Rugose and tabulate corals from the Lower Permian (Wolfcampian, Leonardian) Bird Spring Group in the Lee Canyon section of the Spring Mountains, Clark County, Nevada, are referred to eight genera and ten species. New taxa are Fomichevella nevadensis n. sp., F. waltersi n. sp., Mccloudius parvus n. sp., and Paraheritschioides richi n. sp. The fauna is most similar to the shelf fauna in eastern Nevada, but there are significant similarities to corals from the Antler Highland embayments of central Nevada and southern Idaho and to faunas of the same age in northern California and northern British Columbia. The paleogeography is interpreted as shallow water near the east side of the mouth of a south-opening coastal sea, bordered on the east by the continent and on the west by the Antler Highland. Corals migrated south along the western shores of the Antler Highland and mixed with the shelf fauna, perhaps with some corals crossing from Tethys to the coast. The modern eastern Pacific tropical coral faunas, which have several hermatypic coral genera and species derived from the western Pacific in the Pleistocene, may occupy a somewhat similar geography near the mouth of the modern Gulf of California.

Four new species of cyathaspidid extend the range of the genus Poraspis back into the Late Silurian and indicate that the Canadian arctic was its center of origin. Poraspis heintzae n. sp., P. cracens n. sp., P. thules n. sp. and P. parmula n. sp. also increase the known geographic range of the genus which had previously been reported only from the District of Mackenzie (NWT, Canada), Spitsbergen, western and eastern Europe. The identification of P. sericea from the upper member of the Peel Sound Formation substantiates correlation of this interval with the crouchi zone of the Anglo-Welsh Borders, and provides another rare example of a species common to the Canadian arctic and European successions.

Differences in the mineralogy of hinge teeth and inner shell layers in the family Dimyidae form the basis for a revision of genera. The stem genus Atreta (Late Triassic to Late Cretaceous) has aragonitic denticulate hinge teeth on the right valve articulating with pitted sockets on the left valve. The same arrangement is present in Neoatreta n. gen. (Paleocene? Miocene to Recent) but with the appearance of extensive calcitic overarching of the resilifer. In Dimyella (Eocene to Recent), aragonitic teeth and sockets are still present but are modified into hook shaped denticulate teeth with corresponding sockets. All three of these genera have inner aragonitic crossed-lamellar shell layers that extend well outside the pallial line. In contrast, Dimya (Eocene to Recent) and Basiliomya (Pliocene to Recent) comprise a second clade in which aragonitic hinge teeth are absent and hinge articulation is calcitic, derived from the calcitic rim. Dimya has only weak hinge articulation and has an aragonitic inner shell layer delimited by the pallial line; in Basiliomya calcitic hinge teeth are more prominent and the entire inner shell layer inside the pallial line is foliated calcite. Diploschiza (Cretaceous, Albian to Maastrichtian), here reinstated from synonymy with Atreta, is probably a precursor of the Dimya-Basiliomya clade based on incipient calcitic hinge teeth. Predation pressures probably drove the evolution of this cemented family from its original habitat on hardgrounds in moderately deep water into much greater depths or into cryptic habitats, including submarine caves.

New combinations are Dimyella malnatrensis (Corselli and Bernocchi), D. molokaia (Dall, Bartsch, and Rehder), D. similis (v. Koenen), Neoatreta dissimilis (Tate), N. filipina (Bartsch), N. kaiparaensis (Laws), N. phaidra (Woodring), and N. plana (Martin).

Dental and postcranial remains of a donkey-sized, three-toed, primitive horse were collected from the “Undifferentiated Miocene” Ecor Rouge Sand (which underlies the widespread Citronelle Formation) from the Mauvilla site in southern Alabama. These fossils probably pertain to a single individual of Protohippus gidleyi Hulbert, 1988. This represents an exceedingly rare occurrence of a late Tertiary land mammal from the central Gulf Coastal Plain and allows comparisons with better-known, contemporaneous land-mammal assemblages from Florida. Based on the known biochronology of Protohippus gidleyi from other localities, and the stratigraphic position of the Mauvilla record, the age of: 1) the Ecor Rouge Sand is late Miocene (latest Clarendonian to early Hemphillian landmammal “age”), between 9.0 to 6.5 Ma; and 2) the overlying Citronelle Formation near its type locality in southern Alabama is therefore late Miocene or younger.

Histology of newly discovered ganoid scales from the lower Bahariya Formation, in the Bahariya Oasis of western Egypt, confirms the presence of polypterid osteichthyans in this early Cenomanian locality. These fossils, occurring in the ~97 million-year-old lower Bahariya sequences, are among the earliest known polypterids. the Bahariya scales exhibit four tissues: ganoin, dentine, isopedine (elasmodin), and a basal plate of cellular bone, confirming their inclusion within the Polypteriformes. They have a discontinuous ganoin layer, present only as highly variable ridges and bosses. Dentine along the edges of the ganoin ridges appears to have undergone active remodeling, suggesting that the ganoin ridges represent the remnants of a continuous ganoin cover. Modern polypterids inhabit exclusively freshwater environments. Polypterids are not rare in the lower Bahariya Formation. Their presence in these coastal sediments suggests that freshwater habitats lay close to the site of deposition of this sequence during the early Cenomanian.

Upper Paleozoic Cephalopoda of west-central Patagonia are revised, based on reexamination of all available specimens and of most localities in Chubut Province, Argentina. Nautiloidea Orthocerida are represented by Sueroceras irregulare Riccardi and Sabattini, S.? chubutense (Closs), Sueroceras sp., and Mooreoceras zalazarense Sabattini and Riccardi and Pseudorthoceratidae gen. and sp. indeterminate; Nautilida by Amosiceras reticulatum new genus and species; and Ammonoidea Goniatitida by Glaphyrites taboadai new species and Glaphyrites sp. This fauna belongs to the Cisuralian Sueroceras irregulare and Mooreoceras zalazarense assemblage zones.

Based on a single right cheliped from the Cape de Naze Formation (middle–upper Maastrichtian), Senegal, a new genus and species of hermit crab with capsulated setae is described. Paracapsulapagurus poponguinensis n. gen. n. sp. is characterized by platy, scale-like, non-spinose tubercles with setae arranged in curved rows. This is only the third record of a fossil hermit crab with capsulated setae. These are documented in detail using SEM-imaging. For the first time, capsulated setae are also figured for the Early Jurassic hermit crab Schobertella.

Stagodontid marsupials were a common component of late Mesozoic vertebrate faunas of the Western Interior of North America and were among the largest mammals that coexisted with Late Cretaceous dinosaurs. Two genera have been described, Didelphodon and Eodelphis; three if Pariadens (?Stagodontidae) from the Cenomanian of Utah (Cifelli and Eaton, 1987) is included. The dental arcade of stagodontids is notable for the presence of bulbous premolars, each with a massive main cusp and a large accessory lobe. The most complete stagodontid material consists of a maxillary fragment and a few nearly complete dentaries referred to Didelphodon (see Clemens, 1968, 1973; Fox and Naylor, 1986). However, the configuration of the anterior upper dentition of Didelphodon and other stagodontids is uncertain because of the lack of specimens preserving this portion of the skull. Thus, based on isolated teeth, upper premolars of Didelphodon have been interpreted to have been oriented with their accessory lobes either on their labial (Clemens, 1966) or lingual (Clemens, 1968; Lillegraven, 1969; Archibald, 1982; Fox and Naylor, 1986) sides.

Ninety-five percent of the surface geology of The Netherlands consists of various Pleistocene sedimentary sequences. Of the other five percent, the principal area of ‘solid’ geology is in the south around Maastricht, in the province of Limburg, justifiably famous for its highly fossiliferous Upper Cretaceous succession, including the type section of the Maastrichtian Stage. Paleozoic exposures are very rare and, most relevant to the discussion herein, there is no exposed Permian succession. Yet the colonial history of The Netherlands makes it a haven for Permian researchers. The purpose of this brief communication is to alert interested researchers to the amalgamation of the Dutch Timor collections by the recent acquisition by the Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum - Naturalis, Leiden (NNM), of more than 10,000 specimens of Permian fossils, mainly marine invertebrates, from West Timor, Indonesia. Together with the collections already present at Naturalis, this easily forms the largest concentration of fossils from Timor in any museum.

The first report of the Hirnantia high-latitude peri-Gondwanan Fauna from Portugal (Upper Ordovician, Ribeira do Braçal Formation) is presented here. The described macroassemblages are fairly diverse containing fossils of brachiopods, trilobites, echinoderms, machaeridians, and ostracodes. Among the brachiopods, the most abundant is Mirorthis mira. Plectothyrella cf. P. libyca, Paromalomena cf. P. polonica, Plectoglossa? sp., and a small indeterminate discinoid are also present. The trilobites are represented by abundant sclerites of Mucronaspis cf. M. mucronata, and an isolated cranidium and pygidium assigned to Flexicalymene. The occurrence of Mucronaspis and Flexicalymene represents the first record of these genera in Portugal. Echinoderms are dominant in the basal bed of the formation; the columnal plates tentatively ascribed to morphogenus Pentagonocyclicus are the most abundant, followed by the echinosphaeritids. Abundant disarticulated machaeridian plates, of the genus Plumulites, associated with trilobites are present in one of the localities. Ostracodes were found in one single locality and have been assigned tentatively to the genus Herrigia. Ramose and massive bryozoans also occur in the assemblage. This new macrofossil assemblage supports the assignment of an Hirnantian age for the Ribeira do Braçal Formation. Most of the brachiopod species and the dalmanitid Mucronaspis are commonly present in Hirnantian deposits globally, but the presence in the assemblage of a brachiopod close to Plectothyrella libyca, a cold-water species, previously reported only from the Hirnantian of Libya and Morocco, is noticeable. This strengthens the case for a high latitudinal setting of the present-day territory of the Portuguese Central Iberian Zone during the Late Ordovician.

The only two known life associations of the shell and operculum of Maclurites Le Sueur, 1818, are described for the first time. Maclurites cf. magnus Le Sueur, 1818, from the Middle Ordovician of Alaska demonstrates that the operculum fits slightly inside the aperture, and when closed, the operculum extends down below the base of the shell and may have acted as an anchor. The operculum of Maclurites bigsbyi (Hall, 1861), from the Middle Ordovician of Wisconsin, is illustrated for the first time and is confirmed to be distinct from Maclurina logani (Salter, 1859).

In this contribution we describe and illustrate 14 coral morphospecies collected from the early Miocene Siamaná (Aquitanian–Burdigalian) and Jimol (late Burdigalian) formations of the Cocinetas Basin in La Guajira Peninsula, northern Colombia. Eleven were identified as already established species including seven genera belonging to the families Mussidae, Pocilloporidae, Poritidae, Siderastreidae, and Milleporidae; the other three remain in open nomenclature. Nine of the 11 species identified (81%) are extinct. The remaining two living species, Siderastrea siderea and Millepora alcicornis, are common on modern Caribbean reefs. Their presence in the Siamaná Formation extends their temporal range in the Caribbean region to the early Miocene. Most of the taxa described here were hermatypic and zooxanthellate corals of the order Scleractinia, with the exception of the fire coral Millepora alcicornis, of the order Anthothecata, family Milleporidae. The coral fauna recorded in the Siamaná and Jimol formations is typical of shallow and calm waters of the Oligocene–Miocene transition.

A brachiopod fauna from the upper part of the Wadleigh Limestone, Alexander terrane, southeastern Alaska, is of late Frasnian age and includes the new taxa Gypidula cornuta alaskensis n. subsp., Gypidula upatensis n. sp., Gypidula perryi n. sp., Gypiduloides craigensis n. gen. and sp., Parapugnax schmidti n. sp., Westbroekina chaconenesis n. gen. and sp., Emanuella altus n. sp., Emanuella neumani n. sp., Adolfispirifer sanjuanensis n. sp., Theodossia albertoensis n. sp., Cyrtospirifer paridaensis n. sp., and Tenticospirifer wadleighensis n. sp. A few other taxa are cosmopolitan or conspecific with species known from elsewhere in western North America. The fauna overall may have North American affinities but includes an unusual number of previously undescribed forms. This lends support to the view, based on the affinities of Frasnian conodonts from this same locality (Savage, 1992) and Famennian brachiopods described from nearby (Savage et al., 1978), that these Alexander terrane faunas were not in general communication with Late Devonian North American cratonic faunas to the east.

Six species of conulariids, assigned to four genera, were recovered from the type locality of the Cat Head Member of the Red River Formation in southern Manitoba, Canada. These are middle Katian (Late Ordovician) in age. The most abundant conulariid species from this locality, Conularia porcella, is new, and is represented by 21 specimens. Additionally, 28 three-dimensionally preserved micromorphic conulariids, assigned to Eoconularia aff. loculata, were recovered using acetic acid preparation from limestone samples of late Katian (Late Ordovician) age. These samples had been collected from Churchill, northern Manitoba, by the Geological Survey of Canada's J. B. Tyrrell in 1894. These taxa are unusually abundant for conulariids, which are normally represented by only a few specimens from any given locality, and this abundance may be a reflection of the exceptional preservation at these two localities.

A new trachyleberid ostracode genus, Kaesleria, is proposed for seven species from the Upper Cretaceous of Saudi Arabia: Kaesleria bilirata (Al-Furaih, 1980), K. biventrilirata n. sp., K. convexa n. sp., K. faceta n. sp., K. falcata n. sp., K. trahea (Al-Furaih, 1980), and K. undulata (Al-Furaih, 1980). Species of this genus are short ranging, relatively abundant, and very useful stratigraphically in Saudi Arabia. Kaesleria bilirata and K. trahea are particularly good markers of the top of the Maastrichtian, because their last occurrences are at the extreme top of it.

Acidolites Lang, Smith and Thomas occurs in upper Middle and Upper Ordovician, Lower and lower Middle Silurian rocks of Ontario and Quebec. On Anticosti Island, Quebec, the genus is represented by A. tenuis (Billings) in the Upper Ordovician (Gamachian) Ellis Bay Formation; the new species A. arctatus, A. compactus and A. helianthus in the Ordovician–Silurian boundary beds at the top of the Ellis Bay Formation; the new species A. arctatus, A. compactus and A. lindströmi in the lower Llandoverian Becscie Formation; A. arctatus in the mid-Llandoverian Gun River Formation; and an unnamed species in the upper Llandoverian Jupiter Formation. The lower Llandoverian Clemville Formation of the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec, contains Protaraea clemvillensis Parks, now considered to be Acidolites. The upper Middle to lower Upper Ordovician Cobourg Formation near Ottawa, Ontario, contains A. cf. arctatus, formerly included in Protaraea vetusta (Hall). The lower Wenlockian Amabel Formation in southern Ontario contains a species of Acidolites as yet unnamed.

A high-spired septate gastropod, Fletcherviewia septata n. gen. and sp., occurs in a distinctive faunule at the base of the Middle Devonian Fanning River Group, within the Burdekin Subprovince, near Townsville, North Queensland, Australia. This species is one of four large, thick-shelled gastropods associated with sandstone and sandstone–limestone facies; the sediments are interpreted as shallow marine, nearshore, mobile sand bars on a moderate-energy carbonate–clastic shelf. Strategies for the algalgrazing snails on the turbulent substrate are rolling for compact robust forms and anchoring, using the wide carina, for forms such as Fletcherviewia. Septation in Fletcherviewia is rationalized in terms of the ability to vacate early whorls, thus reducing body volume and avoiding any detrimental effect as a result of loss of early-formed whorls.

The oldest representative of the family Palaeozygopleuridae (Loxonematoidea, Gastropoda), Palaeozygopleura chlupaci n. sp., from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian, Monograptus uniformis Zone) of Bohemia is described. Also, its higher taxonomic position and the relationship of the families Loxonematidae and Palaeozygopleuridae are discussed. The diagnoses of both families give no unambiguous criteria for their distinction and their revision is necessary. The gradual disappearance of the deep, asymmetrical sinus in the apertural lip during the phylogeny of loxonematoidean gastropods could probably occur by two different modes and it could be produced by other changes in the mantle cavity rather than by progressive loss of the right-hand ctenidium. The family Palaeozygopleuridae is considered to be polyphyletic and, thus, is an artificial group.

This report describes a previously unknown chevron color pattern preserved on the Carboniferous bivalve Streblochondria? and discusses the significance of color patterns on Paleozoic bivalves as a group. Analysis of Paleozoic color pattern distribution suggests that the appearance of predators in the Devonian may have influenced preferential evolutionary selection for the development of color patterns in bivalves.

Four species of Emilites are now known; these are E. incertus (Böse), E. plummeri Ruzhencev, E. brownwoodi n. sp., and E. bennisoni n. sp. Representatives of this genus may occur as early as Middle Pennsylvanian in North America to as late as Early Permian in the Soviet Union. All described taxa are from North America except E. plummeri, which is from the Soviet Union. Because Emilites is extremely rare in upper Paleozoic ammonoid assemblages, generic and species level phylogenetic relationships are poorly understood. Emilites is not considered to be a good generic-level zone indicator due to its relatively long time range and its rarity.