A third species Burmapsyche wolframmeyi sp. nov. from the extinct family Burmapsychidae found in Burmese amber is described based on a male specimen. Burmapsyche wolframmeyi sp. nov. is distinguished from the two previously described Burmapsyche species, B. comosa and B. palpifurcata, by the presence of baso-laterally attached scale-like process of the pedicellus that is about as long as the pedicellus, and by the differently shaped inferior appendages each consisting of a broad and upright coxopodite and a finger-shaped harpago, both with same length.

The ammonite assemblage of the Unteres Flöz (= “lower seam”) at Aalen (SW Germany) represents the herein newly introduced sinon biohorizon of the uppermost Haugi Subzone (Murchisonae Zone, Upper Aalenian). The biohorizon is the type horizon of the ammonite taxa Ludwigia obtusa (Quenstedt) [= L. haugi (Douvillé) auct.], L. crassa Horn and Staufenia sinon (Bayle). Despite an enormous morphological variation within the representatives of these genera Ludwigia Bayle, 1878 and Staufenia Pompeckj, 1906 in the sinon biohorizon, we consider that they belong to a single chronospecies.

The Paleontological Collection of Tübingen University houses one of the largest collections of ichthyosaur specimens from the Lower Jurassic (Lower Toarcian) Posidonienschiefer Formation fossillagerstätte in the world. It forms an important basis for numerous past and ongoing studies on the taxonomy, evolutionary morphology, ecology, and other aspects of ichthyosaur biology. The collection includes particularly significant material, such as several type specimens, representatives of rare species, and different ontogenetic stages, which show varying degrees of preservation. Founding fathers of paleontology at Tübingen University, including Friedrich August Quenstedt (1809–1889) and Friedrich v. Huene (1875–1969), assembled the majority of these specimens and conducted extensive research using Tübingen ichthyosaurs. Many more recent publications also use Tübingen material as a reference. Unfortunately, in many cases the identity and provenience of old museum specimens are not adequately known. This has led to confusion, inconsistencies, and errors in the literature. Here we present a detailed assessment of the history and identity of the ichthyosaurs from the Posidonienschiefer Formation in the Tübingen collection by conducting both a comprehensive literature survey and a re-investigation of the entire collection. We consulted document archives and critically compared them to hand-written specimen labels. In total, we were able to clearly identify and illustrate 78 articulated specimens that are now fully accessible for international researchers with clear documentation of their stratigraphical allocation. With respect to old natural history collections in general, we provide a broader discussion on how to deal with historical specimens (which sometimes represent composites of several individuals) and identify a series of challenges when dealing with confusing documentation. Our study attempts to provide means to solve these issues to facilitate and provide a more reliable database for future research.

Documenting evidence of feeding behavior in extinct vertebrates is crucial to understanding trophic structure and stability of ecosystems over periods of Earth's history. Direct evidence of trophic interactions in the fossil record is rare, but proxies like dental microwear enable testable hypotheses of feeding behavior in extinct taxa. Here we present new evidence on the masticatory apparatuses and feeding behaviors of Late Triassic (Norian) trilophosaurid reptiles from southwestern North America based on Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observation and quantitative analysis of dental microwear in isolated teeth and dentigerous elements. Trilophosaurids are a Late Triassic archosauromorph group known from Europe and North America with distinctive labiolingually expanded teeth that are usually tricuspid; this clade is hypothesized to be herbivorous based on qualitative comparisons of their dentition to those of living taxa. Our study is among the first to infer their diet within a quantitative comparative framework. Analysis of pit-to-scratch ratios (a proxy for the hardness/toughness of dietary intake) indicate dietary disparity between the three examined trilophosaurid taxa, possibly driven by differing plant preferences. Analysis of scratch orientations, caused by contact between opposite teeth during jaw closure (a proxy for the direction of masticatory movements), may suggest derivation of a masticatory mechanism including labiolingual movement in Trilophosaurus, differing from the orthal jaw closure mechanism ancestral to archosauromorphs that is likely conserved in the sister group to Trilophosauridae, the Azendohsauridae. Variance in dental microwear patterns between the sampled taxa suggests potential herbivore niche space partitioning amongst North American trilophosaurids during the Norian. Furthermore, microwear evidence for complex masticatory movement in trilophosaurids may suggest previously unknown craniomandibular specializations, highlighting the need for reexamination of trilophosaurid craniomandibular morphology and jaw closure mechanics.

The present paper describes a male coccid (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber with the largest known hamulohalteres on any extant or extinct coccid. Aside from this character, the specimen has an unusual assortment of features, including a prolonged head with three cylindrical dorsal simple eyes in three rows joining laterally, a single ocellus dorsally placed at apex of a prolonged head, compound eyes in a ventro-lateral position and a 10-segmented antennae longer than body length. These features prohibit it from being assigned to any known extant or extinct family. Whether the large hamulohalteres on Adocimycolus aarondavisii gen. et sp. nov. are evidence of a plesiomorphic state of a lineage of Mesozoic Coccoidea that had fully developed metathoracic wings or could be a genetic mutation, is addressed.

With the discovery of Maigus sontagae gen. nov., sp. nov. in Baltic amber, all the literature of the fossil family Berendtimiridae Winkler, 1987 is revised. The family is now polytypic, with the subfamilies Berendtimirinae Winkler, 1987 (nominotypical) and Retromalisinae subfam. nov. This new subfamily is established to include Retromalisus Kazantsev, 2020 and Maigus gen. nov. In addition, Jantarokrama utilis Kirejtshuk & Kovalev, 2015 is transferred from Elateridae: Omalisinae to Berendtimiridae: Berendtimirinae, joining Berendtimirus Winkler, 1987.

Larvae of Neuroptera (lacewings) significantly differ in morphology and ecology from the corresponding adults. Especially the often-pronounced mouthparts shaped as stylets for catching prey are prominent in lacewing larvae. These stylets make them quite easily identifiable also as fossils, and indeed a large number of fossil lacewing larvae has been described in recent years. Larvae of Coniopterygidae (ingroup of Neuroptera, dustywings) with their rather straight stylets have to date been reported since the Eocene; one report from the Cretaceous having been reinterpreted as a larva of Berothidae (beaded lacewings). We report here a lacewing larva from about 100-million-year-old Cretaceous Kachin amber from Myanmar with strong similarities to modern larvae of Coniopterygidae. The new larva possesses characters known from different extant ingroups of dustywing larvae, but in a combination not known from any modern dustywing larva. Such unusual character combinations occur in different fossils, among them in prominent examples such as Archaeopteryx, often due to a mixture of apo- and plesiomorphic characters from different groups, and partly complicated by the occurrence of convergences. Despite the unusual character combination in the new larva, it can be clearly identified as a dustywing-type larva, with this extending the record of these larvae into the Cretaceous.

The ammonite assemblage of the planula Biohorizon (Early Kimmeridgian, Planula Zone) is studied in detail, mainly based on bed-by-bed collected specimens from the Wohlgeschichtete-Kalke Formation of the Plettenberg Quarry near Balingen (western Swabian Alb) and some additional specimens from coeval beds of the former Schneider Quarry at Spielberg am Hahnenkamm (southwestern Franconian Alb). Within the Upper Jurassic of Southern Germany, the planula Biohorizon is one of the few well-characterized biohorizons of the Lower Kimmeridgian. Its ammonite assemblage comprises at least 16 ammonite taxa, most of which are typical of the Submediterranean or Mediterranean provinces; only few of them are of Subboreal affinity, whereas Boreal taxa are completely absent.