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Occurrences of fossil lungfishes (Dipnoi: Sarcopterygii) in the Famennian Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania are reviewed. A nearly complete dermal skull roof is assigned to a new genus and species, Apatorhynchus opistheretmus. Other recently discovered lungfish specimens include an incomplete postcranium similar to that of the Frasnian genus Fleurantia, a small parasphenoid of uncertain affinities, and isolated toothplates.

• Read more about Late Devonian (Famennian) lungfishes from the Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, USA

Platynotan lizards underwent a dramatic Late Cretaceous radiation into marine habitats. Beginning with small-bodied forms, the lineage culminated with the mosasaurs, large predatory lizards with a world-wide distribution in the Santonian-Campanian. Moreover, the marine squamate radiations of the Cenomanian-Turonian are remarkable in having produced a range of long-bodied, reduced-limbed swimmers (dolichosaurs, adriosaurs, coniasaurs and limbed snakes) that seem to have thrived in the shallow coastal environments of the Western Tethys region.

• Read more about A long-bodied lizard from the Lower Cretaceous of Japan

The ichnotaxonomy and stratigraphic, geographic and environmental distribution of fish (Undichna) and amphibian (Lunichnium) swimming traces are reviewed. The ichnospecies of Undichna consist of various combinations of sinusoidal waves of differing complexity. Some of the more complex ichnospecies are made up of elements of the simpler forms, and morphological subset relationships between them are presented. Such subset series represent potential taphoseries relationships (i.e. preservational variants that reflect, for example, undertrails), or series of minor behavioural variations.

• Read more about The fish and amphibian swimming traces Undichna and Lunichnium, with examples from the Lower Permian of New Mexico, USA

Vertebrae of Suuwassea demonstrate an interesting combination of plesiomorphies and autapomorphies among known members of the Flagellicaudata. The cranial cervical vertebrae have proportions close to Diplodocus but resemble those of Apatosaurus except by having greatly reduced cranial and caudal spinozygapophyseal laminae. As a result, they have craniocaudally compressed, caudally positioned spinous processes excavated on all sides by fossae. The cranial thoracic vertebrae are again similarly proportioned as those of Diplodocus but are morphologically similar to those of Apatosaurus.

• Read more about The axial skeleton of the dinosaur Suuwassea emilieae (Sauropoda: Flagellicaudata) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of Montana, USA

A lower jaw with multicusped teeth and a number of unique characteristics was discovered in an extensive exposure of the Upper Triassic Kossen Formation in the Northern Calcareous Alps. The ramus of the jaw is high and dominated by a row of large, oval foramina that lies parallel to the tooth row. In addition, the anterior portion of the dentary exhibits a large number of nutritive foramina and small pits, which might indicate an association with a soft tissue structure and/or the presence of a keratinous cover of that area during life.

• Read more about A new basal pterosaur genus from the Upper Triassic of the Northern Calcareous Alps of Switzerland

The Early Tithonian ammonite genus Semiformiceras represents a lineage that lasted almost 3 myr. Previously, a gradual, anagenetic evolutionary pattern has been proposed on the basis of both biostratigraphic data and the interpretation of morphological changes in successive species, subspecies or morphotypes. The existence of two almost homeomorphic species, S. birkenmajeri and S. gemmellaroi, at two separate stratigraphic intervals in the early Tithonian contrasts with the transformation of characters suggested by the stratigraphic distribution of others.

• Read more about Anagenetic evolution of the early Tithonian ammonite genus Semiformiceras tested with cladistic analysis

A new fauna of Lower Cretaceous (Albian) ichthyosaurs, which includes at least one new genus and species, was recovered from deposits of the Loon River Formation at Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada. All Cretaceous ichthyosaurs have been referred to a single genus, Platypterygius. The Loon River Formation material, however, does not satisfy the diagnosis for Platypterygius, and it is distinctive enough to warrant the erection of a new genus and species of ichthyosaur. Maiaspondylus lindoei gen. et sp. nov.

• Read more about A new genus of ichthyosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of western Canada

A new species of trilobite, Cyrtosymbole rectifrons, from Famennian marlstones in the south-eastern vicinity of Erfoud (Tafilalt, Morocco), is described. Silicified sclerites of various sizes allow the description of its late growth sequence, which demonstrates that some characteristic features of the Cyrtosymbolinae are acquired during late ontogeny.

• Read more about Late ontogeny and hypostomal condition of a new cyrtosymboline trilobite from the Famennian of Morocco

The fossil organic trace of an argonaut shell from the Pakhna Formation (Serravillian, Middle Miocene) of southern Cyprus is described. The new find represents one of only a very few argonaut egg cases reported from the fossil record of the Tethyan region and is the first to be reported from the eastern Mediterranean. It is assigned to a new species of Argonauta as A. absyrtus sp. nov.

• Read more about A paper nautilus (Octopoda, Argonauta) from the Miocene Pakhna Formation of Cyprus

Ornitholestes hermanni is a Late Jurassic theropod dinosaur from North America. This kinematic study of Ornitholestes uses manual manipulations of forelimb casts to determine range of motion. The manual phalanges of the O. hermanni holotype, previously unidentified, are here identified as phalanges I-1, I-2 (ungual), II-2 and II-3 (ungual). At all represented manual joints, hyperextensibility is small or absent, whereas flexion is strong, as in most other theropods. The elbow can be strongly flexed beyond a right angle.

• Read more about Forelimb function in Ornitholestes hermanni Osborn (Dinosauria, Theropoda)