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The Cambrian trilobite originally described as Bathyurus gregarius by Billings in 1865 is revised in the light of a new collection from what is judged to be its type locality in the Big Gully Marl Member of the Chamberlain's Brook Formation on the Cape St. Mary's Peninsula of south-east Newfoundland. Here assigned to Parasolenopleura gregaria, it is regarded as the senior synonym of Parasolenopleura cristata (Linnarsson, 1877) in the Swedish Paradoxides (Eccaparadoxides) insularis and P.

• Read more about Holaspid variation in the solenopleurid trilobite Parasolenopleura gregaria (Billings, 1865) from the Cambrian of Newfoundland

Two rare, poorly known bryozoan genera from the Middle Ordovician (Volkhovian-Lasnamagian) of the St Petersburg Region, north-west Russia, are revised and redescribed based on new finds. Hexaporites fungiformis Eichwald, 1860 is redefined as the type species of the genus, which is shown to be one of the earliest representatives of the suborder Halloporina. The bryozoan nature of the specimen described and illustrated by Eichwald as Nebulipora ovulum is confirmed after re-study of a single preserved specimen.

• Read more about Two enigmatic bryozoans from the Middle Ordovician of the East Baltic

Abundant and diverse bioerosion trace fossils in the Lower Devonian of the Rade de Brest, France, were produced by boring ctenostomate bryozoans, polychaete annelids and algae. Two unidentifiable traces of encrusting sclerobionts are also considered. Two new taxa are described: Pinaceocladichnus cristatus ichnosp. nov. and Ichnogutta erectus ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. Both are attributed to the work of boring bryozoans.

• Read more about Early Devonian bioerosion in the Rade de Brest, Armorican Massif, France

A Middle Jurassic fossil forest, thought to have been growing at high southern palaeolatitudes on the Gondwana margin, is described from New Zealand. Fossil stump horizons are exposed in stratigraphic section within the Urawitiki Measures Formation, Murihiku Supergroup. Tree bases were preserved by silica permineralisation in a sandy braided river setting. Fossil wood is referred to 'abietinean-type' and Agathoxylon. A total of 238 stumps were mapped with measured diameters allowing tree height estimates of 9-40 m.

• Read more about A Middle Jurassic fossil forest from New Zealand

Two spiders (Filistatidae) in Miocene Dominican Republic amber, one newly identified and only the second known fossil of this family, have autospasized legs (detached at a predetermined locus of weakness when restrained by a non-self-induced source) at the patella-tibia joint. In both specimens, droplets of haemolymph (blood) are preserved exiting the patellae.

• Read more about Fossil blood droplets in Miocene Dominican amber yield clues to speed and direction of resin secretion

New specimens of a mixosaurid ichthyosaur are described from the People's Republic of China. They consist of an almost complete skull, forefin and shoulder girdle of a single individual, and a second partial skull from the Anisian Guanling Formation of Guizhou Province that belongs to the same taxon. A phylogenetic analysis shows this species to be the sister-taxon of all other mixosaurids. It is distinguished from Mixosaurus, Contecotpalatus and Phalarodon by features of its dentition and cranial morphology. There is only one maxillary tooth row.

• Read more about A basal mixosaurid ichthyosaur from the Middle Triassic of China

Ostracods are described for the first time from Permian-Triassic shallow marine sediments of the Khuff Formation of central Saudi Arabia. They were collected using a modified acetolysis technique for releasing calcareous shells from limestones that is described herein. Thirty-four species belonging to 17 genera are recognized. Two new species are described: Arqoviella arabica sp. nov. and A. khartamensis sp. nov.

• Read more about Ostracods as markers of the Permian/Triassic boundary in the Khuff Formation of Saudi Arabia

Exceptionally preserved specimens of the genera Myophoria, Neoschizodus and Trigonodus (Bivalvia, Palaeoheterodonta, Trigonioida) from carbonate sediments of the Muschelkalk (Anisian, Ladinian) contain phosphatized soft-tissues. This is the oldest record of soft-tissue preservation in bivalves and the first from the German Muschelkalk.

• Read more about Phosphatized soft-tissue in Triassic bivalves

Small reptiles from the Early Jurassic Pant 4 fissure fill in Glamorgan, South Wales (St. Bride's Island, Pant Quarry), were formerly provisionally attributed to three species of sphenodontian lepidosaurs. A re-analysis, aided by new material, has found this herpeto-fauna to consist almost exclusively of a single new species, Clevosaurus convallis sp. nov., with only one specimen referable to Sphenodontia incertae sedis. Clevosaurus is known from the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic in various parts of the world, but C.

• Read more about A new species of the sphenodontian reptile Clevosaurus from the Lower Jurassic of South Wales

A new small balaenid is described and compared to all fossil and living balaenid taxa. The specimen represents a new genus and species and is named Balaenella brachyrhynus. It was discovered in the Lower Pliocene of Kallo (north-west Antwerp, Belgium) and adds new information on the diversity and evolution of Balaenidae. Based on both comparative morphology and phylogenetic analysis, Balaenella brachyrhynus is morphologically closer to the genus Balaena, including the living Greenland Bowhead whale (B. mysticetus), and two Pliocene species (B. montalionis and B.

• Read more about Skull morphology and phylogenetic relationships of a new diminutive balaenid from the Lower Pliocene of Belgium