The lacertid lizard Psammodromus algirus has been considered a uniform species across its distribution area in North Africa and southwestern Europe. Coloration data and discriminant function analysis of morphological data corroborate mitochondrial DNA and allozyme data to indicate northern and southern Iberian populations represent unknown species that are described here. Additional work is needed to fully understand biogeography and variation in this species complex.

Elkobatrachus brocki is a new, small pelobatid anuran that is represented by a small collection of fairly well-preserved and for the most part articulated to closely associated fossils recovered from the middle Eocene Elko Formation near Elko, Nevada. The Elko Formation is divided into three informal members, lower, middle, and upper, and was deposited primarily under warm, temperate conditions in a fluviolacustrine system of a broad, shallow basin extending over a large area of present-day northeastern Nevada. The fossils were preserved in a sandy limestone unit near the base of the middle member, which lies about 100 m above a unit yielding a radiometric date of 46.1 Ma. A phylogenetic analysis suggests that E. brocki is the most primitive pelobatid currently known and differs from all other pelobatids in the following autapomorphies: 1) alary process of premaxilla is broad-based and forms a laterally-deflected, straight blade whose transverse axis is oriented anteroposteriorly; 2) pars acromialis of scapula is triangular with anteriorly directed apex positioned at the level of the dorsal rim of the glenoid fossa; and 3) urostyle length exceeds that of the vertebral column. Elkobatrachus brocki is the oldest known pelobatid that exhibits burrowing specializations in its skeleton. Thus, like extant pelobatids, it very likely could avoid high daytime temperatures and periods of dryness by constructing a burrow in which it estivated. The ability of early Tertiary pelobatids to presumably avoid drought by estivating in burrows is thought to be a preadaptation for hibernation in burrows to survive subfreezing temperatures resulting from global cooling that began in the middle Eocene.

Similarly sized skulls of juvenile specimens of the seymouriid and discosauriscid seymouriamorph tetrapods Seymouria and Discosauriscus are compared for the first time. Comparisons are based on a single juvenile skull of Seymouria sanjuanensis from the Lower Permian Bromacker locality, Germany, measuring 56 mm in length and several skulls of Discosauriscus austriacus from the Lower Permian Boskovice Furrow, Czech Republic, reaching a maximum length of 62 mm. Establishment of their stage of development as juvenile is based on the small size of S. sanjuanensis compared to adults of the same species and previous comparisons of various-sized specimens of D. austriacus to complete ontogenetic series of several temnospondyls. In addition, a similar degree of cranial ossification, although slightly more advanced in the S. sanjuanensis skull, is also cited as evidence of very similar ontogenetic stages of development. However, D. austriacus is remarkable in retaining remnants of the lateral line canals, suggesting that a longer premetamorphic period of its life history was aquatic. Despite representing similar, juvenile stages of development, the S. sanjuanensis and D. austriacus specimens can be distinguished clearly from one another on structural and proportional cranial features, thus dispelling suggestions that Seymouria may represent the adult stage of development of Discosauriscus, which is known only by larval and juvenile stages of development.

A new genus and species of an assumed ruminant artiodactyl Thandaungia tinti and an enigmatic dichobunoid artiodactyl are reported from the late middle Eocene Pondaung Formation, central Myanmar. Phylogenetic and biogeographic implications of these taxa are discussed in the context of the adaptative radiation of Selenodontia in Asia. Although poorly represented, these new forms provide an important glimpse into the early evolution of bunoselenodont artiodactyls in Asia, and shed new light on the phylogenetic relationships of basal ruminants. The upper molars of these new taxa display a peculiar morphology that sets them apart from both previously described early ruminants and advanced dichobunoids. A cladistic analysis of early ruminants based on 60 dental features clearly indicates that the new putative ‘proto-ruminant’ from Pondaung may constitute the first offshoot from basal Ruminantia, and may be closely related to the disputed hypertragulid? Simimeryx, known from the middle Eocene of North America. Moreover, these preliminary results underscore the problem of definition for the suborder Ruminantia in that only dental features are considered. Although an Asian origin for ruminants is supported here, further evidence is needed to document the early evolution of ruminants and related selenodont artiodactyls in Asia, which would ultimately improve understanding of the phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns of Paleogene artiodactyls in Asia.