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Buchiid bivalves are geographically widespread in Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata of the Northern Hemisphere. They are often abundant and their short stratigraphic ranges make them ideal biostratigraphic index fossils; these characteristics also render them useful for study of evolutionary patterns. We used multivariate methods to determine if we could discriminate between species of Buchia and examine how morphological characters change through time within the genus.

• Read more about Species discrimination and evolutionary mode of Buchia (Bivalvia: Buchiidae) from Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous strata of Grassy Island, British Columbia, Canada

Two new fossil psittaciform birds from the Lower Eocene ‘Mo Clay’ (Fur Formation) of Denmark (c. 54 Ma) are described. An unnamed specimen is assigned to the extinct avian family of stem-group parrots, Pseudasturidae (genus and species incertae sedis), while a second (Mopsitta tanta gen. et sp. nov.) is the largest fossil parrot yet known. Both specimens are the first fossil records of these birds from Denmark.

• Read more about Two new parrots (Psittaciformes) from the Lower Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark

Continuing debate over the evolution and morphology of the arthropod head has led to considerable interest in the relevance of the evidence from the fossil record. However, dispute over homology and even presence of appendages and sclerites in Cambrian arthropods has resulted in widely differing views of their significance. The head structures of several important taxa, Fuxianhuia, Canadaspis, Odaraia, Chengjiangocaris and Branchiocaris are redescribed, revealing the essential similarity between them.

• Read more about Head structure in upper stem-group euarthropods

Bulk sampling of phosphate-rich horizons within the British Coniacian to Campanian (Upper Cretaceous) yielded very large samples of shark and ray teeth. All of these samples yielded teeth of diverse members of the Carcharhiniformes, which commonly dominate the fauna. The following species are recorded and described: Pseudoscyliorhinus reussi (Herman, 1977) comb. nov., Crassescyliorhinus germanicus (Herman, 1982) gen. nov., Scyliorhinus elongatus (Davis, 1887), Scyliorhinus brumarivulensis sp. nov., ?Palaeoscyllium sp., Prohaploblepharus riegrafi (Müller, 1989) gen.

• Read more about Sharks of the order Carcharhiniformes from the British Coniacian, Santonian and Campanian (Upper Cretaceous)

A rich, diverse Permian ostracod fauna has been recovered from the red and grey, laminated shales and quartz-rich shales of the Triassic Lercara Formation. Forty-seven species have been identified, 13 of which are newly described here; they belong to 26 genera of which three are new: Anahuacia lercaraensis sp. nov., Aurigerites siciliaensis sp. nov., Bairdia portellaensis sp. nov., Cristanaria? katyae sp. nov., Fabalicypris gruendeli sp. nov., Lethiersa salomonensis gen. et sp. nov., Lethiersia sinusoventralis gen. et sp. nov., Portella trapezoida gen. et sp. nov., Siciliella elongata gen.

• Read more about Permian ostracods from the Lercara Formation (Middle Triassic–Carnian?), Sicily, Italy

Eoproscopia martilli gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation Lagerstätte of Ceará State, north-east Brazil. The new taxon is assigned to the extant family Proscopiidae and represents the first occurrence of the group in the fossil record.

• Read more about The first fossil Proscopiidae (Insecta, Orthoptera, Eumastacoidea) with comments on the historical biogeography and evolution of the family

The Lower Cretaceous Tetori Group of Japan has yielded diverse freshwater and terrestrial vertebrate assemblages. The most productive small vertebrate locality is the ‘Kaseki-Kabe’ or ‘fossil-bluff’ at Kuwajima, Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture. These deposits have produced at least six distinct lizard taxa of which one, described and named here as Kuwajimalla kagaensis, has lanceolate denticulate teeth convergent on those of the living Iguana. This type of dentition is rare among living lizards and is usually considered indicative of herbivory and, more specifically, folivory.

• Read more about An early herbivorous lizard from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan

Larval and metamorphosed Ferganobatrachus riabinini (Temnospondyli, Brachyopoidea), metamorphosed Kokartus honorarius (Caudata, Karauridae), an indeterminated karaurid (Karauridae indet.) and, presumably, anurans (?Anura indet.) are represented by isolated cranial and postcranial skeletal elements in the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian–Callovian) Balabansai Svita of the Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan. The Balabansai vertebrate assemblage is one of the few faunas in which non-lissamphibian temnospondyls, stem caudates and anurans occur together.

• Read more about Amphibians from the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Svita in the Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia)

The largest known flying organisms are the azhdarchid pterosaurs, a pterodactyloid clade previously diagnosed by the characters of their extremely elongate middle-series cervical vertebrae. The named species of the Azhdarchidae are from the Late Cretaceous. However, isolated mid-cervical vertebrae with similar dimensions and characters have been referred to this group that date back to the Late Jurassic, implying an almost 60 million year gap in the fossil record of this group and an unrecorded radiation in the Jurassic of all the major clades of the Pterodactyloidea.

• Read more about A new pterosaur from the Liaoning Province of China, the phylogeny of the Pterodactyloidea, and convergence in their cervical vertebrae

The lectotype of the Middle Jurassic theropod dinosaur Megalosaurus bucklandii, a right dentary, can be diagnosed on the basis of two unique characters: a longitudinal groove on the ventral part of the lateral surface of the dentary and a slit-like anterior Meckelian foramen. This taxon, the first dinosaur to be scientifically described, is therefore valid. Currently, however, no further material can be referred to this species with any certainty. Megalosaurus bucklandii occupies an uncertain systematic position but is not an abelisaurid or coelophysoid.

• Read more about The taxonomic status of Megalosaurus bucklandii (Dinosauria, Theropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Oxfordshire, UK