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Chondrichthyans are newly reported from the autochthonous Wordian Khuff Formation (middle Permian), cropping out in well-exposed, low-palaeolatitude sections in the interior Haushi-Huqf area of Oman. The shark remains comprise isolated teeth, dermal denticles and fin spines and have been recovered by processing limestone in buffered acetic acid from bulk rock samples. The fauna consists of mainly ctenacanthiform and hybodontiform taxa, identified as Glikmanius cf. myachkovensis, Glikmanius culmenis sp. nov.,Omanoselache hendersoni gen. et sp.

• Read more about A new diverse shark fauna from the Wordian (Middle Permian) Khuff Formation in the interior Haushi-Huqf area, Sultanate of Oman

Basal sauropodomorphs from the Upper Triassic Los Colorados Formation of north-western Argentina have been known for several decades but most of them are only briefly described. New postrcanial remains of Coloradisaurus brevis, the most gracile sauropodomorph from this unit, are described here and evaluated within a phylogenetic context. These materials belong to a single individual and include elements of the vertebral column, pectoral girdle, incomplete forelimb, pelvis and hindlimb.

• Read more about The postcranial anatomy of Coloradisaurus brevis (Dinosauria: Sauropodomorpha) from the Late Triassic of Argentina and its phylogenetic implications

Natural assemblages of a new conodont taxon, Notiodella keblon, from the Upper Ordovician Soom Shale Lagerstätte of South Africa contain 17 elements. This is the first time that a 17-element apparatus plan has been unequivocally demonstrated in conodonts. The apparatus comprises paired P1, P2, P3, M, S1, S2, S3 and S4 elements and an unpaired, axial S0 element and provides a new template for use in the reconstruction of apparatuses from the collections of dispersed elements, particularly for those with icrion-bearing P1 elements and perhaps for other balognathids.

• Read more about A 17-element conodont apparatus from the Soom Shale Lagerstätte (Upper Ordovician), South Africa

In the early Late Devonian, terminal Frasnian proetid trilobites have previously only been known from Europe and North Africa. For the first time, a rich fauna of late Frasnian proetids is described from the Virgin Hills Formation, Canning Basin, Western Australia. Seventeen species in six genera are described, of which three are new: Rudybole gen. nov., Palpebralina gen. nov. and Canningbolegen. nov. A new subgenus, Chlupaciparia (Australoparia) subgen. nov. is also described. Fourteen of the species are new: Palpebralia initialis sp.

• Read more about Patterns of evolution and extinction in proetid trilobites during the late Devonian mass extinction event, Canning Basin, Western Australia

Four new species referred to three new genera and one known genus of fossil snipe flies (Family Rhagionidae) from the Daohugou Formation of Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia, north-eastern China, are described as Daohugorhagio elongatus gen. et sp. nov.,Parachrysopilus jurassicus gen. et sp. nov., Sinorhagio sinuatus sp. nov. and Trichorhagio gregarius gen. et sp. nov. These taxa represent only a fraction of the rhagionid assemblage in the Daohugou biota.

• Read more about Snipe flies (Diptera: Rhagionidae) from the Daohugou Formation (Jurassic), Inner Mongolia, and the systematic position of related records in China

Lower Ordovician faunas of Bohemia (Perunica), Baltica and North China include the oldest known representatives of the Order Craniida, but otherwise in Gondwana and associated terranes, the record of craniides is sparse. Pseudocrania insperata sp. nov.

• Read more about First report of craniide brachiopods in the Palaeozoic of Iran (Pseudocrania, Ordovician), and Early to Mid-Ordovician biogeography of the Craniida

The osteology of Thaiichthys buddhabutrensis, nov. gen., from the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous of Thailand is described on the basis of a collection of well-preserved specimens. The mode of preservation of the material allows describing the external anatomy, as well as some elements of the internal anatomy (braincase, elements of the vertebral column). Most of the cranial and postcranial skeleton shows a rather conservative anatomy for ‘semionotiformes’, but the jaw apparatus displays specializations.

• Read more about Osteology and relationships of Thaiichthys nov. gen.: a Ginglymodi from the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous of Thailand

Sowerbyellid brachiopods often formed the dominant constituent in various Late Ordovician and Early Silurian benthic assemblages and had a global distribution under a wide range of water depths on the continental shelves. They persisted after then, but much less abundantly, into the Middle Devonian (Eifelian). However, their classification has varied. The terminology used for each of the individual morphological characters is reviewed and standardised, and those characters are discussed in turn as to their suitability for generic discrimination.

• Read more about Generic identities and relationships within the brachiopod family Sowerbyellidae

The Rhizomyinae is a subfamily of myomorph rodents within the family Spalacidae. It is subdivided into two tribes: the Asian Rhizomyini and the Tachyoryctini. Even though the origin of the Tachyoryctini is to be found in Asia, they are nowadays restricted to Africa. African Tachyoryctini are known from the Late Miocene and include a single genus with five species: the recently discovered Tachyoryctes makooka, which is described in detail in this work, T. pliocaenicus, T. konjiti and the two extant T. splendens and T. macrocephalus.

• Read more about Tachyoryctes makooka (Tachyoryctini, Spalacidae, Rodentia) and its bearing on the phylogeny of the Tachyoryctini

The taxonomic revision of Isocetus depauwi Van Beneden, 1880 was carried out through the description of a number of specimens assigned to this species by Van Beneden and Abel in the last decades of the 19th and the early decades of the 20th centuries. After detailed comparisons with the published record of archaic mysticetes, the genus and species are considered valid despite the incompleteness and poor preservation of the material. Diagnostic features are found in the morphology of the mandibular condyle, the angular process of the dentary and the thoracic vertebrae.

• Read more about Taxonomic revision of Isocetus depauwi (Mammalia, Cetacea, Mysticeti) and the phylogenetic relationships of archaic ‘cetothere’ mysticetes