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Hemispherical pan or dish-shaped trace fossils from the Cenozoic of the Central Patagonia are attributed to the burrowing action of cicadas. A new ichnotaxon, Feoichnus challa igen. et isp. nov. is characterized by its hemispherical shape, mostly subvertical orientation, smoothed internal lining showing knobbly surface texture, and rough and irregular external surface devoid of ornamentation. The wall is composed of a lining plus a layer of soil material consolidated passively by cicada excretions.

• Read more about Trace fossils of cicadas in the Cenozoic of central Patagonia, Argentina

This paper provides a systematic treatment of tubular microfossils collected from dolomitic phosphorites of the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation at Weng’an, South China. These microfossils were investigated using petrographic, acid extraction and re-embedding techniques. Four morphological genera and five morphospecies are described: Ramitubus increscens gen. et sp. nov., Ramitubus decrescens gen. et sp. nov., Sinocyclocyclicus guizhouensis, Quadratitubus orbigoniatus, and Crassitubus costatus gen. et sp. nov. They are characterized by cylindrical (R. increscens, R. decrescens, S.

• Read more about Systematic description and phylogenetic affinity of tubular microfossils from the Ediacaran Doushantuo Formation at Weng'an, South China

The anatomy of the mammalian hand is exposed to an intriguing interplay between phylogeny and function, and provides insights on phylogenetic affinities as well as locomotory habits of extinct species. Within the marsupial order Diprotodontia, terrestrial plantigrade quadrupedalism evolved twice, in the mostly extinct vombatiforms and in extant macropodoids.

• Read more about Parallel evolution of hand anatomy in kangaroos and vombatiform marsupials: functional and evolutionary implications

The morphology of the Late Silurian (Pridoli) scorpion Proscorpius osborni (Whitfield, 1885a) (Arachnida: Scorpiones), from the Phelps Member of the Fiddlers Green Formation of New York, the ‘Bertie Waterlime’ of earlier stratigraphic schemes, is revised based on studies of new and existing material (a total of 32 specimens). Previous reports of four cheliceral articles, gnathobasic coxae, a labium and gill slits in P. osborni can be dismissed.

• Read more about Reinterpretation of the Silurian scorpion Proscorpius osborni (Whitfield): integrating data from Palaeozoic and recent scorpions

Tube ultrastructure of Jurassic and Cretaceous Glomerula is very similar to that of Recent Calcisabella, supporting the synonymy of these genera and the early Mesozoic origin of calcification in sabellids. Tube structure of serpulids differs from that of Glomerula; calcareous tubes probably evolved convergently within Sabellida. The tube wall in Recent Glomerula piloseta is composed of subparallel lamellae of aragonitic, irregular spherulitic prisms in the inner layer, and spherulites in the outer layer. Calcified lamellae are separated by organic films of different thickness.

• Read more about On the tube ultrastructure and origin of calcification in sabellids (Annelida, Polychaeta)

New material of a long-snouted dyrosaurid has been discovered in the Paleocene of Morocco. It consists of a well-preserved skull with embedded mandible and four dorsal vertebrae. The particularly elongate snout, proportionally the longest of all known dyrosaurids, allows precise identification of this material as Atlantosuchus coupatezi Buffetaut, 1979a, and presentation of an emended diagnosis for this species previously known only from a mandibular symphysis. A phylogenetic analysis of the dyrosaurids indicates a close relationship between A. coupatezi and Rhabdognathus.

• Read more about A long-snouted dyrosaurid (Crocodyliformes, Mesoeucrocodylia) from the Paleocene of Morocco: phylogenetic and palaeobiogeographic implications

Phosphatised limestone-hosted and shale-hosted specimens of the obolellid Mummpikia nuda gen. et comb. nov. and two further unidentified obolellids from the Early Cambrian Mural Formation (Jasper National Park, Canadian Rocky Mountains) provide novel insights into the shell microstructure of obolellids and the nature of their pedicle. The shell was penetrated by abundant canals of a sub-?m diameter and the anterior tip of the delthyrium forms a projection into the body cavity that is penetrated by a thin canal.

• Read more about Mummpikia gen. nov. and the origin of calcitic-shelled brachiopods

The meaning of modifications in septal spacing that often coincide with maturity in extant Nautilus and fossil nautiloids, and also in ammonoids, remains controversial. In the Callovian nautilid species Paracenoceras marocense Miller and Collinson, 1952, the extent of decrease in septal spacing and the exceptional number of approximated septa are correlated with an unusual positive ontogenetic allometry in whorl-width expansion.

• Read more about Developmental integration related to buoyancy control in nautiloids: evidence from unusual septal approximation and ontogenetic allometries in a Jurassic species

A new species of the genus Epiphaxum (family Lithotelestidae) is described and illustrated in detail, and compared to other species. Epiphaxum arbuscula sp. nov. has been collected from Upper Eocene (Priabonian), Upper Oligocene (Chattian) and Lower Miocene (Upper Burdigalian) deposits of the Aquitaine Basin, south-west France. Epiphaxum is a poorly documented genus but its fossil record extends back to the Late Cretaceous; it was previously known only from the Paleocene (Danian). Epiphaxum arbuscula differs from all others species of the genus in the form of its colony.

• Read more about Filling a gap: the first occurrences of Epiphaxum (Cnidaria: Helioporacea: Lithotelestidae) in the Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene

The first fossil records of Holarctic representatives of the genus Comptosia Macquart, 1840 from the middle Eocene Messel Pit, Germany, and the upper Eocene of Florissant, USA, are reported. The fossil from Messel, Comptosia pria sp. nov., is represented by a well-preserved wing, displaying characteristic wing venation, remains of the second wing and elements of the thorax. The Florissant fossil, C. miranda comb. nov., is preserved almost completely with both wings and most parts of the body visible.

• Read more about Eocene records of bee flies (Insecta, Diptera, Bombyliidae, Comptosia): their palaeobiogeographic implications and remarks on the evolutionary history of bombyliids