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Three nearly complete male specimens of kovalevisargid flies are described as Kovalevisargus macropterus sp. nov., K. brachypterus sp. nov. and Kerosargus sororius sp. nov. (family Kovalevisargidae) from the Callovian–Oxfordian Daohugou biota in Inner Mongolia, China. These extend the range of the family Kovalevisargidae outside of Central Asia for the first time, reveal new morphological details about kovalevisargid flies and offer new evidence for the biostratigraphic correlation of nonmarine sedimentary strata of both the Karabastau and Daohugou Formations.

• Read more about Three distinct but rare kovalevisargid flies from the Jurassic Daohugou biota, China (Insecta, Diptera, Brachycera, Kovalevisargidae)

X-ray microtomography (XMT) was applied to three species of the extinct arachnid order Trigonotarbida, hosted in siderite nodules from the late Carboniferous British Middle Coal Measures. All three, Cryptomartus hindi (Pocock, 1911), Cleptomartus plautus (Petrunkevitch, 1949) and Maiocercus celticus (Pocock, 1902), belong to the family Anthracomartidae. As well as providing interactive three-dimensional visualisations of their likely appearance in life, XMT study has resolved new morphological detail, yielding key data about the likely stance and habitus of these early arachnids.

• Read more about Morphology and systematics of Anthracomartidae (Arachnida: Trigonotarbida)

The analysis of morphological characters exhibited by the earliest ontogenetic stages of Middle Jurassic, Cretaceous and Holocene thecideoid species, together with the application of techniques that reveal the presence of early juvenile morphological characters buried in the shell fabric of adult representatives of the species concerned, reinforce the idea of a development pattern common to thecideoids from the early Middle Jurassic to the present day.

• Read more about Support from early juvenile Jurassic, Cretaceous and Holocene thecideoid species for a postulated common early ontogenetic development pattern in thecideoid brachiopods

During the last two decades, a range of microfossils have been collected from strata of Late Cretaceous (Coniacian–Maastrichtian) age. The name gilianelles has been coined to accommodate these microproblematica. On the basis of many thousands of specimens, typical features of this group have now been assessed.

• Read more about Gilianelles: Late Cretaceous microproblematica from Europe and Central America

Four new species of Permosynidae are described: Platycrossus caroli Ponomarenko in Meller et al. sp. nov., Hydrobiites handlirschi Ponomarenko in Meller et al. sp. nov., Ademosyne polyzetete Ponomarenko in Meller et al. sp. nov. and Diarcuipenna bennettitophila Ponomarenko in Meller et al. sp. nov. Together with one polyphagous abdomen, they represent the first beetle remains from the Lunz formation, known for its richness in bennettite and cycad leaf remains and also for the bennettite reproductive organs.

• Read more about First beetle elytra, abdomen (Coleoptera) and a mine trace from Lunz (Carnian, Late Triassic, Lunz-am-See, Austria) and their taphonomical and evolutionary aspects

We revisit a small but extremely significant collection of bird and pterosaur bones from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) of western Romania. These fossils were collected in the late 1970s and early 1980s from a Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) conglomerate lens deep in a bauxite mine at Cornet, close to the city of Oradea, Romania, and they caused a sensation when first described. Some fossils were initially ascribed to the early bird genus Archaeopteryx as well as to the modern clade Neornithes, an astonishing avian assemblage if correct.

• Read more about Early Cretaceous (Berriasian) birds and pterosaurs from the Cornet bauxite mine, Romania

Patagoniaemys gasparinae gen. et sp. nov. is a new stem turtle found in central Patagonia, Chubut Province, Argentina, in outcrops of the La Colonia Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian). This is a turtle of relatively large size (carapace length c. 70 cm), and the preserved remains of the holotype consist of skull fragments and several postcranial elements including a nearly complete vertebral column. A phylogenetic analysis shows Patagoniaemys gasparinae gen. et sp. nov. forming a monophyletic group with Otwayemys cunicularius and Mongolochelys efremovi, as a sister group to Meiolaniidae.

• Read more about A new turtle from the La Colonia Formation (Campanian–Maastrichtian), Patagonia, Argentina, with remarks on the evolution of the vertebral column in turtles

A new placoderm assemblage is reported from the Kellwasser facies of the eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco. This is the first record of an abundant Frasnian placoderm assemblage from Africa. The following new selenosteid taxa are described: Draconichthys elegans gen. et sp. nov., Enseosteus marocanensis sp. nov. and Walterosteus lelievrei sp. nov. In addition, material of Rhinosteus cf. parvulus is figured and described for the first time from Gondwana. The genera Enseosteus, Rhinosteus and Walterosteus are reviewed. ‘Wildungenichthys’ is regarded as a junior subjective synonym of Walterosteus.

• Read more about First selenosteid placoderms from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco; osteology, phylogeny and palaeogeographical implications

The rudist bivalve genus Gorjanovicia Polšak, 1967 from Istria, Croatia, is currently known from the Coniacian/Maastrichtian of the peri-Adriatic and Balkan regions and includes 23 nominal species, defined mainly on shell ornamentation and radial bands. However, a re-appraisal of ‘Radiolites’endrissi Boehm, 1927 shows the type species of the genus Gorjanovicia, G. costata Polšak, 1967, to be a junior synonym of Boehm’s species, which thus takes priority as the type species of Gorjanovicia.

• Read more about The rudist bivalve genus Gorjanovicia (Radiolitidae, Hippuritoidea) a revision of species based on quantitative analysis of morphological characters

The retiolitid graptolite Reticuloplectograptus serpaglii gen. et sp. nov. from the Gorstian, lower Ludlow, has been found in two localities: the Bartoszyce borehole of Poland (Baltica), and the Bykoš section, Barrandian, Czech Republic (PeriGondwanan Europe). The Polish material is isolated and was studied under the SEM. The main characters of Reticuloplectograptus are similar to those of Plectograptus: an asymmetrical ancora, simple ancora umbrella with an incompletely developed rim and parallel ventral walls with mid-ventral lists.

• Read more about A new Silurian graptolite, Reticuloplectograptus, and its bearing on retiolitid evolution