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Two species of a new Tremadocian (Early Ordovician) conodont genus from the Saint Chinian Formation of the southern Montagne Noire, France, are erected: Hammannodus sarae gen. et sp. nov. and Hammannodus juliae gen. et sp. nov. They were found within a single storm-induced limestone nodule interbedded with offshore shales belonging to the regional Shumardia (C.) pusilla (trilobite) Biozone, and to the Paltodus deltifer deltifer (conodont) Subzone.

• Read more about A new Early Ordovician conodont genus from the southern Mmontagne Noire, France

The linguliform brachiopod Eoobolus from the Early Cambrian Mural Formation (Jasper National Park, Canadian Rocky Mountains) exhibits various calcitic features in its otherwise apatitic shell. It is argued here that the decomposition of the organic matter within the shell led to a microenvironment similar to those resulting in the phosphatization of soft tissues. This diagenetic regime encouraged the initial precipitation of apatite cements followed by calcite cements.

• Read more about An Early Cambrian organophosphatic brachiopod with calcitic granules

Numerous plectronocerid nautiloids appear in the Upper Cambrian of China. We have restudied their siphuncular structure, first described some 20 years ago. The siphuncle is characterized by: (1) long and holochoanitic septal necks dorsally but short and recurved necks laterally and ventrally; (2) strongly expanded connecting rings laterally; (3) two calcified layers in each connecting ring, outer spherulitic-prismatic and inner compact, the latter perforated by numerous pore canals; and (4) highly oblique siphuncular segments.

• Read more about Late Cambrian plectronocerid nautiloids and their role in cephalopod evolution

The fossilized larva of an aquatic beetle, Protodytiscus johillaensis gen. et sp. nov., is described from a ferruginous micaceous siltstone bed of the Permo-Triassic Parsora Formation of the South Rewa Gondwana Basin, Madhya Pradesh, India, and its systematic position and ordinal relationships within the coleopterous suborder Adephaga are discussed. Hitherto, the oldest known fossils of the hydradephagan superfamily Dytiscoidea have been Jurassic. The discovery of P. johillaensis extends the range of the Dytiscoidea back to the Permo-Triassic period.

• Read more about First record of an aquatic beetle larva (Insecta: Coleoptera) from the Parsora Formation (Permo-Triassic), India

Bugs of two new genera and species are described as Buzinia couillardi and Tanaia burmitica. They are preserved in mid-Cretaceous amber from south-west France and northern Myanmar (Burma), respectively (c. 100 Ma). These are the first formally described fossils of the heteropteran family Schizopteridae. Both belong to the subfamily Hypselosomatinae and are very similar to the extant genus Hypselosoma Reuter, providing evidence for the antiquity and morphological stability of this small bug family and the infraorder Dipsocoromorpha.

• Read more about Schizopterid bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera) in mid-Cretaceous ambers from France and Myanmar (Burma)

Tube-like traces of organisms belonging to the ichnogenus Chaetosalpinx Sokolov have been considered in the literature as commensal endobiontic organisms of tabulate corals. Their position between the corallites (or sometimes within the septa), perforation of the host's skeleton and soft tissue, modification of its phenotype and a possible inhibition of its growth show that the relationship between these organisms and tabulate corals can best be interpreted as parasitism rather than commensalism, as previously suggested.

• Read more about Parasitism versus commensalism: the case of tabulate endobionts

Here we report an eggshell in Dominican amber, representing the first vertebrate egg in any amber deposit. The eggshell is compared with present-day eggs of lizards, snails and birds. Based on the surface structure and type of shell breakage, it appears that the most likely candidate is a bird, and with that consideration, an avian group that produces eggs similar to the fossil in shape, size and colouration is the Trochilidae (hummingbirds). Several possible explanations of how the fossil could be preserved in amber are provided.

• Read more about Bird eggshell in Dominican amber

Cosmopolitan kutorginates, the most abundant Early Cambrian rhynchonelliformean brachiopods, became extinct at the end of the Middle Cambrian. Consequently, any information concerning the anatomy of this peculiar lineage of brachiopods has great phylogenetic significance with regard to their extant relatives for analogies with the stem-group clade. Such data have been supplied from fossils of which the soft parts have been preserved in exceptional detail. A new brachiopod, Kutorgina chengjiangensis sp. nov., from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstatte of southern China, is described here.

• Read more about Rhynchonelliformean brachiopods with soft-tissue preservation from the Eearly Cambrian Chengjiang Lagerstätte of South China

The problematic fossil Anticalyptraea Quenstedt, 1867, traditionally interpreted as a phorid gastropod, is here assigned to the Class Tentaculita. Its dextrally coiled substrate-cemented tube, bulbous initial chamber, vesicular tube wall and pseudopunctate microlamellar shell structure closely resembles Trypanopora (Tentaculita), but Anticalyptraea differs in having the cones of the pseudopunctae orientated in the opposite direction. Pseudopunctae orientated similarly to Anticalyptraea occur in Cornulites and thick-walled tentaculitids.

• Read more about The tentaculitid affinities of Anticalyptraea from the Silurian of Baltoscandia

A new, third, specimen of Onychoselache traquairi from the Visean (Holkerian) of Scotland allows a significant revision of the anatomy of this stem-group elasmobranch. This first report of material from the Mumbie Quarry exposure of the Glencartholm fish beds presents a new reconstruction of Onychoselache showing broad-based cephalic and nuchal spines, and exceptionally large pectoral fins. Details of the jaws, braincase and postcranial skeleton demonstrate that Onychoselache is a well-characterized member of the Hybodontiformes.

• Read more about A new reconstruction of Onychoselache traquairi, comments on early chondrichthyan pectoral girdles and hybodontiform phylogeny