Three productidine brachiopods of Haydenella, Paraplicatifera, and Compressoproductus are recovered from the Tak Fa Formation (Wordian, Middle Permian) of the upper Saraburi Limestone Group exposed at Khao Wong of central Thailand (the western margin of the Indochina Terrane). The latter two genera are new to the Permian of Thailand, and the new species Paraplicatifera thaica is proposed herewith. Some taxonomic and nomenclatural problems in relation to the three genera are discussed. The assemblage suggests endemism for a Middle Permian marine faunule of the Indochina Terrane.

Investigations of recently cracked concretions from the Carboniferous Montceau-les-Mines, France, Lagerstätte led to the recognition of two new malacostracan Crustacea: a palaeophreatoicid isopod, Sottyella montcellensis n. g., n. sp., and a gorgonophontid stomatopod, Chabardella spinosa n. g., n. sp. The occurrence of the palaeophreatoicid isopod Palaeocrangon is discussed, and a new specimen of the syncarid Palaeocaris secretanae allows us to clarify some of its morphological characters. The recognition of these taxa increases the faunal inventory of malacostracans in the Montceau-les-Mines Lagerstätte.

The ediacaran Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area (Fig. 1.2) contains abundant silicified cyanobacterial coccoids and filaments (Y. Zhang et al., 1998), acanthomorphic acritarchs (Zhou et al., 2007), multicellular algae (Xiao, 2004), and possible animal embryos (L. Yin et al., 2007). These silicified fossils are taxonomically similar to the phosphatized fossils in the Doushantuo Formation of the Weng'an area, South China (Y. Zhang et al., 1998). However, the Weng'an assemblage contains tubular microfossils that have not been previously documented in the Yangtze Gorges area. Here we report the occurrence of secondarily silicified tubular microfossils—Sinocyclocyclicus guizhouensis (Xue et al., 1992) and Yangtzitubus semiteres new genus and species—from lenticular cherts in the upper Doushantuo Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area. Of the two named taxa, Sinocyclocyclicus guizhouensis was previously known from the Weng'an area (Liu et al., 2008). The new data extend the geographic, taphonomic, and environmental distribution of Doushantuo tubular microfossils. A fuller documentation of the Doushantuo biodiversity is also important to the evaluation of possible taphonomic or environmental biases among the three exceptional taphonomic windows—carbonaceous compression (Xiao et al., 2002), phosphatization (Xiao and Knoll, 1999), and silicification (Y. Zhang et al., 1998)—in Doushantuo black shales, phosphorites, and cherts, respectively.

Cambroclayes are Cambrian phosphatized problematica. The group is known from spine-like remains that are locally abundant on a number of Cambrian paleocontinents. Cambroclaves are known through a relatively short time interval (late Early Cambrian-early Middle Cambrian) mostly from tropical, carbonate platform successions on the Siberian Platform, East Gondwana (Australia, China, Kazakhstan), and West Gondwana. The West Gondwana occurrences include Cambroclavus ludwigsdorfensis Elicki, 1994 and Cambroclavus sp. from the late Early Cambrian of eastern Germany (Elicki, 1994, 2005; Elicki and Watte, 2003), and Cambroclavus sp. from the early Middle Cambrian of Sardinia (Elicki and Wotte, 2003;“ Elicki et al., 2003; Elicki, 2005, 2006). Recently, Clausen and Alvaro (2006) reported the zhijinitid form Parazhijinites cf. guizhouensis Qian and Yin, 1984 from the early Middle Cambrian of the Cantabrian zone of northwest Spain. Other than the mentioned tropical occurrences, Landing (1991) published the obviously cool to cold water form Samsanoffoclavus matthewi Landing, 1991 from the middle Early Cambrian of Cape Breton Island (Avalonia).

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).

Siliceous sponges are rare in the Cretaceous-Paleogene record, with only a handful of published accounts from the Southern Hemisphere. Variously preserved siliceous sponges, both Hexactinellida and Demospongiae, have been recovered from the Takatika Grit (Campanian-Danian), Chatham Islands, New Zealand. Hexactinellid sponges are represented by the Euretidae Eotretochone australis n. gen. and sp., Pararete sp., and Euretid gen. and sp. indet., Auloplax? sp. (Dactylocalycidae) and Tretodictyiid gen. and sp. indet., as well as by loose hexactines and fragments of dictyonal skeletons. Demosponges are represented only by loose spicules typical of Astrophorida, and perhaps lithistids. These fossils represent the first account of sponges of this age from the New Zealand region of the southwest Pacific.

The paleontological site of Cal Guardiola (UTM 31T DG1702), on the western bank of the Torrent de Vallparadís (Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain), was discovered in early 1997 during the construction of a socio-sanitary building next to the Mútua de Terrassa. A report on the geology and stratigraphy of Cal Guardiola was published by Berástegui et al. (2000), including a preliminary report on the fauna. This preliminary study suggested an estimated age for Cal Guardiola of ca. 1.0 Ma (Berástegui et al., 2000). Unpublished paleomagnetic analyses, carried out by Miguel Garcés, indicate a reverse magnetization for the sampled sediments, which can be correlated to below the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic boundary (pers. com. of M. Garcés in Postigo Mijarra et al., 2007), thus being older than 0.8 Ma. This dating roughly corresponds to the later part of the Epivillafranchian biochron (1.2 to 0.9 Ma), which in Europe is best represented by the faunal assemblages from Untermassfeld in Germany, Le Vallonnet in France, and Colle Curti and Slivia in Italy (Palombo et al., 2008 and references therein). The faunal assemblage from Cal Guardiola represents one of the latest Epivillafranchian faunas from Europe and thus deserves particular attention for unraveling the chronology of the dispersal events that took place during the Epivillafranchian-Galerian turnover. However, thus far only the primate remains from Cal Guardiola have been published (Alba et al., 2008), while the rest of the fauna remains unpublished. Here we describe the carnivore remains from Cal Guardiola, which record one of the latest occurrences of the hyenid Pachycrocuta in Europe and further attests the coexistence of two distinct ursid lineages by the latest Early Pleistocene in Europe.

Based on the type material and a new, virtually intact skull from the mid-Maastrichtian part (probably Tierra Loma Shale) of the Moreno Formation, San Joaquin Valley, central California, the cranial osteology of the enigmatic mosasaurine Plesiotylosaurus crassidens (Squamata, Mosasauridae) is here described in detail. Plesiotylosaurus is characterized by a protruding rostrum on the snout and mandibles, a wide and virtually unconstricted internarial bar, large and robust pterygoid teeth, and quadrates with distally fused suprastapedial and infrastapedial processes. Distinctly obtruding predental prows, along with a number of elaborate cranial features, suggest a morphological convergence with tylosaurine mosasaurs.

Dr. Philippe Bouchet, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, kindly brought to my attention that the name Modestella Hautmann, 2001, which I introduced for a Triassic trigonoid bivalve genus (type species: Trigonia zlambachensis Haas, 1909), is preoccupied by Modestella Owen (in Casey), 1961 (Brachiopoda, Terebratulida). I therefore propose to replace Modestella Hautmann, 2001 by the new name Modesticoncha. The new name derives from the combination modestus (Latin) = modest, referring to the lack of ornamentation, and concha (Latin) = shell.

Echinoderms are important faunal components in the Curdsville Member of the Lexington Limestone. Numerous clades are represented, including Crinoidea (Springer, 1911; Parsley, 1981), Paracrinoidea (Parsley and Mintz, 1975; Parsley, 1981), Cyclocystoidea (undescribed), Edrioasteroidea (Miller and Gurley, 1894; Bell, 1976, 1979), and Stylophora (Parsley, 1981, 1991). Although some of these taxa are well preserved (Springer, 1911), most have been recovered from residues of acidized samples. These later specimens are poorly preserved, obscuring much of the information. Here we describe well preserved specimens recently collected by members of the Kentucky Paleontological Society (Lexington) of two species that add significantly to our understanding of lesser known components of the Curdsville Fauna. Bistomiacystis schrantzi n. sp. is a large paracrinoid bearing two separate ambu1acral systems that lead to two peristomial openings. Our research suggests that this unusual arrangement is consistent with oral areas of other derived blastozoans bearing oral plates. Edrioaster priscus (Miller and Gurley) is a poorly known large edrioasterid edrioasteroid previously known only from specimens preserved in coarse beekite. The new material of this taxon allows for a thorough characterization of this poorly known edrioasteroid and shows that previous assessments of its size and morphology need revision.

The Non-Mineralized arthropod described herein is derived from the Sirius Passet fossil conservation deposit of North Greenland (82°47.6,N, 42°13.7ʹW), the oldest locality with exceptional preservation of soft tissues known from the Cambrian of Laurentia (Cambrian Series 2, Stage 3; Nevadella Zone). As such, it is broadly contemporaneous with the Chengjiang fauna of China (Hou et al., 2004) and some 10 million years older than the Burgess Shale fauna of British Columbia. The Sirius Passet fauna was first documented by Conway Morris et al. (1987) and its geological setting is discussed by Babcock and Peel (2007). In addition to the nevadiid trilobite Buenellus higginsi Blaker, 1988, the fauna is dominated by non-mineralized arthropods (Budd, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999; Williams et al., 1996; Taylor, 2002). Other finds include sponges (Rigby, 1986), a lobopod (Budd and Peel, 1998), the earliest annelids (Conway Morris and Peel, 2008) and articulated halkieriids (Conway Morris and Peel, 1990, 1995), but most of the assemblage awaits description.

The terrestrial tortoise clade Chelonoidis is endemic to the South American continent and nearby islands. Three continental species are currently recognized that inhabit three distinct habitats. The red-footed tortoise (C. carbonaria) and yellow-footed tortoise (C. denticulata) are often sympatric tropical to semi-tropical taxa, but the former taxon generally prefers open and wet savannahs, whereas the latter distinctly prefers permanent and wet forest cover. In contrast, the Chaco Tortoise, C. chilensis, is arid-adapted and lives along the eastern dry slopes of the southern Andes (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). The diverse group of generally dry-adapted tortoises from the Galapagos Islands is currently thought to be the gigantic sisters of C. chilensis (Caccone et al., 1999).

New Palatobaena material from the Hell Creek Formation (Maastrichtian), including the first skull and shell association, from southwestern North Dakota represents a new species named herein Palatobaena cohen. the material consists of 4 skulls, 2 lower jaws, and 2 shells and represents a true biological population (spatially and temporally restricted), which provides unprecedented access to ontogenetic and other intraspecific variation found in this taxon. the skull's round shape and lack of a lingual ridge on the greatly expanded triturating surface indicate its Palatobaena affinities, but it differs from both previously existing Palatobaena taxa in a number of features. the addition of shell characters to the most inclusive baenid phylogenetic analyses (Maximum parsimony and Bayesian) to date indicate that Pa. cohen is sister taxon to the other Palatobaena taxa. Notably, both the maximum parsimony analysis and Bayesian analysis provide strong support for Plesiobaena antiqua as sister to the Palatobaena clade. in addition, both analyses provide strong support for Stygiochelys estesi as sister to the Eocene clade of Baena arenosa and Chisternon undatum, which significantly reduces this clades' ghost lineage. the baenid topology reveals a demonstrably homoplastic trend towards the reduction of the temporal emargination and unique thickening of the posterior portion of the parietals that corresponds with the K/T boundary and is hypothesized to have provided limited protection from increasingly effective mammalian predators.

The Hapsidopareiontidae are microsaurian amphibians known only from the Lower Permian of the U.S. The hapsidopareiontid skull has a large temporal embayment that occupies most of the area of the cheek, in which the quadratojugal is either absent (Hapsidopareion) or present and greatly reduced (Llistrofus). the unique holotype skull of Llistrofus pricei is well preserved in soft clay. It was originally prepared and described in dorsal view only, but has now been prepared completely free of the matrix. This permitted the first description of the palate, occiput and mandible along with a redescription of the rest of the skull, resulting in substantial emendation of previously published descriptions. Comparison with the eight known complete and partial skulls of Hapsidopareion lepton demonstrates that the two genera are much more similar than had been recognized earlier. Their continued separation is advocated, however, based on size difference, a small number of osteological differences, and the difficulty of obtaining comparably detailed morphological information for Hapsidopareion, which is less well preserved than the Llistrofus specimen. the new morphological information, combined with results of recently published cladistic analyses, suggests that Hapsidopareion and Llistrofus are the only microsaurs that can at present be assigned to the Hapsidopareiontidae. the large temporal embayment of hapsidopareiontids might be thought to have significant functional implications, possibly including “escape” of jaw adductor musculature onto the skull roof. Detailed consideration of this possibility reveals morphological evidence to the contrary, however, and the functional implications of the embayment remain uncertain.

The polycotylidae is a family of short-necked (pliosauromorph) plesiosaurs, with examples known from epicontinental marine deposits of every major landmass except Antarctica. Our knowledge of its diversity and distribution has increased tremendously in the last decade, with new material described from North America (Sato, 2005; Albright et al., 2007; Schumacher, 2007; Schmeisser, 2008), South America (Gasparini and de la Fuente, 2000; Salgado et al., 2007), Africa (Bardet et al., 2003; Buchy et al., 2005), and Asia (Sato and Storrs, 2000; Arkhangel'skii et al., 2007). Polycotylid diversity is greatest in the Late Cretaceous, and particularly so in the Turonian; however, knowledge of the group's initial history in the Early Cretaceous is limited to a handful of specimens from North America (Storrs, 1981; Druckenmiller, 2002) and Australia (Kear 2003, 2005).

Arthropleurids were terrestrial, millipede-like arthropods, The genus Arthropleura Jordan from the Upper Carboniferous reached an enormous size of 2 m or more in length (Hahn et al., 1986), Occurrences are rare and the chronologie and paleogeographic distribution of Arthropleura coincides with the tropical Euramerican floral belt of the Carboniferous (Rolfe, 1969), The Carboniferous was a time of high atmospheric O2 levels (35%) compared to the current 21%, which may have favored the development of large terrestrial arthropods of this time (Dudley, 1998; Graham et al., 1997; Berner, 2001) . Body fossils of Arthropleura range from the Visean to Early Permian (Rolfe, 1969; Schneider and Barthel, 1997), while trackways have been reported from the Visean (Pearson, 1992) to Stephanian (Langiaux and Sotty, 1977; Castro, 1997; Fig. 1). Arthropleura fragments have been described from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Nova Scotia. Only four Arthropleura trackway sites have been described from North America (New Mexico, Kansas, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick). Trackways provide information about size and locomotion that is not discernable from fragmentary body fossils .

A new aphid species, Dracaphis angustata, has been found in China from the Middle Triassic. It is especially informative because its whole body is preserved except for the distal part of the antennae and part of the legs. Only wings of three other aphid species of Triassic age have previously been found: Triassoaphis cubitus, described by Evans (1956) from Australia and placed in its own family, Triassoaphididae Heie, 1999; Creaphis theodora, described by Shcherbakov and Wegierek (1991) from Central Asia and placed in its own family, Creaphididae; and Coccavus supercubitus, described by Shcherbakov (2007) from Kyrgyzstan and placed in Naibiidae together with Naibia from the Lower Tertiary. The new species described below must be placed in its own family Dracaphididae because it possesses a combination of characters unknown in any other aphid clade.

In 2005, we (Westrop and Palmer, in Westrop et al.) proposed the name Arcadiaspis for a new genus of eurekiid trilobite from the Jordan Sandstone of Wisconsin. We thank Jonathan Adrain, John Page, and John Paterson, all of whom pointed out that this name is preoccupied by Arcadiaspis Bognibova (in Chernysheva, 1971), a trilobite genus from the Middle Cambrian of Russia. We propose the name Wisarcadiaspis which refers to the collecting locality at Arcadia, Wisconsin, as a replacement.