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Upper Ordovician trepostome bryozoans from the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, contain trace fossils that resulted from the overgrowth by the bryozoan of soft-bodied parasites that settled on the living colony. The resulting structures (pseudoborings) superficially resemble borings, and the term 'bioclaustration' is introduced to describe the process. The pseudoboring consists of groups or rows of sub-circular pits, connected by tunnels that were formed by the roofing-over of adventitious stolons by localized bryozoan growth.

• Read more about Parasitism of Ordovician bryozoans and the origin of pseudoborings

The dinoflagellate cyst biostratigraphy of Quaternary sediments in the North Sea is described. The data accumulated demonstrate the recognition of glacial, interstadial, and interglacial periods but do not necessarily date the relevant sediments. Certain major events such as the distinctive change from the Early Pleistocene to Middle and Late Pleistocene conditions are particularly noted, as is the onset of the modern oceanographic situation, all of which have distinctive signals in the dinoflagellate cyst record.

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The litho- and biostratigraphy of the type section of the Onnian Stage in the Onny River, south Shropshire, is reassessed on the basis of detailed sampling over an extended period, including years when the river level was unusually low. The base of the Onny Formation is redefined at a level within the upper part of the Onnian and thus the base of the stage lies within the Acton Scott Formation. Four biozones are defined on the basis of closely spaced samples of the trinucleid trilobite Onnia, a peri-Gondwanan immigrant. In ascending order these are: the O.

• Read more about The stratigraphical distribution and taxonomy of the trilobite Onnia in the type Onnian Stage of the uppermost Caradoc

Capitosaurid temnospondyls are the most widespread and among the most abundant of the Triassic amphibians, but their phylogenetic relationships are not well understood. The superfamily Capitosauroidea (Capitosauridae, Benthosuchidae, and Mastodonsauridae) appears to be well characterized by several synapomorphies, but taxa within the superfamily are often less firmly established. A new capitosaurid species, Parotosuchus aliciae, is described from the earliest Triassic (Scythian Al) of Queensland.

• Read more about A new capitosaurid amphibian from the early Triassic of Queensland, and the ontogeny of the capitosaur skull

A recently discovered arthropod, Sanctacaris uncata gen. et sp. nov., from the Glossopleura Zone, Stephen Formation of Mount Stephen, British Columbia belongs in the Chelicerata. The head shield is wider than long, convex axially, and extends laterally into two flat triangular projections. It bears at least six pairs of biramous appendages. The first five are similar, increasing in size posteriorly and arranged with their inner rami in a raptorial array of inwardly facing, segmented, spinose limbs, accompanied by antenna-like, presumably sensory, outer rami.

• Read more about A Middle Cambrian chelicerate from Mount Stephen, British Columbia

It has been claimed that Cambrian and early Ordovician echinoderms show two phases of diversification as recognized by Sepkoski for marine taxa in general. However, a more critical assessment of the record, using cladistic analyses of all determinable echinoderm genera to identify sister group relationships, allows sampling deficits to be taken into consideration.

• Read more about Patterns of diversification and extinction in early Palaeozoic echinoderms

A comparatively advanced 'hawker' dragonfly (Valdaeshna surreyensis gen. et. sp. nov., Aeshnidae: Gomphaeschninae) is described from the late Hauterivian of the Weald. The single male specimen shows body 'colour' markings as well as full venational details of the fore and hindwings and is the most complete early aeshnid found to date. Fossil preservation, association, and palaeoenvironment are briefly discussed.

• Read more about A new aeshnid dragonfly from the Lower Cretaceous of south-east England

Acanthodian spines, scales, and tooth whorls are described from the Pitinga Member of the Trombetas Formation (Middle Amazon Basin, northern Brazil). The spines and dermal scutes are of climatiid type, but the associated tooth whorl is more like that of an ischnacanthid. This acanthodian assemblage is quite similar to that from the top of the Catavi Formation of Bolivia, where an association of thelodont scales suggests an Early Devonian age.

• Read more about Acanthodian fish remains from the Upper Silurian or Lower Devonian of the Amazon Basin, Brazil

New mosasaur material from the Upper Cretaceous of Sokoto State, Nigeria, was described in detail by Azzaroli et al. (1972, 1975). Largely on the basis of what they interpreted as a highly unusual jugal bone in the skull, they erected in 1972, the new genus Goronyosaurus, and subsequently (1975) placed it in a new subfamily, the Goronyosaurinae, representing a totally unique development of a squamate skull.A reassessment of the material suggests that the description of the jugal by Azzaroli et al. (1972, 1975) is incorrect.

• Read more about The mosasaur Goronyosaurus from the Upper Cretaceous of Sokoto State, Nigeria

Qualitative and quantitative studies on extinct Cygnus equitum/Anser equitum from the Ipswichian (Eemian) Interglacial of Malta (c. 125000 B.P.) show it was a broad-bodied, dwarf swan with some goose-like features. It was closer to Whooper and Bewick's C. cygnus than Mute Swans C. olor though the relative shortness of the chief hand bones resembles the latter. Feathered wing span was c. 1.5 m.

• Read more about An extinct 'swan-goose' from the Pleistocene of Malta