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Late Ordovician vertebrate faunas occur in clastic sedimentary units along the length of the Rocky Mountains from Colorado to Montana, and across the border into Canada. Most research has, however, been conducted on localities in the southern part of the outcrop belt, particularly the Harding Sandstone Formation of Colorado. Micropalaeontological sampling of the coeval South Piney Member (Winnipeg Formation) in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming has revealed an abundant vertebrate fauna.

• Read more about Late Ordovician vertebrates from the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, USA

The marine reptile Endennasaurus from the Upper Triassic Zorzino Limestone of northern Italy is redescribed and reassessed. New details of the skull and postcranial skeleton are revealed, confirming the attribution of this genus to the diapsid reptile clade Thalattosauriformes. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Endennasaurus was related to the European genus Askeptosaurus and the Chinese Anshunsaurus.

• Read more about The marine diapsid reptile Endennasaurus from the Upper Triassic of Italy

Worm tubes, which exhibit the replaced tube-lining membrane, have been collected from the lowermost Lower Eocene Acantilados Allomember of the La Meseta Formation, Seymour Island, Antarctica. The discovery represents the oldest examples of preservation of the tube-lining membrane of tube-dwelling Polychaeta in the fossil record. A new genus and species, Caprascolex antarcticus, are described. The specimens are preserved as thin coatings of amorphous iron oxide on the inner surface of the moulds interpreted to be the replaced tube-lining membrane.

• Read more about Remarkably preserved annelid worms from the La Meseta Formation (Eocene), Seymour Island, Antarctica

Incident-light darkfield microscopy permits the direct observation of cellular structure of some plant fossils without the need for maceration. It allows the study of leaf epidermis and sporangial structure where it was previously impossible.

• Read more about Palaeobotanical applications of incident-light darkfield microscopy

Lamaureriella vizcainoi gen. et sp. nov., from the Montagne Noire region of southern France, is a coiled, laterally compressed, bilaterally symmetrical mollusc in which prominent folds in the apertural margin produce a characteristic spiral plication across each lateral surface. Similar plications are present in technophorid rostroconchs but the prominent coiling and lack of a pegma suggest that Lamaureriella is a helcionelloid. It is the second such genus described from Early Ordovician rocks.

• Read more about A new problematic Early Ordovician univalve mollusc from France

Sediments of the Mendez Formation near Cerralvo, north-eastern Mexico, yield an abundant and diverse Maastrichtian ammonite assemblage. A total of 23 species referred to 18 genera are described, in addition to the possible coleoid Naefia neogaeia. The assemblage is considered to be of early Maastrichtian age on the basis of ammonite occurrences and has been dated to the lower Maastrichtian biozone CF 7 by planktic foraminifera. None of the ammonite species has been reported previously from the Mendez Formation and most species are recorded from Mexico for the first time.

• Read more about Maastrichtian cephalopods from Cerralvo, north-eastern Mexico

A study of ligaments of larval, postlarval and adult shells of fossil and recent pteriomorphian bivalves leads to the following observations and hypotheses: (1) Ligament growth passively follows the general growth pattern of the mantle margin. No independent genetic information fixes the anterior, ventral, or posterior growth direction of the ligament. Further growth constraints relate to physical availability of space on the ligament area and to heterochronic processes.

• Read more about Constraints in the ligament ontogeny and evolution of pteriomorphian Bivalvia

Terebratuloid brachiopods from two localities in the eastern Great Basin, Nevada, USA, include the new taxa Cryptacanthia savagei sp. nov., Fletcherithyris infrequens sp. nov., Cryptonella simplex sp. nov., and Albelenina alvarezi gen. et sp. nov. The faunas are considered to be mid Desmoinesian (late Moscovian) in age. The brachiopods were found associated in clusters, and many of the specimens are well preserved. Records of Pennsylvanian terebratuloid brachiopods are uncommon, and these faunas have enabled an understanding of internal features previously unknown or poorly understood.

• Read more about New Carboniferous brachiopods from the eastern Great Basin, Nevada, USA: implications for loop ontogeny and evolution in Late Palaeozoic terebratuloids

Hymenopteran fossils from Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China are assigned to 17 families. These include, in decreasing order of importance, Ephialtitidae, Xyelidae, Siricidae, Xyelydidae, Anaxyelidae, Karatavitidae s.l., Mesoserphidae, Megalyridae and Praeaulacidae. Analysis of the taxonomic composition suggests that the assemblage is of Mid Jurassic age.

• Read more about Composition and age of the Daohugou hymenopteran (Insecta, Hymenoptera = Vespida) assemblage from Inner Mongolia, China

Silicified polyplacophorans are common in the Lower Devonian Garra Formation in New South Wales. Four taxa occur within the lower 237 m of the formation at 14 horizons associated with an abundant and diverse fauna. Chelodes calceoloides Etheridge ranges through the section. New taxa are Chelodes cordatus sp. nov., Acutichiton depressolatus sp. nov., and Jugochiton patulus gen. and sp. nov. A single plate of an indeterminate genus occurs in the lower portion of the Camelford Limestone.

• Read more about Lower Devonian Polyplacophora from New South Wales, Australia