Freeliving corals capable of automobility (e.g., lateral migration) were rare during Paleozoic time, but some species within the tabulate genera Procterodictyum, Procteria (Granulidictyum), P. (Pachyprocteria), Palaeacis and Smythina, and the rugose genera Combophyllum, and Baryphyllum, have morphologic characters that suggest they were capable of such self-directed movement. The rugose corals Gymnophyllum and Hadrophyllum, sensu stricto may have exhumed and righted themselves. No single morphological character is diagnostic for an automobile habit, but the following characters appear to be important indicators: 1) lack of an external attachment surface; 2) concentric skeletal accretion; 3) discoid corallum shape; 4) concavo-convex, plano-convex, and, less commonly, biconvex corallum profile; and 5) small, lightweight corallum. Additionally, the occurrence of corallites on the base of the corallum (hypocorallites) is a good indicator of automobility in freeliving corals, but the character is so far known only in Procterodictyum. All known fossil automobile taxa appear to have inhabited relatively quiet environments on muddy or silty, soft substrates.

The earliest known automobile corals were early Emsian (Devonian) Procterodictyum. Paleozoic automobile corals were most abundant during Devonian time, with Procterodictyum, Procteria (Granulidictyum), and Combophyllum distributed in a narrow longitudinal band in the southern hemisphere on both sides of the Rheic Ocean. Carboniferous and Permian automobile taxa (Palaeacis partim, Smythina and Baryphyllum) were less diverse, but more cosmopolitan. Throughout Paleozoic time, the vast majority of automobile corals was confined to within 40 degrees of the paleoequator. However, additional research will be required before coral automobility can be used to constrain paleolatitude independently.

During the late Trentonian the New York State region experienced gentle crustal subsidence which preceded the onset of the Hudson Valley phase of the Taconic Orogeny. The lower and middle Steuben Limestone represents several shallow-water facies: a protected shoal, a wave dissipation zone and a shallow shelf. Overlying strata of the upper Steuben and the Hillier limestones represent progressively deeper water facies. After a short period of uplift, which produced a minor unconformity, black shales began to bury the Trenton carbonate platform.

Three fossil communities are found in the upper Trenton Group. Each had been present on the Trenton bank since it first formed. The Liospira Community existed on the shallow protected shoal facies of the Steuben Limestone. Its assemblages are dominated by brachiopods, gastropods, bryozoans, and crinoids. The Encrinurus Community was found in the wave dissipation zone and on the shelf facies. This diverse community was dominated by brachiopods, bryozoans, and crinoids. The Trematis Community is found in the deeper shelf deposits of the Hillier Limestone. It was a very heterogeneous community with brachiopods, crinoids, gastropods, trilobites, and conodonts all represented.

These communities have now been traced through a minimum of eight million years of their history and it is now possible to evaluate their patterns of community evolution. At the species level these communities were quite changeable. Between 45% and 55% of the species which were present in the lower Trenton Group were replaced by the late Trentonian. Despite this changeover, the communities maintained a remarkably familiar look because there was great stability at higher taxonomic levels and the same proportions of brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, etc., were maintained throughout the Trentonian. Community trophic group structure also seems to have been quite stable throughout the Trentonian. If these patterns are representative, then these invertebrate communities appear to be genuinely stable entities. Evolution changes the cast of characters but the play is the same!

Galecyon is one of the first appearing hyaenodontid creodonts, as well as one of the most poorly known. New specimens greatly improve our understanding of the morphology of this early Eocene genus, thereby enhance knowledge of the earliest radiation of Hyaenodontidae, and include the first associated upper dental remains, as well as fragmentary cranial remains. The new records substantially expand the stratigraphic range of the genus and allow recognition of two new species. The first, Galecyon peregrinus n. sp., is a small, early species that includes the first records of Galecyon from the earliest Eocene Wa-0 interval. The second, Galecyon chronius n. sp., is a large, terminal species, represented by numerous specimens that extend the range of the genus into the late Wasatchian. The type species, G. mordax, is restricted to specimens that are intermediate in size and stratigraphic position. Phylogenetic analysis of early hyaenodontids confirms the monophyly of Galecyon and places it basal to Prolimnocyon, Prototomus, and Pyrocyon. Arfia is identified as the earliest diverging hyaenodontid sampled, contrasting with prior support for a more crownward position. Prototomus martis is more closely allied to Pyrocyon than to other species of Prototomus. The three North American species of Galecyon form a probable anagenetic lineage.

The Moscow Syneclise on the East European Platform is an important area for the study of the continental biota of late Permian to Early Triassic age in continuous sections. This study attempts a taxonomic description of the late Permian conchostracan fauna of this area. The rich, new material was collected, bed by bed, during geological and paleontological excavations of lacustrine and fluvial deposits of the Obnora Formation and Vokhma Formation of the late Permian Zhukovian Regional Stage near the towns of Vyazniki and Gorokhovets. The conchostracan fauna of the Zhukovian Regional Stage consists predominantly of Pseudestheria and less frequently of Palaeolimnadiopsis. In the earliest Triassic Vokhmian Regional Stage, a more diverse fauna including Euestheria, Magniestheria, Cornia, Palaeolimnadiopsis, and Rossolimnadiopsis was already recorded. The preliminary taxonomic determination of the pseudestheriids from the Zhukovian Regional Stage is intended to serve as a prerequisite for future studies of late Permian conchostracan biostratigraphy on the regional to interregional scale.

Within the Soom Shale Lagerstätte of South Africa (Upper Ordovician, Hirnantian), two brachiopod taxa preserve traces of organic tissue. In Trematis, presumed bands of periostracum are preserved on the flanks of the pedicle notch, and clay mineral casts of the pedicle are preserved in many specimens of Kosoidea. Both these genera are organophosphatic-shelled Linguliformea, together with a third genus identified as Plectoglossa. A fourth brachiopod taxon in the fauna belongs within the calcitic-shelled Rhynchonelliformea (Plectothyrella). Kosoidea cedarbergensis is a new species of discinoidean.

The Ordovician diploporid Aristocystites Barrande lived recumbently on the seafloor but never evolved marginal frame plates or flexible tesselated surfaces. Flume studies on 1:1 scale models clearly indicate that this genus lived attached by an aboral holdfast with the aboral end of the theca facing into the current. The oral end, with its paired brachioles, fed in vortices generated in the lee of the theca. Optical current velocities for feeding probably ranged from 6 to 18 cm/sec. Growth of thecal plates and diplopore structures originated in galleried stereom. Secondary thickening occurred by growth of labyrinthine stereom. Aristocystites probably pressurized its gut as is suggested by the massive anal pyramid. Peristaltic waves through the gut would have enhanced body-fluid circulation and circulation through the diplopores. Aristocystites shows no signs of simplification in the ambulacral area. The transversely oriented, bilateral, ambulacral system is considered to be primitive. Other species synonymized with Aristocystites bohemicus Barrande from the Caradocian Zahořany Beds of Bohemia are A. desideratus, A. grandisculum, A. idealis, and A. rudis. Aristocystites metroi Parsley and Prokop, n. sp., is described from the upper Zahořany shale facies and the Bohdalec Formation from the Prague area.

An isolated premaxillary tooth of a tyrannosaurid from the Lower Cretaceous section of the Tetori Group, Central Honshu, Japan, complements Siamotyrannus, which is based upon an incomplete postcranium for existence of tyrannosaurids in the Early Cretaceous of Asia. The occurrence of a tyrannosaurid tooth in the Japanese early Early Cretaceous further supports the possibility that tyrannosaurids originated during the Early Cretaceous in Asia and migrated to North America when the two continents were connected via a land bridge during the early Late Cretaceous. Thickening of the premaxillary teeth might have predated the increase in body size in tyrannosaurid evolution.

New colonial corals from near Pittsburg Landing, Idaho, are clearly dated as Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) in age. They consist of Coenastraea hyatti (Wells) and Thecomeandra vallieri n. sp., and occur abundantly with molluscan fossils in thin, biostromal limestone beds in the Coon Hollow Formation. These fossils are the youngest shelly faunas yet known from the Wallowa terrane. The similarity of the coral and bivalve fauna to endemic faunas of the Western Interior suggests that during Middle Jurassic time, the Wallowa terrane was close enough to the North American craton for faunal exchange with the Western Interior Embayment. The Pittsburg Landing corals appear dissimilar from Middle Jurassic corals known from other terranes of the western Cordillera.

Maastrichtian sediments exposed in the Bay of Biscay region at coastal sections at Zumaya and Sopelana, northern Spain, and Hendaye and Bidart, France, yield the most diverse Upper Maastrichtian ammonite faunas yet recovered. Thirty-two species/subspecies referred to 21 genera are described, one of which, Anapachydiscus terminus, is new. The ranges of all taxa are fully documented and provide the basis for a four-fold division of the uppermost Campanian and Maastrichtian, with zones of Pseudokossmaticeras tercense (oldest), Pachydiscus (P.) epiplectus, Anapachydiscus fresvillensis, and A. terminus (youngest). This represents the most refined, and first properly documented, ammonite zonation for the Maastrichtian of western Europe, and can be directly correlated with the belemnite zonation developed for the white chalks of northern Europe. The extinction of the last ammonites, documented here, occurred at relatively high standing diversity and appears to have been sudden and catastrophic.

Specimens of Sphenothallus ruedemanni (Kobayashi, 1934), which were originally assigned to Serpulites, are described from the Asaphellus Zone (Tremadocian) of the Dumugol Formation, Korea. Previously, Sphenothallus was known to occur in Middle Ordovician to Permian rocks, thus making Sphenothallus ruedemanni the earliest record of this genus. This species is characterized by a distally expanding tube with smooth to variously wrinkled surface. The tube is presently composed of quartz, chlorite, and/or muscovite, which appear to have replaced calcium phosphate. The zoological affinity of this tube-building animal is still uncertain.

Massive Upper Triassic (Norian) reef limestone at Eaglenest Mountain, Takla Group, British Columbia, contains a wide variety of shallow-water fossils in two different carbonate units. A sponge-coral facies contains the sponges Fanthalamia astoma (Seilacher, 1962), Fanthalamia multicanalis new species, Cinnabaria expansa (Seilacher, 1962), and Cinnabaria? sp. Cinnabaria expansa is a widely distributed North American terrane species which, along with F. astoma, was previously known from the Luning Formation of Nevada. Also included is the “disjectoporoid,” Pamiropora sonorensis Stanley, 1994, and a massive spongiomorph, Spongiomorpha tenuis Smith, 1927, previously endemic to the Eastern Klamath terrane of California. Colonial corals include: Retiophyllia quesneliana new species, Chondrocoenia waltheri (Frech, 1890), Crassistella cf. juvavica (Frech, 1890), Distichomeandra cf. austriaca (Frech, 1890), and Alpinophyllia flexuosa Roniewicz, 1989. A limestone conglomerate overlying these beds is dominated almost exclusively by the planktonic hydrozoan, Heterastridium conglobatum Reuss, 1865. A problematic taxon Lovcenipora cf. chaetetiformis Vinassa de Regny, 1915, is reported for the first time outside Timor and the Tethys. The faunas provide a first glimpse into the reef biota of the Quesnel terrane. They contain taxa previously known from the distant Tethys but also include endemics from other inboard terranes.

A new eschrichtiid mysticete was recovered from the Late Pliocene Yuchi Formation, Teshio Town, Hokkaido, Japan. The specimen is relatively well preserved, comprising a posterior part of the skull, periotics and tympanic bullae, several incomplete cervical and thoracic vertebrae, ribs, and forelimb elements including scapula, humerus, ulna, and several phalanges. Its small size, unfused epiphyses of vertebrae and long bones (humerus, radius, and ulna) indicate that the individual is physically immature. It is identified as eschrichtiid based on diagnostic characters, including paired occipital tuberosities, large occipital condyles, the posteriorly concave exoccipital lateral to the occipital condyle, the cochlear portion of the periotic extending anteromedially, the relatively small and somewhat triangular anterior process of the periotic, and the proportionally large vertebral foramen relative to the vertebral body. Because all verified eschrichtiids are of Pleistocene age, the Teshio eschrichtiid significantly extends the temporal range of the group.

When first described, Plethoschisma grandis was thought to have an unusual plating arrangement compared to other pleurocystitids, although the ventral surface was largely unknown. New specimens showing more of the ventral surface indicate that Plethoschisma has very similar ventral plating to Deltacystis and that four of the original dorsal plate designations of Plethoschisma were incorrect. A new subfamily, Deltacystinae, is erected to receive the two similarly plated genera. The pectinirhombs of Plethoschisma are reinterpreted as confluent and in the B2/IL2 and IL3/L4 positions, and one of the new specimens has the largest pectinirhomb and greatest number of dichopores of any known glyptocystitid. A phylogenetic analysis of the Pleurocystitidae reveals that the Deltacystinae, new subfamily, is the sister group to the Pleurocystitinae, new subfamily, and that pectinirhombs apparently evolved independently in the Pleurocystitidae and the Cheirocrinidae.

A new colosteid, Deltaherpeton hiemstrae gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Mississippian Upper Viséan site at Delta, Iowa. Deltaherpeton is represented by a skull roof and both jaws. The new taxon is unique among colosteids in having an internasal and single midline postparietal. An additional midline pair of cf. ‘interfrontonasals’ may be present. Characters previously used to define the colosteids are reviewed and a refined diagnosis for the family Colosteidae is presented. Synapomorphies which unite Deltaherpeton, Colosteus, Greererpeton, and Pholidogaster as Colosteidae are: premaxilla with fang pair; dentary with notch for receipt of premaxillary fang; mandible with single elongate exomeckelian fenestra; pre-narial infraorbital lateral line terminating at ventral margin of premaxilla just anterior to external naris; and post-narial infraorbital lateral line terminating at the ventral margin of the maxilla just posterior to the external naris. Our review of dermal bones in the colosteid snout concludes that no specimen is sufficiently free of distortions or breakage to indicate clearly whether or not the prefrontal borders the external naris, or that an anterior tectal is present. The morphology of Deltaherpeton and the revised data presented for colosteids do not clarify the relationship of colosteids to other early tetrapods.

Restudy of the limestone slab containing the type suite of Arthricocephalus chauveaui Bergeron, 1899 (Trilobita), the type species of Arthricocephalus Bergeron, 1899, shows that specimens of three species, each representing a separate genus, are present on the slab and were likely included in the original concept of the species. Besides A. chauveaui, the slab contains specimens of Oryctocarella duyunensis (Qian, 1961) and Duyunaspis duyunensis Zhang and Qian in Zhou et al., 1977. Bergeron (1899) illustrated one exoskeleton from the type suite of A. chauveaui only and apparently based much of his written description on that specimen. This specimen was clearly intended to be the type specimen of A. chauveaui. Subsequently, Lane et al. (1988) designated another specimen, which was not originally illustrated, as the lectotype, and this specimen is referable to Oryctocarella duyunensis. As revised here, Bergeron’s illustrated specimen should be regarded as the lectotype of A. chauveaui. Such designation stabilizes the concepts of both Arthricocephalus and A. chauveaui. Arthricocephalites Qian in Lu et al., 1974 and Haliplanktos Blaker and Peel, 1997 are regarded as junior synonyms of Arthricocephalus. Oryctocarella Tomashpolskaya and Karpinski, 1961, which was previously regarded as a junior synonym of Arthricocephalus, is revived as a valid genus. Oryctocarella includes a number of species previously assigned to Arthricocephalus. The type species of both Arthricocephalus and Oryctocarella, together with related species, are described on the basis of new material.

Although relatively numerous accounts of late Tertiary canids have been reported from the western United States, records from Mexico are scarce. The three genera and species described and discussed in this paper come from Hemphillian and Blancan age deposits located in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico. All specimens were collected within a stratigraphic context. One taxon, Borophagus diversidens, was recovered from Blancan age deposits, while both Osteoborus cyonoides and a new species of Canis, C. ferox, came from deposits of Hemphillian age. This new species of Canis appears to be directly ancestral to the extinct C. lepophagus, long considered the forerunner of the modern coyote, C. latrans. The new Mexican canid also appears to be the earliest true Canis yet reported.

Early Permian fusulinids from both northern and southern parts of the Baoshan Block (western Yunnan, Southwest China) are illustrated and compared with coeval fusulinid faunas from other northern peri-Gondwana areas to disclose paleogeographic information. Systematic study of collected fusulinid materials and examination of published data from the Dingjiazhai area, northern Baoshan Block, show that fusulinids there include Eoparafusulina pseudosimplex and Pseudofusulina macilenta. Fusulinids from the Aluotian Section, southern Baoshan Block, consist of P. minitumidiscula n. sp., P. macilenta, P. tumidiscula, E. pseudo simplex, E. aff. E. laudoni, and E. sp. Early Permian fusulinids from both northern and southern Baoshan Blocks are dominated by Pseudofusulina and Eoparafusulina species and they are similar to those from Central Pamir, South Afghanistan, East-Central Iran, Central Oman, East Hindu Kush and northern Karakorum, revealing a Sakmarian to Artinskian age. Moreover, detailed comparison shows that the Early Permian fusulinid assemblage from the Baoshan Block is more similar to those from East-Central Iran, Central Pamir and South Afghanistan. This implies that the Baoshan Block may have been near those areas during the Early Permian.

Cenozoic marine deposits of forearc basins in southern Peru contain a molluscan fauna that includes 15 species of turritelline gastropods. Twelve species were previously known; ten from northern Peru or Chile and two species solely from southern Peru. Three new fossil species are described: Turritella riverae, Turritella cruzadoi, and Turritella salasi. Six species of turritellines with crenulated primary spirals, a distinctive spiral ontogeny, and which are mostly endemic to Peru and Chile, are assigned to Incatella n. gen., including I. cingulata (Sowerby, 1825), I. cingulatiformis (Möricke, 1896), I. chilensis (Sowerby, 1846), I. leptogramma (Philippi, 1887), I. hupei Nielsen, new name (= Turritella affinis Hupé, 1854), and I. trilirata (Philippi, 1887). Most Paleogene taxa range from northern to southern Peru, while most Neogene taxa, including all species of Incatella, range from Peru to Chile. This biogeographic asymmetry is attributed to a series of biotic events (e.g., extinctions, immigrations) impelled by global oceanographic changes acting locally in a regime of coastal upwelling.

The type species of Parastrophinella, P. reversa, a pentamerid brachiopod from the uppermost Ordovician (Hirnantian) Ellis Bay Formation of Anticosti Island, Quebec, shows that the genus is characterized by three features: 1) a ventral median septum apically buried in a thickened valve floor, but anteriorly rising above valve floor; 2) prominent alate plates, which are homologous to brachial processes; and, 3) a pseudocruralium consisting of a dorsal median septum, which is largely buried in the valve floor posteriorly, and outer plates that are connected to the median septum via prismatic substance (with poorly developed lamellar layer at the junctions) at, or slightly above, the valve floor. These constitute criteria by which many species previously assigned to Parastrophinella are excluded from the genus. Late Ordovician species that fit the redefinition of Parastrophinella are now confined to eastern North America. The genus crosses the Ordovician/Silurian boundary without major morphologic change, and Early Silurian species of Parastrophinella occur in both eastern North America and Great Britain. In the Late Ordovician, the pentamerid fauna of North America (Laurentia) contrasted sharply with that of Baltica and Kazakhstan, where the Holorhynchus fauna was dominant. Typical elements of the Holorhynchus fauna, such as the large-shelled Holorhynchus and Proconchidium, are known only in the northern parts of Laurentia (Baffin Island, Greenland, and Kolyma), and are absent in the Hudson Bay and Williston basins and southwards.

Two new Deseadan interatheriine genera (Interatheriidae, Notoungulata) from the late Oligocene Salla Beds of BOLIVIA are described. Both are monotypic and one is known from a partial skeleton, a rarity among known pre-Santacrucian interathere taxa. Phylogenetically, both taxa nest well within Interatheriinae, showing characteristically bilobed p3-4. Both taxa also have derived characters (hypselodont cheeckteeth, persistent lingual sulcus on upper molars) relative to basal interatheriines such as Santiagorothia and Proargyrohyrax but are clearly plesiomorphic with respect to younger, more highly derived Santacrucian interatheriine taxa such as Interatherium and Protypotherium. New species Brucemacfaddenia boliviensis is on average larger than the other new Salla interatheriine, Federicoanaya sallaensis, although they do overlap in size. Distinguishing between the two new taxa based purely on molar morphology is confounded by lack of diagnostic characters on the molar teeth and the overlap in size between the taxa. We overcome this difficulty of identifying specimens that preserve only molars by using discriminant analysis. We present a few of the simpler yet still robust discriminant functions we used so that future workers have a means of identifying problematic specimens. Analysis of Salla interathere specimens and stratigraphic provenance indicates both taxa experienced a modest increase in body size upsection, the driving mechanism for which remains unknown, but could be environmental changes or simple drift. These two new taxa help emphasize the fact that while the Salla fauna shares elements with roughly contemporaneous Deseadan faunas from more southerly latitudes, important faunal distinctions mark the two regions as well.