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A Lower Permian temnospondylous amphibian from the English Midlands

The holotype skull of Dasyceps bucklandi (Lloyd, 1850) from the Lower Permian (Autunian) Kenilworth Breccia is redescribed and its relationships with other members of the family Zatrachydidae are discussed. The two species of the American genus Zatrachys, the type species Z. serratus Cope, 1878 and Z. microphthalmus Cope, 1896 are considered. Z. microphthalmus is transferred to the genus Dasyceps as a new species D. microphthalmus, leaving Z. serratus as the only species of the genus Zatrachys.

Radnoria, a new Silurian proetacean trilobite, and the origins of the Brachymetopidae

The new trilobite genus Radnoria is proposed to include the type, R. syrphetodes sp. nov., and two other species, R. triquetra sp. nov. and R. humillima (Barrande, 1852), from the Silurian of Britain and Czechoslovakia. Its morphology includes features typical of both the Brachymetopidae and Warburgellinae, suggesting a phyletic link between the two groups. The composition of the Brachymetopidae is discussed, and new family and subfamily diagnoses are given.

Bibliography and index of catalogues of type, figured, and cited fossils in museums in Britain

Published (and some unpublished) information on the distribution of type, figured, and cited fossils in museums in Great Britain and Ireland is collated in a bibliography as an initial aid in tracing type collections and individual specimens. The catalogues are indexed taxonomically, stratigraphically, and by museums. A supplementary reference list draws attention to some further publications which may be useful in locating old collections....

Mid-Cretaceous angiosperm pollen from southern England and northern France

Angiosperm pollen grains are described from the Upper Albian to Middle Cenomanian strata of several localities in southern England and northern France. Twenty-two species are described, of which the following thirteen are new: Psilatricolpites rectilatibus, Retitricolpites amplifissus, R. crassitransennus, R. exiguiexemplum, R. meumendum, R. promiscuus, R. sarthensis, R. subtilimaculatus, Psilatricolporites complanatius, Retitricolporites ecommoyensis, R. insolitimorus, Triporopollenites curtisi, and T.

Comparative analysis of fossil and recent echinoid bioerosion

One of the most abundant forms of bioerosion sculpture on Mesozoic and Cainozoic shells and other hard substrates has a pentaradiate symmetry based on a regular, stellate module consisting of five radiating grooves. Regular echinoids today, browsing on encrusting and boring organisms on hard substrates, produce identical sculpture to the trace fossil, and a common origin is suggested. The tooth scratches lose their pentaradiate orientation and become subparallel where the echinoid gnaws along edges of shells and flat pebbles; a corresponding sculpture is also encountered in the trace fossil.

English hypsilophodontid dinosaurs (Reptilia: Ornithischia)

A premaxillary tooth from the Stonesfield Basin (Bathonian) of Stonesfield may represent the oldest hypsilophodontid described to date. However, small bones from the Lias (Jurassic) of Charmouth are not hypsilophodontid and were correctly referred to the primitive ankylosaur Scelidosaurus harrisoni. A femur from the Oxford Clay (Callovian) of Peterborough is regarded as an iguanodontid (Camptosaurus (?) leedsi Lydekker). A dentary tooth from the Kimmeridge Clays of Weymouth represents the oldest undoubted hypsilophodontid described to date from England.

The biostratigraphy of the upper Ordovician and lower Silurian of South-west Dyfed, with comments on the Hirnantia fauna

Late Ordovician and early Silurian beds around Haverfordwest, South-west Dyfed (Pembrokeshire), Wales, are remapped and their faunas reviewed. Five formations are defined, representing a fairly continuous succession from mid Ashgill (Cautleyan) to late Llandovery (Telychian). New faunal evidence places the local Ordovician-Silurian boundary higher than has been previously suggested, within the Haverford Mudstone Formation.

Kirklandia texana Caster—Cretaceous hydrozoan medusoid or trace fossil chimaera?

A re-examination of Kirklandia texana Caster, 1945 described originally as a medusoid hydrozoan, revealed stratinomic, preservational, and morphological features incompatible with interpretations as a body fossil. An alternative interpretation, with the 'bell' of Kirklandia as a feeding trace of Gyrophyllites type and the 'arms' as fecal-pellet-lined burrows comparable with Gramilaria, satisfactorily explains these anomalous features.

An outline history of seagrass communities

The primary ecological role played by seagrasses results from their ability to modify the physical environment. Trapping and binding of nutrient-enriched sediments encourages deposit and suspension-feeding invertebrates. Leaves provide a substrate and shelter for flourishing populations of bacteria, algae, protozoans, coelenterates, molluscs, bryozoans, and echinoderms which in turn contribute CaCO3 to the sediment, forming strata with a good preservation potential.
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