Elements of the Ordovician conodont genus Protopanderodus have been investigated in order to provide a model of reconstruction for its oral apparatus. In total, 4,202 elements from the five named species representing this genus in the Swedish Middle Ordovician are included in this study: P. rectus, P. parvibasis, P. graeai, P. robustus and P. calceatus. The well-preserved specimens were studied in detail for identification of distinct element types and calculations were made to determine element ratios and minimum number of elements in a single apparatus. Three element groups, M, S and P, were recognised for all five species and their relative ratio is indicative of apparatuses consisting of at least 21 elements. However, the number of element types and their distribution varies between the species. The four bicostate species, P. rectus, P. parvibasis, P. graeai and P. robustus, have similar morphological characters and are believed to belong to the same evolutionary lineage. They possessed apparatuses consisting of M, Sa, Sb1, Sb2, Sc, Pa and Pb elements. By contrast, the multicostate species P. calceatus is morphologically different and had an apparatus consisting of M1, M2, Sa, Sb, Sc, “Sd”, Pa, Pb1 and Pb2 elements. These differences indicate that P. calceatus is not so closely related to the other species, possibly representing a separate evolutionary lineage, and may warrant an exclusive generic assignment.

Additional mechanical preparation of the type material of the temnospondyl amphibian Perryella olsoni (Lower Permian, Wellington Formation, Oklahoma) highlights new cranial and postcranial features and provides additional data on previously known structures. Important new information is available for the quadrate, palatal bones and their associated dentition, parasphenoid, and appendicular skeleton. The revised diagnosis and redescription of Perryella provide the basis for a re-evaluation of its systematic affinities. A cladistic analysis of (mostly) Carboniferous and Permian temnospondyls, together with several Devonian and Carboniferous stem tetrapod outgroups, supports a single origin for temnospondyls. The sequence of branching events within temnospondyls consists of: (1) a paraphyletic Edopoidea; (2) a clade of Zatracheidae, Eryopidae, and basal Archegosauriformes; (3) a monophyletic Dvinosauria; and (4) a monophyletic Dissorophoidea. Perryella is nested within Dvinosauria in an intermediate position between Trimerorhachidae and Dvinosauroidea.

Since the late 1980s an extensive programme of trenching/borehole drilling has been undertaken in order to study the Lower Devonian ‘Lower Old Red Sandstone’ deposits of the Rhynie outlier in the Grampian Highlands of Scotland. The boreholes have provided new information on the stratigraphical succession and geological structure of the Rhynie outlier, both of which were hitherto poorly understood due to the paucity of good surface exposure and the complex geological relationships of the deposits. One hundred and eighteen palynological samples were collected, representing much of the stratigraphical sequence of the inlier, of which 106 were productive. Productive samples yield assemblages of well preserved palynomorphs, dominated by spores and phytodebris, but also containing arthropod cuticle and rare freshwater algal remains. The spore assemblages are systematically described and two new genera and six new species proposed. They are similar throughout the sequence and the spores belong to the polygonalis–emsiensis Spore Assemblage Biozone of Richardson & McGregor (1986) and the PoW Oppel Zone (possibly Su Interval Zone) of Streel et al. (1987), indicating an early (but not earliest) Pragian–?earliest Emsian age range, that may possibly be restricted to latest Pragian–?earliest Emsian. The palynomorph assemblages contain only terrestrial forms, supporting sedimentological interpretation of the deposits as ‘Lower Old Red Sandstone’ fluviatile and lacustrine deposits, with occasional extrusive volcanics and volcaniclastic sediments intercalated. The palynomorphs are of variable thermal maturity (within and between samples), probably reflecting differential heating associated with the complex volcanic/hydrothermal system. The new palynological data provide, for the first time, a reliable biostratigraphical age for the deposits, and suggest that they accumulated relatively rapidly. Spore biostratigraphy and thermal maturity studies facilitate correlation of the tectonically complex deposits, and shed light on other aspects of the geological history of the outlier. The palynomorph assemblages also aid interpretation of the biota of the Rhynie basin, including the exceptionally preserved biotas of the Rhynie and Windyfield cherts.