the chulus-nanus Spore Assemblage Biozone. The cryptospore taxa Cheilotetras caledonica gen. et sp. nov. and Pseudodyadospora petasus sp. nov. are proposed, and Tetrahedraletes is emended.

• Read more about Terrestrial plant microfossils from Silurian inliers of the Midland Valley of Scotland

Numerous nominal species of the genus Stolmorhynchia have been recorded worldwide. These vary considerably in morphology and in reality are unlikely to belong to the same genus. The type species of Stolmorhynchia from the Bajocian of Dorset, Stolmorhynchia stolidota Buckman, 1918, is described in detail for the first time. This description provides a clear picture of the true nature of the genus Stolmorhynchia, and a sound foundation from which to redefine it. Species recorded from the Caucasus appear to be the only other forms which can definitely be attributed to Stolmorhynchia.

• Read more about The brachiopod Stolmorhynchia stolidota from the Bajocian of Dorset, England

The new asteroid (Echinodermata) genus Brachisolaster is based on Solaster moretonis Forbes (Solasteridae), described from Jurassic rocks of Gloucestershire. Brachisolaster (Order Velatida) demonstres that characteristic solasteroid features were defined by the Bathonian (Middle Jurassic); other fossils belonging to different orders further demonstrate the presence of close relatives of the living fauna by this time. Arms are more numerous in Brachisolaster moretonis than in living solasteroids; the appearance is suggestive of that of living Heliaster (Asteriidae).

• Read more about A new asteroid genus from the Jurassic of England and its functional significance

The abundant and diverse trace fossils attributed to xiphosurid activity on sandstone soles at Westbury on Severn are described and interpreted. The xiphosurids seem to have been active in this area mainly after major storm event sedimentation. Two patterns of scratches, three types of lunate marks, and a bilobate furrow assignable to Cruziana perucca are distinguished. The lunate marks and one pattern of the scratch marks are assigned to Selenichnites isp. The marks were produced either during carnivorous feeding or burrowing for concealment.

• Read more about Xiphosurid trace fossils from the Westbury Formation (Rhaetian) of southwest Britain

Four new species of actinopterygians are described from the Manse Burn Formation (Namurian) of Bearsden, Glasgow, Scotland. Two fusiform species are members of, and a third is questionably assigned to, Mesopoma: M. carricki, M. ?smithsoni, and M. pancheni. A new gibbose species is assigned to a new genus, Frederichthys musadentatus.

• Read more about New actinopterygian fish from the Namurian Manse Burn Formation of Bearsden, Scotland

Cladistic analysis of various Palaeozoic and post-Palaeozoic crinoids indicates that the latter constitute a monophyletic clade, the Articulata, whose origins lie among the late Palaeozoic Ampelocrinidae of the inadunate order Cladida. The Cladida, raised to subclass alongside the Disparida and Camerata, is extended to include the Flexibilia and Articulata. Early articulates differ from some Palaeozoic cladids only in the absence of an anal plate in the adult cup, but a suite of characters can be used to identify progressively more derived members of the articulate stem group.

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The epidermal structure of Upper Carboniferous Reticulopteris fronds is documented for the first time. It is shown to be very similar to that of Neuropteris obliqua, confirming earlier stratigraphical and gross-morphological evidence of a phylogenetic link between the two frond-types. The evolution of Reticulopteris fronds with their anastomosed venation from typical open-veined Neuropteris probably reflects the drier climate in the middle Westphalian. Barthelopteris gen. nov.

• Read more about The epidermal structure of the Carboniferous gymnosperm frond Reticulopteris