Phyllolepid placoderms from the Devonian Boyd Volcanic Complex on the south coast of New South Wales are described as Cobandrahlepis petyrwardi, gen. et sp. nov., and Yurammia browni, gen. et sp. nov. Both are more primitive than other described phyllolepids in retaining a posterior dorsolateral plate in the trunk armor. Cobandrahlepis resembles Placolepis Ritchie, 1984, in the shape of the nuchal plate in the skull, and Austrophyllolepis Long, 1984, in the more lateral position of the sensory groove on the paranuchal plate. Yurammia, gen. nov., differs from all other phyllolepids in lacking ridged ornament on the dermal bones. These new taxa add to the diversity of early members of the order Phyllolepida from East Gondwana, before the appearance of the genus Phyllolepis in the Northern Hemisphere during the last stage of the Late Devonian (Famennian). Phyllolepid placoderms, only recorded from non-marine deposits, have a unique disjunct distribution in both time and space between the Southern and Northern hemispheres. They document a major dispersal event indicating continental connection between Gondwana and Laurussia near the Frasnian–Famennian boundary, at about the time of the Late Devonian mass extinction.

Until recently, †Histiophorus rotundus Woodward 1901, was known from a single, poorly preserved rostrum from the Tertiary phosphate beds near Charleston, South Carolina, an area from which many fossils have been described. The specimen is relatively featureless externally; its internal anatomy is unknown and the documentation of its geological provenance was poor. In an earlier revision the species was transferred to the fossil billfish genus †Xiphiorhynchus Van Beneden, 1871. Here we confirm this designation, supported by new morphological studies of the holotype, recently found specimens of †Xiphiorhynchus rotundus (Woodward, 1901), and the stratigraphic record of †Xiphiorhynchus. The systematic paleontology we present is a contribution to the taxonomic revision of billfishes world-wide. Because the holotype is heavily phosphatized and the type locality was vaguely described, we discuss the geology of the phosphate mining districts of the Charleston region. Based on our studies, we can narrow the possible age of the holotype to late Oligocene or early Miocene. We suggest †X. rotundus was extinct by the Burdigalian.

An anterior (distal) rostrum (MMNS 2957) from the Moodys Branch Formation (late middle Eocene), Tesheva Creek, Yazoo County, Mississippi, U.S.A., is described and identified as Xiphiorhynchus cf. X. eocaenicus. The specimen is compared to various secies of Xiphiorhynchus, especially the holotype of X. eocaenicus (BMNH 25744), Bracklesham Group, early middle Eocene, England. This represents the first record of a species of Xiphiorhynchus in deposits on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. Xiphiorhynchus eocaenicus is thought to have had similar environmental preferences and habits as the extant swordfish, Xiphias gladius. Since the swordfish prefers oceanic water and makes transatlantic movements, then distribution of a xiphiorhynchin on both sides of the Atlantic is not unexpected. The environment at Tesheva Creek and the type locality in England were both shallow, nearshore, tropical to subtropical habitats. The holotype was probably transported into shallow water either as stomach contents or by ocean currents, whereas the Tesheva Creek specimen was either the remains of a stranded individual or of an animal that died in shallow water after being impaled.

A partial rostrum with an attached lower jaw, a posterior neurocranium, and a proximal hyomandibular from the Lincoln Creek Formation (late Oligocene, Washington) are described and identified as Aglyptorhynchus columbianus sp. nov. In addition, ten articulated anterior caudal vertebrae presumably from the Lincoln Creek Formation are described and identified as Aglyptorhynchus sp. This is a second record of an Aglyptorhynchus from a deposit bordering the Pacific Ocean. The specimens are compared with other billfishes (Perciformes: Scombroidei), both extant and extinct. Unusual features include a tripartite celous occipital condyle composed equally of the basioccipital and exoccipitals, a lower jaw that is nearly twice as deep as the corresponding section of the rostrum, a subtemporal fossa, an oval-shaped fossa in the parasphenoid, two sphenotic ridges separated by a fossa, a bifurcated pterotic ridge, and a hyomandibular with a laterally curved posterior margin. With the exception of the deep lower jaw, these features have never been recorded before in extinct or extant scombroid fish. Heretofore, a tripartite occipital condyle was unknown in a non-beryciform percomorph fish. Aglyptorhynchus is placed in the Scombroidei, family incertae sedis, because of the paucity of shared characters with other scombroid taxa.

A new genus and species of Clupeidae, Chasmoclupea aegyptica, is described from early Oligocene fluviatile deposits of the Jebel Qatrani Formation in the Fayum, Egypt. The new species is preserved in three dimensions, allowing details of the skull roof, as well as lateral skull bones, to be seen. The new species is considered to be most closely related to the Alosinae and Clupeinae. This is the first record of a clupeomorph fish from Oligocene freshwater deposits of Africa. Most clupeomorph fishes are preserved in marine or lacustrine sediments, and it is only the rare preservation of this riverine fossil, as an articulated specimen, that has allowed it to be identified as a clupeomorph.

We describe hindlimb elements of the large captorhinid Moradisaurus grandis (Reptilia: Captorhinidae) recently collected from the Upper Permian Moradi Formation of north-central Niger. This description is based primarily on an associated partial skeleton comprising a hemimandible, vertebral column, and partial left and nearly complete right hindlimb. Additionally, we report on a well-preserved, articulated, and essentially complete juvenile pes that provides important information on the ontogeny of the captorhinid tarsus. The hindlimb of Moradisaurus is stout and more massively built than in any other known captorhinid. The femur displays several features interpreted as adaptations to the demands of large body size, and the tibia and fibula have short, wide shafts and hypertrophied condyles and epicondyles. The astragalus is very derived, possessing two accessory ossifications and a relatively horizontal tibial articulation, indicating that the tibia was held more vertically than in other captorhinids. The calcaneum is co-ossified with distal tarsal five. The juvenile pes indicates that the captorhinid centrale arose from the fusion of two ossification centers, and that the captorhinid astragalus arose from the fusion of at least three ossification centers.

Features of dental microwear have been used to infer diet in fossil mammals based on comparisons with analogues or modern representatives, because material properties of the food and jaw mechanics can be inferred from microwear attributes that are easily compared across diverse groups. However, only rarely has dental microwear analysis been applied to more ancient non-mammalian taxa without modern relatives. We examine patterns of dental microwear in two distantly related groups–traversodontid cynodonts (at least two distinct taxa) and a possible ‘prosauropod’ dinosaur, both from the mid-late Triassic of Madagascar. Pitting was absent in most specimens examined. Scratch length and orientation heterogeneity, factors that have been suggested to reflect the hardness of the diet, differ significantly between the traversodontids and the ‘prosauropod’ analyzed, and may suggest some degree of resource partitioning between these two types of coexisting herbivores. The ‘prosauropod’ appears to have fed on softer plant material than the traversodontids did, whereas shorter scratch lengths and lower orientation consistency suggest that the traversodontids fed on more resistant vegetation. Rose diagrams of orientations of microwear features exhibit a clear bimodality of jaw motion in the traversodontid cynodonts, with a dominant postero-dorsal power stroke and significant horizontal motion in the antero-posterior direction. In contrast, the ‘prosauropod’ jaw motion was simple and orthal.

In the eyes of many extant reptiles there is an osseous ring embedded within the sclera and around the cornea. This sclerotic ring was well developed and is frequently preserved in ichthyosaurs. Significant information can be drawn from it, such as eyeball diameter and relative size of the cornea. Estimation of these parameters in extinct forms is significant as they are closely related to vision capability. This paper presents insights into the growth pattern and vision capabilities of some Jurassic ichthyosaurs as inferred from the analysis of the sclerotic rings and orbit sizes. The suggested growth pattern of ichthyosaur eyes is similar to that of human eyes. Thus, the cornea did not grow as much as the rest of the eye. The relative size of the sclerotic ring and orbits can be used as a complementary criterion for estimating relative age in some ichthyosaurs. In juveniles the aperture of the sclerotic ring represents approximately 20% of the orbital area. This percentage decreases in adults.

Ichthyosaurus and Stenopterygius are the two best-known ichthyosaurs, represented by numerous specimens and having a long history of paleontological study. Despite such advantages, it is shown here that a major error in skull roof reconstruction, which dates back to the time of Richard Owen, still dominates the literature. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the two genera share a unique feature, namely the separation of the frontal and postfrontal by the prefrontal. This hitherto ignored feature is phylogenetically important for clarifying the validity, synapomorphy, and membership of the Thunnosauria, a clade defined by the two genera. The feature is also useful in basic taxonomy. Many isolated skull specimens from the lower Lias of England are identified as Ichthyosaurus. Some of the skulls lack the prefrontal feature and differ from Ichthyosaurus in several other respects, suggesting that they represent at least one undescribed genus in the Lower Lias of England. This coincides with the previously reported presence of forefin specimens that clearly do not belong to known genera. Lower Liassic ichthyosaurs were more diverse than previously thought.

A new species of a ziphodont crocodyliform is described on the basis of newly-discovered material from the Late Cretaceous (Campanian) Sierra Perenchiza Formation of Valencia, Spain. It is referred to the genus Doratodon as D. ibericus sp. nov. To date, Doratodon (type-species D. carcharidens) was only known by fragmentary cranial remains from the Campanian of Muthmannsdorf (Austria). This genus was previously regarded either as a goniopholid or as a hsisosuchid within the Mesoeucrocodylia, but a phylogenetic analysis suggests that Doratodon is a member of Ziphosuchia, placing it as the sister taxon of Sebecosuchia. Doratodon shares with Sebecosuchia (including Bergisuchus) features concerning the shape and implantation of teeth (margins of tooth crowns with denticulate carinae; tip of tooth crowns caudally curved; tooth implantation in isolated alveoli). Its inclusion in Ziphosuchia is based also on mandibular traits (splenials broad and robust behind symphysis, sculpturing of lateral surface of dentary based on development of longitudinal depression). The absence of the external mandibular fenestra is an autopomorphy of Doratodon in the context of Ziphosuchia. Doratodon is characterized by: short and narrow rostrum with reduced dentition (11 to 13 dentary teeth); dorsal profile of lower jaw showing two vertical waves. The most distinctive characteristic of the new species relative to D. carcharidens is the heterodonty in size of teeth, especially in the caudal part of the dental series. From a palaeobiogeographical point of view, Doratodon represents the first occurrence of a sebecosuchian-like crocodyliform in the Late Cretaceous of Europe.

Total length, snout-vent length, and body mass are tightly correlated with length and other dimensions of the femur in Alligator mississippiensis. American alligator-based equations relating total length and body mass to femoral dimensions predict the sizes of other extant crocodylian species reasonably well, suggesting that alligator-based relationships should also work for extinct crocodylians and their close relatives. Size estimates from different femoral dimensions are most consistent when extinct forms have femora similar in size and shape to those of alligators. For many extinct mesoeucrocodylians, alligator femur-based total length estimates are close to length estimates based on reasonably complete skeletons or estimates made from osteological parameters other than femoral dimensions. However, the total length estimated for Pristichampsus is much larger than the length of the skeleton, indicating a relatively longer femur in this form, perhaps reflecting a more terrestrial lifestyle. In contrast, femur-based size estimates of a large individual of Deinosuchus are considerably less than an estimate based on mandible length. Femur size may be reduced relative to body size in Deinosuchus, which may be associated with more strictly aquatic habits than in alligators.

A new ankylosaur Hungarosaurus tormai gen. et sp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) Csehbánya Formation of the Bakony Mountains, western Hungary is described here. Among the four discovered specimens of this new armored dinosaur the best preserved is the most complete ankylosaur presently known from the Upper Cretaceous of Europe. Although many cranial characters of Hungarosaurus are not determinable, a preliminary phylogenetic analysis places Hungarosaurus in the Nodosauridae as a basal nodosaurid. Hungarosaurus is clearly distinguishable from Struthiosaurus on the basis of the dorsoventrally wide quadratojugal, the presence of bony protuberances on the quadratojugal and postorbital, the robust mandibular quadrate condyle, and the interpterygoid vacuity. The analysis suggests that Hungarosaurus appears to be more derived than Struthiosaurus, but more primitive than the North American Silvisaurus, Sauropelta, and Pawpawsaurus.

A new genus and species of swan (subtribe Cygnina) are described here from the late Miocene deposits of Toros Menalla (Chad, Africa), which have yielded the earliest known hominid. Afrocygnus chauvireae, gen. et sp. nov., is about the size of Cygnus atratus of the Australasian region, but differs morphologically from all living members of the genus Cygnus, and from all other extinct taxa of swans. Several extinct genera of swans or supposed extinct species of Cygnus actually appear not to belong to the Cygnini or to Cygnus, respectively, and should be revised. Afrocygnus chauvireae fills a biogeographical gap because there is no swan today in Africa except on the Mediterranean coast in winter, and the continent is now the only one—with Antarctica—lacking breeding swans. An unidentified swan is also represented in the Pliocene of Koro Toro (Chad). Remains previously identified as a goose-like member of Anserinae from the Mio-Pliocene boundary of Sahabi (Libya) are referred to Afrocygnus cf. A. chauvireae. Two records of a larger, unidentified swan are known in the early/middle Pleistocene of East Africa, but none for the southern part of the continent. Afrocygnus appears as the closest genus to Cygnus. The Chadian and Libyan swans indicate rather calm freshwater bodies in the vicinity of the deposits. Afrocygnus is indicative of some vertebrate endemism in the Chadian-Libyan area during the latest Miocene, in humid settings, through the incipient eastern Sahara desert.

Recently collected materials of a tylosaurine mosasaur from Haumuri Bluff, New Zealand, are assigned to Taniwhasaurus oweni Hector, 1874. Previously described tylosaurine mosasaur specimens from Haumuri Bluff that were assigned to other taxa are re-evaluated here and assigned to T. oweni. Taniwhasaurus is diagnosed as a tylosaurine based on the possession of a premaxillary rostrum and anterior edentulous process of the dentary. However, Taniwhasaurus also exhibits a prefrontal-maxillary contact in which the prefrontal forms a portion of the naris, thus precluding the frontal-maxillary contact characteristic of all other tylosaurines with the possible exception of Hainosaurus bernardi. The distribution of the frontal-maxillary contact in mosasaurs suggests that it may be correlated with snout elongation.

The postcranial skeleton of Lystrosaurus georgi from the lowermost Triassic of the Moscow Basin, Russia, is described for the first time. This species retains contact between the premaxillae and palatine and is characterized by a narrow and elongated ischium, an autapomorphy for this species. Phylogenetic analysis of 27 Permian and Triassic dicynodont taxa using 18 postcranial characters confirms other recent hypotheses, but does not support a close relationship between Cistecephalus and Kingoria. The low homoplasy level among characters of the pelvis and femur, compared with the shoulder girdle and forelimbs, suggests that the former region documents the pattern of anomodont evolution better than the latter. Analysis of character changes revealed that a general evolutionary trend in the dicynodont postcranium relates to acquisition of semisprawling locomotion.

The mandible of Asfaltomylos patagonicus from the late Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of Cerro Condor (Chubut, Argentina) combines a derived dentition (?i, ?c, ?5p, 3m) with tribosphenic molars together with plesiomorphic mandibular characters such as the presence of a postdentary trough and a mandibular foramen in a very anterior position. Talonids on m2 and m3 are wider than long which represents an important synapomorphy with Gondwanan australosphenidans. Talonids have an inflated hypoconid and bulging hypoconulid. As in other australosphenidans and toothed monotremes, talonid wear in Asfaltomylos is apical and no wear facets occur within the talonid basin. On m3, a common wear facet covers the apices of hypoconid and hypconulid, and the hypocristid. Crompton's (1971) standard wear facets 5 and 6 of tribosphenic boreosphenidans are not developed; therefore, it is uncertain whether a functional protocone, with its facets 5 and 6, would be present in the upper molars. The highly specialized apical wear on the hypoconid, hypoconulid, and the hypocristid in Asfaltomylos and other australosphenidans may correspond to some upper molar structures, such as crests extending from the metacone to grind against hypoconid and hypoconulid. In contrast to other australosphenidans, in Asfaltomylos the trigonid of the ultimate premolar is not triangulated, a plesiomorphic character. A PAUP 4.0 analysis based on 277 cranial and postcranial characters has corroborated the position of Asfaltomylos as the most basal member of the Australosphenida, and suggests that australosphenidans are independent from boreosphenidans.

In the continental deposits of the area of Tollo de Chiclana (Guadix Basin, south-eastern Spain), several new fossiliferous Pliocene localities yield a rich rodent and insectivore fauna. Of the various rodent families that occur in these sites, Muridae are the most abundant and diversified. Eleven species belonging to seven different genera (Occitanomys, Stephanomys, Castillomys, Paraethomys, Apodemus, Rhagapodemus, and Micromys) have been recognized. In this paper we describe the Muridae from these localities, which have great biostratigraphical and paleoecological interest. The presence of certain taxa and the changes in the abundance of the various taxonomic groups indicate a decrease in temperature and a change in the biotopes from Late Ruscinian through Middle Villafranchian in the area of Tollo de Chiclana.

A large-bodied (skull length 775 mm) elasmothere rhinoceros was discovered in the early late Miocene (equivalent to the European Vallesian) Liushu Formation of the Linxia Basin in northwestern China. Iranotherium morgani, represented by two skulls and a mandible, is the only known rhinoceros with a rugosity on each zygomatic arch of the male individual. Such a unique cranial feature is otherwise unknown among rhinoceroses. Numerous cranial and dental characteristics indicate that Iranotherium morgani is a member of Elasmotheriini, an enigmatic clade of Rhinocerotinae. The large, robust areas on the zygomas of the male Iranotherium, for larger masseteric and temporalis musculature, suggest that these rhinoceroses were sexually dimorphic, probably similar to their artiodactyl counterparts in an open grassland fauna.

Fossil representatives of the two extant African rhinoceros lineages, Ceratotherium and Diceros, co-occur in the Pliocene deposits of the Hadar Formation, Ethiopia. Both arose, in turn, from Ceratotherium neumayri of the late Miocene. The first of these Pliocene species, Ceratotherium mauritanicum, can be distinguished from the living C. simum, to which it probably gave rise in the earliest Pleistocene, by its less plagiolophodont cheek teeth. The second, Diceros praecox, is closely related to D. bicornis, although many specimens, including the type, were previously referred to Ceratotherium. The teeth of D. praecox are little changed relative to those of its Miocene ancestor, but its skull displays the apomorphic rearrangements typical of D. bicornis, suggesting increased browsing specialization. The split between the two lineages probably indicates ecological divergence and character displacement between browsing versus grazing specializations.