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The Little Dal macrobiota is now known to comprise the previously reported carbonaceous megafossils Chuaria circularis, Tawuia dalensis, Moranial antiqua, and Beltina danai, as well as the following additional taxa: Longfengshania stipitata, Grypania spiralis, Daltaenia mackenziensis n.g. and sp., Tyrasotaenia sp., and Tyrasotaenia? sp. The dubiofossil 'Bergaueria?' reported earlier is probably nonbiogenic.Of special interest are three-dimensionally preserved specimens of Chauria, Tawuia, and Tyrasotaenia?, found associated with 'molar-tooth' structure.

• Read more about The mid-Proterozoic Little Dal macrobiota, Mackenzie Mountains, north-west Canada

A traverse across the middle Eocene part of the Sylhet Formation in the Deopani Region of Assam has yielded a well-preserved Tertiary ostracod fauna. Of the twenty-nine species, twenty-two are new, one has previously been recorded elsewhere and six are left under open nomenclature. A further specimen is left under open nomenclature as a probable new subspecies of one of the new species described here. Examination of their distribution enables three successive faunas to be recognized above a lower group of beds which has not yet yielded ostracods.

• Read more about Ostracoda from the middle Eocene of Assam

The anterior skull roof and a possible postcranial skeleton of Elpistostege watsoni Westoll 1938 are described from the Escuminac Formation, upper Devonian, of Miguasha, Quebec, Canada. In agreement with Worobjewa (1973), Elpistostege is placed within the osteolepiform family Panderichthyidae. Within the osteolepiforms, the Panderichthyidae are the group closest to early tetrapods. Their skull roof pattern readily permits the transfer of tetrapod terminology to the skull roof of other osteolepiforms (contrary to Borgen 1983).

• Read more about The panderichthyid fish Elpistostege: a close relative of tetrapods?

Eight species of hemiasterid echinoids, assigned to the genera Hemiaster (Bolbaster) and Psephoaster gen. nov., are described from Late Eocene to Middle Miocene strata of southern Australia. Seven of the species are new: the Late Eocene H. (B.) subidus, the Early Oligocene H. (B.) dolosits, the Early Miocene H. (B.) verecundus, the Middle Miocene H. (B.) callidus, the Late Eocene P. lissos, the Late Oligocene P. apokryphos and the Early Miocene P. klydonos. A neotype is selected for H. (B.) planedeclivis Gregory, 1890. The five species of H.

• Read more about Taxonomy and evolution of the Cainozoic spatangoid echinoid Protenaster

The large trimerellid brachiopod Gasconsia Northrop is reassessed on the basis of the type species and abundant, well-preserved material from the upper part of the Bonsnes Formation (Rawtheyan: Ashgill Series) in the Ringerike district of the Oslo Region. Hitherto the genus was known only from indifferently preserved moulds from the upper Silurian of Quebec. The Norwegian specimens are assigned to a new species, G. worsleyi, and include valve interiors which permit a detailed analysis of the articulation and musculature.

• Read more about The taxonomy, shell structure, and palaeoecology of the trimerellid brachiopod Gasconsia Northrop

An initial comparison of growth patterns of encrusting cheilostome bryozoans reveals that the ways by which zooids and colonies grow are often important determinants of the comparative success of different species and colony forms among different habitats. These patterns appear to have changed in a major evolutionary trend, increasing morphological and taxonomic diversity, and causing the appearance of more versatile and more highly integrated modes of growth through time.

• Read more about Zooid and colony growth in encrusting cheilostome bryozoans

The nautiloid genus Brachycycloceras, known from Pennsylvanian sediments in the U.S.A., occurs rarely in the British Isles where it is represented by two species B. koninckianum (d'Orbigny) and B. obtusum (Brown). These two species are re-described and synonymies suggested. The distinctions between Brachycycloceras, Reticydoceras, Cornuella, and Perigrammoceras are discussed briefly.

• Read more about The nautiloid Brachycycloceras in the Upper Carboniferous of Britain

The coralline alga Neogoniolithon strictum Setchell and Mason, 1943 is a major component of carbonate mound-building communities in the Florida Keys. This paper investigates the morphology, variation, and occurrence of growth forms, and the responses of this coralline alga to differing environmental conditions. Tavernier Key is an emergent back reef mound with a windward zonation of carbonate-producing communities. The windward shallow-subtidal and intertidal zones are dominated by the branching N. strictum. This facies is divided into three subfacies.

• Read more about The morphology and ecology of a mound-building coralline alga (Neogoniolithon strictum) from the Florida Keys

Three Permo-Triassic reptile faunas and one footprint fauna are known from the area of Elgin, north-east Scotland. The footprints are probably Permian in age and they indicate an assemblage of mammal-like reptiles. The mammal-like reptiles, pareiasaur and procolophonid from the Cutties Hillock Sandstone Formation (new name) are probably latest Permian in age. They were found at the base of an aeolian unit, just above pebbly sheet-flood deposits. The Lossiemouth Sandstone Formation is dated as Lower Norian on the basis of its varied reptile fauna.

• Read more about Palaeoecology, taphonomy, and dating of Permo-Triassic reptiles from Elgin, north-east Scotland

Silicified residues from the late Arenig Tourmakeady Limestone of County Mayo, Ireland, contain a new bryozoan, Alwynopora orodamnus gen. et sp. nov. Colonies have erect branches bearing two rows of alternating zooecial apertures on their frontal surface and barren of apertures on their reverse surface. Branches bifurcate irregularly, successive bifurcations tending to be approximately in the same plane. There is a strong gradient of branch thickening towards the colony base. Alwynopora is the earliest known bryozoan of the Order Fenestrata.

• Read more about The earliest known fenestrate bryozoan, with a short review of lower Ordovician Bryozoa