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Valanginian strata at Wawal in central Poland have yielded the oldest marine neoselachian assemblages from the Cretaceous of Europe. The faunas comprise seven taxa including Heterodontus polonicus sp. nov., an indeterminate orectolobiform, Protolamna sp., Palaeoscyllium sp., Synechodus nitidus, Squatina cranei and Belemnobatis sp. Heterodontus polonicus is recognized primarily by the high amount of reticulate ornamentation on the lower labial side of the anterior teeth.

• Read more about Neoselachian shark and ray teeth from the Valanginian, Lower Cretaceous, of Wąwał, central Poland

Yarasuchus deccanensis gen. and sp. nov. is a new addition to the poorly known Middle Triassic terrestrial vertebrates. It is described on the basis of the fossil material of at least two incompletely preserved individuals and several isolated bones. It was a long-necked, gracile animal and might have had a facultatively bipedal gait. Apart from its characteristic elongate cervical vertebrae, other osteological features of Y. deccanensis resemble those of Prestosuchus, Saurosuchus, Ticinosuchus and 'Mandasuchus'.

• Read more about A new rauisuchian archosaur from the Middle Triassic of India

Little is known about predation of Mesozoic and Cenozoic articulated brachiopods, but it is far from clear whether this is because they suffered very little predation pressure or because there have been few attempts to search for evidence of it. A study of 248 museum specimens of the large Pliocene terebratulid Apletosia maxima from the Coralline Crag (UK) has revealed that more than 16 per cent of them show evidence of having been attacked by predators.

• Read more about Evidence of predation damage in Pliocene Apletosia maxima (Brachiopoda)

The validity of using quantitative analyses of wood anatomical characters as systematic tools and as palaeoenvironmental proxies has been questioned on the basis that natural variability, and in particular intra-tree variability, tends to drown out the signal being sought. A detailed quantitative description of the wood anatomy of a balsam fir tree was undertaken along root-stump-trunk-branch transects to ascertain intra-tree variability, and to assess noise-to-signal ratio.

• Read more about Intra-tree variability in wood anatomy and its implications for fossil wood systematics and palaeoclimatic studies

A gap in the Late Triassic fossil record of the capitosaur amphibian Cyclotosaurus is filled by new material from lacustrine deposits at Krasiejow, Poland, corresponding in age to the Lehrberg Beds (late Carnian) of Germany. The skull of the Polish cyclotosaur is intermediate in several respects between that of Cyclotosaurus robustus from the middle Carnian Schilfsandstein of Germany and the younger C. mordax from the early Norian Stubensandstein. It shows a decrease in the width of the skull and in the degree of concavity of the posterior margin of the skull roof.

• Read more about The temnospondyl amphibian Cyclotosaurus from the Upper Triassic of Poland

Isolated pterosaur and dinosaur teeth and a sauropod metatarsal I and manual phalanx V-1 from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Balabansai Svita in the northern Fergana Valley, Kyrgyzstan, are described and attributed to the pterosaur taxon Rhamphorhynchinae indet., a theropod Tetanurae indet., a sauropod Neosauropoda indet., and a new pachycephalosaurid Ferganocephale adenticulatum gen. et sp. nov. The Balabansai theropod is possibly a stem-lineage representative of Dromaeosauridae. The new pachycephalosaurid is the oldest representative of the group and extends its known history by 10-20 myr.

• Read more about Pterosaur and dinosaur remains from the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Svita in the northern Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia)

Two morphologically distinct assemblages of the Late Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega from East Greenland are described on the basis of a large collection of skulls and postcranial elements. Skull specimens collected on Gauss Halvo show that the assemblage from the lower Aina Dal Formation has proportionally narrower skulls and finer skull roof sculpture than the assemblage from the higher Britta Dal Formation. The assemblages are compared with the stratigraphically unconstrained type material from the north side of Celsius Bjerg on Ymer O, allowing a taxonomic revision.

• Read more about Taxonomic revision of the Late Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega from East Greenland

A new taxon of theropod dinosaur is described as Condorraptor currumili gen. et sp. nov., from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Canadon Asfalto Formation of Chubut Province, Argentinean Patagonia. The taxon is represented by a single fragmentary postcranial skeleton. Although incompletely known, Condorraptor is the second most complete theropod from the Middle Jurassic of Gondwana.

• Read more about Osteology and relationships of a new theropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Patagonia

Early Permian (Asselian) brachiopods collected from the Gircha Formation of western Karakorum (Pakistan) are described. They include Bandoproductus girchensis sp. nov., Kiangsiella sp. indet., Trigonotreta lyonsensis Archbold and Thomas, Trigonotreta larghii sp. nov., Spirelytha petaliformis (Pavlova), Punctospirifer afghanus Termier, Termier, de Lapparent and Marin, and ?Dielasma sp. indet. and belong to the Trigonotreta lyonsensis-Punctospirifer afghanus Assemblage Biozone, the oldest so far recovered from the Permian succession of Karakorum.

• Read more about Early Permian (Asselian) brachiopods from Karakorum (Pakistan) and their palaeobiogeographical significance

Coprolites from the Arcadia Formation, Queensland, Australia, were studied in conjunction with the vertebrate fossil assemblages from two localities to maximize our understanding of the palaeoecology of these Early Triassic deposits. Criteria used by other researchers to identify the producers of coprolites were found to be of little value in the Arcadia Formation specimens. Using a combination of shape, biostratigraphic distribution, size and included remains some of the coprolites are attributed to basal archosauromorphs and fish whereas others could not be identified.

• Read more about Early Triassic coprolites from Australia and their palaeobiological significance