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Two new genera with six new species of hangingflies (Mecoptera: Raptipedia: Cimbrophlebiidae) are described. They were collected from the Middle Jurassic nonmarine sedimentary strata of the Jiulongshan Formation in Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, north-eastern China. This report of Cimbrophlebiidae from the Yanliao Biota provides detailed morphological information and evidence of a broad diversity of Cimbrophlebiidae during the Middle Jurassic. A key to the known species of Cimbrophlebiidae is provided.

• Read more about New fossil hangingflies (Insecta: Mecoptera: Raptipedia: Cimbrophlebiidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China

Palaeophis maghrebianus belongs to the Palaeophiinae (Palaeophiidae). This snake subfamily is relatively poorly known, and it is mainly represented by disarticulated vertebrae and ribs and by a few vertebral segments. Its intracolumnar variability remains also poorly understood. The discovery of new isolated vertebrae and vertebral segments of Palaeophis maghrebianus in the Ypresian (Lower Eocene) Phosphates of Morocco enables us to provide a more detailed diagnosis of this species and to describe its intracolumnar variability.

• Read more about New highlights about the enigmatic marine snake Palaeophis maghrebianus (Palaeophiidae; Palaeophiinae) from the Ypresian (Lower Eocene) phosphates of Morocco

Upper Jurassic (Tithonian) deposits in north-western Patagonia, Argentina, have yielded rich and taxonomically diverse assemblages of marine reptiles. These assemblages are also remarkable by their quality of preservation and are represented by ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, turtles and crocodyliforms. Despite the abundant crocodyliform record, only two metriorhynchid taxa have been identified: Cricosaurus araucanensis and Dakosaurus andiniensis.

• Read more about A new Patagonian species of Cricosaurus (Crocodyliformes, Thalattosuchia): first evidence of Cricosaurus in Middle–Upper Tithonian lithographic limestone from Gondwana

Phylogenetic reconstruction of the Upper Barremian ammonite genus Gassendiceras (Gassendiceratinae) was performed using a cladistic analysis incorporating continuous data. Some morphological features were found to vary identically among all the analysed species and therefore carry no phylogenetic information (= symplesiomorphic).

• Read more about Evolutionary patterns–tested with cladistics–and processes in relation to palaeoenvironments of the Upper Barremian genus Gassendiceras(Ammonitina, Lower Cretaceous)

Isopod crustaceans are rarely preserved in the fossil record. Herein, an appraisal of the fossil record for the cirolanid isopods is presented. Five genera are briefly discussed, including Bathynomus, Brunnaega, Palaega, Pseudopalaega and Cirolana. A key for the cirolanid genera known to date from the fossil record is provided based mostly on pleotelson characters. From the early Miocene of the Slovak part of the Vienna Basin, Cirolana feldmanni sp. nov.

• Read more about An appraisal of the fossil record for the Cirolanidae (Malacostraca: Peracarida: Isopoda: Cymothoida), with a description of a new cirolanid isopod crustacean from the early Miocene of the Vienna Basin (Western Carpathians)

Three new genera and four new species of the extinct mantidfly subfamily Mesomantispinae (Insecta: Neuroptera: Mantispidae) are described from the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation of Liaoning and the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Inner Mongolia:Archaeodrepanicus nuddsi gen. et sp. nov., A. acutus gen. et sp. nov., Sinomesomantispa microdentata gen. et sp. nov., (Yixian Formation) and Clavifemora rotundata gen. et sp. nov. (Jiulongshan Formation).

• Read more about New fossil mantidflies (Insecta: Neuroptera: Mantispidae) from the Mesozoic of north-eastern China

The ability to enrol effectively evolved several times among trilobites. Here, we show that, unlike most redlichiid trilobites that could not enrol, both morphotypes of Eccaparadoxides pradoanus from the middle Cambrian of Spain enrolled so as to enclose most of the ventral surface beneath the exoskeleton and possessed specialized articulating devices that facilitated this behaviour. The holaspid thorax of all E. pradoanus was divided into two principal regions.

• Read more about Thoracic structure and enrolment style in middle Cambrian Eccaparadoxides pradoanus presages caudalization of the derived trilobite trunk

A mass occurrence, numbering tens of thousands of individuals in a single lens, belonging to a single species of asteroid, is described from the late Maastrichtian (Late Cetaceous) of Morocco. The lens of partially silicified asteroidal limestone is made up largely of fully articulated specimens of similar size and probably represents the mass mortality of a single recruitment.

• Read more about Mass mortality of an asteriid starfish (Forcipulatida, Asteroidea, Echinodermata) from the late Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Morocco

Siliceous hot spring deposits form at Earth's surface above terrestrial hydrothermal systems, which create low-sulphidation epithermal mineral deposits deeper in the crust. Eruption of hot spring waters and precipitation of opal-A create sinter apron complexes and areas of geothermally influenced wetland. These provide habitat for higher plants that may be preserved in situ, by encrustation of their surfaces and permineralization of tissues, creating T0 plant assemblages.

• Read more about Wetland megabias: ecological and ecophysiological filtering dominates the fossil record of hot spring floras

Ecosystems today are under growing pressure, with human domination at many scales. It is difficult, however, to gauge what has changed or been lost – and why – in the absence of data from periods before human activities. Actualistic taphonomic studies, originally motivated to understand preservational controls on deep-time fossil records, are now providing insights into modern death assemblages as historical archives of present-day ecosystems, turning taphonomy on its head.

• Read more about Time-averaging and fidelity of modern death assemblages: building a taphonomic foundation for conservation palaeobiology