Over the course of the last two decades, the baenid taxon Plesiobaena has typically been thought to consist of two named species, Plesiobaena antiqua (Campanian) and Plesiobaena putorius (Paleocene), along with an unnamed species from the Maastrichtian, but the interrelationship of these three taxa was never explored in an explicit phylogenetic context. Herein we present or re-describe a number of relevant specimens and provide a cladistic analysis of Baenidae using species only as terminal taxa. The phylogenetic analysis clearly reveals that Plesiobaena in the traditional sense is a paraphyletic assemblage relative to the clade formed by Gamerabaena sonsalla and Palatobaena spp., thus demanding some nomenclatural adjustments. In particular, Plesiobaena putorius is moved to a new genus, Cedrobaena, and the unnamed taxon from the Maastrichtian is formally named Peckemys brinkman. Many of the new Cedrobaena putorius and Peckemys brinkman specimens described herein were found at the Turtle Graveyard locality in Slope County, North Dakota, along with four other turtle taxa, increasing the turtle diversity of this locality to at least six taxa. Although this indicates that Turtle Graveyard is the world's most diverse fossil turtle thanatocoenosis, a comparable diversity is found in modern river systems in the southeastern United States today. Our phylogenetic analysis indicates that seven out of nine latest Cretaceous baenid turtle lineages survived into the Paleocene, four of which are interpreted as being durophagous.

A rich and diverse micromammal fauna from the late Turolian (MN13) locality of Negratín-1 (Guadix Basin, southern Spain) is described. The faunal list of this site includes Apodemus gudrunae, Occitanomys alcalai, Stephanomys dubari, Paraethomys meini, Myocricetodon jaegeri, Debruijnimys almenarensis, Apocricetus alberti, Ruscinomys sp., Eliomys sp., Atlantoxerus sp., Parasorex ibericus, and Soricidae indet. This is the most nearly complete mammal fauna from the Miocene of the Guadix Basin and allows precise correlations with localities from other Iberian areas. In addition, some of the taxa identified in Negratín-1 are useful as palaeoecological indicators (Myocricetodon, Debruijnimys, Atlantoxerus), evidencing warm and dry climatic conditions. But the principal interest of the fauna from Negratín-1 is the presence of several species of African origin, the gerbillids Debruijnimys almenarensis and Myocricetodon jaegeri, which are recognized for the first time in Europe. We also ascribe to M. jaegeri the population from the upper Turolian karst infilling of Almenara-M. This finding constitutes new evidence for faunal exchanges between North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.

New fusulinid collections from the Baoshan Block in southwest China necessitate paleobiogeographic reevaluation of the Mid-Permian fusulinids in this region. From Xiaoxinzhai Section in the southern Baoshan Block, 32 fusulinid species of nine genera are described and illustrated. Among them, Eopolydiexodina parva is a new species, and elements of Neoschwagerinidae and Verbeekinidae are confirmed. The studied fusulinids are ascendingly grouped into three biozones: the Schwagerina yunnanensis Range Zone, Eopolydiexodina Abundance Zone, and Sumatrina annae Range Zone. The lower two could be assigned in age to the Murgabian and the uppermost one to the Midian. Midian fusulinids are for the first time reported from the Baoshan Block. In terms of fusulinid paleobiogeography, these three assemblages should belong to the western Tethyan Province A because of the presence of Eopolydiexodina and characteristic Tethyan genera, e.g., Verbeekina, Sumatrina, and Pseudodoliolina. Moreover, these assemblages may occupy a comparatively high latitudinal region within Tethyan Realm, judging from the overall low diversity.

Hapsidophyllas flexibilis new genus and species and Frondophyllas grandis new genus and species are rare Ediacaran (ca. 565 Ma) rangeomorph forms, herein termed “hapsidophyllids,” which are endemic to Mistaken Point, Newfoundland, Canada. These two taxa are highly disparate in overall morphology, the former being a low-level, multibranched “network of leaves” and the latter a meter-long frond. Despite their dissimilarity in gross morphology, the two genera share a unique flexible, leaflet-type structure with a fine-scale branching structure that resembles that of charnid rangeomorphs. These leaflet structures are unknown from any other rangeomorph or Ediacaran group, and are herein termed “hapsidophyllid leaflets.” Hapsidophyllids grew by an iteration of structural units, with small rangeomorph modules making up the larger hapsidophyllid leaflets, which in turn composed the larger hapsidophyllid organism. The presence of hapsidophyllid leaflets in both Hapsidophyllas and Frondophyllas suggest the two genera were related taxonomically, with their very different gross morphologies reflecting ecological adaptations to exploit different suspension-feeding tiers.

We report changes of deep-sea ostracod fauna during the last 370,000 yr from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 704A in the South Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The results show that faunal changes are coincident with glacial/interglacial-scale deep-water circulation changes, even though our dataset is relatively small and the waters are barren of ostracods until mid-MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 5. Krithe and Poseidonamicus were dominant during the Holocene interglacial period and the latter part of MIS 5, when this site was under the influence of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Conversely, Henryhowella and Legitimocythere were dominant during glacial periods, when this site was in the path of Circumpolar Deep Water (CPDW). Three new species (Aversovalva brandaoae, Poseidonamicus hisayoae, and Krithe mazziniae) are described herein. This is the first report of Quaternary glacial/interglacial scale deep-sea ostracod faunal changes in the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans, a key region for understanding Quaternary climate and deep-water circulation, although the paucity of Quaternary ostracods in this region necessitates further research.

Holometabolan insects, including beetles (Coleoptera), represent about half of all living organisms. Their development cycle, allowing larvae and adults to exploit distinct ecological niches, is traditionally advocated as a critical adaptation resulting in this extraordinary diversity. Herein I report the occurrence of a beetle from the Pennsylvanian deposit of Mazon Creek (IL, USA). It predates the diversification of Coleoptera by at least 65 million years. This identification supports the view that, early in their history, hyper-diverse extant holometabolan lineages were dominated by Palaeozoic lineages, mostly extinct. End-Permian environmental perturbations might have played an important role in the Triassic radiation of holometabolans. However, it is hypothesized that ecological preferences of holometabolans might have resulted in an earlier diversification of moderate importance, correlating to that of seed plants, their putative host plants. The evolutionary success of ‘holometaboly’ might be the result of a sequence of favorable events.

Two taxa of the Late Carboniferous and four species of the Early Permian terrestrial snails have been found in the Late Paleozoic continental molasse sediments of the Upper Silesian-Cracow Upland (Southern Poland). Discovery of Anthracopupa ohioensis and Protodiscus priscus indicates that, besides in North America, they occurred also in the European part of the Pangea supercontinent. According to the general sedimentary facies context and the accompanying floral and faunal assemblages, the gastropods lived in swamp environments, including a topogenous fen.

Permian colonial corals from Artinskian to Kungurian strata in the Conglomerate Mesa area, Inyo Mountains, east-central California, include five new species, one of which is assigned to a new genus. The new taxa are: Malpaisia maceyi n. gen. and n. sp., Pararachnastraea bellula n. sp., P. delicata n. sp., P. owensensis n. sp., and Cordillerastraea inyoensis n. sp. These species, several of which compare most closely with other Artinskian and Kungurian species from eastern Nevada and northern Mexico, represent three distinct stocks that differentiated on an isolated submarine uplift offshore from the main part of the Cordilleran carbonate shelf.

X-ray CT scans at two different energies of three articulated specimens of Spathelopsis oakvalensis n. sp., a bivalve from the Bluefield Formation of the Mauch Chunk Group (Mississippian, Chesterian) from southeastern West Virginia, permitted observation and description of poorly known internal features of the shell, resulting in a reversal of the shell orientation alleged by past authors and concomitant reassignment of this problematic genus to the palaeotaxodont family Nuculanidae Adams and Adams. Distinctive posterior and anterior gapes in Spathelopsis suggest separation of inhalant and exhalant water streams, a characteristic associated with derived but not primitive palaeotaxodonts.