A new Saldidae (MCT 6959-I) from the Crato Formation (Lower Cretaceous, late Aptian), Santana Group, Araripe Basin (northeastern Brazil) is described and illustrated. Olindasalda gondwanica n. gen. n. sp. is the first fossil Saldidae recorded from the Gondwanan supercontinent. The new genus can be distinguished from other members of the subfamily Chiloxanthinae by its small (4.49 mm) and oval-elongated body, absence of spots on the corium of the hemelytron, long R vein, and much-reduced first cell of the membrane. Remarks on the geology of the type locality and a comparison of the new genus with other saldids are provided.

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Phosphatic sclerites of the problematic Tarimspira Yue and Gao, 1992 (Cambrian Series 2) recovered by weak acid maceration of limestones display a unique range of mainly strongly coiled morphologies. They were likely organized into multielement scleritomes, but the nature of these is poorly known; some sclerites may have had a grasping function. Tarimspira sclerites grew by basal accretion in an analogous fashion to younger paraconodonts (Cambrian Series 3–4) but lack a basal cavity. Based on proposed homologies, Tarimspira may provide an extension of the early vertebrate paraconodont–euconodont clade back into the early Cambrian. Tarimspira is described for the first time from Laurentia (North Greenland), extending its known range from China and Siberia in Cambrian Series 2. In addition to the type species, Tarimspira plana Yue and Gao, 1992, the Greenland record of Tarimspira includes two morphotypes of a new species, Tarimspira artemi.

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Silicified brachiopods from Hirnantian strata in three sections of the lower Whittaker Formation, Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada, yielded a moderately diverse, Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna, consisting of 13 species: Biparetis paucirugosus, Brevilamnulella laevis, Dalmanella edgewoodensis, Drabovia noixella, Eospirigerina putilla, Epitomyonia paucitropida, Epitomyonia sekwiensis, Glyptorthis papillosa new species, Gnamptorhynchos orbiculoidea, Katastrophomena mackenzii new species, K. parvicardinis, Parastrophina cf. P. minor, and Skenidioides sp. Compared to the typical Edgewood fauna of the American Midcontinent, Brevilamnulella laevis has a notably smaller shell than B. thebesensis, and is interpreted as a deeper-water form. The strong faunal affinity of the Mackenzie Mountains fauna to the Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna is indicated by the occurrence of Biparetis, Brevilamnulella, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos. In addition to the Edgewood type area within Laurentia, Biparetis, Eospirigerina, and Gnamptorhynchos are characteristic taxa that also occur in the Ellis Bay Formation (Hirnantian) of Anticosti Island. Multivariate and network analyses strongly support the differentiation between an Edgewood-type Hirnantian fauna in Laurentia and peri-Laurentia and the typical Hirnantia fauna of the Kosov Province in Gondwana, peri-Gondwana, South China, Kazakhstan terranes, Avalonia, and Baltica.

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A well-preserved fauna of largely articulated trilobites is described from three new localities close to one another in the Bull River Valley, southeastern British Columbia. All the trilobites from these localities are from the lower or middle part of the Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone of the Elvinia Zone, lower Jiangshanian, in the McKay Group. Two new species are proposed with types from these localities: Aciculolenus askewi and Cliffia nicoleae. The trilobite (and agnostid) fauna from these localities includes at least 20 species: Aciculolenus askewi n. sp., Agnostotes orientalis (Kobayashi, 1935), Cernuolimbus ludvigseni Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Cliffia nicoleae n. sp., Elvinia roemeri (Shumard, 1861), Grandagnostus? species 1 of Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? phillipi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Eugonocare? sp. A, Housia vacuna (Walcott, 1912), Irvingella convexa (Kobayashi, 1935), Irvingella flohri Resser, 1942, Irvingella species B Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Olenaspella chrisnewi Chatterton and Gibb, 2016, Proceratopyge canadensis (Chatterton and Ludvigsen, 1998), Proceratopyge rectispinata (Troedsson, 1937), Pseudagnostus cf. P. josepha (Hall, 1863), Pseudagnostus securiger (Lake, 1906), Pseudeugonocare bispinatum (Kobayashi, 1962), Pterocephalia sp., and Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Chatterton and Gibb, 2016. Pseudagnostus securiger, a widespread early Jiangshanian species, has not been previously recorded from southeastern British Columbia. Non-trilobite fossils collected from these localities include brachiopods, rare trace fossils, a complete silica sponge (Hyalospongea), and a dendroid graptolite. The faunas from these localities are more diverse and better preserved than those from other previously documented localities of the same age in the region.

Additional specimens of a rare species, found by amateur collectors in previously documented localities of slightly younger age (upper part of Wujiajiania lyndasmithae Subzone) in the same region, are documented. These new specimens, when combined with an earlier discovered specimen, provide adequate type material to propose a new species of Labiostria, L. gibbae, which may be useful for biostratigraphy.

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Clark and Martin (1901), in their study of the Paleogene deposits of Maryland, figured drawings of a fragment of a spatangoid echinoid from the Lower Eocene Nanjemoy Formation and a broken echinoid spine from the Upper Paleocene Aquia Formation. Echinoids are an important element of Paleogene faunas in the eastern United States, but these are the only reported occurrences of this age from either Maryland or Virginia and are therefore significant to the understanding of the evolution and paleogeography of echinoids in this region. The figured specimens were attributed to collections at Johns Hopkins University, but without catalog numbers. During study of the paleobiology collections of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Institution, two vials were discovered with small, handwritten labels referencing the figure numbers in Clark and Martin (1901). The contained specimens were recognized as those figured in the report. They have been cataloged in the NMNH collections as follows:

Crasquin proposed (in Crasquin et al., 2008) the generic name Bairdiacratia (p. 244-246) for a Bairdioidea ostracod (Crustacea) recorded from the latest Permian of the Southern Alps (Italy) and Guizhou, Zhejiang, and Hubei Provinces (South China). Unfortunately, I discovered recently that the name was already used for an ostracod genus from the Middle Devonian of eastern Yunnan Province (China) by Jiang (1983).

Harmostocrinus jonesi n. sp. (Mississippian: Chesterian) is described from the upper part of the Monteagle Limestone in northern Alabama, and is distinguished from all other species of the genus by bifurcation of the A-ray arm on IBr2 instead of IBr1. Reduction in overall number of arms, A-ray arm bifurcation, and reduction of cup-size demonstrate that H. jonesi is a paedomorphic evolutionary intermediate between the stratigraphically older Mississippian genus Abrotocrinus, and other, younger species of Harmostocrinus. Both peramorphosis (cup characters) and paedomorphosis (arm characters) were important factors in the evolution of Harmostocrinus jonesi.

Four new species of Borealarges, B. fritillus, B. patulus, B. renodis, and B. variabilis, and one new species of Richterarges, R. facetus, are described and one unnamed species, Borealarges sp., discussed. All are from the Wenlock strata of Avalanche Lake sections in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories. Borealarges tuckerae Adrain, 1994, the only species reported from both the Arctic and the Mackenzie Mountains, is discussed. Hemiarges avalanchensis n. sp., an Ashgill species from Avalanche Lake section AV 4B just below the Ordovician-Silurian boundary, is described. A phylogenetic analysis based on 14 species of Borealarges, three of Richterarges, and two of Hemiarges, demonstrates that the former two genera are three separate and distinct taxa. Borealarges, a genus that includes some species formerly assigned to Richterarges or Hemiarges, is monophyletic, contains a well-supported internal clade of species, and is not separated into senso stricto and senso lato groupings.

The typical species of Parks' stromatoporoid genus Stictostroma designated as Stromatopora mammillata Nicholson, 1873, and renamed S. mamilliferum to avoid homonymy by Galloway and St. Jean (1957), had unknown internal structure because Nicholson's type specimens were not sectioned. Parks' (1936) diagnosis of generic characters was based on specimens from a location (Gorrie) far from the type locality of S. mammillata that he assumed were conspecific with Nicholson's species. Investigation of the type specimens of Stromatopora mammillata = Stictostroma mamilliferum by thin sections shows that they are very poorly preserved and not conspecific with the specimens on which Parks based the genus. Because paleontologists for many years have used Stictostroma as amended from Parks' description by Galloway and St. Jean, the species from Gorrie that clearly shows these characters should be recognized as the typical species and given a new name.

The fauna of the lower Chickabally Member of the Budden Canyon Formation, a part of the Cretaceous Great Valley Sequence in the Cottonwood District (Figures 1, 2) of northern California, was described by Murphy (1975). At that time, two specimens of the species described here were known, but they were not complete enough to be identified or classified. Recently, Embree collected three additional specimens from the same horizon that enable us to classify the taxon with the Heteroceratidae. However, the rate of whorl expansion of the cross section of the conch and the open coiling are different from all other Heteroceratidae and we regard it, like much of the associated fauna, as a genus and species endemic to California.

According to Ubaghs (1978), syzygies are brachial articulations in which radiating ridges and furrows on the two joint faces oppose each other rather than interlock as in symplexies. Cryptosyzygies differ from syzygies by having very short ridges that may be replaced by rows of tubercles or granules, with a tendency toward irregular arrangement and disappearance. Among Triassic crinoids, only representatives of the orders Isocrinida Sieverts-Doreck, 1952 and Comatulida Clark, 1908 had cryptosyzygial or syzygial brachial articulation, respectively. According to Rasmussen (1978), among Isocrinidae the articulations of primibrachial 1 and 2 and secundibrachial 1 and 2 were cryptosyzygial or synarthrial (but see also comments in Simms, 1988a). Among Comatulida, syzygial articulations generally occur between brachials 3 and 4 and in more distal arm parts.

The authors wish to correct an error on page 26 of the paper on “An illustrated key to the identification of unilocular genera of calcareous foraminifera” by Fred E. Clark and R. Timothy Patterson (Journal of Paleontology, 67:20–28).

Illusioluidia teneryi is a new genus and species of asteroid echinoderm described from the Missourian (Upper Pennsylvanian) Wolf Mountain Shale of Texas. Illusioluidia is important because it is strongly homeomorphic with modern Luidia; Luidia has been considered primitive among living asteroids by some authors. Illusioluidia, however, is not ancestral to Luidia or any other modern genus; similarities are convergent. Luidia is a predator, largely on active invertebrates (other echinoderms, mollusks), whereas Illusioluidia is inferred to have been a small-particle feeder. Homeomorphy reflects neither descent nor feeding habits; environmental controls are suggested.

The Cedar City Formation is divisible into three stromatoporoid biozones. These zones are differentiated by the mutually exclusive stratigraphic occurrences of the species 1) Syringostroma astrorhizoides, 2) Stromatoporella congregabilis and 3) Stachyodes crebrum. Chronologically, the zones range from late Emsian to early Frasnian. Lithofacies of the Cedar City are not restrictive as to the stromatoporoid species they contain.

Reports on Mississippian rostroconchs from the Appalachian basin are rare. Winchell (1871), Herrick (1888, 1890, 1891), Hyde (1953), and Hoare (1990, 2004) discussed taxa from Ohio. These reports concerned pre-Chesterian occurrences with the exception of the Chesterian Bransonia hydei Hoare, 1990 and Oxyprora sp. Hoare (2004) from the Maxville Limestone. Specimens of the new taxon were reported by Busanus (1974) as Conocardium spp. from the Chesterian Reynolds Limestone in northern West Virginia.