We describe a new species of Vasseuromys from the locality of Pico del Fraile 2 (PF2) in the Ebro Basin of northeastern Spain, which has yielded a fauna comprising several rodents and insectivores (Eumyarion cf. weinfurteri, Megacricetodon cf. primitivus, Democricetodon aff. hispanicus, Spermophilinus cf. besana, Microdyromys cf. legidensis, Galerix sp., and Lagomorpha indet.) indicative of Aragonian zones C or D. Vasseuromys cristinae sp. nov. differs from other Vasseuromys species in the constant presence of four extra ridges on the lower molars, one of them being connected to the posterolophid in the posterior valley, as well as three extra ridges on the upper molars, with none of them located outside the trigone. Morphological comparisons of this new taxon to other Vasseuromys species from the western Mediterranean area allow the reconstruction of their phylogenetic interrelationships during the Early and Middle Miocene of Europe, suggesting that V. cristinae sp. nov. is a descendant of V. autolensis.

The fossil record of Megatheriinae (Tardigrada, Megatheriidae) in Argentina extends from the Colloncuran (Middle Miocene of Patagonia) to the Lujanian (Late Pleistocene—Early Holocene of the Pampean region). In the Late Miocene of north-western Argentina, Megatheriinae is represented by just three species belonging to a single genus, Pyramiodontherium. Here, we describe a partial mandible and the phalanges of a third digit of the manus recovered from the Saladillo Formation (Upper Miocene) of Tucumán Province, and assign them to Anisodontherium sp. Anisodontherium is primarily characterized by mesiodistally compressed molariforms, an anterior margin of the coronoid process located posterior to m4, and a posterior margin of the mandibular symphysis located anterior to m1. While these features can also be observed in A. halmyronomum from the Arroyo Chasicó Formation (Buenos Aires Province, Pampean region), Anisodontherium sp. is smaller and more slender than the former. The shape of each molariform of Anisodontherium affects the total length of the molariform tooth row, and thus the interpretation of some characters used in cladistic and paleobiological analyses. The material described here adds to the knowledge of the mandibular and dental anatomy of early megatheriines. In addition, the occurrence of Anisodotherium in Tucumán Province provides the first record of this genus outside the Pampean region, and increases the diversity of megatheriines during the Late Miocene—Pliocene of north-western Argentina.

The recurrent laryngeal nerve is an often cited example of “unintelligent design” in biology, especially in the giraffe. The nerve appears early in embryonic development, before the pharyngeal and aortic arches are separated by the development of the neck. The recurrent course of the nerve from the brain, around the great vessels, to the larynx, is shared by all extant tetrapods. Therefore we may infer that the recurrent laryngeal nerve was present in extinct tetrapods, had the same developmental origin, and followed the same course. The longest-necked animals of all time were the extinct sauropod dinosaurs, some of which had necks 14 meters long. In these animals, the neurons that comprised the recurrent laryngeal nerve were at least 28 meters long. Still longer neurons may have spanned the distance from the end of the tail to the brainstem, as in all extant vertebrates. In the longest sauropods these neurons may have been 40–50 meters long, probably the longest cells in the history of life.

A partial plesiosauroid skull from the São Gião Formation (Toarcian, Lower Jurassic) of Alhadas, Portugal is re-evaluated and described as a new taxon, Lusonectes sauvagei gen. et sp. nov. It has a single autapomorphy, a broad triangular parasphenoid cultriform process that is as long as the posterior interpterygoid vacuities, and also a unique character combination, including a jugal that contacts the orbital margin, a distinct parasphenoid—basisphenoid suture exposed between the posterior interpterygoid vacuities, lack of an anterior interpterygoid vacuity, and striations on the ventral surface of the pterygoids. Phylogenetic analysis of Jurassic plesiosauroids places Lusonectes as outgroup to “microcleidid elasmosaurs”, equivalent to the clade Plesiosauridae. Lusonectes sauvagei is the only diagnostic plesiosaur from Portugal, and the westernmost occurrence of any plesiosaurian in Europe.

We describe a new large predatory archosaur, Smok wawelski gen. et sp. nov., from the latest Triassic (latest Norian—early Rhaetian; approximately 205–200 Ma) of Lisowice (Lipie Śląskie clay-pit) in southern Poland. The length of the reconstructed skeleton is 5–6 m and that of the skull 50–60 cm, making S. wawelski larger than any other known predatory archosaur from the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic of central Europe (including theropod dinosaurs and “rauisuchian” crurotarsans). The holotype braincase is associated with skull, pelvic and isolated limb-bones found in close proximity (within 30 m), and we regard them as belonging to the same individual. Large, apparently tridactyl tracks that occur in the same rock unit may have been left by animals of the same species. The highly autapomorphic braincase shows large attachment areas for hypertrophied protractor pterygoideus muscles on the lateral surface and a wide, funnel-like region between the basal tubera and basipterygoid processes on the ventral surface. The skeleton (cranial and postcranial) possesses some features similar to those in theropod dinosaurs and others to those in large crocodile-line archosaurs (“rauisuchians”), rendering phylogenetic placement of S. wawelski difficult at this time.

Disarticulated material from the Late Triassic Timezgadiouine Formation in the Argana Basin of Morocco represents a new taxon of silesaurid dinosauromorph, Diodorus scytobrachion gen. et sp. nov. D. scytobrachion can be distinguished from other silesaurids by the presence of anteriorly-canted teeth that decrease in size towards the anterior end of the dentary and a distinct lateral ridge running parallel to the dentary alveolar margin. In a phylogenetic analysis, D. scytobrachion is recovered as the sister-taxon to the Brazilian Sacisaurus agudoensis, nested deep within Silesauridae. This new taxon provides further evidence of a near-cosmopolitan range for basal dinosauriforms in the Late Triassic and further demonstrates the disparity of dental morphologies within Silesauridae.

A freshwater turtle from the lithographic limestone of Las Hoyas (Barremian of Cuenca, Spain) is described as a new genus and species of Eucryptodira, Hoyasemys jimenezi. The holotype consists of the skull, lower jaw, carapace, plastron, vertebral column, pectoral and pelvic girdle remains, and fore- and hindlimbs. Hoyasemys jimenezi gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by three pairs of blind oblique depressions on the ventral surface of the basisphenoid, and a character combination composed, among others, of the articulation between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae through a cotyle in the fourth and a condyle in the fifth, amphicoelous caudal centra, and most digits of manus and pes with three elongated phalanges. This study allows clarification of the systematic position of a species of uncertain affinity often identified as “chelydroid” in appearance. A phylogenetic analysis shows Hoyasemys jimenezi gen. et sp. nov. forms a monophyletic group with Judithemys sukhanovi, Dracochelys bicuspis, Sinemys lens, and Ordosemys leios, collectively the sister group of crown Cryptodira.

The environmental characterization of the Lower Permian mesosaur-bearing strata of the Mangrullo Formation (Paraná Basin, northeastern Uruguay) has been controversial. Historically, marine conditions were suggested for this unit, despite the absence of any normal marine fossils. More recently, some authors have argued for freshwater to brackish settings, inferring fluctuating environmental conditions, which would have generated abrupt changes in the composition of the communities. Mesosaurs are the only tetrapods found in this unit, and they colonized the basin at the time of highest isolation, and apparently increased salinity, coincident with a gradual global rise in aridity. An assemblage of extremely low diversity (the “mesosaur community”) developed, with mesosaur reptiles, pygocephalomorph crustaceans, and the vermiform producers of the trace fossil Chondrites as the dominant components. This community may have existed under temporary hypersaline, lagoon-like conditions, as suggested by ecological, anatomical and physiological attributes of its member taxa. This interpretation is supported by sedimentological and mineralogical features of the enclosing rocks, also seen in the correlative Brazilian Iratí and South African Whitehill formations. In the Uruguayan deposits, as well as in their Brazilian correlatives, relatively close volcanic events affected the basin. This particular environment, where bottom waters were depleted of oxygen and hypersaline, retarded decay of the carcasses, and precluded the development of bioturbating organism, and together with bacterial sealing, favoured exquisite preservation of the fossils, including soft tissues. This leads us to consider the fossil-bearing strata of the Mangrullo Formation as a Konservat-Lagerstätte, the oldest known for South America.

Fish remains described from the early Miocene lacustrine Bannockburn Formation of Central Otago, New Zealand, consist of several thousand otoliths and one skeleton plus another disintegrated skull. One species, Mataichthys bictenatus Schwarzhans, Scofield, Tennyson, and T. Worthy gen. et sp. nov., an eleotrid, is established on a skeleton with otoliths in situ. The soft embedding rock and delicate, three-dimensionally preserved fish bones were studied by CT-scanning technology rather than physical preparation, except where needed to extract the otolith. Fourteen species of fishes are described, 12 new to science and two in open nomenclature, representing the families Galaxiidae (Galaxias angustiventris, G. bobmcdowalli, G. brevicauda, G. papilionis, G. parvirostris, G. tabidus), Retropinnidae (Prototroctes modestus, P. vertex), and Eleotridae (Mataichthys bictenatus, M. procerus, M. rhinoceros, M. taurinus). These findings prove that most of the current endemic New Zealand/southern Australia freshwater fish fauna was firmly established in New Zealand as early as 19–16 Ma ago. Most fish species indicate the presence of large fishes, in some cases larger than Recent species of related taxa, for instance in the eleotrid genus Mataichthys when compared to the extant Gobiomorphus. The finding of a few otoliths from marine fishes corroborates the age determination of the Bannockburn Formation as the Altonian stage of the New Zealand marine Tertiary stratigraphy.

The Cretaceous genera of the hymenopteran family Braconidae are discussed. Overall, eight braconid subfamilies, including two only known from this period, and 17 genera together with two having unclear subfamily position, have been recorded in Cretaceous period. Two new genera, Magadanobracon gen. nov. (with two species, Magadanobracon rasnitsyni sp. nov. and M. zherikhini sp. nov.) and Cretorhyssalus gen. nov. (with type species Cretorhyssalus brevis sp. nov.) are described. The discussed position of the new genera in Protorhyssalinae remains putative owing to a lack of information about multiporous sensillae of the antenna and the poor preservation of the basal half of the hind wing. The earliest recorded thickened hind tibia in the female sex, as a probable apomorphic character of the subfamily Protorhyssalinae, and the evolutionary state of the antefurcal vs. postfurcal positions of the recurrent vein in the fore wing of Braconidae are discussed.

A new myodocope ostracod Sineruga insolita gen. et sp. nov. is herein described from the Armorican Massif (France). Sineruga resembles Silurian myodocopes (i.e., bolbozoids and cypridinids) in having anterior features (thinner carapace) possibly related to vision. On the other hand, it resembles entomozoid ostracods in having a bean-shaped outline along with a deep adductorial sulcus and a simple muscle spot, but lacks their characteristic ribbed ornament. The data available suggest that Sineruga insolita was probably an atypical, non-ribbed member of the entomozoids thus indicating that early entomozoids may have had smooth representatives. Comparisons with other Recent and fossils ostracods show that the presence of a rostrum and/or symmetrical vision related carapace features (i.e., indicating lateral eyes) can be used as diagnostic characters for myodocope ostracods. The position and shape of the dorsal connection and to a lesser extent that of the sulcus and the adductorial muscle scar can be used to discriminate the higher groups of Silurian myodocopes (bolbozoids, cypridinids, and entomozoids).

The cameral and intrasiphonal deposits of a Pennsylvanian straight nautiloid (Pseudorthoceratidae) are studied in order to understand the formation of these deposits. The specimens from the Buckhorn Asphalt deposit (Oklahoma) are exceptionally preserved including original aragonite and microstructures. The specimen investigated survived a predation attempt and shows bite marks on the phragmocone. This is the second report of an ectocochleate cephalopod and first report of an orthoconic nautiloid which survived massive damage of conch and siphuncle. For the first time, a high-magnesium calcitic mineralogy of cameral deposits is documented. These deposits were formed in alternation with aragonite in a chamber which was perforated during the unsuccessful predation attempt. The animal formed the chamber deposits throughout its entire lifetime and the siphuncle played a major role in formation of the cameral deposits.

This study focuses on the life strategies of small, dissepimented rugose coral Catactotoechus instabilis (representative of Cyathaxonia fauna) from the Emsian argillaceous deposits of mud mounds of Hamar Laghdad (Anti-Atlas, Morocco). Numerous constrictions and rejuvenescence phenomena as well as frequent deflections of growth directions among the studied specimens suggest unfavourable bottom conditions resulted from sliding down of the soft sediment on the mound slopes. Dissepimental structures observed on well-preserved calices and thin sections played an important role in the life of the coral, supporting their successful recovery after temporary burial within unstable soft sediment. The development of lonsdaleoid dissepiments, apart from being biologically controlled, was also strongly influenced by environmental factors. Such modifications in lonsdaleoid dissepiments growth were observed in phases of constrictions, rejuvenescence and deflections of growth, when their development was significantly increased in comparison to phases of their stable growth. Dissepiment morphology suggests that the process of formation of lonsdaleoid dissepiments in Catactotoechus instabilis is consistent with the hydraulic model.

Danian—Selandian (D—S) planktic foraminiferal taxonomy and paleoecology, including the most problematic index-species of biochronological schemes, are here revised based on qualitative and quantitative data from the Caravaca and Zumaia sections, Spain. As a first step the morphological and microtextural diagnostic characters are revised in order to achieve appropriate morphological distinctions of the investigated species. The analysis of latitudinal preferences of the planktic foraminiferal species deduced from a comparison of their relative abundances at Caravaca (western Tethyan sub-tropical waters) and Zumaia (central North Atlantic warm temperate waters) in suite with a statistical comparison of quantitative stratigraphic distributions of the species at Caravaca have shown several divergences in their patterns of spatio-temporal distribution (i.e., in their latitudinal preferences and quantitative stratigraphic distributions). This analysis allowed taxonomical separation of 41 species from the following genera: Eoglobigerina, Subbotina, Parasubbotina, Globanomalina, Luterbacheria, Acarinina, Igorina, Morozovella, Praemurica, Chiloguembelina, and Zeauvigerina. Morphologically convergent species pairs such as Acarinina trinidadensis and Praemurica inconstans, Acarinina praecursoria and Acarinina uncinata, Morozovella conicontruncata and Morozovella angulata, or Morozovella cf. albeari and Igorina albeari, are well differentiated using aforementioned criteria. Since some of the species are index-taxa, the taxonomic refinements are essential to clarify and compare the planktic foraminiferal zonations from the Danian—Sealandian transition. A new lower/higher (L/H) latitude taxa ratio is proposed for paleoclimatic interpretations based on the paleoecological and quantitative studies. Fluctuations in L/H ratio in the Caravaca section suggest three climate warming events during the D—S transition, one of them probably occurring at the D—S boundary.

Diverse carbonaceous microfossils, including exceptionally preserved remains of non-biomineralizing metazoans, are reported from a basal middle Cambrian interval of the Kaili Formation (Guizhou Province, China). The application of a gentle acid maceration technique complements previous palynological studies by revealing a larger size-class of acritarchs, a richer assemblage of filamentous microfossils, and a variety of previously unrecovered forms. Metazoan fossils include Wiwaxia sclerites and elements derived from biomineralizing taxa, including chancelloriids, brachiopods and hyolithids, in common with previously studied assemblages from the early and middle Cambrian of Canada. In addition, the Kaili Formation has yielded pterobranch remains and an assemblage of cuticle fragments representing “soft-bodied” worms, including a priapulid-like scalidophoran. Our results demonstrate the wide distribution and palaeobiological importance of microscopic “Burgess Shale-type” fossils, and provide insights into the limitations and potential of this largely untapped preservational mode.

The early halophytic angiosperm Pseudoasterophyllites cretaceus from the Cenomanian Peruc Korycany Formation of the Bohemian Cretaceous Basin and from the Late Albian of the Northern Aquitanian Basin is redescribed. The plant is characterized by semi-whorled linear, and heavily cutinized leaves with paracytic stomata. Stamens associated with P. cretaceus possess an apically emerging connective that possesses the same epidermal cell pattern as the leaves. The stamens are massive, tetrasporangiate, and contain Tucanopollis pollen, thus clearly indicating affinities of P. cretaceus to the basal angiosperme. The plants that co-occur with P. cretaceus in semi-autochtonous taphocoenoses include the conifer Frenelopsis alata, which was likely a halophyte or halo-tolerant glycophyte growing in habitats close to the sea.

In morphological studies the shape may be conveniently quantified by relative dimensions or dimensionless quantities. The analyses of shell morphology and morphospace occupation have been historically approachedmainly bymeans of statistical analysis on classical dimensions (distance measurements: diameter, umbilical width, whorl width, whorl height and apertural whorl height), the Raup's coiling and expansion rate parameters and, more recently, by means of the ADA-model which conjugates the classical variables in a single simple equation. Relationships between these studies should be possible based on mathematical equivalences between classical dimensions and those of coiling and expansion rates. These equivalences, which are presented in this paper, have been obtained on the basis of the ADA-model and a new general method for deriving dimensionless models of morphology based on exponential trajectories as a function of a rotational angle.