The fossil record of platychelyid turtles expands from the Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) of Cuba to the Early Cretaceous (Valanginian) of Colombia. Platychelyids were adapted to freshwater to coastal environments. Current phylogenies confidently suggest that platychelyids are situated along the stem lineage of crown Pleurodira. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of six named “platychelyid” taxa, four are valid and two are nomina nuda. Dortokids are a poorly understood group of freshwater aquatic turtles that are restricted to the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) to Eocene (Lutetian) of Europe. The phylogenetic position of the group is still under debate, but there is some evidence that these turtles are positioned along the stem lineage of crown Pleurodira as well. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of four named dortokid taxa, two are valid, one is a nomen invalidum and one a nomen nudum.

Gondwanan turtles of the clade Meiolaniformes have a fossil record that reaches back to the Early Cretaceous of Patagonia (South America) and Australia. From the Late Cretaceous to the Middle Eocene the group is restricted to Patagonia, but appears to be extirpated afterwards. However, the fossil record of the clade commences once again in the Late Oligocene in Australia and surrounding islands and continues until the Holocene. Current phylogenies recognize Meiolaniidae as a subclade within Meiolaniformes. Early meiolaniforms show terrestrial adaptations, but their dietary preferences remain unclear. Meiolaniids, in contrast, show strong terrestrial adaptations, were herbivorous and appear to have been preadapted to floating across short to intermediate oceanic distances. A taxonomic review of the group concludes that of the 15 named taxa, 11 are nomina valida, 3 are nomina invalida and 1 is not recognized as a meiolaniid.

Nine previously published neotype designations in the noctuid moth genus Catocala are reviewed for compliance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. Eight of the designations are found to have not fulfilled one (75.3.2) of the seven qualifying conditions of Article 75.3 when these were originally published, and are redesignated herein. The eight Catocala names involved are connubialis Guenée, dollii Beutenmüller, grotiana Bailey, irene Behr, micronympha Guenée, stretchii Behr, texanae French and walshii Edwards. The ninth neotype designation, for calphurnia Henry Edwards, is considered valid as originally published.

A new species of underwing moth, Catocala myristica sp. nov., is described from the southeastern United States. Wing pattern, genitalic and Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I 5′ mitochondrial DNA characters separate C. myristica from phenotypically similar species in the genus. The new species occurs in the Black Belt ecological region in close association with nutmeg hickory, Carya myristiciformis.

A new species of underwing moth, Catocala aestivalia sp. nov., is described from northern Florida, USA. Genitalic and Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I 5′ mitochondrial DNA characters differentiate C. aestivalia from related species with similar wing pattern and structure. In contrast to these other related Catocala species, C. aestivalia appears to specialize on Crataegus aestivalis growing in or near hydric hardwood forests along streams and rivers.

New fossil material assigned to Ptolemaia cf. grangeri (Mammalia: Ptolemaida) from the late Oligocene site of Nakwai, West Turkana, Kenya, is described and discussed. Recovery of these specimens represents the first record of Ptolemaia from sub-Saharan Africa, and extends the known geographic range of members in this genus southward by about 3,000 km. The Nakwai collection is comprised of two maxillary fragments, a partial mandible with p3 and p4, and an edentulous jaw preserving alveoli for p2-m3. Results from comparisons involving the new material support previous work highlighting convergent similarities between members of Ptolemaia and aardvarks.

We describe an aggressive interaction between the extremely rare Jocotoco Antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi) and a close relative, the Chestnut-naped Antpitta (Grallaria nuchalis). Since first discovered in 1997, ecological information about the Jocotoco Antpitta has begun to accrue; however, much remains to be learned about this rare species in its limited native range. The observations described here advance our knowledge of the behavioral ecology of this elusive species and contribute more broadly to our knowledge of interspecific competition in antpittas in general. We show that in avian systems in which playback experiments fail to detect competition, competition may still be prevalent, in this case manifesting in a nonvocal, physically aggressive interaction. We also raise new questions about the potential for temporal variation in interspecific competition in grallariids due to increased resource demands during nestling provisioning.

The theropod footprint taxon Eubrontes is common in Early Jurassic rocks of the Hartford Basin. Aligned Eubrontes trackways at one site in Holyoke, Massachusetts, have led to the hypothesis that the track makers were gregarious; however, trackways are not aligned at several other sites. To test the gregariousness hypothesis, we measured trackway orientations at Powder Hill Dinosaur Park in Middlefield, Connecticut, where exposed rocks were deposited in an ephemeral lake environment, and compared these orientations to those of two additional track sites from similar sedimentary facies. The Eubrontes trackways produced in the ephemeral lake environments have no preferred orientation and provide no evidence of gregarious behavior. We suggest that the alignment of tracks in Holyoke reflects behavior in response to environmental settings rather than group behavior. Trackways may be aligned next to large, permanent lakes because of shoreline-parallel travel, but random orientations characterize other habitats. This study underscores the value of examining track sites from different paleoenvironments when inferring dinosaur behavior.

We increase the known reptile and amphibian fauna of Nan Ao Island, in the South China Sea, Guangdong Province, from 19 species in 1999 to 45 currently. Among these additional 26 species, six were published by 2004, six in 2011, and 14 are first reports for Nan Ao: Trachemys scripta, Takydromus sexlineatus, Scincella modesta, Amphiesma stolata, Boiga multomaculata, Myrrophis chinensis, Myrrophis plumbea, Ptyas korros, Ptyas mucosus, Bungarus multicinctus, Naja atra, Hoplobatrachus rugulosus, Hylarana taipehensis, and Paa spinosa. The herpetological fauna of Nan Ao has three geographic patterns. We add two more species of austro-boreal disjunction to the previous known six examples: Scincella modesta and Oligodon formosanus. Additionally, Scincella modesta, Coelognathus radiatus and Oocatochus rufodorsatus each has a trans-Beringian closest North American counterpart, rendering five species with Grayian distribution on Nan Ao. Furthermore, among 21 species with imbalanced distribution between the eastern and western massifs within Nan Ao Island, 16 are only on the eastern massif and 5 only on the western. The implications of this within-island heterogeneity and the other two biogeographic patterns are discussed.