The Upper Devonian–Lower Mississippian sequence in the subsurface of north-central Iowa and southeastern Nebraska consists of the Lime Creek, undifferentiated Sheffield–Maple Mill, English River, Prospect Hill, and Chapin Formations. The Lime Creek is restricted entirely to the Polygnathus biofacies where conodonts are present and correlates with an interval from Zone 4b to Faunal Interval 8 of the Canadian (Alberta) Rockies zonation based on conodonts and foraminifers. The oldest identifiable Famennian units range in age from the crepida–rhomboidea Zones at locality 1 to the Upper marginifera Zone or younger at localities 2 and 3. The youngest Devonian strata may occur in the Upper expansa Zone at locality 1 and Middle expansa Zone at localities 2 and 3. Famennian faunas are present in the Polygnathus biofacies at localities 1 and 3 and in the Icriodus biofacies at locality 2. A total of 50 species and subspecies are identified, four of which have not been previously described (Icriodus sp. A, Hemilistrona sp. A, Polygnathus depressus n. sp., and Polygnathus sp. B).

Three new species and genera of pteraspidids (Agnatha, Heterostraci), Tuberculaspis elyensis, Pirumaspis lancasteri, and Lamiaspis longiripa, are described from the Sevy Dolomite, east-central Nevada. They form part of a vertebrate fauna of typical Early Devonian aspect that indicates a correlation with previously described faunas from the Beartooth Butte and Water Canyon Formations of Utah and Wyoming, thus improving the known distribution and diversity of these faunas. Correlation with an accurately dated fauna in Death Valley, California, enables this fauna to be dated to the late Emsian (inversus–serotinus Zones).

A low-diversity camerate-rich crinoid fauna from the Qijiagou Formation, Taoshigo Valley near Turpan, Xinjiang-Uygar Autonomous Region, China was collected during field work in May, 1993. The crinoid fauna is dominated by species of Platycrinites. Other camerate crinoids include a species in the Paragaricocrinidae, Actinocrinites, a hexacrinitid, and an acrocrinoid. The only other non-North American occurrence of this latter family is Springeracrocrinus from the Moscovian of Russia. In addition to the camerates, there are several advanced cladid inadunates more typical of Upper Carboniferous crinoid faunas, including an erisocrinoid (possibly Sinocrinus), Graphiocrinus, ?Cromyocrinus, and an agassizocrinoid (Petschoracrinus) represented by partly fused infrabasal cones. A single radial plate with angustary facet may represent a cyathocrinoid. There also is a catillocrinoid, assigned here to Paracatillocrinus. The fauna, which resembles Moscovian crinoids described from Russia, is preserved in graded volcanic conglomeratic debris flows that overlie a carbonate mound and contain clasts up to 3 m in dimension. The crinoids are fragmentary, with many calyces seemingly torn into two or three pieces and dumped in with the pyroclastic debris. Camerates are represented by large thecal scraps consisting of numerous plates, or by large individual plates or circlets. Other fossils include rare solitary rugose corals, tabular bryozoans, Neospirifer, and other fragmentary brachiopods. We suspect that the crinoids may have been swept off of a nearby carbonate mound and deposited as debris-flow bedload.

The thickness ratios of shell whorls (=whorl breadth/shell diameter) in the ammonoids Damesites sugata (Forbes, 1845), Hypophylloceras subramosum (Shimizu, 1934), and Gaudryceras tenuiliratum Yabe, 1903 from Late Cretaceous outer shelf deposits in the Kotanbetsu area of northwestern Hokkaido, Japan, were examined in order to determine their mode of migration. The thickness ratios of D. sugata differ significantly with depth on the outer shelf environment but show no significant difference laterally at a similar depth. These results suggest that D. sugata did not frequently migrate to different depths on the outer shelf environment but tended to live and migrate laterally at a similar depth on the outer shelf. The thickness ratios of H. subramosum and G. tenuiliratum show no significant difference between different depths on the outer shelf environment or for lateral direction at a similar depth. This suggests that H. subramosum and G. tenuiliratum frequently migrated at different depths on the outer shelf environment and laterally at a similar depth. There is no difference in hatchling diameters in all the examined species at different depths on the outer shelf environment, suggesting that the thickness ratios became manifest after the post-hatchling stage due to limited migration, which would have been in a nektobenthic habitat. The various modes of migration in the study area are reconstructed in this study, suggesting diversified paleoecology of Late Cretaceous ammonoids.

Phylogenetic analyses of the Cambrian spiny oryctocephalids support the elevation to familiar rank of Oryctocephalidae Beecher, 1897 and indicate that the family can be divided into two clades, here designated as the subfamilies Oryctocephalinae Beecher, 1897 and Lancastriinae Kobayashi, 1935. Curvoryctocephaliinae Zhao and Yuan in Yuan et al., 2002 is considered here a junior synonym of Lancastriinae. Oryctocephalinae have tapered or parallel sided glabella and is composed of species of Oryctocephalus Walcott, 1886. The subgenera Oryctocephalus (Oryctocephalus) and O. (Eoryctocephalus) Zhao and Yuan in Yuan et al., 2002 do not form separate clades and are here rejected.

The genera of the Lancastriinae have expanding glabellae. The subfamily is composed of a broad variety of genera that can be divided into three major subclades: Lancastria, Protoryctocephalus, and Oryctocephalites. The Lancastria subclade is composed of Lancastria Kobayashi, 1935, Changaspis Lee in Chien, 1961, and Goldfieldia Palmer, 1964 occurring at the base of the Lancastriinae. Goldfieldia and Lancastria form a sister group to Changaspis. The long branches in the phylograms indicated significant differences between these taxa; thus, the genus Goldfieldia is maintained. The Protoryctocephalus subclade is monogeneric and forms a sister group to the Oryctocephalites subclade. The Oryctocephalites subclade consists of several species of this genus and the more derived forms Metabalangia Qian and Yuan in Zhang et al., 1980 and Tonkinella Mansuy, 1916. Oryctocephaloides Yuan in Zhang et al., 1980 is considered a junior synonym of Oryctocephalites Resser, 1939. The subgenera Oryctocephalites (Oryctocephalites) and O. (Parachangaspis) Zhao and Yuan in Yuan et al., 2002 do not form separate clades. The later subgenus occurs in the basal portion of the Oryctocephalites subclade indicating that it is a paraphyletic taxon.

Opsiosoryctocephalus Sundberg, 1994, Oryctocephalops Lermontova, 1940, and Curvoryctocephalus Zhao and Yuan in Yuan et al., 2002 are not consistent in their placement within the phylogenetic analyses, although they always occur in the Lancastriinae. As a result they are not placed within a subclade within Lancastriinae.

The type species Goldfieldia pacifica Palmer, 1964 was based solely on cranidia. This species is redescribed using topotype material that includes cranidia, librigenae, hypostomes, thorax, and pygidia.

The mixed carbonate-siliciclastic successions of the Cambrian Series 2–Cambrian Series 3 interval of the Great Basin are well investigated in respect to their trilobite and brachiopod fauna. In contrast, the small shelly fossils have been mostly unreported. Nine sections in eastern California and southern Nevada have produced a small shelly assemblage of low diversity, which likely reflects non-phosphatization and loss of originally calcareous remains. From the Montezuman–Delamaran stages we report Anabarella chelata Skovsted, 2006a, Costipelagiella nevadense Skovsted, 2006a, Pelagiella aff. P. subangulata (Tate, 1892), Microcornus sp., Parkula sp., Hyolithellus? sp., Allonia sp., Chancelloria sp., Archiasterella cf. A. hirundo Bengtson in Bengtson et al., 1990, Archaeooides cf. A. granulatus Qian, 1977, and undefined echinoderms and helcionelloid molluscs. The lower part of the Montezuman Stage delivered a number of lobopodian sclerites as Microdictyon rhomboidale Bengtson, Matthews, and Missarzhevsky, 1986, Microdictyon montezumaensis n. sp., and Microdictyon cuneum n. sp. The occurrence of P. aff. P. subangulata and species of Microdictyon in the lower Montezuman Stage offers a fundamental potential for correlation with the base of Cambrian Series 2/Stage 3 of South China, Siberia, and Avalonia.

A new genus and species of predaceous water bugs, Triassonepa solensis n. gen. n. sp., is described from the Triassic Cow Branch Formation of Virginia and North Carolina (USA) based on ~36 adult specimens and 51 nymphs. This species is the oldest known member of the extant family Belostomatidae. It is placed in a new genus based on the unique structure of the raptorial foreleg, in which the tarsus is elongate and opposed to the tibia + femur. The fossil record of this family is reviewed and the paleoenvironmental implications of the species assemblage preserved in the Cow Branch Formation are discussed.

Eosaniwa koehni is an enigmatic platynotan that differs from related varanoids in the possession of a very long snout resulting in extremely elongate nasals and vomers; a robust and broad jugal; the presence of denticles on palatines, pterygoids, and vomers; the presence of a subdental shelf on the dentary; and a strongly twisted retroarticular process on the mandible. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Eosaniwa is a derived varanoid platynotan, nested within a clade also including mosasauroids, Coniasaurus, and Paravaranus.

The Pseudokoldinioidia Fauna is a newly documented uppermost Cambrian trilobite assemblage from the Dongjeom Formation of the Taebaek Group, Taebaeksan Basin, Korea. It is characterized by low species diversity comprising six trilobite taxa: Micragnostus chiushuensis, Koldinioidia typicalis, leiostegiid genus and species indeterminate, Pseudokoldinioidia perpetis, Onychopyge borealis, and pilekiid genus and species indeterminate. Of these, special attention has been paid to Pseudokoldinioidia perpetis, which was originally assigned to Missisquoia, an index fossil for the uppermost Cambrian in Laurentia. Pseudokoldinioidia is restricted to eastern Asia, whereas Missisquoia is confined to Laurentia. The appearance of the Pseudokoldinioidia Fauna is interpreted as contemporaneous with the base of the ‘Missisquoia’ perpetis Zone of North China, which in turn is correlated with the base of the Missisquoia typicalis Subzone of Laurentia. The associated Koldinioidia and Onychopyge make it possible to compare the Pseudokoldinioidia Fauna of Korea and North China with the latest Cambrian trilobite assemblages of South China, Australia, South America, and Mexico, and also suggests an interesting biogeographic connection among these areas in the latest Cambrian.

Three gogiid eocrinoids, numbering in the thousands of specimens, are well known from the lower Cambrian (Stage 4) Balang Formation (Guizhoueocrinus yui) and basal middle Cambrian (Stage 5) Kaili Formation (Kaili Biota) (Sinoeocrinus lui and Globoeocrinus globulus) that resided on the Yangtze-South China Plate (modern Guizhou Province, China). In each species a complete ontogenetic sequence, using thecal height (TH) as a scale, juvenile stage (early, middle, and late substages), mature stage (early, middle, and late substages), and a gerontic stage can be identified. Sutural pores appeared in an orderly sequence; below the ambulacrals, above the stalk and generally over the theca, in that order. In younger species their emplacement and growth was commonly precocious relative to G. yui. Also, their shape ranges from circular to oval to triangular in a single growth sequence, after the establishment of the 2-1-2 pattern; brachioles were added in series of five and were also precocious in time of occurrence in younger species. Thecae in younger species tend to retain juvenile aspects relative to G. yui. All of these species lived in outer shelf settings in fine-grained, organic-rich siliciclastics.

New collections of Caradoc brachiopods from the lower half of the Fombuena Formation in the Iberian Chains (northeastern Spain) have yielded rich fossil associations that, in spite of the endemism of most of their species, permit detailed correlations with other sequences in southwestern Europe, Bohemia, and the British Isles. The oldest association studied occurs at the top of the basal oolitic ironstone of the Fombuena Formation, where 10 brachiopod species have been recorded; the youngest association occurs in sandstones in the middle part of the unit, having yielded seven brachiopod species. Herein, 11 forms are described including four new species (Gelidorthis carlsi, Saukrodictya tormoensis, Reuschella herreraensis, and Rostricellula marciali) and one new subspecies (Aegiromena aquila intermedia). The stratigraphic setting of the oolitic ironstone and its brachiopods suggest a correlation with similar beds that crop out at various localities in the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern France, as well as with the Zdice-Nucice Iron Ore, placed at the base of the Vinice Formation in Bohemia. The regressive–transgressive cycle, whose point of maximum shoaling coincides with the deposition of the apparently widespread ferruginous bed, is restricted to the Mediterranean Province and may have been caused by regional epeirogenic movements. The stratigraphic gap marked by the ironstone had been assessed at several localities in Iberia and Armorica; it ranges from late Costonian to Soudleyan, an age not in disagreement with the occurrence of a new species of Reuschella immediately above the ironstone of the Iberian Chains, since Reuschella is not known before the Soudleyan. Dalmanella unguis unguis, which has been recorded in the youngest assemblage and which in Wales is restricted to the Marshbrookian, is another important guide form in the problematic correlation between the Mediterranean Caradoc and the British type sequence.

Representatives of the family Gastrodoridae were exclusively known from Jurassic deposits in central Europe. Here, the first Cretaceous species, Gastrodorus cretahispanicus n. sp., is recorded from reefal strata of the Eguino Formation (Albeniz Unit) of Albian-Cenomanian age, in western Navarra (northern Spain). Not only does the occurrence of the new species extend the stratigraphic range of the family upward for approximately 45 million years into the mid-Cretaceous, it also constitutes the first record of gastrodorids from southern Europe. For over a century, the taxonomic position of the genus Gastrodorus has been debated. It is revised here and the family Gastrodoridae is given a full superfamily status within the Anomura. The genus Eogastrodorus is also redefined. Gastrodorids underwent a remarkable size reduction from the Middle to Upper Jurassic, which may be explained by their migration into reef environments.

Eleven basic constructional designs are defined among the Crinoidea. Calyx designs are defined primarily by shape, geometry of plates at the base of the calyx, tegmen shape, fixed calyx plates, number of arms, and nature of radial facets. These calyx designs include the following: multiplated bowls, multiplated bicones, conical mosaics, urns, cylinders, cones, ellipsoids, hands, bowls, bilateral recumbents, and fists. Most crinoid subclasses and orders contain crinoids with several of these designs. This significant convergence and parallelism in calyx design indicates that the morphological evolution of crinoids has been substantially constrained by constructional and fabricational limitations.

Radiolarians collected from five localities of the Baltalimani Formation in the Istanbul region are described in detail, and the local stratigraphic ranges and persistence of biostratigraphically important radiolarian species are documented. the spumellarian component is published for the first time, and four new species are described: Albaillella kayai n. sp., Ceratoikiscum jucundum n. sp., Meschedea akcetensis n. sp., and Stigmosphaerostylus istanbulensis n. sp. Two assemblages are recognized: the A. paradoxa and the A. sp. aff. A. undulata-A. deflandrei assemblage. the older A. paradoxa assemblage contains Traenosphaera sicarius, Pararchocyrtium serrensis, Cyrtisphaeractenium mendax, and common to abundant A. paradoxa and Popofskyellium. Albaillella paradoxa is not restricted to the older assemblage but is the only species of Albaillella present. the younger A. sp. aff. A. undulata-A. deflandrei assemblage contains either A. sp. aff. A. undulata or A. deflandrei. Albaillella indensis ambigua, A. kayai n. sp., and Kantollium sp. A occur exclusively in the A. sp. aff. A. undulata-A. deflandrei assemblage, but are rare and patchy in their occurrence. Distinctive taxa common to both assemblages are Archocyrtium lagabriellei, Pylentonema antiqua, C. avimexpectens, C. umbraculatum, C. jucundum n. sp., Trilonche palimbola, M. akcetensis n. sp., S. tortispina, Polyentactinia polygonia, P. aranea, and Cubaxonium? octaedrospongiosum. Many of the taxa present occur in middle and upper Tournasian sections from France, the central Pyrenees, and Germany and provide a solid basis for re-assessing the age of the Baltalimani Formation as middle to late Tournasian (Tn2-Tn3).

The growth of the food-gathering systems of Ordovician crinoids illustrates the solutions evolved to avoid or minimize problems of suspension feeding and maintenance. The column has low metabolic requirements and may even be self-sufficient; little or no food need be diverted from the crown to the column. The tissue that the food-gathering system supplies with food is all or mostly in the crown. The volume of tissue in the crown is isometric with its volume. Distal arm branches, ramules, or pinnules form throughout growth of most taxa. The number of arm branches is constant in hybocrinids and porocrinids. The length and number of plates in the food-gathering system show marked positive allometry relative to crown volume. Food grooves become wider in larger crinoids but growth rates vary greatly. Branch density declines in all species studied. The tubefoot spacing can be constant, increase, or decrease in larger crinoids. Food-gathering capacity is the number of food-catching tubefeet multiplied by the average food-groove width, and it is positively allometric in terms of crown volume. The food-gathering ratio (food-gathering capacity: crown volume) declines somewhat, remains the same, or increases slightly during growth. The food-gathering parameters are correlated with arm structure. Crinoids with pinnulate arms exhibit the highest food-gathering ratios, high values of tubefoot spacing and branch density, and narrow food grooves, and they catch small food particles with small and closely spaced tubefeet. The lowest food-gathering ratios are seen in crinoids with unbranched and nonpinnulate arms which possess low tubefoot spacings and branch densities and wide food grooves. On average these organisms ate larger food items collected by larger and more widely spaced tubefeet. Larger food-gathering ratios are associated with greater resistance to fluid flow through the arms and tubefeet. The allometry of the food-gathering systems of Ordovician crinoids suggests that their metabolic rates could be proportional to body mass0.75 as in many living animals and plants.

The Richmondian (Upper Ordovician) strata in the Central Basin of Tennessee yield an abundant and diverse fauna of brachiopods. The section consists in ascending and conformable order of the “Arnheim” and Fernvale Formations.

The following species are described: Austinella kankakensis (McChesney), Diceromyonia tersa Wang, Glyptorthis insculpta maquoketensis Ladd, Hebertella occidentalis (Hall), Onniella meeki (Miller), Paucicrura quadrata (Wang), Pionodema alberstadti n. sp., Plaesiomys bellistriatus Wang, P. proavita (Winchell and Schuchert), Platystrophia acutilirata (Conrad), P. ponderosa Foerste, Rafinesquina sp., Retrorsirostra carleyi (Hall), Strophomena planumbona (Hall), Tetraphalerella neglecta (James), Thaerodonta recedens (Sardeson), and Zygospira modesta (Hall).

Faunal comparisons confirm correlations with the Cape Limestone of southeastern Missouri, the Maquoketa Formation of Iowa, the upper part of the Viola Formation of Oklahoma, the Aleman and Cutter Formations in West Texas, and the standard Richmond section. The fauna in Tennessee connects the provincial Richmond in the Ohio Valley with the western faunas.

The holotype partial skull of Agorophius pygmaeus (the monotypic form for both the genus Agorophius and the Family Agorophiidae) has been missing for approximately 140 years. Since the discovery of Agorophius pygmaeus, many additional taxa and specimens have been placed in the Family Agorophiidae, only to be reclassified and removed later. This has created confusion as to what is and what is not an agorophiid and a lack of clarity as to what characteristics delimit the Agorophiidae. A newly discovered skull of an agorophiid recently collected from an underwater cliff face of the Ashley River, South Carolina, USA, is assigned to Agorophius pygmaeus. It derives from the base of the Ashley Formation (early Oligocene). The new specimen consists of most of the skull and periotics, which are well preserved and described for the first time in an agorophiid. The new specimen provides an opportunity to diagnose the Agorophiidae and place the genus and species within the phylogenetic context of the early odontocete radiation in the Oligocene, along with other taxa such as the Ashleycetidae, Mirocetidae, Patriocetidae, Simocetidae, Waipatiidae, and Xenorophidae. Based on this new understanding, Agorophiidae are known with certainty only from the early Oligocene of South Carolina, with other undescribed, potential agorophiid specimens from the Oligocene of the North Pacific region (Japan, Mexico, and Washington State).

The Khabarovsk Complex, a Jurassic accretionary complex distributed in and around the Khabarovsk city area, Far East Russia, comprises mélange and schist facies. From the review of previous studies including Russian papers, the lithology and age of the constituent rocks of the mélange facies can be summarized as follows: Upper Paleozoic basic volcanic rocks, mainly pillow lava, and altered gabbro, Upper Carboniferous to Upper Permian fusulinoidean-bearing limestone associated with tuff, Lower and Middle Jurassic siliceous mudstone, Upper Jurassic tuffaceous mudstone, uppermost Jurassic carbonate concretions embedded in mudstone, and age-unknown sandstone. Newly found sequences of limestone-chert and of basalt-chert in the mélange facies crop out along the Amur River in the Khabarovsk city area. A chert sample of the limestone-chert sequence contains Albaillella aff. asymmetrica and Pseudoalbaillella aff. lomentaria, and a chert sample of the basalt-chert sequence includes Follicucullus monacanthus, Follicucullus porrectus, and Pseudoalbaillella cf. yanaharaensis. The radiolarian assemblages from the limestone-chert and basalt-chert sequences have a maximum age of middle Early Permian and late Middle Permian, respectively, overlapping the time of deposition of the fusulinoidean-bearing limestone. The co-occurrence of chert and limestone indicates that the fusulinoidean-bearing limestone was formed on a basaltic topographic high in a pelagic ocean whereas the radiolarians accumulated in a deeper part. Limestone debris occasionally flowed into the depositional site of the radiolarian chert. Although the Khabarovsk Complex was simply considered as a northern extension of the Mino-Tamba Belt of the Inner Zone of southwest Japan, we propose a new correlation based on the lithologic associations. The mélange facies of the Khabarovsk Complex is correlative with one of the Kasugano, Funabuseyama, Nabi, and Yabuhara Formations in the Mino-Tamba Belt, whereas the schist facies is correlative with the Hikami Formation of the Ultra-Tamba Belt.

A new genus and species of synziphosurine (Chelicerata) is described from the Silurian (Wenlock) Scotch Grove Formation Konservat-Lagerstätte in Clinton County, Iowa. Camanchia grovensis n. gen. n. sp. is characterized by a sub-triangular carapace, ten opisthosomal segments divided into a preabdomen of seven and a postabdomen of three, and a tuberculate ornament on the carapace and pleural margins. A single new specimen from the same location is assigned to Venustulus waukeshaensis, originally described from the Late Llandovery Waukesha Konservat-Lagerstätte of Wisconsin. A comparison of the musculature of C. grovensis with that of living Limulus polyphemus and the Jurassic Mesolimulus walchi from Nusplingen, Germany shows that it is much simpler, consistent with the status of synziphosurines as stem xiphosurids.

The Welton Member of the Scotch Grove Formation at Shaffton Quarry, near Camanche, Iowa, is about 427 Ma old and contains numerous metaconulariid specimens, many of which are preserved in apex-downward orientation. Some of these show an unusual, splayed, “Maltese cross” configuration. Apex-downward configurations suggest rapid burial, consistent with the soft part preservation known in other taxa from this locality. The abundance of Metaconularia at Shaffton Quarry, and of topotype specimens of M. aspersa, the generic type species, permits evaluation of the degree of individual and intracollectional variation in peridermal ornament. Variation within and among individuals precludes reliance on ornamental differences in species differentiation in most cases. In view of these results we assign all Shaffton specimens to Metaconularia manni (Roy, 1935), and revise Metaconularia based on its type material from Europe and other material from Europe and North America. An exploratory phylogenetic analysis highlights aspects of character distribution within the genus, but the small number of characters states and possible taphonomic influences upon them limit confidence in the clade topology. Subgroups within the genus are characterized by larger, discoidal papillae, and by strong transverse corrugation and sinuous rows of smaller papillae. The genus itself comprises those conulariids with an external ornamentation of simple, round, small papillae, paired internal septae along the midlines, and a thin periderm that was to some degree pliable during life.