A new family, genus and species of minute, stem lineage, pollen-collecting bee is described from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber. The female specimen of Discoscapa apicula gen. et sp. nov. in the new family Discoscapidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) shares with modern bees, plumose hairs, a rounded pronotal lobe, middle and hind leg scopae containing pollen grains and a pair of spurs on the hind tibia. But its narrow hind basitarsi, extremely low placed antennal sockets and some wing vein features are those of apoid wasps. A unique diagnostic character of the new family not found on any extant or extinct lineage of apoid wasps or bees is a bifurcated scape. Pollen grains in scopae on the femur and tibia of the middle and hind legs and on the claw and tarsus of the middle leg show that the bee had recently visited one or more flowers. Further evidence of this action is the presence of 21 beetle triungulins in the amber, five of which are in direct contact with the bee.

The mollusc fauna recovered from the fissure filling Tomerdingen 1 (southern Germany, 11 km NW Ulm) consists of six species of freshwater and land gastropods which are revised and figured. All except Triptychia tomerdingensis n. sp. (Clausilioidea, Filholididae) were already known from the Ulm Beds and Ehingen Beds in the area. The mammals of Tomerdingen 1 have been assigned to the early part of mammal zone MN 1; it is assumed that the molluscs, which occurred in a different, mammal-free rock matrix, have a similar age. The faunal assemblage of Tomerdingen 1 represents a new local mollusc assemblage zone, characterized by the presence of Triptychia tomerdingensis n. sp. Ties of the mollusc assemblages of the Ulm Beds and underlying Ehingen Beds with the mammal biozonation are discussed. The Tomerdingen assemblage is overlain by the Eggingen assemblage which is associated with mammal subzone MN 2a, possibly extending into late MN 1, and includes the majority of recorded mollusc occurrences; Tomerdingen is preceded by the Ehingen assemblage, from which no mammal evidence is known.

Allokotosauria, including Trilophosauridae and Azendohsauridae, is an extinct archosauromorph group that reached a near-Pangean distribution in the Middle Triassic to Late Triassic and evolved a broad range of cranial and dental morphologies. Within the Chinle Formation of western North America, allokotosaurs span the Norian-aged Blue Mesa Member (Adamanian estimated holochronozone) and Sonsela Member (Adamanian and Revueltian estimated holochronozone). The Adamanian-Revueltian faunal assemblage transition is hypothesized to represent extinction and faunal turnover in large-bodied archosauromorphs, but poor sampling of known localities has obscured any similar patterns in tetrapods <1 m long. Trilophosaurids are the most common smaller-bodied herbivorous taxa found in Adamanian microvertebrate sites, with four species previously reported (Trilophosaurus buettneri, T. jacobsi, T. dornorum, and Spinosuchus caseanus). The presence of three new allokotosaur taxa in Adamanian microvertebrate sites, including a new species of trilophosaurid described here (Trilophosaurus phasmalophos sp. nov.) demonstrates the high diversity of this group in the Adamanian. Trilophosaurus phasmalophos occurs in microvertebrate-bearing horizons in the Jim Camp Wash beds of the Sonsela Member, making it the first unambiguous trilophosaurid reported from the Revueltian estimated holochronozone. Unlike in other trilophosaurids, the teeth are bicuspid, but the cusp and cingulum structure and complexity are similar to those of Trilophosaurus dornorum and T. jacobsi. The Adamanian-Revueltian boundary marks a reduction in allokotosaur diversity from five Adamanian taxa to one Revueltian taxon. This pattern of faunal turnover and extinction is similar to those of other large-bodied archosauromorph clades across the Adamanian-Revueltian boundary in the American Southwest. Systematic sampling of microvertebrate bonebeds at stratigraphic intervals across this boundary demonstrates that this turnover in allokotosaurs may reveal similar patterns in other groups that have been missed because of collecting biases towards larger-bodied vertebrate fossils.

This paper describes four new species of the genus Wormaldia (Philopotamidae): W. transversa, W. cercilonga, W. cercifurcata, and W. squamosa, all from Burmese amber. They belong to so-called micro-caddisflies, which, together with many other Philopotamidae, Psychomyiidae, and the Hydroptilidae, rarely exceed a wing length of ca. 3.5 mm. These micro-caddisflies obviously dominate the mid-Cretaceous Trichoptera fauna of Burmese amber.

Axiidean and brachyuran decapods are reported from the middle–late Miocene pre-evaporitic deposits of several localities along the Valmarecchia (Rimini) in the Romagna Apennines (Emilia-Romagna). Goneplax rhomboides (Linnaeus, 1758), already known from the Miocene of Italy, has not been recorded previously in this area, while the record of Chlinocephalus demissifronsRistori, 1886 expands the stratigraphic range of the genus, previously known only from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Italy. Moreover, some specimens are assigned in open nomenclature to LobocarcinusReuss, 1857, already known from the Miocene of Italy. Finally, some loose chelae are assigned to the families Callianassidae and Eucalliacidae, respectively, without generic and specific assignment. The Valmarecchia decapod assemblage enlarges the knowledge on the composition and distribution of the decapod fauna along the palaeo-Adriatic Gulf before the Messinian Salinity Crisis of the Mediterranean Basin.

The osteology of the temporal region of placodonts is re-investigated. The elements identified as quadrates by previous descriptions of the basal taxa Palatodonta bleekeri and Paraplacodus broilii are re-interpreted to represent entirely or in part the quadratojugal. A new interpretation and reconstruction of the best preserved skull of Paraplacodus broilii is presented. In Placodus, the squamosal and quadratojugal are fused into a compound bone, as proposed by some previous authors. The structure of the upper zygomatic arch in cyamodontoids, which possess a large quadratojugal that even enters the margin of the fenestra supratemporalis, cannot be satisfactorily explained by the current evolutionary scenario, which assumes a total loss of the quadratojugal in basal placodontiforms and basal placodonts and a re-appearance and unique enlargement in the highly derived cyamodontoids. With the new interpretation, this apparent disagreement between proposed phylogenetic relationships within placodonts and osteological observations is resolved. The quadratojugal was never lost in the ancestral line of placodonts or in early members of the group. It probably continuously increased in size in derived placodonts. This led to a strengthening of the single remaining zygomatic arch of these animals. As most peculiar features in the skull of these reptiles, this unusual condition also may represent an adaptation to the shift in diet to durophagy.

Anhelkocephalon handlirschiBill, 1914 has been described as a representative of Isopoda (woodlice and relatives). Fossils of A. handlirschi come from the Grès à Voltzia Formation in western France, close to the German border. The Grès à Voltzia Formation (Voltziensandstein) is Triassic in age; lithostratigraphically, it belongs to the Buntsandstein Group. Based on the morphology of the type material and one additional specimen, we interpret A. handlirschi not as a representative of Isopoda, but as a representative of Cyclida. Cyclida is an extinct group of Euarthropoda, the representatives of which have a circular to oval outline of the body (in dorsal view). One of the herein studied specimens has aspects of appendage morphology preserved, which, in general, is a rare case for cyclidans. The herein studied specimens also add new features to the knowledge about the morphology of Cyclida, such as a net-like pattern on the dorsal body side.

A spiny lobster, genus and species undetermined (Palinuridae Latreille, 1802) from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian–Turonian) of Gara Sbaa (southeastern Morocco, NW Africa), is herein described. This is the second fossil record for a palinurid from Africa, enlarging the knowledge on the worldwide distribution of the family.

The Late Oxfordian ammonite faunas of the semimammatum and semiarmatum biohorizons are described, mostly based on material from the Impressamergel Formation of the Plettenberg Quarry near Dotternhausen (western Swabian Alb). 21 ammonite are recorded, including some previously undescribed from the Upper Jurassic of SW Germany. Previously, the semimammatum Biohorizon has been studied in Franconia, Western France and central Poland and the semiarmatum Biohorizon only in Western France, respectively. Compared to the semimammatum Biohorizon, the semiarmatum Biohorizon is characterized by a significant increase of Submediterranean and Tethyan taxa and a total decline of Subboreal ones. This phenomenon is interpreted as the result of a seawater warming trend towards the above following bimammatum Biohorizon, which correlates with the recently suggested Oxfordian/Kimmeridgian stage boundary. This article summarizes the current state of knowledge of the Hypselum Zone in SW Germany. A lectotype is designated for Richeiceras lochense (Oppel, 1863).

A new lobster, Palaeopalinurellus jbeilensis n. sp. from the Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Hakel (Lebanon) is herein described. It represents the first report of a member of the Synaxidae Bate, 1881 from the lithographic limestones of Lebanon and the third report for this genus in the worldwide fossil record, enlarging its palaeogeo-graphic distribution and stratigraphic range.

The Lamy Quarry (= the Gunter bonebed) is known for its extensive accumulation of temnospondyl skulls and skeletons from the Norian (Upper Triassic) Garita Creek Formation, south of Lamy, New Mexico. Although the quarry is monodominant for metoposaurids, reptile fossils are also present. The reptile material, briefly described and identified to least-inclusive taxonomic levels, consists of several diagnostic elements from azendohsaurid and tanystropheid archosauromorphs based on apomorphies observed in the fossils. The most remarkable materials are two anterior cervical vertebrae and the posterior portion of a hemimandible that are identified as belonging to a Malerisaurus-like taxon within the Azendohsauridae. The vertebrae are two times longer than the holotype material of Malerisaurus robinsonaeChatterjee, 1980 and Malerisaurus langstoniChatterjee, 1986, which suggests that azendohsaurids in the Late Triassic of North America reached much larger sizes than previously documented. The presence of a tanystropheid and azendohsaurid together supports the Adamanian age of the Garita Creek Formation and shows that azendohsaurids were present in what is now New Mexico.