New soldier beetles (Cantharidae) are described from amber deposits in Burma (Myanmar), the Baltic region and the Dominican Republic. They include the Lower Cretaceous Burmese amber Ornatomalthinus elvirae gen. et sp. n., the Upper Eocene Baltic amber Rhagonycha (s. str.) sucinobaltica sp. n. and the mid-Tertiary Dominican amber Tytthonyx (s. str.) geiseri sp. n. These are the first descriptions of soldier beetles from Burmese and Dominican amber. The new genus Ornatomalthinus in Burmese amber is noted for possessing features similar to lycid beetles (Coleoptera: Lycidae) and for emitting, presumable defensive, secretions from everted thoracic and abdominal vesicles.

A fourth specimen of a fossilized phoretic springtail has been observed in Baltic amber. Since the host is a false blister beetle of the genus Oedemera Olivier, 1789, there are implications about the preferred habitat of the phoretic springtail and the preservation allows new insights into the grasping mechanism used by springtails for phoresy.

The type specimens of fossil land and freshwater gastropods deposited in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart (SMNS), Germany, are listed and illustrated herein, comprising circa 180 nominal species-group taxa from Cenozoic fossil sites, mainly in the Baden-Württemberg and Bayern states in southern Germany. The list is arranged in alphabetical order of the specific epithets, with information on the original description, taxonomical status, type locality, record number in the collection and comments. A systematically arranged list of the taxa is also given, as well as a list arranged by authorship of the species-group names. At least one type specimen (holotype, lectotype, syntype or neotype) of each nominal species/subspecies is figured here, and further specimens were figured when they added information. In some cases lectotypes are designated herein.

The concept of the nominal species Hydrobia semiconvexa Sandberger, 1875 is fixed with the designation of a lectotype, which is figured. The synonymy and proven occurrences of this taxon are briefly reviewed.

Tealliocarid eumalacostracans, known from Late Devonian-Carboniferous marine, non-marine, and estuarine strata of North America, continental Europe, and the United Kingdom, are here transferred from Eucarida: Decapoda back to Peracarida: Pygocephalomorpha. Species included in Tealliocaris exhibit a suite of peracaridan and pygocephalomorphan synapomorphies, including the presence of an oostegite marsupium in females, a distinct terminal telson lobe, and a pair of lateral telson lobes. Purported decapodan characters, e.g. complete fusion of the carapace and thoracic tergites, and the presence of only five pereiopods, in Tealliocaris seem to be poorly supported. A phylogenetic analysis included herein fully supports inclusion of Tealliocaris in Peracarida and in Pygocephalomorpha.

Following a review of relevant mechanisms and structures, we propose to use binary nomenclature for characterizing and naming most fossil egg-sets, clutches and ovipositions of damselflies as trace fossils. We recommend to sharply distinguish between structures caused by insects and adjoining plant tissues. Only the former are trace fossils, the latter are not.

This paper gives an overview of nine extinct species assigned to five genera of the neuropteran family Nevrorthidae found in Eocene Baltic amber. Three species are described new: Baltico neurorthus elegans n. gen., n. sp., Palaeoneurorthus eocaenus n. sp. and Proberotha dichotoma n. sp. Moreover, the genus Proberotha Krüger, 1923, originally assigned to the family Berothidae, is now transferred to the family Nevrorthidae. Proberotha prisca Krüger, 1923, exhibits significant traits of the Nevrorthidae Nakahara, 1958, a family which has not yet been established at that time.

This paper focuses on the first record of equisetophyte stems preserved in situ in the dark siltstones of the Djangura Formation of the Late Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) age in the Bolshoi Zelenchuk River Basin (Zelenchuk district of the Karachaevo-Cherkessk Republic, Northern Caucasus, Russia). The stems are long and narrow, with long internodes, vertically orientated in growth upright position. The outer surface of the stems bears thin, prolonged ribs. There are well-formed diaphragms at the stem nodes. The diaphragms are covered with fine radial striations. The stems possess a central internal cavity of subcylindrical shape. The sedimentary conditions of forming the layer with equisetophyte stems can be interpreted as tidal plain or littoral.