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Fossil pirate spiders (Araneae: Mimetidae) are revised. The extinct genera Succinero Wunderlich, 2004a and Palaeoero Wunderlich, 2004a are interpreted as synonyms of the extant genus Ero C. L. Koch, 1836. We recognize here the following fossil species as valid: E. carboneana Petrunkevitch, 1942, E. longitarsus (Wunderlich, 2004a) comb. nov. and E. permunda Petrunkevitch, 1942, all from Baltic amber (Paleogene: Eocene), and E. rovnoensis (Wunderlich, 2004b) comb. nov. from Rovno (Ukranian) amber (Paleogene: Eocene).

• Read more about A revision of the fossil pirate spiders (Arachnida: Araneae: Mimetidae)

Trace fossils such as Climactichnites offer rare insights into the palaeobiology of Cambrian soft-bodied animals, especially those that inhabited emergent sand flats and are not known from body fossils. Analysis of field and museum Climactichnites, together with experiments on the preservation of similar modern trails, indicates that the tracemaker was an elongate, bilaterally symmetrical, dorsoventrally flattened, soft-bodied animal with a muscular foot. These characteristics are consistent with the tracemaker being a primitive mollusc or mollusc-like animal.

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Twenty-three species of silicified brachiopods are described from four samples in the middle and upper parts of the Episkopi Formation from Hydra Island, Greece. These brachiopods are newly recorded from the region and together with previously described brachiopods from the same localities constitute the most diverse Lopingian (Late Permian) brachiopod fauna reported in southern Europe. The brachiopod fauna is Wuchiapingian as indicated by the associated conodonts. The fauna from Hydra exhibits strong palaeobiogeographical links with the faunas from South China.

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Eophryne barbutii gen. et sp. nov., a new frogfish from the Ypresian of Monte Bolca (Italy), is described. This taxon is the oldest member of the family Antennariidae known to date based on articulated skeletal remains. Eophryne barbutii gen. et sp. nov. possesses a unique combination of features that supports its recognition as a new genus of the family Antennariidae.

• Read more about An Eocene frogfish from Monte Bolca, Italy: the earliest known skeletal record for the family

The halkieriids (Sachitida He, 1980) from the Early to Mid Cambrian possess a hollow sclerite with a complex branching canal system. An analysis of the canal system morphology in the halkieriid Sinosachites (Thambetolepis) delicatus (Jell, 1981) from South Australia reveals similarities to the aesthete canal system in the shell plates of chitons, which has been analysed in a number of extant taxa.

• Read more about The canal system in sclerites of Lower Cambrian Sinosachites (Halkieriidae: Sachitida): significance for the molluscan affinities of the sachitids

Eshanosaurus deguchiianus is based on a single left dentary from the Lower Lufeng Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Yunnan Province, China. It was originally identified as the earliest known member of Therizinosauroidea (Theropoda: Coelurosauria), a conclusion that results in a significant downward range extension for this clade (>65 million years) and for many other major lineages within Coelurosauria.

• Read more about The affinities of the enigmatic dinosaur Eshanosaurus deguchiianus from the Early Jurassic of Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China

Charge contrast images are a variant of secondary electron images acquired by operating a variable pressure scanning electron microscope in low vacuum mode; i.e. a gas is present in the specimen chamber. Spatial variation in the amount of charge that accumulates on the surface of the specimen is expressed as differences in greyscale tone; areas that are charging less are darker in tone. The precise mechanisms by which charge contrast images are generated are not known fully.

• Read more about Charge contrast imaging of exceptionally-preserved fossils

• Read more about Zenostephanus, a new name for the genus Xenostephanus Arkell and Callomon, 1963 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda), preoccupied by Xenostephanus Simpson, Minoprio and Patterson, 1962 (Mammalia)

A new pliosaurid, Gallardosaurus iturraldei gen nov. et sp. nov., was found in the Viñales area, western Cuba, in sediments of the Jagua Formation, middle–late Oxfordian.

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Shark teeth and scales from the Gneudna Formation type section, Carnarvon Basin are rare, but they represent a diverse fauna as well as being the first Frasnian chondrichthyan remains found in Western Australia. In contrast numerous shark teeth and scales have been obtained from coeval sections in the Canning Basin. Teeth referred to as Phoebodus bifurcatus, Phoebodus fastigatus, Phoebodus cf. fastigatus, Phoebodus latus, Phoebodus sp. C and Protacrodus sp. 1 are described from two Canning Basin localities: Horse Spring Range and McIntyre Knolls.

• Read more about Microvertebrate biostratigraphy of Upper Devonian (Frasnian) carbonate rocks in the Canning and Carnarvon basins of Western Australia