Palynostratigraphic study of the Bear Gulch Member of the Heath Formation, central Montana, indicates an Upper Mississippian age for the deposit corresponding to Carboniferous palynofloral zone TK (ammonoid zone E2b, Namurian A). The palynoflora contains a diverse spore assemblage, including the Mississippian index Tripartites vetustus. In addition, the Bear Gulch Member contains an abundant and diverse acritarch assemblage. The age assignment is consistent with age determinations from studies of the ammonoid, conodont, and bryozoan faunas.

Earliest Triassic natural conodont assemblages preserved as impressions on bedding planes occur in a claystone of the Hashikadani Formation, which is part of the Mino Terrane, a Jurassic accretionary complex in Japan. In this study, the apparatus of Hindeodus parvus (Kozur and Pjatakova, 1976) is reconstructed using synchrotron radiation micro-tomography (SR–μCT). This species has six kinds of elements disposed in 15 positions forming the conodont apparatus. Carminiscaphate, angulate, and makellate forms are settled in pairs in the P1, P2, and M positions, respectively. The single alate element is correlated with the S0 position. The S array is a cluster of eight ramiforms, subdivided into two inner pairs of digyrate S1–2 and two outer pairs of bipennate S3–4 elements. The reconstruction is similar to a well-known ozarkodinid apparatus model. In addition, the μCT images show that the ‘anterior’ and ‘posterior’ processes of the S1–2 elements faced the caudal and rostral ends of the living conodont body, respectively.

Radiolaria of the families Haplotaeniatumidae Won, Blodgett, and Nestor, 2002 and Inaniguttidae Nazarov and Ormiston, 1984 were recovered from the Llandovery and lower Wenlock of the Cape Phillips Formation on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada. Three new species of haplotaeniatumids are described. Haplotaeniatum fissura n. sp. is diagnosed by a densely constructed outer layer around a less dense interior; Haplotaeniatum nunavutensis n. sp. has small, circular pores separated by wide lattice bars; and Orbiculopylorum granti n. sp. possesses robust external spines. Haplotaeniatumids described in open nomenclature are Haplotaeniatum labyrintheum?, Haplotaeniatum aff. cathenatum, Haplotaeniatum cf. raneatela, Haplotaeniatum species A, Orbiculopylorum aff. adobensis, Orbiculopylorum cf. marginatum and Orbiculopylorum species A. Gyrosphaera Noble and Maletz, 2000 is synonymized with Haplotaeniatum. The Inaniguttidae are assigned to Plussatispila n. gen. The genus is diagnosed by two, well-spaced lattice shells and at least seven main spines; additional shells may be present. Plussatispila magnilimax n. sp. has a total of four shells, and P. cornwallisensis n. sp. a total of three. Plussatispila delicata n. sp. has only the two fundamental shells of the genus and is slightly more delicate than the other inaniguttids. Plussatispila pellicia n. sp. possesses weakly developed spines and may have additional irregular layers.

Rhondellina dorei n. gen., n. sp. is morphologically a very unusual acrotretid in possessing a marginal ventral beak and vestigial ventral pseudointerarea. In common with all other acrotretaceans it has a pitted first-formed shell that is an evolutionary novelty for the clade. By analogy with developmental stages of living lingulids and discinids it is concluded that these pitted first-formed valves are not protegula, but are larval valves developed during a protracted pelagic phase. The distinction is important in considering dispersal of the organisms. Although some acrotretids are endemic and limited to rocks deposited around a single Cambrian continental landmass, others are cosmopolitan. The wide dispersal of such forms supports earlier conclusions that the functional significance of the pits in the larval valves was an adaptation to increase buoyancy and suggests that the larvae were planktotrophic. Because of energy problems inherent with planktotrophic larvae and small parents, it is conceivable that acrotretacean development was mixed and that a relatively small number of lecithotrophic eggs were brooded prior to release of the free-swimming planktotrophs.

Rhondellina dorei was seemingly endemic to Cambrian North America. Although its larvae apparently were unable to cross oceanic barriers, the species dispersed around the periphery of the craton. It is known from western Utah and eastern Nevada and also occurs in Peary Land, North Greenland, on the opposing side of the continent. In the western United States it occurs only in the Crepicephalus Zone (lower Dresbachian, Upper Cambrian), but in Greenland it appears earlier in the upper Lejopyge laevigata Zone, in beds that are the temporal equivalents of the North American Cedaria Zone.

The middle and late Permian to Triassic sequence of carbonate rocks in the Takachiho area, central Kyushu, Japan, originated as a Panthalassan seamount and formed parts of far-traveled accreted terranes. This succession is divided into the Permian Guadalupian Iwato and Lopingian Mitai formations, and the Triassic Kamura Formation. The Iwato Formation is further into three zones, the Neoschwagerina, Yabeina higoensis, and Neoendothyra permica zones in ascending order; the Mitai Formation includes the Nanlingella suzukii Zone. Biotic turnovers are recorded twice in the Iwato and Mitai formations. The first and more remarkable biotic event is the total disappearance of fusulines at the top of the Yabeina higoensis Zone. The Neoendothyra permica Zone is characterized by black fine-grained micritic limestones having only sparse non-fusuline foraminifers. The second biotic event is the first appearance of Wuchiapingian fusulines by which the Nanlingella suzukii Zone is defined. The Capitanian–Wuchiapingian boundary is drawn between the Neoendothyra permica and Nanlingella suzukii zones. Above this boundary both the numbers of individual foraminifers and diversity of species gradually increase. The turnovers recorded in the Takachiho area were the result of late Capitanian–Wuchiapingian environmental changes which were sufficient to cause the disappearance of large, multi-chambered fusulines and allow the new appearance of an ‘ultimate’ Paleozoic foraminiferal assemblage. Ten species of foraminifers, including Yabeina higoensis and Yabeina Columbiana, are described.

Reexamination of collections of North American Hyolitha reveals the presence of several new genera and several taxa previously known only from southeastern Europe and the Soviet Union. New representatives of the family Hyolithidae in North America are Doescherina clarki n. gen. and sp. from the Upper Cambrian of Montana and Grantitheca glenisteri n. gen. and sp. from the Lower Cambrian of New York. The geographic and stratigraphic ranges of Nevadotheca Malinky are extended by placement of Hyolithes excellens Billings from the Lower Cambrian of Newfoundland and H. princeps Billings from the Lower Cambrian of Quebec in that genus, and by the occurrence of the new species N. heckeli in the Upper Cambrian of Tennessee. Diversity within the Hyolithidae is further increased by the discovery of specimens representing a new genus in the Upper Cambrian of Alberta, but that genus remains indeterminate because those specimens are not well preserved.

The type lot of Hyolithes communis Billings from the Lower Cambrian of Quebec is here included under Nitoricornus Syssoiev, to which the species H. impar Ford from the Lower Cambrian of New York is also transferred. Morphology of specimens of Hyolithes quadricostatus Shaler and Foerste from the Lower Cambrian of Newfoundland requires placement under Holmitheca quadricostatus (Shaler and Foerste) and Novitatus mapesi n. sp., family Novitatidae, order Orthothecida. Formerly, Nitoricornus Syssoiev, Holmitheca Syssoiev, and Novitatus Syssoiev were known only from the Soviet Union. These occurrences extend their geographic ranges to North America. The first known representative of the family Pauxillitidae Marek in North America, Neopauxillites zlatarskii n. gen. and sp., extends the range of that family from the Ordovician of Czechoslovakia to the Lower Cambrian of Newfoundland.

Overall poor preservation of type specimens of Hyolithes americanus (Hall), H. gregarius (Meek and Hayden), H. primordialis (Hall), and H. welleri Roy precludes complete diagnoses of these species and confident assignment to genus. Hyolithes americanus and H. welleri are tentatively included under Grantitheca; the other species remain under Hyolithes with question. The names of these species should not be used for new material until better preserved topotypes become available for study.

Paraorthacodus conicus (Davis, 1890) of the family Palaeospinacidae, but previously believed to be a mako shark (family Lamnidae), and P. andersoni (Case, 1978), until now reported only from the Judith River Formation of Montana, are both described from the Late Cretaceous of the Kristianstad Basin, southern Sweden. The name Synechodus nerviensis Leriche, 1929, is a junior synonym of P. conicus and Synechodus striatus Case, 1978, is likewise a junior synonym of P. andersoni.

We document and describe the trilobite faunas of the Lower Cambrian Shackleton Limestone. The faunas include taxa of Atdabanian, Botomian and possible Toyonian ages and have affinities with those known previously from Gondwana or peri-Gondwana terranes. The geographic distribution of these organisms reveals a large measure of faunal connectedness around the margin of this vast supercontinent in Early Cambrian time. This connectedness extended even to taxa that inhabited shallow-water carbonate shelf environments, because the Shackleton Limestone accumulated in a variety of shallow subtidal and peritidal settings along the ocean-facing margin of the East Antarctic craton, subsequent to a Neoproterozoic rifting event. Although the fossilized Shackleton Limestone fauna is dominated by archaeocyathans, trilobites are common locally. We describe the remains of 35 trilobite taxa from 32 collecting localities. One species, H. granulosa, is assigned to the new genus Holyoakia; the remaining new species are Pagetides (Discomesites) spinosus, Lemdadella antarcticae, Kingaspis (?) convexus, Yunnanocephalus longioccipitalis, and Onchocephalina (?) spinosa.

Three ichnospecies of Bergaueria—B. perata, B. hemispherica, and B. radiata—are described from the Lower Cambrian Gog Group near Lake Louise, Alberta. Usually populations of Bergaueria are monospecific and this occurrence is unique. Since all three ichnospecies are found on a single slab, the criteria used for ichnospecies differentiation appear valid.

Vertebrate microfossils are commonly present as minor constituents of acid-etched limestone residues in the Lochkovian (Lower Devonian). This paper describes the fish taxa from the Simpson Park Range section at Coal Canyon, central Nevada. These include thelodont scales of the family Nikoliviidae; heterostracan scales; acanthodian scales, platelets, and spines of Nostolepis type, Gomphonchus type, Acanthodes type, Machaeracanthus type, and climatiid type; placoderm scales of buchanosteid and radotinid types; and the shark, Polymerolepis whitei.

The crinoid column is a paradox of crinoid paleontology. The crown is required for taxonomic identification and, therefore, prerequisite for phylogenetic, paleoecologic, or other studies. However, column elements (columnals and pluricolumnals) are by far the most common crinoidal fossil remains. The biostratigraphic utility of crinoid columns has been demonstrated in some cases (e.g., Donovan, 1984), but this is done with the risk of developing a parataxonomy among crinoids because in most cases columnals are not associated with crowns and, therefore, cannot be assigned to crown species with certainty.

Jurassic marine reptiles are best known from the study of European Jurassic collections. The record of these reptiles encompasses most of the period, but that of Aalenian–Bathonian rocks is quite incomplete (Andrews, 1913; Brown, 1981; Buffetaut, 1982; Godefroit, 1994; Bardet, 1995; O'Keefe, 2001; McGowan and Motani, 2003). South American marine reptiles of the early Middle Jurassic are especially significant because they contribute to fill this gap of taxonomic and paleogeographic information (Fernández, 1994, 1999, 2003; Spalletti et al., 1994; Gasparini, 1997; Gasparini et al., 2000).

A fossil spider from the Cretaceous Jinju Formation of Korea is redescribed as Korearachne jinju, n. gen. n. sp. Previous description of this specimen, the only known fossil spider from Korea, was inadequate, and here we present a more detailed interpretation and illustration of the specimen. The fossil spider is preserved alongside juvenile albuiform fish, Diptera and possible crustaceans, which suggests a mass mortality event. Familial identification of the spider is impossible, but it probably belongs to a guild of wandering spiders, possibly lycosoids.

A new species of the Montastraea “annularis” species complex is herein described from Pleistocene coral reefs of the Caribbean Sea. The species, Montastraea nancyi n. sp., had a broad geographic distribution at mainly insular sites 125 Ka. It has a fossil record extending from >600 Ka (thousand years) to 82 Ka, both first and last occurrences exclusively on the island of Barbados. It also had a broad environmental tolerance, occurring in fringing, windward back-reef and reef-crest, leeward reef-crest, and lagoonal patch-reef environments. In every habitat in which it lived, there are examples that it either dominated the coral fauna or shared dominance with Acropora palmata, a dominant shallow water coral in high-energy Pleistocene and modern reefs. The extinction of Montastraea nancyi resulted in evolutionary and ecological change in surviving members of the M. “annularis” species complex.

Eight well-preserved cephalopod jaw fossils were discovered from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian and Campanian) deposits of Vancouver Island, Canada, and Hokkaido, Japan. They occur individually in calcareous concretions and retain their three-dimensional architecture. Seven of them consist of a widely open outer lamella and a posteriorly projected inner lamella with a pointed rostrum. Both lamellae are made of fluorapatite, which may represent diagenetically altered chitin, and lack a calcareous element. Based on these diagnostic features, the seven jaw fossils are identified as lower jaws of the Coleoidea. Comparison with the lower jaws of modern coleoids allows us to distinguish the following new genera and species among them; Nanaimoteuthis jeletzkyi of the Order Vampyromorphida, and Paleocirroteuthis haggarti and P. pacifica of the Order Cirroctopodida. The lower jaws of these new taxa are clearly distinguished by having a much less projected inner lamella from those of modern and extinct species of the Superorder Decabrachia and the Order Octopodida. The maximum lengths of their outer lamellae (35.0-67.1 mm) are much larger than those of most modern vampyromorph and cirroctopodid species, indicating the large body size and weight of their owners. One of the other three lower jaws examined, characterized by a posteriorly extended outer lamella, may be assigned to the Octopodida. This study clearly demonstrates that large octobrachiate coleoids existed in the Late Cretaceous North Pacific.

The Mediterranean area is the locus of a variety of deep-sea chemosynthetic environments that have been exploited by bivalves of the family Solemyidae during Cenozoic to present time. Large solemyids represented by the Solemya doderleini group were widely distributed in Neogene deep-sea reducing habitats, including cold vent hydrocarbon sites. Based upon the diagnostic structure of the ligament, Solemya doderleini (Mayer), 1861 and S. subquadrata (Foresti), 1879 are moved to the genus Acharax Dall, 1908. After the Messinian Salinity Crisis Acharax doderleini re-colonized deep-sea sulphide environments up to the Pliocene at least. At present, Acharax occurs in similar settings in the adjacent eastern Atlantic Ocean. Thus far, large solemyids are not documented from the present deep Mediterranean Sea in spite of a vast number of seep and reducing habitats with chemosynthetic biota, especially concentrated in its Eastern basin. Promisingly, however, a single live juvenile specimen of Solemyidae has been recently found at bathyal depth associated with a pockmark in the Nile Deep Sea Fan.

The pelvic shield of ankylosaurian dinosaurs refers to an area of osteoderms lacking differentiated transverse bands over the pelvic region and it is used as a diagnostic character for various ankylosaur groups. The pelvic shield character varies across ankylosaur taxa but is typically coded as a binary character or is excluded from phylogenetic analyses, which obscures evolutionary trends and relationships. This study investigates for the first time pelvic shield morphology in a stratigraphic and geographic context. This paper comprehensively reviews pelvic shield morphology with firsthand observations of specimens, and proposes three categories of pelvic shield morphology. Category 1 pelvic shields have un-fused but tightly interlocking osteoderms. Category 2 pelvic shields have fused osteoderms forming rosettes and are restricted to the Late Jurassic to mid Cretaceous of North America and Europe. Category 3 pelvic shields have fused polygonal osteoderms of similar size, and are found in the mid- to Late Cretaceous of North America. Although the pelvic shield is used to characterize the Polacanthidae, an interpretation supported by this review, the validity of such a clade is dependent upon a global parsimony analysis incorporating this character. Future analyses of the Ankylosauria should incorporate a more detailed treatment of the pelvic shield to determine its diagnostic value within the group.

Bryozoans and all biomineralized metazoan phyla extend back into the Cambrian. Pywackia Landing, 2010 is confirmed as a secondarily phosphatized, late Cambrian stenolaemate bryozoan with colonial habit; mineralized zooarium (originally calcareous); granular/rarely granular-prismatic histology of its trilamellar walls; and polymorphism shown by deep autozooecia with diaphragms and hemiphragms, axial zooecia with diaphragms, and probable nanozooecia. The irregular form of Pywackia reflects growth as a 14-hedron that could not branch and a lack of structures such as thickened walls or styles that maintain regular autozooecial spacing in later stenolaemates. Pywackia is a stem group stenolaemate with a stolon modified into a budding axial zooid and autozooid budding. It is morphologically simpler than the highly evolved late Tremadocian bryozoans of South China with features such as styles, cystiphragms, thickened zooecial walls, and massive or branching colonies. As with some bryozoans, Pywackia lacks holdfasts but has lineated living chambers and variably sized autozooecia. The late Cambrian origin of bryozoans, euconodonts, polyplacophorans, and cephalopods set the stage for the Ordovician Radiation’s complex communities. Pywackia is not a pennatulacean octocoral. It lacks both a pennatulacean axial rod histology and a budding zooid that remains confluent with daughter autozooids. Indeed, Pywackia walled off its axial zooid. Similarity of the 6- and 12-sided Pywackia zooarium with circular to 4-sided pennatulacean axes only includes calcareous composition and the general shapes of Pywackia zooaria and some Lituaria axial rods. The pennatulacean record does not extend from the Mesozoic into the Cambrian, and early cnidarians were not phosphatic. The diagnosis of Pywackia is modified.

A new tillodont, Anthraconyx hypsomylus, n. gen. n. sp., is described from the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation at Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India. Anthraconyx hypsomylus is the smallest Eocene tillodont and is distinguished by having the most buccally hypsodont cheek teeth of any known esthonychine. The closest dental resemblances are to North American Esthonyx and Azygonyx and European Plesiesthonyx, providing further evidence of affinities between the Vastan local fauna and Euroamerican vertebrate faunas.