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The Upper Eocene and Oligocene succession of the Isle of Wight, southern England (Headon Beds to Hamstead Beds) has been studied palynologically. Seventy-one forms of dinoflagellate cysts are recorded, including two new genera, Gerdiocysta and Vectidinium, and ten new species, Distatodinium scariosum, Eocladopyxis tessellata, G. conopeum, Glaphyrocystapaupercula, Phelodinium pachyceras, P.pumilum, Phthano-peridinium amiculum, P.flebile, Thalassiphora fenestrata, and V. stoveri.

• Read more about Dinoflagellate cysts from the Upper Eocene–Lower Oligocene of the Isle of Wight

A shallow-water fauna of terebratulide brachiopods, bryozoans, and bivalves is described from the western margin of Rockall Bank, occurring in phosphatized ferruginous sandstones of 'greensand' facies. 'Cameithyris' rockallensis sp. nov. suggests a date of Upper Cretaceous age, possibly as young as Maastrichtian. A glacial origin is possible.

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An Early Miocene (Burdigalian) hermit crab preserved within a struthiolariid gastropod shell is described. The specimen, here designated Pagurus difdenensis sp. nov., has close affinities with the Recent species P. spinulimanus (Miers) which is common in New Zealand waters.

• Read more about An in situ hermit crab from the Early Miocene of southern New Zealand

The extension of the body outward from the aperture of the shell is a common behavioural trait of Nautilus, and presumably of most fossil ectocochliate cephalopods as well. In order to evaluate the possible contribution of body extension to ectocochliate locomotion, the hydrodynamic properties of body extension have been examined through tow-tank and flow-channel tests on shell models and body prostheses. Extension of the body reduces the drag generated by a swimming cephalopod. The extent of this reduction depends on how fully the body is extended, and on its posture relative to the flow.

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Predatory prosobranch gastropods from the Neogastropoda, Tonnacea, and Naticacea feed upon a wide variety of invertebrate prey. They are an extremely diverse trophic group comprising some twenty-six families, most of which are found at tropical or subtropical latitudes. Empirical evidence suggests that competition has been an important process in shaping the diets and habitats of related species and, over a longer time period, of the different families.

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The holotype of Iguanodon prestwichii Hulke, a reasonably complete skeleton from the Lower Kimmeridge Clay (Upper Jurassic, Lower Kimmeridgian) near Oxford, is redescribed and, because it is very similar to that of Camptosawus dispar from the Upper Kimmeridgian of North America, is referred to the genus Camptosaurus as C. prestwichii (Hulke). The skeleton of C. prestwichii is more gracile and differs in a few other respects from those of C. dispar. C. prestwichii is the only undoubted species of Camptosaurus described from outside North America.

• Read more about The ornithischian dinosaur Camptosaurus prestwichii from the Upper Jurassic of England

The genus Romaniceras Spath, 1923, is shown to be a member of the subfamily Euomphaloceratinae Cooper, 1978, derived probably from Kamerunoceras Reyment, 1954. Three subgenera are recognized: R. (Romaniceras), R. (Yubariceras) Matsumoto, Saito, and Fukada, 1957, and R. (Obiraceras) Matsumoto, 1975. The European Turonian yields three successive species: R. (R.) kallesi (Zazvorka), of which R. hispanicum Wiedmann is a synonym; R. (Y.) ornatissimum (Stoliczka), of which R. (Y.) deverioides (de Grossouvre) and .R. (Y.) yubarense Matsumoto, Saito, and Fukada are the most important synonyms; and R.

• Read more about The European species of the Cretaceous ammonite Romaniceras with a revision of the genus

The discovery near Edinburgh of a second articulated specimen of a small Carboniferous hybodontiform shark has encouraged renewed anatomical study of the original Glencartholm specimen. This shark is not referable to Tristychius arcuatus Agassiz, 1837, as previous authors have suggested, but has recently been renamed Onychoselache traquairi Dick, 1978. Onychoselache has a tribasal pectoral fin similar to most hybodontiforms and neoselachians, not a dibasal fin as is often supposed.

• Read more about The Scottish Lower Carboniferous shark Onychoselache traquairi

Further study of iniopterygian fishes from the Pennsylvanian of North America has shown that autostylic jaw suspension is not, as was originally thought, a characteristic of the group. Two of the five genera possess palatoquadrate elements that articulate with the neurocranium, a fact that calls for modification of the history of the mandibular arch tentatively proposed for these fishes.

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A pteraspidid ostracoderm, Althaspis senniensis sp. nov., is described from the Senni Beds Formation of central south Wales. An associated assemblage of dispersed miospores indicates a mid Middle to lower Upper Siegenian age for this fossil. A typical Breconian macroflora is also present. The Dittonian aspect of the ostracoderm supports the suggestion that there is overlap between the Dittonian and Breconian Stages of the Lower Old Red Sandstone.

• Read more about A new pteraspidid ostracoderm from the Devonian Senni Beds Formation of South Wales and its stratigraphic significance