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The discovery of new specimens and the restudy of known collections result in revision of the diagnosis and the stratigraphic distribution of the disparid crinoid genus Stylocrinus, from the Middle and Upper Devonian of Europe, Asia and Australia. The consistent development of three basal plates, the atomous arms with internally inclined edges adjoining laterally with adjacent brachials in an interlocking network and an apparently rudimentary pinnulation is recognised. The high ecophenotypic plasticity of the common species S.

• Read more about Revision of the disparid Stylocrinus (Crinoidea) from the Devonian of Europe, Asia and Australia

All known etyid crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from the upper Albian – lower Cenomanian Aldoirar coralgal-dominated patch reef (Albeniz Unit, Eguino Formation), as exposed at the disused Koskobilo quarry in Navarra, northern Spain, are described, discussed and illustrated. A new species, Xanthosia koskobiloensis, the first member of the genus on record from southern Europe, is erected, and a variety that appears closely related to this, Xanthosia cf. X. koskobiloensis, is recognised.

• Read more about Etyid crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda) from mid-Cretaceous Reefal strata of Navarra, northern Spain

The hypothesis that the Ediacara biota were giant protozoans is tested by considering the external morphology, internal organization, suggested fossil representatives and molecular phylogeny of the xenophyophores. From this analysis, we find no case to support a direct relationship. Rather, the xenophyophores are here regarded as a group of recently evolved Foraminifera and are hence unlikely to have a record from the Ediacaran Period. Further from the growth dynamics of Foraminifera, they are also unlikely to be related to the Palaeopascichnus organism.

• Read more about Testing the protozoan hypothesis for Ediacaran fossils: a developmental analysis of Palaeopascichnus

Two new genera and species of morganucodontans, Bridetherium dorisae and Paceyodon davidi, are recognized as members of the Morganucodon-sphenodont fauna preserved in a fissure filling (Pant 4) exposed in Pant Quarry, Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales. Both taxa are based on isolated molariforms. Mode of occlusion of upper and lower molariforms in B. dorisae differs from the embrasure shearing pattern of Megazostrodon and the offset pattern characteristic of Morganucodon.

• Read more about New morganucodontans from an Early Jurassic fissure filling in Wales (United Kingdom)

The Parareptilia are a small but ecologically and morphologically diverse clade of Permian and Triassic crown amniotes generally considered to be phylogenetically more proximal to eureptiles (diapsids and their kin) than to synapsids (mammals and their kin). A recent supertree provides impetus for an analysis of parareptile diversity through time and for examining the influence of the end-Permian mass extinction on the clade’s origination and extinction rates.

• Read more about Amniotes through major biological crises: faunal turnover among Parareptiles and the end-Permian mass extinction

Fossils of dyrosaurid crocodyliforms are limited in South America, with only three previously diagnosed taxa including the short-snouted Cerrejonisuchus improcerus from the Paleocene Cerrejón Formation of north-eastern Colombia. Here we describe a second dyrosaurid from the Cerrejón Formation, Acherontisuchus guajiraensis gen. et sp. nov., based on three partial mandibles, maxillary fragments, teeth, and referred postcrania. The mandible has a reduced seventh alveolus and laterally depressed retroarticular process, both diagnostic characteristics of Dyrosauridae.

• Read more about A new longirostrine dyrosaurid (Crocodylomorpha, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of north-eastern Colombia: biogeographic and behavioural implications for New-World Dyrosauridae

Eight remarkably preserved specimens of ichthyosaurs from the lower Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) of Strawberry Bank (Ilminster, Somerset, England) are described fully for the first time. Whereas previously these ichthyosaurs were assigned to one species, Stenopterygius hauffianus, our study shows there are two, Stenopterygius triscissus and Hauffiopteryx typicus. S. triscissus is a small- to medium-sized ichthyosaur up to 3.5 m long, characterised by three apomorphies: long and slender rostrum, large elliptical supratemporal fenestra and bipartite pelvis. H.

• Read more about Ichthyosauria from the Upper Lias of Strawberry Bank, England

A dense assemblage of fossil isopod crustaceans (Brunnaega tomhurleyi Wilson, sp. nov.) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Toolebuc Formation of Queensland, Australia, has been found within the carcass of a large actinopterygian fish, Pachyrhizodus marathonensis (Etheridge). Preservation of fine anatomical details supports referral to the genus Brunnaega Polz, which is herein reassigned to the family Cirolanidae.

• Read more about Fossil isopods associated with a fish skeleton from the Lower Cretaceous of Queensland, Australia – direct evidence of a scavenging lifestyle in Mesozoic Cymothoida

Rögla is the northernmost locality yielding Mesozoic plant fossils in Scania, southern Sweden, and is one of the northernmost Rhaetian assemblages in Europe. The assemblage consists of over 500 specimens collected 50–60 years ago, of which 139 yielded identifiable plant remains referable to 15 plant species; another 19 specimens are tentatively assigned to four species because of their fragmentary preservation.

• Read more about The Rhaetian flora of Rögla, northern Scania, Sweden

Nautiloids of the superfamily Rutoceratoidea from the late Emsian (late Early Devonian) of the Prague Basin (Czech Republic) are commented upon. Species recognized include the hercoceratids Hercoceras mirum, H.? transiens, Ptenoceras proximum, P. nudum, P. minusculum and Anomaloceras anomalum, as well as the rutoceratids Adelphoceras bohemicum, Homoadelphoceras devonicans, Pseudorutoceras bolli and Goldringia? devonicans. In addition, four new species are described: Parauloceras regulare sp. nov., Roussanoffoceras chlupaci sp. nov., Otomaroceras sp. nov. and Goldringia sp. nov.

• Read more about Late Emsian Rutoceratoidea (Nautiloidea) from the Prague Basin, Czech Republic: morphology, diversity and palaeoecology