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This report describes for the first time a part of the Middle and Upper Devonian conodont sequence of the Sierra Negra Subfacies in the Aragonian Pyrenees (Spain), establishing the basis for further sound correlations both across the distinct Pyrenean facies and subfacies and on other relevant world areas. The description of 20 conodont taxa and their stratigraphical distribution permits recognition of two separate time intervals. The older one corresponds to the lower Upper Givetian (Middle Devonian), hermanni to cristatus ectypus zones.

• Read more about Upper Givetian and Frasnian (Middle and Upper Devonian) conodonts from Ampriu (Aragonian Pyrenees, Spain): global correlations and palaeogeographic relations

The known sample of the important pretribosphenic mammal Peramus tenuirostris, housed in the Natural History Museum (London, UK), was imaged using micro-computed tomography (CT). Substantial morphological diversity was discovered, prompting establishment (and resurrection) of additional taxa from within the existing hypodigm of Peramus tenuirostris: Peramus dubius comb. nov., Kouriogenys minor gen. nov. and Peramuroides tenuiscus gen. et sp. nov.

• Read more about Micro-computed tomography reveals a diversity of Peramuran mammals from the Purbeck Group (Berriasian) of England

Palaeoscorpius devonicus Lehmann, 1944 is known from only a single specimen, found in the Eschenbach Pit near Bundenbach in the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany. It is a key fossil, having been interpreted both as the most basal member of the Scorpiones and as one of the order’s most likely candidates for an aquatic mode of life. Prepared both ventrally and dorsally, some aspects of its morphology remain problematic.

• Read more about Redescription and palaeobiology of Palaeoscorpius devonicus Lehmann, 1944 from the Lower Devonian Hunsruck Slate of Germany

Complete skulls of giant marine reptiles of the Late Jurassic are rare, and so the discovery of the 1.8-m-long skull of a pliosaur from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation (Kimmeridgian) of Westbury, Wiltshire, UK, is an important find. The specimen shows most of the cranial and mandibular anatomy, as well as a series of pathological conditions. It was previously referred to Pliosaurus brachyspondylus, but it can be referred reliably only to the genus Pliosaurus, because species within the genus are currently in need of review.

• Read more about Cranial anatomy, taxonomic implications and palaeopathology of an Upper Jurassic Pliosaur (Reptilia: Sauropterygia) from Westbury, Wiltshire, UK

Fishes include more than half of all living animals with backbones, but large-scale palaeobiological patterns in this assemblage have not received the same attention as those for terrestrial vertebrates. Previous surveys of the fish record have generally been anecdotal, or limited either in their stratigraphic or in their taxonomic scope. Here, we provide a broad overview of the Phanerozoic history of fish diversity, placing a special emphasis on intervals of turnover, evolutionary radiation, and extinction.

• Read more about Five hundred million years of extinction and recovery: a phanerozoic survey of large-scale diversity patterns in fishes

Growth periodicity is a phenomenon occurring in fossil and modern corals. The most apparent feature is growth banding, and environmental changes are broadly accepted as controls on this phenomenon. If environment controls the growth, then all corallites within a colony should repeat the same growth pattern, as individuals are clones and must have shared the same environment.

• Read more about Unusual growth pattern in the Frasnian alveolitids (Tabulata) from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)

The revision of the radiolitid rudist bivalve Praeradiolites biskraensis (Coquand), including shell morphology and structure, taxonomical status, and palaeogeographical and stratigraphical distribution, was undertaken. We studied Coquand’s collection, other specimens from the type locality, Col de Sfa, and other Algerian fossil localities, as well as recently collected material from the Gafsa region in Tunisia. A neotype from Col de Sfa is proposed.

• Read more about Taxonomical and biostratigraphical significance of the North African radiolitid rudist bivalve Praeradiolites biskraensis (Coquand, 1880)

The tommotiids are a significant component of the earliest skeletal animal remains in the fossil record, occurring in large numbers in the Lower Cambrian. Sclerites of the tommotiid genus Sunnaginia have been implicated as integral to hypotheses regarding the evolution of the brachiopod body plan, with a morphology intermediate between the unspecialized sclerites of the tubular Eccentrotheca and the specialized sclerites of the tannuolinids.

• Read more about Ontogeny and microstructure of the enigmatic Cambrian tommotiid Sunnaginia Missarzhevsky, 1969

Two extraordinarily well-preserved testate amoebae are described from Late Albian age amber from south-western France. The specimens are attributed to a new family, the Hemiarcherellidae fam. nov., and are described as Hemiarcherella christellae gen. et sp. nov. The amoebae described herein originate from highly fossiliferous amber pieces. Based on syninclusions, Hemiarcherella christellae was a soil-dwelling organism, probably an active bacterivore. This taxon represents the third species of testate amoebae described from mid-Cretaceous French amber.

• Read more about Fossil amoebae (Hemiarcherellidae fam. nov.) from Albian (Cretaceous) amber of France

A new possible stem gnathostome, Kerreralepis carinata gen. et sp. nov., is described on the basis of a single specimen from the Lower Devonian of the island of Kerrera in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. It is recognized as an anaspid by the chevron-like arranged rod-shaped scales on the trunk, gill openings extending behind the orbits in a slanting row and a series of median dorsal ridge scales.

• Read more about New birkeniid anaspid from the Lower Devonian of Scotland and its phylogenetic implications