Upper Barremian-middle Albian planktonic and benthic foraminifera from NE Tunisia (Zaghouan area): High resolution biozonation and correlations - Abdallah Elkhazri; Ichrak Cherif; Mabrouk Boughdiri (PalZ, 2026)

A new record of Homotherium mandible from southwestern Türkiye and its implications for the eastern Mediterranean paleobiogeography - Alper Yener Yavuz; Erhan Tarhan; Ahmet İhsan Aytek; M. Cihat Alçiçek; Orhan Özbey (PalZ, 2026)
Homotherium had a widespread distribution worldwide in the Pleistocene, but Pliocene records are exceptionally rare. Here, we describe a felid mandible from Burdur province, southwestern Türkiye, found during a geological survey. The mandible fragment presented in this study is a significant element among felids of the Anatolian Plio-Pleistocene. Though it has a rich fossil record, felids have not been studied in detail and are thus poorly known in Anatolian sites, especially Plio-Pleistocene examples. The morphological and metric data of the mandible specimen from Burdur clearly present diagnostic features attributable to Homotherium . Morphological and metrical comparisons of the mandibular specimen are compatible with specimens of Homotherium from Upper Valdarno, Sainzelles, Grauncenau, Odessa, and Kuruksay. Magnetostratigraphical constraints indicate an age interval of 3.3–2.6 Ma for the fossil-bearing layer. The Burdur specimen constitutes the most definitive material attributed to this genus in Anatolia and is identified as Homotherium latidens , marking a range expansion of this species.

Hidden diversity in Early Palaeozoic parasites: new indication from Orsten-type Ordovician pentastomidans (tongue-worms) - Alexis Gerbe; Michael Zwanzig; Alexander Nützel (PalZ, 2026)
Orsten-type Lagerstätten sensu stricto are represented by several localities around the world, delivering a unique window into the meiofauna of the Early Palaeozoic. They are providing beautifully three-dimensionally preserved, phosphatized organisms, mostly articulated arthropodans. Among them, Pentastomida (tongue-worms) is an intriguing group of parasites. Today, they infect almost all groups of vertebrates, including humans. They are most commonly found parasitising the respiratory tracts of squamates and crocodilians. Pentastomidans are characterised by an extremely simplified worm-like body, two pairs of head hooks, and a mouth. Their fossil record is scarce and to date limited to 81 specimens preserved in Orsten-type Lagerstätten, mostly from the Upper Cambrian of Sweden. Here, we reinvestigate an Ordovician assemblage from the island of Öland, Sweden, first briefly reported by Dietmar Andres in 1989. This assemblage contains more than 6500 fossil specimens of Pentastomida preserved in three dimensions through Orsten-type phosphatisation. Our study provides the first detailed description of two new morphotypes of fossil pentastomidans, increasing the total number of known morphotypes from two to four. The assemblage reveals a pronounced morphological diversity among three of these morphotypes and offers unique insights into the evolutionary history and early diversification of tongue-worms during the Early Palaeozoic.

New remains of Acerorhinus (Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) from the Late Miocene of Romania and implications for the taxonomic diversity of the genus - Luca Pandolfi; Vlad A. Codrea; Alexandru A. Solomon (PalZ, 2026)

An exceptional specimen of Eutatus seguini Gervais, 1867 (Xenarthra Cingulata) and new insights on the caudal armor variation in armadillos - Daniel Barasoain; Carlos A. Luna; Raúl I. Vezzosi; Alfredo E. Zurita; Germán Giordano Porati; Juan D. Avila; Mariela Gallego; Fernán García; Belén Molinengo (PalZ, 2026)

Early Permian conchostracans from the Fossil-Lagerstätte Bromacker, Thuringian Forest Basin, Germany - Anna Pint; Frank Scholze; Peter Frenzel (PalZ, 2026)
The present study describes carapace valve morphologies of conchostracans (Crustacea) from the Bromacker Horizon (Tambach Sandstone Member, Tambach Formation, Rotliegend Group; Early Permian) of the Bromacker Lagerstätte in the Thuringian Forest Basin (Thuringia, Central Germany). Variations in valve morphology separate two morphotypes. The dominating morphotype 1 is Lioestheria andreevi (Zaspelova, 1968), regarded here as synonymous with Lioestheria monticula Martens, 1983. Much rarer is morphotype 2 with some individuals showing transitions to morphotype 1. Mass occurrence of conchostracans underlines the wet-dry seasonality of the past climate at Bromacker. Preservation of “soft” parts in the postero-dorsal parts of the body occurs in some specimens highlighting the Fossil-Lagerstätte quality of the Bromacker site. The recent radiometric dating of the Bromacker site shifts the lower limit of the “ Lioestheria andreevi – Pseudestheria form Wilhelmsthal assemblage zone” sensu Schneider & Scholze (2018) to the Asselian.

Stephanorhinus hemitoechus (Mammalia, Rhinocerotidae) from the cave site of Mas des Caves (Lunel-Viel, SE France, MIS7): demography and ecology of a paleontological cohort - Antigone Uzunidis; Luca Pandolfi; Jean-Philip Brugal (PalZ, 2026)

Molpadid holothurian calcareous ring material from the early Maastrichtian Rügen Chalk, Germany - Mike Reich; Manfred Kutscher; Tanja R. Stegemann (PalZ, 2026)

A life devoted to palaeontology: Ekkehard Herrig—On occasion of his 90th birthday - Mike Reich (PalZ, 2026)

Special issue: Micropalaeontology of Ostracoda & Palaeontology and stratigraphy of northern Germany and the Baltic Sea area - Mike Reich; Peter Frenzel; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2026)

New species of leaf beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from the Middle Eocene amber of Kutch, India, based on synchrotron micro-CT data - Priya Agnihotri; Hukam Singh; Balwant Singh; Ashish Kumar Agarwal; Konstantin Nadein (PalZ, 2026)

A new species of agglutinated foraminifera from early Eocene sediments of the southern Baltic Sea - Sabine Matting; Mike Reich (PalZ, 2026)
Early Eocene microfossils from carbonate-cemented volcanic ashes (cementstones) of the Greifswalder Oie island, southern Baltic Sea, have been investigated. In addition to numerous siliceous microfossils such as diatoms, silicoflagellates and sponge spicules, a monospecific foraminiferal assemblage ( Ammobaculites oieensis sp. nov.) is recorded and documented here in detail. The new species is characterised by an agglutinated wall structure consisting of volcanic ash shards and quartz and feldspar grains, as well as by its size and number of chambers, and by an initially planispiral test shape that becomes uniserial.

First in-situ rhabdopleurids (Hemichordata) from the early Maastrichtian Rügen Chalk, Germany - Mike Reich; Hansjoachim Krümmer (PalZ, 2026)

Life in the pipe–zoobenthos in an eighteenth century water pipeline from Stralsund, north-eastern Germany - Peter Frenzel; Renate Samariter; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2026)
The drinking water supply in the Medieval and Early Modern Hanseatic town of Stralsund was not based on ground water wells, but a wooden pipeline system taking the water from the surrounding ponds, which was distributed by hydrostatic pressure to the private plots and public wells in the town. The Strandwerk pipeline system running below the street Wasserstraße at the waterfront was built of drilled pine pipes in the late seventeenth century and operated until the nineteenth century. During archaeological excavations an infill with sediment containing rich zoobenthos was detected in a pipe dendrochronologically dated to 1749 WK. The dominating mollusc taxa are the bivalve Sphaerium corneum and the gastropod Bithynia tentaculata. The microfauna is dominated by ostracods, chironomid head capsules and statoblasts of freshwater bryozoans. The fauna and their taphonomy document an artificial light-less but well populated habitat within the water pipeline, slow and episodic currents, and water coming from the ponds of the city.

Late Triassic immature Diptera (Insecta): aquatic and rheophilic - Elena D. Lukashevich; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2026)
Immatures of Diptera are extremely rare in the Triassic fossil record and up to now they are only known from the early Anisian of Europe (Upper Buntsandstein of France and Spain). Herein, three immatures are described from the Norian (Upper Keuper) of Seinstedt, Germany: larva of Tanyderidae Larvaderus triassicus gen. et sp. nov. and pupa of Simuliidae Simulipupa curriei gen. et sp. nov., and Ramobuccina herrigi gen. et sp. nov., a pupa whose affinity is uncertain. Branched respiratory organs of both pupae suggest a rheophilic mode of life. The expansion of the order to (fast-) flowing waters no later than the Late Triassic is proven by the Norian immatures, which were strictly aquatic and could live without contact to the water surface in contrast to Anisian ones. The immature Tanyderidae and Simuliidae are the oldest records of these extant families. Simulipupa gen. nov. is the oldest record of a putative dipteran bloodsucker.

A tubular debrite preserved in a Thalassinoides paradoxicus burrow – evidence of bottom-current induced slope failure in the Maastrichtian chalk of Rügen Island (Baltic Sea) - Hilmar Schnick (PalZ, 2026)

Stratigraphy and palaeoecology of the Toarcian in NE Germany: organo-detrital and detrital sedimentation in response to the productivity of the planktic ecosystem - Jörg Ansorge; Matthias Franz; Annette E. Götz; Karsten Obst; Mike Reich; Wolfgang Ruebsam; Lorenz Schwark (PalZ, 2026)
The Toarcian Posidonia Shale and contemporaneously formed sediments document an interval of black shale sedimentation and organic matter accumulation in the Central European Basin System (CEBS), lasting a few hundred thousand years up to 7 myr. The remarkable stable organo-detrital depositional regime in the deeper basin was accompanied by repetitive changes from organo-detrital to detrital depositional regimes in the shallower eastern part of the North German Basin (NGB). Here, we present the first detailed study on the marginal Toarcian strata in NE Germany integrating palaeontological, stratigraphical and geochemical methods. The revision of ammonite data and new records contribute to an improved biostratigraphic control of transgressive–regressive sequences, carbon isotope excursions and palaeoecology. Proximal–distal correlations show two transgressive–regressive couplets of marine black shales and brackish green clays, which evolved in response to third-order sea-level fluctuations. Marine maxima in the lower falciferum and upper bifrons zones are correlated with basin-wide deposition of Posidonia Shale-type black shales. These black shales, particularly in basinal settings, show elevated total organic carbon (TOC) and carbonate contents, and are dominantly formed of zooplanktic Coelodiscus and ‘ Inoceramus’ dubius produced fecal pellets, pelitic detritus and organic matter, mainly entrapped in fecal pellets. The change to organo-detrital black shales coincides with the onset and core of the Toarcian-Carbon Isotope Excursion (δ 13 C falling limb and valley) in the semicelatum to elegantulum subzones, whereas the recovery (δ 13 C rising limb) in the exaratum Subzone is recorded in progradational green clays of the Grimmen Formation (former ‘Grüne Serie’). Early diagenetic concretions represent marine Konservatlagerstätten with exceptional fossil preservation and give insights into contrasting planktic ecosystems. The basic trophic levels of the Posidonia Shale Sea are represented by calcareous nannoplankton, organic-walled phytoplankton and zooplankton groups. Accelerated productivity of this planktic factory triggered nektic adaption in fishes and ammonites and resulted in increased export rates of organic matter and carbonate particles (pellet rain). The accumulation of biogenic pellet ooze in a low energy and oxygen-depleated soupy mud at the seafloor, preserved in pre-compactional carbonate concretions, gave rise to elevated TOC and carbonate contents of the Posidonia Shale. During sea-level falls and lowstands, progradational coasts increasingly supplied detritus and freshwater to the eastern NGB. This contributed to the decline of the Posidonia Shale plankton community and proliferation of the green algae-dominated community of the Grimmen Formation. The independent development of the eastern NGB was amplified by swells limiting the exchange with the western NGB, where black shales occur up to the aalensis Zone in places.

Enigmatic fragment possibly marks the first pterosaur record from the Lower Toarcian of Grimmen, NE Germany - Marco Schade; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2026)
Pterosaurs are a well-known component of many Mesozoic fossil ecosystems worldwide. To date, marine and terrestrial faunal elements such as cephalopods, fish, marine reptiles, dinosaurs and insects have been discovered in the Lower Jurassic clay pit near Grimmen (Western Pomerania). A new fragmentary bone is thoroughly described herein and interpreted to represent the first evidence for the presence of pterosaurs in this locality.

A new lepisosteiform neopterygian (Actinopterygii) from the lower Toarcian Grimmen Formation (Lower Jurassic) of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania, Germany - Detlev Thies; Kevin Stevens; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2026)
The Lower Jurassic (lower Toarcian) Grimmen Formation (formerly known as "Green Series") of Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania (Northeast Germany) yielded two articulated anterior skeletons of fossil fish, which represent a new lepisosteiform genus and species: Mengius acutidens gen. et sp. nov. The new taxon is described. Osteology of the species is most similar to the contemporaneous species of Lepidotes Agassiz. It differs from Lepidotes in having a non-tritoral dentition and a differently shaped operculum. A cladistic analysis shows Mengius acutidens gen. et sp. nov. to be the sister taxon of Lepidotes, accordingly, the new species is assigned to the family Lepidotidae Agassiz. The occurrence of M. acutidens emphasises the endemic character of the lower Toarcian Grimmen Formation fish fauna of Northeast Germany.

The ostracod genus Eucytherura G.W. Müller and the ‘Cythere complexa Brady’ problem - David J. Horne; Alan R. Lord (PalZ, 2026)

Bathonian/Callovian ostracod biostratigraphy in the Zollernalb (SW-Germany) - Matthias Franz; Volker Dietze; Arno Garbe; Carolin Tetzel; Norbert Wannenmacher (PalZ, 2026)

A new projapygoid from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Diplura: Projapygoidea) - Yehao Wang; Alba Sánchez-García; Alberto Sendra; Diying Huang; Chenyang Cai (PalZ, 2026)

Taxonomy, radiocarbon dating (14C AMS), and isotopic palaeoecology (δ13C, δ18O) of the Late Pleistocene mammals from Toca Fria cave, Bahia, Brazil - Thays Oliveira; João Paulo da Costa; Evelyn Nathália da Silva Cruz; Mário André Trindade Dantas (PalZ, 2026)
This study presents an expansion and update of the taxonomic composition of Late Pleistocene mammal fauna collected in Toca Fria Cave, located in the municipality of Iuiú, Bahia, Brazil. The studied material consists of several bones attributed to 13 taxa, distributed in the orders Carnivora ( Cerdocyon thous and Arctotherium wingei ), Folivora ( Nothrotherium maquinense , Eremotherium laurillardi , Valgipes bucklandi, Catonyx cuvieri , and Glossotherium phoenesis ), Cingulata (Pampatheridae and Glyptodontidae), Proboscidea (cf. Notiomastodon platensis ), Notoungulata ( Toxodon platensis ), and Artiodactyla (Mazama sp. and Blastocerus dichotomus ). The occurrence of B. dichotomus represents a significant historical record for the genus, which currently has a reduced and fragmented geographic distribution and is not found in the Iuiú region. We also presented radiocarbon dates for A. wingei, B. dichotomus , and G. phoenesis . These analyses suggest that A. wingei lived between 39,208 and 39,637 cal yr BP, B. dichotomus between 30,017 and 30,275 cal yr BP, and G. phoenesis between 34,845 and 35,849 cal yr BP. Isotopic analyses of the recovered materials indicated the presence of at least two habitats for the Late Pleistocene of Iuiú: a low-density forested site and a drier open savanna environment associated with the present-day Cerrado/Caatinga biomes, given that most of the animals were living in an ecotone between these environments. Within the period analyzed the mean annual temperature varied between 20.5 °C and 22.3 °C, while the average precipitation values ranged from 925 to 1180 mm per year. Graphic abstract

Upper Ordovician (Hirnantian) to lower Silurian (Aeronian) graptolite biostratigraphy of the Dingjiapo section, Hubei Province, China and its implications - Jörg Maletz; Chuanshang Wang; Xiaofeng Wang (PalZ, 2026)
The graptolite faunas of the late Katian (Upper Ordovician) Paraorthograptus pacificus Biozone and the Hirnantian (Upper Ordovician) Metabolograptus persculptus Biozone to the Silurian (Llandovery) Lituigraptus convolutus Biozone are recognized in the Dingjiapo section of Hubei Province, China. The Rhuddanian to mid-Aeronian succession appears to be at least highly condensed. Thus, the Coronograptus cyphus to the Pribylograptus leptotheca Biozone intervals have not been recognized and have to be interpreted as lacking due to the strong condensation of the succession or the presence of a sedimentological gap. Metaclimacograptus sculptus appears in unit HDS-6 with a rich graptolite fauna of the lower Lituigraptus convolutus Biozone, while the underlying unit HDS-5 bears a fauna of the Cystograptus vesiculosus Biozone of mid-Rhuddanian age. The highest part of the successions is referred to the Metaclimacograptus sculptus Subzone of the Lituigraptus convolutus Biozone. A gap at the Rhuddanian–Aeronian boundary has been recognized in a number of sections in the region SE of the Huangling Massif and, thus appears to be a regional feature useful for the paleogeographic interpretation of the region.

A new genus and species of Galeritidae (Echinoidea, Echinoneoida) from the Upper Campanian (Cretaceous) of N Germany - Christian Neumann; Manfred Kutscher (PalZ, 2026)
A new genus and species of Cretaceous echinoneoid echinoid, Catinogalerus alexanderi gen. et sp. nov., is described and illustrated on the basis of 27 specimens originating from the Late Campanian of Kronsmoor and Rügen (both northern Germany). Morphologically, the new taxon appears closest to Galerites which it resembles in many aspects. The concave, saucer-shaped apical region, and cone-shaped protrusions of the genital plates are unique characters differentiating C. alexanderi from all other galeritids. Additional distinguishing characters comprise the adoral plate architecture with numerous small ambulacral plates combined with strongly offset pore pairs close to the peristome.

Source-to-sink in palynology: a Late Cretaceous case study—could the present be a key to the past? - Maria Antonieta Lorente (PalZ, 2026)

Hyaenodonta from the Middle to Late Miocene deposits of the Siwaliks of Pakistan with a brief account of Indian subcontinent hyaenodonts - Khalid Mahmood; Sayyed Ghyour Abbas; Steven E. Jasinski; Muhammad Adeeb Babar; Muhammad Akbar Khan (PalZ, 2026)
New fossil material identified as ‘creodonts,’ particularly hyaenodonts, from the Siwaliks of Pakistan provide significant new information on this important group of carnivores. Three hyaenodont taxa are identified based on these new fossils. Deciduous dental remains identified as ? Megistotherium/Hyainailouros sp. provide important new data on large hyaenodonts and their presence in the Miocene of southern Asia. Fossils identified as Hyaenodon cf. H . pervagus potentially provide important new temporal and biogeographic data on a highly speciose genus of hyaenodont. While the genus is known throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere (Asia, Europe, North America), these new fossils represent the first record of the genus from the Siwaliks, expanding its range in southern Asia. They also represent the youngest temporal occurrence of the genus (Middle Miocene). Another fossil represents a new species, Metapterodon anari sp. nov. This genus was previously tentatively identified from the Siwaliks, but this new material provides definitive evidence of its presence. Not only does this confirm its presence in the Miocene Siwalik deposits of the Indian subcontinent but also represents an important temporal occurrence for the genus. It represents the youngest occurrence of the genus worldwide but may also represent the youngest occurrence of any hyaenodont. The new material provides important new data on some of the less well-known ‘creodonts’ of the Siwaliks, and this data is important for not only our understanding of some of the youngest hyaenodonts near their eventual extinction, but the complex mammal communities preserved on the Indian subcontinent.

A new paulchoffatiid and additional multituberculate (Mammalia) remains from the Lower Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) of Germany - Thomas Martin; Alexander O. Averianov; Andreas J. Lang; Julia A. Schultz; Achim H. Schwermann (PalZ, 2026)
Screen washing operations at the Busche quarry near Balve in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) have yielded a new paulchoffatiid multituberculate and additional teeth of the eobaatarid Cheruscodon balvensis . Angrivarodon goresi gen. et sp. nov. is represented by an upper P5 and differs from all known multituberculates of the paulchoffatiid line by a cusp formula of 4B:6L. For C. balvensis 12 new teeth are reported, representing seven formerly unknown tooth positions (dPX, P2, P3, P4, M1, M2, and m1), that allow for the reconstruction of large parts of the upper and lower premolar-molar series. A single upper P4 is attributed to Eobaataridae indet. Three upper P5s are designated as Multituberculata indet., one of which formerly had been assigned to the pinheirodontid Bructerodon alatus . After revision, B. alatus is now restricted to the holotype specimen (M1). Two isolated indeterminate multituberculate incisors have spatulate crowns with complete enamel cover. A cladistic analysis including the new Cheruscodon teeth led to an almost complete resolution of Eobaataridae under inclusion of Arginbaatar into that group. Monophyly of the genus Sinobaatar is not supported by the new cladistic analysis. The shared presence of derived cusp morphology and arrangement of cusps on the upper M2s of the Late Jurassic Teutonodon langenbergensis from the Langenberg locality (Lower Saxony) and of C. balvensis suggest the presence of eobaatarid ancestors in the Jurassic of Central Europe.

Taxonomic composition of Cambrian cone-shaped microfossils: morphotypes and growth patterns - Olga Dantes; Konstantin E. Nagovitsin (PalZ, 2026)

Graptolites (Graptolithina) from the Dapingian Arienigraptus hastatus Biozone of Newfoundland - Jörg Maletz (PalZ, 2026)
A graptolite sample from the Cow Head Group of western Newfoundland provided a much more complete insight into the faunal diversity of the Arienigraptus hastatus Biozone of the mid-Dapingian (Middle Ordovician). The number of species found in the investigated interval increases from five, as previously reported, to at least 22 species from new chemically isolated material. The presence of similar faunal elements in the Tøyen Shale Formation of Norway indicates a wider distribution of some of these newly recognized taxa and helps to correlate the Arienigraptus hastatus Biozone with a level in the Isograptus mobergi & Maeandrograptus schmalenseei Biozone of Scandinavia. Sigmagraptus sombrero sp. nov. and Sigmagraptus introversus sp. nov. are described as new species. Six sigmagraptine species are described in open nomenclature due to the fragmentary preservation. The fauna indicates a previously unknown diversity of the family Sigmagraptidae in the Dapingian.

The oldest simosaurids (Anisian of Israel): implications for the paleobiogeographic and stratigraphic distributions of the group - Alberto Cabezuelo-Hernández; Carlos de Miguel Chaves; Adán Pérez-García (PalZ, 2026)

The 5th Palaeontological Virtual Congress: Building a Global Community Without Borders (1st part) - Vicente D. Crespo; Aylen Allende Mosquera; Fernando A. Martín Arnal; Arturo Gamonal; Javier González-Dionis; Rosalía Guerrero-Arenas; Eduardo Jiménez Hidalgo; María Ríos Ibáñez; Alba Sánchez-García; Evangelos Vlachos (PalZ, 2026)

Correction: Leg bones of the anseriform taxon Nettapterornis from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze and notes on the bony-toothed birds from this locality - Gerald Mayr; Andrew C. Kitchener (PalZ, 2026)

A review of the Elcanidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) species Paraxelcana coronakanthodis, Letoelcana artemisapollonque and Trigonelca jennywinterae Schall et al., 2023 - Ole-Kristian Odin Schall; Ulrich Kotthoff; Martin Husemann (PalZ, 2026)

Re-evaluation of the Devonian ichthyofaunal assemblage from Lithuania and Belarus - Darja Dankina; Dmitry P. Plax; Ingrida Bagdanavičiūtė; Jonas Šečkus (PalZ, 2026)

The first club-tailed dragonfly (Odonata: Gomphidae) in the Eocene Grube Messel (Germany) - Torsten Wappler; André Nel; Michael S. Engel (PalZ, 2026)

A capercaillie (Phasianidae: Tetraonini) and a diver (Gaviidae)—unexpected large birds from the Lower Pleistocene of Crimea - Nikita Zelenkov (PalZ, 2026)

The tailbend of Metriorhynchidae (Crocodylia: Thalattosuchia) measurements, limits and paleoecological implications - Jonas Le Mort; Jeremy E. Martin; Laurent Picot; Stéphane Hua (PalZ, 2026)

Fossil traces of Osedax in dense whale ear bones and thoughts on potential further food sources - Steffen Kiel; Pia Götz; James L. Goedert; Wolf-Achim Kahl (PalZ, 2026)
An Oligocene whale ear bone (tympanic bulla) from western Washington State, USA, preserves traces made by the bone-eating marine annelid Osedax . The tympanic bullae of whales are comprised of super-dense, glassy bone and had earlier been hypothesized as being too solid and nutrient poor to attract or sustain Osedax . Computed tomography of the specimen, from an undetermined species of mysticete (baleen whale) and found in the Lincoln Creek Formation, revealed traces with two different morphologies resembling those made by extant Osedax . Sectioning and microscopic investigation of a different mysticete bulla from the Lincoln Creek Formation showed that the bulla is equally as dense as those of extant whales. Inspired by these observations, we discuss other collagen-bearing biomaterials such as shark cartilage, shark egg capsules, and even shells of lingulid and disciniscid brachiopods as potential, but as yet undocumented, additional sources of nutrients for Osedax .

A skeleton of Cuvierimops (Chiroptera: Molossidae) from the lower Oligocene (Rupelian) of Céreste, southern France - Marius F. Losco; Thomas Martin (PalZ, 2026)
A previously unstudied, almost complete skeleton of a bat from the lower Oligocene site of Céreste (southern France) with long, narrow wings and strong legs is assigned to the family Molossidae. Based on the upper molars the specimen is attributed to the genus Cuvierimops . This genus was previously only known from teeth and fragmentary skeletal material from the upper Eocene and Oligocene of France and early Miocene of Spain. The Cuvierimops specimen shows adaptations to fast and enduring flight as seen in modern Molossidae such as optimised attachment surfaces for the flight muscles and a high wing extension. This suggests that the open environment of the Céreste fossil lake was the preferred hunting ground for Cuvierimops . The undisturbed preservation of the specimen can be explained by the generally hostile conditions for scavengers, including occasionally anoxic conditions, in the Céreste paleolake.

New bovid fossils from the Dhok Pathan, Middle Siwalik subgroup of Pakistan - Kiran Aftab; Bilawal Ghafoor; Muhammad Akbar Khan; Muhammad Adeeb Babar; Mubashar Hussain; Shamaila Irum (PalZ, 2026)

Novel perspectives on Late Cretaceous elasmobranch diversity in the Southern Hemisphere high latitudes - Arnaud Begat; Jürgen Kriwet; Javier N. Gelfo; Soledad Gouiric-Cavalli; Julia A. Schultz; Thomas Martin (PalZ, 2026)
Two new vertebrate assemblages rich in elasmobranch isolated teeth and dermal denticles from the lower Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) of Patagonia in southern Argentina comprise ten identified taxa († Protosqualus sp., † Heterodontus sp., † Orectoloboides sp., † Carcharias sp., † Scapanorhynchus patagonensis sp. nov., † Squalicorax sp., † Paraorthacodus sp., † Rhinobatos aff. † R. incertus , † Ptychotrygon ameghinorum , † Ptychotrygon sp.) and five unidentified lamniforms. The material comes from two closely positioned sites representing proximal palaeoenvironments (delta and lagoonal foot barrier, respectively). The new elasmobranch sites are the most diverse known from the Upper Cretaceous of Patagonia until today and indicate a remarkable elasmobranch diversity in high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. They are dominated by warm-water taxa demonstrating a strong Tethyan influence into the southern part of the Austral Basin, contrasting with the later Weddellian influence as indicated by the presence of cold-water taxa in that area during the Campanian and the Maastrichtian.

First description of fossil remains of the giant mustelid Eomellivora (Mammalia, Carnivora) from the Late Miocene of the Shouyang Basin (China) - Andrés Fernández-Reyes; Qigao Jiangzuo; John J. Flynn; Alberto Valenciano (PalZ, 2026)
We describe three unpublished Eomellivora cranial specimens from the Late Miocene (ca. MN12–13) sites of Ta Tung Kou and Nan Ho, both in the Shouyang Basin (Shanxi Province, China), uncovered by Frick collectors (reposited in the fossil mammal collections of the American Museum of Natural History) between 1933 and 1936. The specimens consist of a fragmented cranium (AMNH F:AM 50570), a maxilla (AMNH F:AM 50569), and a nearly complete cranium (AMNH F:AM 144525). By means of morphological comparison and multivariate analysis (PCA with Mosimann-transformed dentition variables), AMNH F:AM 50570 is identified as E. wimani , exhibiting a relative elongation of the premolars. This finding enhances the understanding of intraspecific variability within the species. Specimens AMNH F:AM 50569 and AMNH F:AM 144525 are classified conservatively as Eomellivora sp., as they lack diagnostic features at the species level. These new discoveries contribute to a deeper understanding of the Late Miocene fauna of the Shouyang Basin, an area that has been less extensively studied in China compared to the nearby Baode and Yushe Basins. In addition, a re-examination of the dental remains from the earlier sites of Zhupeng and Xiaohe (Yunnan Province, China, ca. MN11), which had previously been identified as Eomellivora cf. wimani , permits their reclassification as Eomellivora cf. E. piveteaui .

First hypsocormine pachycormid in the Early Jurassic and its evolutionary implications for Pachycormidae (Actinopterygii: Teleosteomorpha) - Samuel L. A. Cooper; Erin E. Maxwell (PalZ, 2026)
An isolated lower jaw of a morphologically distinct actinopterygian fish from the Early Jurassic Posidonienschiefer Formation of Holzmaden (SW Germany) is identified as belonging to the pachycormid subfamily Hypsocorminae based on the presence of an anteriorly inflated coronoid plate, an enlarged coronoid tusk, and granular dermal bone ornamentation. Previously, the first occurrence of hypsocormine pachycormids was from the Middle Jurassic onwards (Callovian–Maastrichtian). This new report pushes the evidence for the clade back into the Toarcian stage of the Lower Jurassic, closing a 17-million-year ghost lineage hypothesized on phylogenetic grounds. Both Asthenocorminae + Hypsocorminae, the two main pachycormid clades, are now recognised in the Toarcian, with their emergences coinciding with the first appearance of Pachycormidae in the fossil record. The split between Hypsocorminae and Asthenocorminae is therefore strongly suggested to have occurred earlier than is currently documented in the fossil record, and further indicates a probable ghost lineage of Pachycormidae prior to the clade’s first appearance in the Toarcian. We interpret the presence of an enlarged coronoid tooth (tusk) to be plesiomorphic in Pachycormidae, with this feature being modified in Hypsocorminae + Simocormus spp., but secondarily lost in derived Asthenocorminae.

The oldest representative of the tribe Paederini (Coleoptera, Staphylinidae, Paederinae) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber - Laurele Gerke; Shûhei Yamamoto; Dagmara Żyła (PalZ, 2026)
The evolutionary history of Paederinae, one of the largest subfamilies in Staphylinidae, still remains poorly understood. For a better understanding, fossils are of major importance. In this study, the first fossil representative of the tribe Paederini in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber from the Kachin State of northern Myanmar is described. The examined fossil could be assigned to the subtribe Cryptobiina, which makes it the first formally described fossil of the subtribe. The external morphology of the specimen was examined and compared to all recent genera currently assigned to the subtribe. This led to the description of the new genus and species Cretobius fangornis gen. et sp. nov. presented in this study. Comparison with recent taxa indicates that the palaeoenvironment of the amber forest was humid and tropical. The finding supports the hypothesis of tropical climate in the Cretaceous Kachin amber forest and the idea of an earliest separation of the Burma Terrane from Gondwana in the Early Cretaceous.

A tiny fossil representative of Insecta from the Permian with an unusually regularly segmented trunk - Joachim T. Haug; Viktor Baranov; Carolin Haug; Torsten Wappler (PalZ, 2026)
The myriad representatives of the group Insecta dominate modern day terrestrial ecosystems. The fossil record of Insecta dates back to the Devonian, with large diversification events and correspondingly diverse fossil record in the Carboniferous and Permian. The reconstructed ground pattern condition of Insecta includes a posterior trunk, abdomen, with eleven segments. Yet, no modern nor fossil form is so far known to possess a regularly segmented abdomen with eleven segments, as especially the further posterior ones are either reduced to a certain degree or conjoined to further anterior ones. We present here a new, very small fossil representative of Insecta from the Permian Saar-Nahe Basin (Germany), which exhibits such a regular abdomen segmentation with eleven segments. The specimen is preserved as part and counterpart, which were virtually combined to achieve a complete presentation. As the specimen does not bear any indications of appendage structures on the abdomen, we presume that it is not a non-pterygotan, as these are characterised by appendage remains on the abdomen segments. The morphological details of the new fossil more likely point to the specimen representing an immature individual, or larva, of a species of Holometabola, possibly of a beetle. If the specimen represents indeed a larva, it would be the smallest larva known from the Permian to date.

The Erinaceasteridae (Stenuroidea; Asterozoa) of the Early Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany - Daniel B. Blake; Hermann Lintz (PalZ, 2025)
The Early Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany provides a unique glimpse of the composition and diversity of the marine biota of the mid-Paleozoic, but understanding long has been hindered by problematic preservation. Exemplifying both the unique nature of the Hunsrück fauna and the limitations of preservation, the three genera and three species of the family Erinaceasteridae (class Stenuroidea, subphylum Asterozoa ,) are discussed: Erinaceaster tenuispinosus Lehmann; Maxaster , new generic name for Erinaceaster giganteus Lehmann; and Bartelsaster lineatus , gen. et sp. nov. Erinaceasterids are difficult to study because thickened bodies, delicate body wall ossicles, and abundant elongate spines yield a construction readily obscured by burial and diagenesis. Diagnostic characters undergirding recognition of four classes of the subphylum Asterozoa are reviewed. An earlier interpretation of ambulacral column configuration of Maxaster giganteus offered a major departure from the accepted pattern of asterozoan ambulacral ossicular addition and growth: this interpretation is rebutted. Two aboral skeletal surfaces in erinaceasterids that served to enclose a supradorsal chamber are delineated. A comparable chamber is found in the extant asteroid family Pterasteridae, the occurrences homoplastic. Although tentative, some data support homoplastic emergence of both the calcified madreporite and the terminal ossicle within the subphylum Asterozoa .

Fossils of the megatoothed shark Otodus (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes) from Washington State, USA - James L. Goedert; Katherine L. Anderson; Casey Burns; Steffen Kiel (PalZ, 2025)
The megatoothed shark genus Otodus has only been recorded previously from one locality in western Washington State, USA: Otodus auriculatus in the lower Eocene (Ypresian) part of the Crescent Formation in the Hamma Hamma River area, eastern Olympic Peninsula. Previously unpublished fossils from Washington expand the Otodus record from early Eocene to early or early middle Miocene. New specimens of O . auriculatus are from the middle Eocene (Lutetian) part of the Crescent Formation in the Canyon River area, southern Olympic Peninsula, and a fragmentary tooth from the middle Eocene (Bartonian) Aldwell Formation. Uppermost Eocene or lower Oligocene strata of the lower Lincoln Creek Formation south of the Olympic Mountains yielded a tooth fragment and a large vertebra of Otodus sp., and a large partial tooth referred to O . angustidens is from the uppermost Oligocene part of the Pysht Formation, northern Olympic Peninsula. Otodus cf. chubutensis is reported from the lower to middle Miocene Astoria Formation in southwestern Washington and coastal Oregon. Although rare, the fossils demonstrate that Otodus inhabited the northeastern Pacific Ocean from at least the early Eocene and even well past the period of cooling after the Eocene/Oligocene transition. Together, these fossils comprise the northernmost fossil record of the genus Otodus for the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Anatomical and systematic reevaluation of Phosphichthys thomasi, a large Early Eocene acanthomorph (Teleostei) from the phosphate basins of North Africa - Bouziane Khalloufi; Khadija El Houssaini Darif; Fatima Khaldoune; Elbatoul M’hamdi; Nour-Eddine Jalil (PalZ, 2025)

Morphology and ontogeny of the plagiosaurid temnospondyl Plagiosternum granulosum from the Middle Triassic of Germany - Rainer R. Schoch; Stéphanie Gastou; J.-Sébastien Steyer; Eudald Mujal; Raphael Moreno; Florian Witzmann (PalZ, 2025)
Plagiosaurids form a small but highly disparate clade of Triassic temnospondyls that are characterized by extremely flattened and wide skulls, large orbits and a knobby to pustular ornamentation. The largest European taxon is Plagiosternum granulosum from the Middle Triassic of Germany. Originally known from fragmentary bonebed material only, recent finds add well-preserved specimens that reveal the structure of the skull, mandible and pectoral girdle in great detail. The humerus and atlas of P. granulosum are described for the first time, and a putative cleithrum is identified. Ontogenetic changes include a proportional extension of the orbit, a more convex occipital margin, elongation of the parietal, proportional increase of the occipital condyles and formation of pustular ornament at nodal points of reticulate ridges. The presence of gastral scales can be inferred from the structure of the interclavicle, but there is no evidence of osteoderms. Plagiosternum granulosum was the most salt-tolerant temnospondyl in the Ladinian palaeoenvironments, where it dwelled brackish lagoons and lakes and formed a community with nothosaurids and other euhaline taxa.

Permian chondrichthyans from the Guadalupe Mountains National Park of West Texas (USA) - Alexander O. Ivanov; Jonena M. Hearst; Merlynd K. Nestell (PalZ, 2025)

Trigonotarbids (Arachnida) hidden in plant debris from a Late Pennsylvanian tropical forest at El Bierzo, Castilla y León, Spain - Artai A. Santos; Jason A. Dunlop; Antonio Hernández-Orúe; Paul A. Selden; José B. Diez; Stephen McLoughlin (PalZ, 2025)
Two new fossils belonging to the extinct arachnid order Trigonotarbida are described from uppermost Carboniferous (Gzhelian, Upper Pennsylvanian) strata of the Villablino and El Bierzo basins (Castilla y León; NW Spain). These discoveries represent the second and third Spanish records of this arachnid order and are among the oldest arachnid records known from the Iberian Peninsula. They also represent the first evidence of arachnids from the Villablino and El Bierzo basins. One fossil consists of an almost complete individual including the prosoma, opisthosoma, legs and pedipalps but its preservation in ventral view makes unequivocal identification difficult. Comparison with other material favours its assignment to Aphantomartus sp. (Aphantomartidae). The second specimen consists of a prosoma and opisthosoma preserved in dorsal view and is assigned to Aphantomartus areolatus. These two arachnids were preserved alongside several plant remains referable to ferns ( Polymorphopteris polymorpha , Polymorphopteris integra, Nemejcopteris feminaeformis and Oligocarpia leptophylla ), seed-ferns ( Neuropteris ovata ) and lycophytes ( Cyperites bicarinatus ). The abundance and diversity of co-occurring plant remains are consistent with the other known Spanish Aphantomartus record, which is also preserved in association with several plant fossils. Based on the new occurrences, we infer that Aphantomartus favoured humid, broad-leafed, evergreen forest habitats that provided a diverse array of food and shelter.

A taxonomic and paleoecological review of the Rhaetian chondrichthyan fauna of Bonenburg (NRW) Germany - Thomas P. Vida; Jürgen Kriwet; Thomas Martin (PalZ, 2025)
The chondrichthyan fauna of the Late Triassic Rhaetian is fairly diverse and has been well-studied in France and the United Kingdom. Conversely, contemporaneous faunas from Germany only were sporadically analyzed. Here, we present a taxonomic and palaeoecological evaluation of a cartilaginous fish assemblage from Bonenburg in NW Germany, which is represented by isolated teeth as well as cephalic and dorsal fin spines. This material includes the first holocephalan record as well as several morphotypes of dorsal fin and cephalic spines. Based on the material from Bonenburg, Rhomphaiodon minor is synonymized with Nemacanthus monilifer and assigned to the Palaeospinacidae. The Bonenburg bone beds differ from other localities across the Rhaetian Sea as Nemacanthus monilifer is present in unprecedented numbers and Lissodus minimus , typically the most common shark species in Rhaetian deposits, is a distant second in abundance. This, as well as other comparative measurements of Rhaetian shark diversity, reveal that neoselachians were a larger component of Rhaetian ecosystems than previously assumed. A food web reconstruction with a focus on the chondrichthyan and actinopterygian taxa present at the locality shows a general partitioning of niches among the chondrichthyans of Bonenburg, and that chondrichthyans inhabited all but the lowest and highest positions in the trophic chain, revealing that they were an important and ecologically diverse part of their ecosystem.

Frog crabs (Decapoda: Brachyura: Raninoidea) from lower Eocene coral reef environments of the Serraduy Formation (Southern Pyrenees, Huesca, Spain) - Fernando A. Ferratges; Pedro Artal; Samuel Zamora; Javier Luque (PalZ, 2025)
We describe a new assemblage of frog crabs (Raninoidea) from the lower Eocene Serraduy Formation in Huesca, Northeastern Spain, representing five species from five genera and four subfamilies, from which there are two new genera and four new species: i.e., Alloranina arjae gen. et sp. nov. (subfamily Ranininae), Huescarina vanbakeli gen. et sp. nov., Notopoides ovaloides sp. nov., Quasilaeviranina arafita sp. nov. (subfamily Raninoidinae), plus another indeterminate raninoid species. Although Eocene raninoids are represented by > 100 species in 32 genera worldwide, they are mainly associated with siliciclastic environments, contrasting with the material here studied, associated to a reef environment surrounded by muddy substrates and linked to a rich invertebrate fauna. Besides the abundance and diversity of the new assemblage, it preserves some of the oldest representatives of a modern genus ( Notopoides ), emphasizing the importance of the Eocene epoch for understanding the origins of modern groups. UUID: http://zoobank.org/pub:9E78087F-E0C3-4420-AB69-2FE100CAE848 .

Early Pleistocene rhinoceroses (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Rhinocerotidae) from Northern Greece: biochronological and paleobiogeographic implications - Krystalia Chitoglou; Luca Pandolfi; George E. Konidaris; Dimitris S. Kostopoulos (PalZ, 2025)
Rhinoceroses were well-distributed across Southern Europe during the Early Pleistocene with abundant remains, but they are rather scarce in the Greek record and even less studied from a systematic point of view. In this article, we study a total of 124 specimens from eight fossil-bearing Lower Pleistocene localities of Northern Greece, spanning from ~ 2.3 to ~ 1.2 Ma. The localities of Tsiotra Vryssi and Krimni in the Mygdonia Basin provided the best material in terms of both number and preservation of specimens, whereas in the rest of the sites from Mygdonia, Drama and Neapolis-Grevena Basins less than ten specimens for each site are known. The present study documents the first occurrence in Greece of Stephanorhinus cf. S. hundsheimensis in the localities of Riza-1, Krimni-1, 3 and Tsiotra Vryssi, which suggests that the species may have entered earlier than the rest of the Europe. Additionally, the last occurrence of Stephanorhinus jeanvireti in Greece is recorded in Dafnero-3. The presence of Stephanorhinus etruscus is confirmed in several localities including Volax, Tsiotra Vryssi, Libakos and Apollonia-1, and indicates a chronological range from ~ 2.3 to ~ 1.2 Ma. At the beginning of this time frame both S. jeanvireti and S. etruscus co-occur in Greece, whereas the presence of both S. etruscus and Stephanorhinus cf . S. hundsheimensis at Tsiotra Vryssi testifies their first local co-occurrence.

†Propercarina occidentalis, sp. nov., a new percomorph from the Oligocene of the Unterfeld (“Frauenweiler”) clay pit, and its relationships to Stromateoidei - Norbert Micklich; Tomáš Přikryl (PalZ, 2025)

Famennian (Late Devonian) conodonts of the genus Pelekysgnathus - A. N. Plotitsyn; A. V. Zhuravlev; Yu. A. Gatovsky; V. M. Nazarova (PalZ, 2025)

Braincase and digital endocast of a loricatan pseudosuchian (Reptilia: Archosauria) from the Upper Triassic of Nova Scotia (Canada) - Hans-Dieter Sues; Waisum Ma; Martín D. Ezcurra (PalZ, 2025)

Echinoids from the Callovian of Wallücke (Wiehen Hills, W Germany): convergent adaptations to challenging conditions - Luis Pauly (PalZ, 2025)
Fossils of sea urchins (class Echinoidea) are generally rare in European shallow-marine deposits from the Callovian (late Middle Jurassic), which are dominated by fine-grained, siliciclastic sedimentation. Taphonomic biases make it difficult to determine whether this rarity reflects genuinely low diversity. Specimens found in obrution deposits help overcome these biases and provide valuable insights into diversity and paleobiology of Jurassic echinoids. This study describes a well-preserved echinoid fauna from the Callovian Ornatenton Formation of the Wiehen Hills. Four species are recorded, with three recognized as new. Procidaris relicta sp. nov. is based on a single specimen and stands as the youngest miocidarid known to date. Polycidaris vadeti sp. nov. is an unusually small polycidarid with distinct spine morphology, represented by hundreds of specimens. Diademopsis wallueckensis sp. nov. is a small pedinid with thin test, also represented by several hundred specimens. The early irregular echinoid Disaster moeschi is recorded from a single layer of the sequence. Both P. vadeti and D. wallueckensis occur in large monospecific accumulations that are interpreted as short-lived mass occurrences preserved by obrution events. The species are convergent in being very small and delicate, yet apparently already sexually mature, indicating adaptations to only temporarily favorable conditions. The Wallücke echinoid fauna shares similarities to faunas preserved under comparable conditions, particularly from the Lower Jurassic, showing that a small number of regular echinoid species were able to successfully adapt to these environments.

Evolutionary implications from the tubarium construction of the Retiolitinae (Graptolithina) across the Silurian Cyrtograptus lundgreni extinction event - Jörg Maletz (PalZ, 2025)
The Retiolitinae (Axonophora, Graptoloidea) experienced a dramatic extinction during the Homerian (Wenlock, Silurian) Cyrtograptus lundgreni extinction event. It resulted in a re-organization and re-construction of the surviving retiolitine graptoloids as demonstrated by the apparent survival of only the genera Gothograptus and Semigothograptus across this interval. The tubarium construction of Gothograptus is expressed through the merging of the lateral thecal walls with the ancora sleeve walls. The nema is incorporated into the obverse ancora sleeve and connected by horizontal connecting lists. This type of construction is unknown from any other retiolitine taxon. Gothograptus (upper Sheinwoodian to upper Homerian, Wenlock, Silurian) thus, is constructionally isolated from all other pre- and post-extinction Retiolitinae and is unlikely to show closer relationships to the Neogothograptus and Holoretiolites clade. Semigothograptus shows the preservation of the ancora sleeve walls with distinct subhorizontal parietal lists on both sides. It has a free nema and lacks indications of lateral thecal walls. The genus is constructionally similar to most post-extinction taxa, but also to the pre-extinction Sokolovograptus . A differentiation into two groups of retiolitines with pustulose ornamentation of their cortical bandages can be seen in the development of the seams indicating thecal and ancora sleeve membranes on either the outside or the inside of the tubaria. All taxa with outside seams disappear in the Cyrtograptus lundgreni extinction event, while only taxa with inside seams survived.

A new genus of the family Spathiopterygidae (Hymenoptera: Diaprioidea) from mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber - Sergio Álvarez-Parra; Corentin Jouault; Marina Hakim; Dany Azar; Diying Huang (PalZ, 2025)

A large cracticine passerine (Aves, Artamidae, Cracticinae) from the Early Miocene, St Bathans Fauna of New Zealand - Trevor H. Worthy; R. Paul Scofield; Suzanne J. Hand; Michael Archer; Vanesa L. De Pietri (PalZ, 2025)
A large fossil passerine (Aves, Artamidae, Cracticinae, Miostrepera canora gen. et sp. nov.), of Early Miocene (19–16 Ma) age, is described based on a proximal and a distal humerus from the lower Bannockburn Formation near St Bathans in Otago, New Zealand. Referred material includes a previously reported scapula and, tentatively so, a distal tibiotarsus. This taxon is the largest passerine in the St Bathans Fauna, in which the total passerine diversity may include up to 17 species. The only other named passerine in this fauna is a tiny acanthisittid wren, Kuiornis indicator . Cracticines (currawongs, magpies and butcherbirds) were absent in the native avifauna of New Zealand during the late Quaternary but are represented by the introduced Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen now. The group is widespread in Australia with a fossil record extending to the Early Miocene. The presence of a Strepera -like cracticine in the Early Miocene in New Zealand indicates overwater dispersal to and colonisation of Zealandia from Australia that we suggest was facilitated by the diverse flora in the subtropical environments of Zealandia at the time. The subsequent loss of cracticines from the Zealandian avifauna is correlated with the marked loss in floral diversity following the climate cooling in the Middle Miocene and during the subsequent Pleistocene glacial oscillations. Furthermore, we show that the osteological correlates of the origin of musculus humerotriceps pars dorsalis are shown to be more complex than presence or absence of a dorsal fossa on the humerus.

Diversity of gobioid fishes in the late Middle Miocene of northern Moldova, Eastern Paratethys—part III: dwarf gobies - Bettina Reichenbacher; Alexander F. Bannikov (PalZ, 2025)
The Middle Miocene (upper Serravallian, Sarmatian sensu latu, Volhynian) deposits at Karpov Yar near Naslavcea, northern Moldova, yield exceptionally preserved fish fossils, often with otoliths in situ. This study, the third in our series on goby fossils from Karpov Yar, describes four new dwarf goby species (standard lengths 16–34 mm), including two new genera: † Moldavigobius gloriae sp. nov., † Cryptograciles conicus gen. et sp. nov., † Cryptograciles robustus gen. et sp. nov., and † Alienagobius pygmaeus gen. et sp. nov. A fifth species is left in open nomenclature as † Moldavigobius sp. The new genera share 27 vertebrae (10 abdominal), a D1 with six spines, a D2 with a spine and 9–11 rays, and ctenoid flank scales. Differences include the D1-pterygiophore formula, pelvic- and anal fin ray counts, scale number, and otolith morphology. The phylogenetic analyses suggest that † Moldavigobius spp. could be part of the Aphia lineage (Gobiidae), † Cryptograciles gen. nov. may belong to the Pomatoschistus lineage (Oxudercidae), and † Alienagobius gen. nov. possibly represents a stem member of the Stenogobius lineage, although this is surprising given the tropical biogeography of this lineage and its absence in the fossil record. Morphological similarities across the fossil genera likely reflect adaptations to a cryptobenthic lifestyle in a low-energy, lagoonal environment, while variations in scales and otoliths between species indicate microhabitat specialization. Our findings suggest Karpov Yar was an ecologically dynamic site, providing various microhabitats that allowed for the coexistence of multiple cryptobenthic goby species.

The morphology and evolutionary history of the temnospondyl genus Cyclotosaurus with a focus on material from Germany - Rainer R. Schoch; Florian Witzmann; Ingmar Werneburg; Ralf Werneburg; Eudald Mujal; Raphael Moreno (PalZ, 2025)
The capitosauroid genus Cyclotosaurus was first recognized in the Carnian Stuttgart Formation of Feuerbacher Heide at Stuttgart in the nineteenth century. A revision of the type material and the other German samples from stratigraphically younger Carnian and Norian deposits reveal numerous differences between these. Cladistic analysis of the German species plus the taxa from Poland and Greenland concurs roughly with stratigraphy, albeit with two main post- C. robustus lineages that date back to the Stuttgart Formation: (1) a slender-skulled clade formed by C. buechneri and C. ebrachensis and (2) a broad-skulled clade formed by C. posthumus, C. naraserluki, C. intermedius and C. hemprichi . Cyclotosaurus was the single apex predator in Carnian and Norian fluviatile environments.

Sea stars (Echinodermata, Asteroidea) from the Wallücke echinoderm Lagerstätte (Callovian, W Germany) - Luis Pauly; Loïc Villier (PalZ, 2025)
The Jurassic was an exceptionally important time for the evolution of crown-group sea stars, but articulated fossils are very rare and usually restricted to obrution deposits. Here we describe a Callovian asteroid fauna from the Wallücke echinoderm Lagerstätte within the Ornatenton Formation of the Wiehen Hills. Deposition of several tempestitic obrution layers in an otherwise low-energy, shallow-marine setting led to preservation of fully articulated asteroid specimens. Three species are recognized: the astropectinid Pentasteria (Pentasteria) sp., based on isolated marginal ossicles, the early cribelline Borszczia wallueckensis gen. et sp. nov. and the multiarmed plumasterid Plumaster echinoides sp. nov., both based on several articulated specimens each. Pentasteria is a common genus of Jurassic sea stars that probably lived as relatively unspecialized predators. B. wallueckensis marks the oldest fossil record of the Cribellina, infaunal deposit feeders which are today restricted to deep-marine settings. P. echinoides is interpreted as a highly specialized carnivorous form, convergent with solasterid sea stars in overall morphology, brittle stars in arm articulation structures and benthopectinid sea stars as well as regular sea urchins in the development of very long, moveable spines on the abactinal surface. The findings hint at a higher diversity and disparity of asteroids in the European Callovian than the current fossil record suggests, albeit usually not recorded because of taphonomic and sampling biases.

A new species and the earliest occurrence of the Gnathosaurinae (Pterosauria) from the Late Kimmeridgian of Brunn, Germany - Alexandra E. Fernandes; Helmut Tischlinger; Monika Rothgaenger; Oliver W. M. Rauhut (PalZ, 2025)
The so-called “Solnhofen limestones” of southern Germany are widely recognized for their abundance of Late Jurassic fossil vertebrates, with pterosaurs being no exception. Within the recognized plenitude of the pterosaurs within this assemblage, although ctenochasmatid remains are relatively abundant, gnathosaurines are scarce, with only one known Solnhofen representative of the group known thus far. The Late Kimmeridgian locality of Brunn (near Regensburg, Germany) represents the oldest locality of the Solnhofen complex (“Solnhofen Archipelago” in recent literature), with only one pterosaur having been described from this locality to date. Here, a second pterosaur taxon from within this locality and a new gnathosaur is introduced, Spathagnathus roeperi gen. et sp. nov., whose novel tooth and dental enamel features add to the known dental diversity for the group. The new taxon represents the oldest occurrence of a gnathosaurine and contributes to the paleoenvironmental stratigraphic range for the Gnathosaurinae within the overall fossil assemblage of the Solnhofen Archipelago. Furthermore, the new taxon adds to the known diversity of ctenochasmatids in the Late Jurassic and underlines the importance of this early radiation of pterodactyloid pterosaurs during this time.

Is Hippopotamus antiquus (Mammalia, Hippopotamidae) affected by body size variations? The contribution of the Mosbach (Germany, Middle Pleistocene) specimen - Roberta Martino; María Ríos; Lorenzo Rook; Luca Pandolfi (PalZ, 2025)
Hippopotamus antiquus is a well-documented species within the Hippopotamidae family, with evidence of its presence in almost all Europe during the Pleistocene. Despite its abundance in the fossiliferous record, there is still much debate surrounding the first and last appearance data of this taxon, as well as its evolutionary trend. In this work we present a well-preserved mandible recovered from Mosbach (Germany) referred to the Middle Pleistocene. The latter period is represented by less H. antiquus remains in comparison to the Early Pleistocene, making the description of this specimen helpful for morphometric and morphological considerations. Early Pleistocene H. antiquus specimens from Upper Valdarno, Collecurti and Durfort display larger dimensions in comparison to those from Middle Pleistocene localities, including Maglianella, Ortona, Ponte Molle and the specimen from Mosbach. A decrease in body size in H. antiquus , most likely correlated to climate fluctuations, is therefore discussed providing news insights into the biogeography, morphology and morphometry of late H. antiquus.

Leg bones of the anseriform taxon Nettapterornis from the London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze and notes on the bony-toothed birds from this locality - Gerald Mayr; Andrew C. Kitchener (PalZ, 2025)
We report the first leg bones of the anseriform bird Nettapterornis (“ Anatalavis ”) oxfordi from the type locality of the species, the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). In order to exclude the possibility that the specimens are from bony-toothed birds (Pelagornithidae), we also survey the pelagornithid material from Walton-on-the-Naze, which belongs to a large species identified as Dasornis cf. emuinus . The tarsometatarsus of N. oxfordi closely resembles that of the late Oligocene/early Miocene taxon Paranyroca and corresponds to the tarsometatarsus of the Anatidae in that it lacks a fossa metatarsi I. By contrast, the hypotarsus exhibits a plesiomorphic morphology more similar to that of the Anhimidae. Phylogenetic analyses yielded conflicting results concerning the position of Nettapterornis , which was either recovered outside crown group Anseriformes or—in a taxonomically pruned data set—as the sister taxon of the Anseranatidae. We consider the underlying character matrix to be inadequate for a robust placement of the taxon and hypothesise that Nettapterornis is a stem group representative of the Anatidae. If so, it would be the earliest and phylogenetically most basal representative of the clade. Based on its tarsometatarsus morphology, N. oxfordi probably had a predominantly aquatic ecology and may have been feeding on molluscs, crustaceans, and other marine invertebrates. The fact that both tarsometatarsi are from juvenile or subadult individuals shows that Nettapterornis was breeding in the palaeoenvironment of Walton-on-the-Naze.

Bitubulites problematicus Blumenbach, 1803 and the cradle of ichnotaxonomy in central Germany - Dirk Knaust (PalZ, 2025)

A digging theropod? Enigmatic ankylosed phalanges from the Upper Cretaceous of Uzbekistan - Alexander O. Averianov (PalZ, 2025)

A calf mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) from Rancho Carabanchel, San Luis Potosí, México and its feeding habits - Víctor Adrián Pérez-Crespo; Gilberto Pérez-Roldan; Joaquín Arroyo-Cabrales; Edith Cienfuegos-Alvarado; Francisco J. Otero (PalZ, 2025)
A Columbian mammoth from Rancho Carabanchel, San Luis Potosi, Mexico is described based on fragments of a mandible with a molar, a left maxilla with partial tusk and M1 and M2. Individual ontogenetic age was inferred to less than a year and carbon isotopic values indicated a C 3 /C 4 mixed diet, while the values for tusk shows a similarity to C 3 plant feeders; furthermore, there were also differences between both bone elements for δ 18 O values. This may be due to the processes that occur to each proboscidean element when they are under development, and because of that the carbon and oxygen isotopic values could show different stages during the life of the animal.

Proposal of grouping of early land plants based on in situ spores - Jiří Bek; Jana Votočková Frojdová (PalZ, 2025)

Diversity dynamics of handsome fungus beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinelloidea: Endomychidae) during the Meso-Cenozoic period - Yun Hsiao; Wioletta Tomaszewska (PalZ, 2025)

A re-description of the teleosauroid Macrospondylus bollensis (Jaeger, 1828) from the Posidonienschiefer Formation of Germany - Michela M. Johnson; Sven Sachs; Mark T. Young; Pascal Abel (PalZ, 2025)
Teleosauroid crocodylomorphs were a successful, diverse and abundant clade that expanded near-globally during the Jurassic Period. Teleosauroids are commonly found in Toarcian strata (Early Jurassic) within Europe, with multiple unique specimens pertaining to four taxa having been discovered in the Posidonienschiefer Formation (= Posidonia Shale) in southwestern Germany. The majority of these specimens have been referred to Macrospondylus bollensis (Jaeger, 1828), a basal machimosaurid species previously assigned to the genus Steneosaurus . Macrospondylus bollensis , as a species, is known to have a long and impressive history; unfortunately, the holotype of Ma. bollensis is poorly understood, rarely referenced in the current literature and is often incorrectly thought to be a teleosauroid specimen from Whitby. The actual holotype (housed at the Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie in Dresden), while badly burned, offers valuable information on basal teleosauroid postcranial material. We provide a detailed re-description of Macrospondylus bollensis , recognize it as a valid taxon and compare it with other Toarcian and machimosaurid teleosauroids. In addition, we evaluate the ecology and biogeographical distribution of Macrospondylus .

A new species of swift (Aves, Apodidae) from the Early Pliocene of Langebaanweg, South Africa - Marco Pavia; Antoine Louchart; Romala Govender; Massimo Delfino (PalZ, 2025)

Revision of the fossil species of Bibionidae (Diptera) from the Pliocene of Willershausen (Germany) - John Skartveit; Uwe Kaulfuss; Alexander Gehler (PalZ, 2025)
We revise the Bibionidae fauna from the Pliocene Fossil-Lagerstätte Willershausen (Germany), the youngest known fossil site containing Bibionidae in Europe. The material includes about 75 bibionid specimens, mostly females. The preservation is generally good for wings, whereas other body parts are less well preserved. Two new species, Dilophus flavipes sp.n. and Dilophus plionanus sp.n., are described. Bibio tenuis Dürrenfeldt, 1968, is moved to the genus Dilophus and renamed Dilophus duerrenfeldti nom.n. as it will be a junior homonym of Dilophus tenuis Meigen, 1818. Bibio anasiformis Dürrenfeldt, 1968 is moved to the genus Dilophus and renamed Dilophus anasiformis comb.n. The following new synonymies are established (senior name listed first) Bibio enormus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio latiantennatus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio medioalbus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio soldatus Dürrenfeldt, 1968; Bibio contererus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio mancus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio dormitus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio tripus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio carnificus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio constringtus Dürrenfeldt, 1968; Bibio acaptus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio deflectus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio similis Dürrenfeldt, 1968; Bibio nebulosus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio vixdus Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio cruciformis Dürrenfeldt, 1968 = Bibio albangulus Dürrenfeldt, 1968. Plecia sp. of Dürrenfeldt (1968) is reinterpreted as Penthetria sp., but not formally named. We give a key to the species. The material from Willershausen includes the largest known species of Bibionidae, fossil or recent, but also one of the smallest known species.

A new deep-marine elasmobranch fauna from the Late Cretaceous of Bergen (Bavaria, Germany) dominated by squaliform sharks - I. Feichtinger; B. Beaury; S. Ćorić; N. Straube; M. Harzhauser; M. Kranner; G. Auer; G. Guinot; J. Pollerspöck (PalZ, 2025)

New species of Burmese amber Elcanidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) suggest Gondwanan origin and demonstrate ovipositor diversity - Lena Anke Willmott; Ole-Kristian Odin Schall; Ulrich Kotthoff; Martin Husemann (PalZ, 2025)

Reborn from the ashes: revision of Beurlenia araripensis Martins-Neto and Mezzalira, 1991 (Crustacea: Decapoda) - Daniel Lima; Maria das Graças Ferreira Alcântara; Sandro Marcelo Scheffler; Sammy De Grave; William Santana; Allysson P. Pinheiro (PalZ, 2025)
Beurlenia araripensis was described in 1991 based on a single specimen recovered from the Crato Formation, Araripe Basin, with the type specimen deposited in the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro in 2001. Following the 2018 fire at the museum the holotype was presumed lost, but it was recovered during rescue operations between 2018 and 2022, and fortuitously recognized in 2024. The original description, based on an almost complete specimen, lacked key diagnostic features, which has led to systematic uncertainties. A recent recovery of exceptionally well-preserved specimens, including material repatriated from France, allows for a reevaluation of the species' morphology and systematic status. These new specimens, combined with earlier analyses, provide more detailed insights into key characters, particularly the rostrum and carapacial tooth position. The present analysis clarifies the morphology of B. araripensis , leading to an updated diagnosis of the genus and a comprehensive comparison with related Palaemonidae genera.

Toxesbium gen. nov., the first definitive member of Ernobiinae from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) - Yan-Da Li; T. Keith Philips; Di-Ying Huang; Chen-Yang Cai (PalZ, 2025)

New Ordovician hyolith Elegantilites custos sp. n. and the palaeogeographic and stratigraphic distribution of the genus Elegantilites Marek, 1966 - Martin Valent; Oldřich Fatka; Petr Budil (PalZ, 2025)
Elegantilites custos sp. n., a rare new hyolithid species is described from the late Middle to early Late Ordovician Dobrotivá Formation of the Prague Basin in the Barrandian area of the Czech Republic. The new taxon is based on excellently preserved external and internal moulds of three opercula and several conchs, collected from siliceous nodules and shales. Internal moulds of both conch and operculum bear small tunnels resembling the ichnogenera Pilichnus and Arachnostega . Specimens of the hyolithid genus Elegantilites have been described exclusively from the Ordovician of North African Gondwana. The stratigraphic range of this genus is from the Lower Ordovician (Tremadocian) to the Upper Ordvocian (Katian).

First report of turtle and sauropod track assemblages from the Early Jurassic of Guizhou, China - Lida Xing; Qiyan Chen; Anthony Paul Rozario; Hendrik Klein; Chunyong Chou; Donghao Wang; Qi Qi (PalZ, 2025)

Morphology of the stem group echinoids Lepidocentrus eifelianus and Rhenechinus hopstaetteri from the Devonian of the Eifel region, Germany - Jeffrey R. Thompson; James H. Nebelsick (PalZ, 2024)
Relatively well-preserved echinoids from Palaeozoic strata are exceptionally rare fossils. New fossil finds can thus have an important impact on our understanding of the morphology, phylogenetic relationships and history of diversification of early sea urchins. The Devonian strata of Germany have long been known to contain echinoids, predominantly through the relatively abundant record of disarticulated plates and spines. In contrast, only select articulated or semi-articulated specimens are recorded. We herein describe new specimens from the Middle and Late Devonian belonging to two Palaeozoic echinoid taxa, Rhenechinus hopstaetteri and Lepidocentrus eifelianus . These specimens are amongst the most-complete known for these two taxa, and provide novel insight into their morphology and stratigraphic range. Additionally, the record of Rhenechinus is the youngest occurrence of an echinocystitid echinoid in the fossil record, indicating that this family ranged from the Silurian (Aeronian or Telychian) to at least the Middle Devonian (Givetian), prior to going extinct. The morphological details provided by the new specimen of L. eifelianus highlights similarities between this species and other Devonian echinoids known from elsewhere in Europe and North America, and suggest that the lepidocentrids were widely dispersed and abundant during the Devonian.

Cheilostome bryozoan epibiosis on brachyuran crabs in the Paratethys Sea during the late Badenian (middle Miocene) - Marcus M. Key; Matúš Hyžný; Kamil Zágoršek; Alfréd Dulai (PalZ, 2024)
This study quantifies the prevalence of a rarely documented occurrence of bryozoans encrusting fossil brachyuran crabs. Over 500 crab fossils were examined from the reef facies of the Rákos Limestone Member of the Leitha Limestone Formation in the quarry at Diósd, Hungary. They were deposited in the upper part of the regional Badenian stage (i.e., lower part of the international Serravallian stage) of the middle Miocene. Nine bryozoan colonies were found encrusting five dorsal carapaces of three different crab species: Panopeus wronai , Dromia neogenica , and Cancer styriacus . The bryozoans were restricted to the exterior surface of the preserved carapaces of the host crabs, so the epibiosis was most likely syn-vivo . The prevalence was calculated at 1%. The bryozoans were all cheilostome gymnolaemates identified as a cribrilinid, a calloporid, Onychocella ? sp., and two indeterminate membraniporiform species. The low prevalence of bryozoan-encrusted crabs is consistent with other fossil-based bryozoan-crab studies but much lower than similar studies in today’s faunas. This discrepancy was attributed to both colony spalling-induced preservational bias and differences in carapace size. The bryozoan-crab symbiosis was described as phoretic hitchhiking.

Sclerite ray canals in the Cambrian coeloscleritophoran Chancelloria from North Greenland (Laurentia) - John S. Peel (PalZ, 2024)
A sclerite of Chancelloria from the Henson Gletscher Formation (Cambrian Stage 4) of North Greenland preserves phosphatised central ray canals within the sclerite rays, confirming the extension of epithelial tissue into the sclerite interior. The canals fill the basal foramina and extend as thin central tubes within the lumen towards the apex of the individual rays, developing longitudinal ridges distally. In general terms they resemble the robust central canal of Sinosachites (= Thambetolepis ), although the leaf-like sclerites of this halkieriid develop an extensive pattern of lateral canals and tubules not seen in the conical rays of Chancelloria . This internal similarity between chancelloriid and halkieriid calcareous sclerites adds support to the notion that coeloscleritophores are a paraphyletic group in which parallel episodes of calcareous mineralisation of pre-bilaterian and bilaterian coeloscleritophoran stocks took place in the early Cambrian from a sclerotised but non-mineralised, chancelloriid-like, eumetazoan ancestor.

Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian) Tubiphytes reef in southern Guizhou Province, China: new insights into a peculiar reef-building association and paleoenvironment changes - Yongli Zhang; Guanming Lai; Enpu Gong; Mark A. Wilson; Wentao Huang; Dingcheng Yuan; Xiao Li; Junjie Wang; Depeng Li; Ningfeng Du (PalZ, 2024)

The new record of weevil in K/Pg Deccan Intertrappean beds of India and its importance - Jowita Drohojowska; Sanchita Kumar; Gregory A. Evans; Jacek Szwedo; Mahasin Ali Khan (PalZ, 2024)

The fossil record of ungulates from the late Pleistocene locality of Melitzia cave, Mani Peninsula, Greece - Marianthi Tzortzi; Angelo Arvanitis; George Iliopoulos; Andreas Darlas (PalZ, 2024)

A new papionin molar (Primates, Cercopithecidae) from the Pliocene of Serbia - Predrag Radović; Zoran Marković; Sanja Alaburić; Mirjana Roksandic (PalZ, 2024)

A paedomorphic dwarf species, Gauthieria pumilio sp. nov. (Echinoidea: Phymosomatidae), from the Campanian (Late Cretaceous) of Hannover, Germany - Nils Schlüter (PalZ, 2024)
A new phymosomatoid species, Gauthieria pumilio sp. nov., from lower Campanian (Late Cretaceous) deposits in the vicinity of Hannover, Germany, is described. This species is very close in its overall appearance (i.e. tuberculation and ambulacral plating pattern) to a few other species: Gauthieria radiata and the juvenile stages of the Santonian Gauthieria spatulifera and the Maastrichtian Gauthieria princeps , with which Gauthieria pumilio sp. nov. is accordingly closely related. However, it deviates from its relatives by a significantly smaller test diameter. Accordingly it is deviating from the general increase in size during the evolutionary lineage leading from the Turonian G. radiata via G. spatulifera to the Maastrichtian G. princeps. This lineage exemplified Cope's Rule through increasing test size. However, G. pumilio sp. nov. challenges this pattern with its dwarfing phenomenon, exhibiting a test diameter < 18 mm. It shares the ambulacral plating pattern with G. radiata and the juvenile stages of G. spatulifera and G. princeps , providing further insights into the genus's evolutionary history.

An unusually large ‘suspension-feeding’ fish from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset: the first true record of Asthenocormus (Pachycormiformes: Asthenocorminae) in the UK - Samuel L. A. Cooper; Erin E. Maxwell; David M. Martill (PalZ, 2024)
A partial caudal fin of a large-bodied asthenocormine pachycormiform (Pachycormiformes: Pachycormidae: Asthenocorminae) is described from the Upper Jurassic (lower Tithonian) Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset, England. The specimen comprises associated fin rays, basal fulcra, ‘epurals’ and paired pre-caudal scutes, the combination and morphology of which is consistent with the large (2–3 m TL) edentulous, supposedly ‘suspension-feeding’ asthenocormine, Asthenocormus titanius (Wagner), presently known only from the Upper Jurassic plattenkalks of Bavaria, Germany. Asthenocormus has previously been documented in the literature as being present in the Middle and Upper Jurassic of England, however all of these specimens have been misattributed or since referred to different genera. However, the specimen from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation is here referred with confidence to Asthenocormus . Morphological variation in the pre-caudal dorsal scute of the new specimen compared to the Bavarian material suggest that the Kimmeridge Clay specimen likely represents a new species of Asthenocormus , although it is currently too poorly represented to diagnose, and hence we refer the specimen to Asthenocormus cf. titanius . The new specimen represents the first true record of Asthenocormus from the UK, thereby extending its known palaeobiogeographic distribution and further demonstrating faunal similarities between fish assemblage from the Kimmeridge Clay Formation of Dorset and the Solnhofen-type plattenkalks of southern Germany. Additional comments are also made on the hidden diversity of pachycormid fishes in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation.

Discovering a new fossil chironomid from Lower Cretaceous Lebanese Amber: Electroneura pinhoi sp. nov. Amaral, Silva & Baranov (Chironomidae: Tanypodinae) - Fabio Laurindo da Silva; André P. Amaral; Dany Azar; Viktor Baranov (PalZ, 2024)
Here we present new insights into Chironomidae (Insecta, Diptera) preserved in Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber. We describe a new genus and species, Electroneura pinhoi gen. et sp. nov., seemingly related to Tanypodinae and offer an amended description of Libanopelopia cretacica Veltz, Azar and Nel, 2007. Moreover, our investigation highlights the challenges of assigning fossils to modern taxonomic groups, based on previous studies of Tanypodinae, underscoring the necessity of considering the geological context and utilizing, when possible, both morphological and molecular data from extant taxa to validate taxonomic assignments in paleontological studies.

Contribution to the knowledge of the false click beetles from the mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (Coleoptera, Eucnemidae), with description of a new species and a paleobiodiversity analysis - Yun Hsiao; Robert L. Otto (PalZ, 2024)

Botryococcus: exceptionally well-preserved fossil examples of a tiny colonial green alga - Haytham El Atfy; Benjamin Bomfleur; Hans Kerp (PalZ, 2024)

Redescription of the actinopterygian fish Westollia crassa (Pohlig, 1892) (Aeduellidae) from the Permian sediments of Thuringia and its relationships to other Aeduellidae - Stanislav Štamberg (PalZ, 2024)

An early Eocene fish assemblage associated with a barite deposit in the lower part of the Crescent Formation, Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, USA - James L. Goedert; Steffen Kiel; Eric J. Thomas; Jürgen Kriwet (PalZ, 2024)
Abundant shark and rare actinopterygian teeth are reported from a locality within the early Eocene (Ypresian) lower part of the Crescent Formation exposed in the Hamma Hamma River valley on the eastern Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, USA. This part of the Crescent Formation is predominantly submarine volcanic basalt with some sedimentary interbeds deposited in deep water. The teeth are derived from sediments that appear to directly overlay and in places interfinger with the margins of an anomalous lenticular barite deposit; one tooth was found in the barite. Genera represented include deep-water taxa (aff. Chlamydoselachus , Mitsukurina , Notorynchus , Odontaspis ) and open marine, epipelagic sharks ( Alopias , Brachycarcharias , Jaekelotodus , Macrorhizodus , Otodus , Striatolamia ). The only other fossils found were two fragmentary shark vertebrae, numerous shark dermal ossicles, a single teleost tooth ( Egertonia ) and abundant, minute valves of a discinid brachiopod. This is the first report of macrofossils from the lower part of the Crescent Formation and the only early Eocene shark assemblage described from the North Pacific Basin. The shark assemblage also corroborates paleodepositional interpretations of the lower Crescent Formation as being in part ancient volcanic seamounts during early Eocene time.

New indications for the life habits of long-legged aphidlion-like larvae in about 100-million-year-old amber - Christine Kiesmüller; Gideon T. Haug; Carolin Haug; Patrick Müller; Marie K. Hörnig; Joachim T. Haug (PalZ, 2024)
Larvae of lacewings (Neuroptera) are known to be fierce predators today. Most characteristic are their prominent piercing-sucking stylets, which are used for venom injection and sucking out the fluids of the prey. Among lacewing larvae, aphidlions (larvae of the groups Chrysopidae and Hemerobiidae, green and brown lacewings) are today highly specialised to feed on aphids and evolved strategies to not be detected and attacked by, e.g., aphid-protecting ants. Fossil relatives of modern aphidlions seem to have also employed other strategies. For the species Pedanoptera arachnophila from about 100-million-year-old Kachin amber, Myanmar, an interaction of its larvae with spiders has been assumed. We present here new specimens resembling these larvae, including one piece of Cretaceous Kachin amber with a syn-inclusion of an aphidlion-like larva and an immature planthopper, indicating planthoppers as potential prey of the group about 100 million years ago. The morphology of the lacewing larva, with a trapezoid head capsule (in dorsal view), simple, toothless stylets, very elongate legs, and a spindle-shaped trunk, indicates that it is conspecific or at least closely related to P. arachnophila. We reconstruct the possible ontogenetic sequence of Pedanoptera arachnophila and discuss its ecology.

Histovariability of cingulate osteoderms from Brazilian Pleistocene - Yumi Asakura; É. V. Oliveira (PalZ, 2024)

Lower molars of the large morganucodontan Storchodon cingulatus from the Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) of Germany - Thomas Martin; Alexander O. Averianov; Andreas J. Lang; Oliver Wings (PalZ, 2024)
Three new lower molars of Storchodon cingulatus and a fragmentary upper molar confirm its morganucodontan affinities. Cusps b and c are relatively higher than in Morganucodon, and cusp c is larger than cusp b. Cusp a is asymmetric, with slightly distally recurved tip. All known lower Storchodon molars have a pronounced furcation between the roots on the labial and lingual sides. The wear pattern of Storchodon corresponds to that observed in Morganucodon . Cusp A of the upper molar occludes into the valley between cusps a and c of the lower antagonist, causing large confluent wear facets. The smaller wear facets present on the mesiolabial flank of cusp b and the distolabial flank of cusp c were caused by cusp C of the upper antagonist that occluded into the embrasure between two lower molars. So far, the Morganucodon -like occlusal mode is restricted to the morganucodontans Morganucodon, Dinnetherium nezorum , Cifellilestes ciscoensis , and Storchodon cingulatus, whereas Megazostrodon and Erythrotherium exhibit embrasure occlusion. Although Storchodon belongs to the larger morganucodontans, it is questionable if it represents a case of island gigantism as suggested earlier.

Bioerosion and encrustation signatures on Crassostrea gryphoides (von Schlotheim) from the Miocene Raghama Formation, northwest Saudi Arabia: description and paleoenvironmental implications - Abdelbaset S. El-Sorogy; Mansour H. Al-Hashim; Sebastian Richiano; Talal Alharbi; Meshal Wadani; Fatima-Zahra Ait-Itto (PalZ, 2024)

Peabody's legacy: the Moenkopi Formation (Middle Triassic, Anisian) tetrapod ichnofauna—updates from an extensive new tracksite in NE Arizona, USA - H. Klein; S. G. Lucas; J. N. Lallensack; Lorenzo Marchetti (PalZ, 2024)

The earliest true Spirorbinae from the late Bathonian and Callovian (Middle Jurassic) of France, Israel and Madagascar - Olev Vinn; Mark A. Wilson; Manfred Jäger; Tomáš Kočí (PalZ, 2024)

New proboscidean specimens from the Late Miocene of Romania: the huge-sized deinothere Deinotherium proavum, the rare “Mammut” cf. obliquelophus and the first description of the shovel-tusker Konobelodon from the country - George E. Konidaris; Bogdan G. Rățoi; Daniel D. Badea; Laurențiu Ursachi (PalZ, 2024)
In this article, we describe so far unpublished proboscidean specimens from several Late Miocene localities of Romania. A partial mandible and the complete upper/lower cheek tooth rows of a deinothere individual from the site of Gherghești 1 belong to Deinotherium proavum and comprise one of the few examples of entire cheek tooth rows of the same individual of this species. Gherghești 1 is geographically close to Mânzaţi from where the celebrated skeleton of “ Deinotherium gigantissimum ” was discovered at the end of the nineteenth century, and thus further highlights the importance of Romania in the study of this emblematic deinothere. Deinotherium proavum represents the last deinothere species in Europe and corresponds to the terminal stage of the size increase characterizing the evolution of European deinotheres. Two zygodont molars are attributed to the rare “ Mammut ” cf. obliquelophus and add to the scarce record of “ Mammut ” in the Miocene of Eurasia. They document the secure presence of “ Mammut ” in the Miocene of Romania. The small size of the studied molars compared to known specimens of the Pliocene “ Mammut ” borsoni and the weak development of the distal cingulum in the lower third molars may have taxonomic and biostratigraphic importance. Furthermore, the presence of an amebelodontid is documented by a large-sized and dorsoventrally flattened lower tusk fragment that shows tubular dentine in its inner part and is attributed to the tetralophodont shovel-tusker Konobelodon . This specimen marks the first record of the genus in Romania. Finally, the biostratigraphic distribution of the taxa is discussed.

First Eocene record of a bangialean rhodophyte (the endolithic microboring Conchocelichnus seilacheri) and coralline red algae from the Pacific Coast of North America - Tomáš Kočí; Martina Kočová Veselská; James L. Goedert; John S. Buckeridge; Joachim Reitner; Lenka Váchová (PalZ, 2024)

Elateriform beetle larvae preserved in about 100-million-year-old Kachin amber - Ana Zippel; Carolin Haug; Patrick Müller; Joachim T. Haug (PalZ, 2024)
Beetle larvae show high diversity in forms and ecological roles. Beetle larvae are often roughly categorised into certain larval types, for example: campodeiform, onisciform, scarabeiform, or elateriform. Larvae of the latter type are virtually absent from the fossil record. Here, we report three amber pieces from Cretaceous Kachin amber, Myanmar (about 100 million years old) that together include nine elateriform beetle larvae. One of the amber pieces has a single specimen included. The specimen is interpreted as a larva of Elateridae, the group of click beetles, possibly of the ingroup Elaterinae; yet accessible details are limited. Eight specimens within the other two amber pieces show certain similarities with larvae of Elateridae, but show significant differences in the trunk end, which bears two lobes armed with hooks in these fossils. This very specific structure is well known in modern larvae of Ptilodactylidae (toed-winged beetles). Therefore, the fossils are interpreted as larvae of Ptilodactylidae. Both types of here reported elateriform larvae represent the first fossil record of larvae of their respective groups. It is well known that larval morphology does not evolve in concert with adult morphology, and a modern-type morphology of the one may precede that of the other. Hence, the new fossils are important indicators of the appearance of the modern larval morphologies of their respective lineages. We also briefly discuss the fossil record of larvae of Elateriformia (of which Elateridae and Ptilodactylidae are ingroups) in general.

Disparate occurrences of a chalicotheriine and a schizotheriine chalicothere (Mammalia, Chalicotheriidae) at the Late Miocene hominid locality Hammerschmiede (Germany) - Panagiotis Kampouridis; Josephina Hartung; Thomas S. Lechner; Nikolaos Kargopoulos; Madelaine Böhme (PalZ, 2024)
Chalicotheres are enigmatic perissodactyls that had large claws instead of hooves. The present study concerns the material of Chalicotheriidae from the Late Miocene hominid locality of Hammerschmiede in Germany. The HAM 5 fossil site (11.62 Ma) consists of six isolated dental and postcranial chalicothere elements. Based on the morphology and dimensions of the dentition, the material can be assigned to the chalicotheriine Anisodon sp. This genus is the most common representative of Chalicotheriidae in Central Europe during the Middle Miocene but becomes much rarer during the Late Miocene. The HAM 4 fossil site (11.44 Ma) has yielded a patella belonging to a schizotheriine and a skull fragment that could possibly also belong to a schizotheriine. Thus, the schizotheriine and the chalicotheriine occur in different horizons in Hammerschmiede. Both taxa probably had a rather similar diet but different locomotion, and their disparate occurrences are most plausibly associated with environmental differences among the two fossiliferous levels.

Cymbospondylus (Ichthyopterygia) from the Early Triassic of Svalbard and the early evolution of large body size in ichthyosaurs - P. Martin Sander; René Dederichs; Tanja Schaaf; Eva Maria Griebeler (PalZ, 2024)
Ichthyosaurs were a highly successful group of marine reptiles in the Mesozoic. The ichthyosaur radiation is part of the recovery from the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. In the Early Triassic, this group underwent extensive global radiation, filling ecological niches for the first time that were later occupied by various other lineages of marine amniotes. However, the evolution of body size in ichthyosaurs is not fully understood, as most large-bodied taxa originate from the Middle Triassic and later, and are mostly known from only a few specimens. In this study, we describe three articulated posterior dorsal vertebrae (IGPB R660) of the ichthyosaur Cymbospondylus sp. from the latest Olenekian Keyserlingites subrobustus zone of the Vikinghøgda Formation of the Agardhdalen area, eastern Spitsbergen, Svalbard. We numerically estimated the total body length of IGPB R660 from dorsal vertebral centrum length using a comparative dataset of other species of the genus and two different allometric analyses. This approach yields total length estimates of 7.5 m and 9.5 m for the individual, respectively, the highest for any unambiguous Early Triassic ichthyosaur find. Earlier, higher estimates of 11 m were based on taxonomically and stratigraphically inconclusive material but do not appear unreasonable based on evidence provided in this paper. Our study underscores both the rapid ecosystem recovery after a major mass extinction and extremely rapid increases in body size in ichthyosaurs after their adaptation to a secondarily aquatic lifestyle.

Late Pennsylvanian fishes from the Finis Shales of North-Central Texas (USA) - Alexander O. Ivanov; Barbara Seuss (PalZ, 2024)

The﻿ Picocoraciades (hoopoes, rollers, woodpeckers, and allies) from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze - Gerald Mayr; Andrew C. Kitchener (PalZ, 2024)
We describe upupiform, coraciiform, and possible piciform birds from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK). The material includes partial skeletons of a new species of a small upupiform bird, Waltonirrisor tendringensis , gen. et sp. nov., which is the earliest known representative of the Upupiformes. Three very similar species of stem group rollers are assigned to Laputavis robusta , Septencoracias morsensis , and S. simillimus , sp. nov. These species only differ in minor features, which raises the possibility that the taxon Sepencoracias Bourdon, 2016﻿ is a junior synonym of Laputavis Dyke, 2001﻿. A smaller stem group roller from Walton-on-the-Naze resembles the North American primobucconid species Primobucco mcgrewi . We also describe two species of a new genus-level taxon, Pristineanis , gen. nov., which shows close affinities to the North American “ Neanis ” kistneri and may be a stem group representative of the Piciformes. In many aspects of their postcranial osteology, the stem group Coracii from Walton-on-the-Naze, as well as the new taxon Pristineanis, resemble coeval Trogoniformes from this fossil site. Because trogons are the extant sister taxon of the Picocoraciades – the clade including the Upupiformes, Coraciiformes, and Piciformes –, the shared similarities are likely to be plesiomorphic for this latter clade. Early Cenozoic representatives of the Upupiformes and Coraciiformes were much smaller than their extant relatives, which suggests that the Picocoraciades are an avian example of Cope’s Rule that postulates a tendency for size increase in evolutionary lineages over time.

The first cetacean from the early Oligocene of the SW German Mainz Basin: a probable cheek tooth of a mysticete (Mammalia: Cetacea) - Oliver Hampe; Fritz von der Hocht (PalZ, 2024)
Despite two centuries of fossils collecting, no cetacean remains from the Oligocene marine deposits of the Mainz Basin (western Germany) have ever been reported. Here, we describe a possible mysticete tooth from the sand pit of Eckelsheim, which exposes high energy deposits belonging to the Rupelian Alzey Formation. The latter has yielded a rich assemblage of vertebrates and invertebrates, but so far, only one marine mammal in the form of the sirenian Kaupitherium . The whale tooth in some ways resembles the m2 of Llanocetus from the latest Eocene of Seymour Island, Antarctica. If the find from the Mainz Basin is not a regionally evolved form, Llanocetus , which is known from the South Atlantic, could have migrated through the Atlantic realm during the early Oligocene. It cannot be excluded that the tooth represents a more widely occurring lineage, neither endemic nor necessarily related to llanocetids, that—given the generally poor Rupelian record—has not been well documented yet.

A new species of Cretaceoushormiops from the mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar (Arachnida: Scorpiones: Protoischnuridae) - Qiang Xuan; Chenyang Cai; Zhijun Zhang; Diying Huang (PalZ, 2024)

Diversity and variability of grylloblattidan insects (Grylloblattida) from the early Permian Meisenheim Formation of the Saar-Nahe Basin (SW-Germany) - Markus J. Poschmann; André Nel; Manfred Raisch (PalZ, 2024)

Three new species of Elcanidae (Insecta: Orthoptera) from Myanmar amber and a discussion about phylogeny, ecology and evolutionary origin of Myanmar-amber Elcanidae - Ole-Kristian Odin Schall; Ulrich Kotthoff; Martin Husemann (PalZ, 2024)

A new Cretaceous orthopteran family of the Caelifera (order: Orthoptera) from Burmese amber of northern Myanmar - Kei Uchida; Martin Husemann; Ulrich Kotthoff (PalZ, 2024)
A new family of short horned grasshoppers, Burmecaelidae fam. nov., is described on the basis of a new species: Burmecaelinus armis fam., gen. et sp. nov. While any extant species can clearly be sorted into the Tridactylidea and Acrididea, the new fossil species presented here does not clearly match any of the two groups. The metafemora of the new family are apparently saltatorial and greatly inflated along its entire length, which is similar to extant and Mesozoic Tridactylidae and Ripipterygidae. In contrast, the compound eyes are elongated and protrude from the head dorsally; the elongated area of the pronotum does not cover the abdomen. Although the morphology of the hind legs is shared with Tridactyloidea, the shape of the head and abdomen are more similar to Tetrigoidea and Eumastacoidea. We suggest two hypotheses: (1) the new family emerged at the basis of the superfamilies Tridactyloidea and Acridoidea early in Caeliferan evolution, or alternatively (2) the new family emerged within Tridactyloidea, between the families Tridactylidae and Ripipterygidae. The new family may have emerged when these families split. The phylogenetic placement of the new family needs to be further evaluated in the future based on more specimens.

New occurrence of the Late Jurassic Xenoxylon wood in the Sichuan Basin, southern China: wood anatomy, and paleobiodiversity implications - Aowei Xie; Yongdong Wang; Ning Tian; Xiaoping Xie; Shuna Xi; Dieter Uhl (PalZ, 2024)

New taxa of Pelecinidae (Hymenoptera) from the mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber of Northern Myanmar - Kei Uchida (PalZ, 2024)
Three specimens of Pelecinidae preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber from Northern Myanmar were examined and described. Ampluspelecinus robustus gen. et sp. nov. and Eopelecinus diminutivum sp. nov. of Pelecinidae from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber are characterized by the shape and size of their mesosoma, metasoma, and wing venation. Ampluspelecinus robustus is distinguished from other pelecinid species by its length ratio of metasomal segments, 2r-rs in the forewing forming an “X” pattern, with Rs2 extending approximately two-thirds toward the forewing apex. E . diminutivum sp. nov. is distinguished by its metasomal length ratio and swollen fore, mid, and hind femora. In addition, both female and male specimens are described from amber, which is unusual because male pelecinid wasps, both extant and extinct, are relatively rare. The male specimen is the smallest Pelenicidae wasp reported to date.

New Archexyelinae (Hymenoptera: Xyelidae) from the Triassic Madygen Formation of Kyrgyzstan - Elizaveta A. Denisova; Dmitry S. Kopylov; Alexandr P. Rasnitsyn (PalZ, 2024)

New records of Bison (Mammalia: Bovidae) from Southern Mexico and some comments on their distribution and biochronology - R. Carrillo-López; A. Velasco-Rodríguez; R. Vásquez-Simon; G. Valera-Venegas; E. Jiménez-Hidalgo (PalZ, 2024)

Tergomyan molluscs from the Early Ordovician of the Llangynog Inlier, South Wales, UK - John C. W. Cope; Jan Ove R. Ebbestad (PalZ, 2024)
A low abundance but diverse fauna of tergomyan molluscs is described from the Llangynog Inlier, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The specimens originate from a single quarry exposing shallow-water siltstone and mudstone beds of the Early Arenig (early Floian) Bolahaul Member of the Ogof Hên Formation. The fauna includes Proplina areniga sp. nov., Proplina ? obtusa sp. nov., Celtopileus calvapex gen. et sp. nov. with preserved muscle scars, Costulaconus mirificus gen. et sp. nov., and Hypseloconus ? sp. Comparable tryblidiid taxa are mainly found in the Lower Ordovician of Midwestern USA among species of Proplina Kobayashi, 1933 and Gasconadeoconus Stinchcomb, 1986. The tentative assignment of the predominantly late Cambrian Hypseloconus is symptomatic of the many uncertainties regarding the phylogeny of the tryblidiids. The diverse assemblage of organisms preserved at the single locality represents one of the most remarkable faunas of this age worldwide.

The first Neuroptera from the Triassic of Central Asia - Alexander V. Khramov (PalZ, 2024)

Body reconstruction, taxonomy, and biostratigraphy of a ‘problematic’ chancelloriid - Hao Yun; Joachim Reitner; Xingliang Zhang (PalZ, 2024)
Chancelloriids are a group of ‘problematic’ fossils characterized by bag-shaped body equipped with mineralized sclerites on the external surface. Among the chancelloriid taxa, the genus Dimidia was known only by isolated sclerites from small shelly faunas and once regarded as a junior synonym of Allonnia . The complete body of Dimidia simplex Jiang is described herein for the first time, based on well-preserved specimens from the Chengjiang biota (Cambrian Stage 3) of South China. The name Dimidia is resurrected since the characteristic sclerites in the scleritome are distinctive within all known chancelloriid genera with complete bodies. The sclerites of Dimidia are densely arranged, each composed of two symmetrical, acute rays that pointed out with their long axes nearly vertical to the body surface, structurally representing an intermediate type between the single-rayed and the common rosette-like composite sclerites of chancelloriids. The remains of Dimidia were previously found across South China, Gondwana, and Laurentia, and stratigraphically ranging from the upper Stage 2 to Wuliuan Stage of the Cambrian. The discovery of complete bodies of Dimidia contributes to revealing the diversity and clarifying the ‘problematic’ taxonomy of chancelloriids, and emphasizes the necessity to scrutinize more scleritome fossils to interpret the taxonomy and phylogenetic affinity of other small shelly fossils.

The oldest dustywing (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae) from the Lower Jurassic of Germany - Vladimir N. Makarkin; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2024)
Toarciconiopteryx dipterosimilis gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Lower Toarcian of Grimmen (Western Pomerania, Germany) based on a hind wing. This enigmatic wing superficially resembles a dipteran forewing, but analysis in detail establishes that it belongs to the Neuroptera. We assign it to the Coniopterygidae with great confidence by its great concordance with the hind wings of that family, but a small possibility remains that it might belong to the Dipteromantispidae, although the very derived haltere-like hind wings of all its known members are entirely unlike it. We, therefore, consider it to be the oldest record of Coniopterygidae. We create the new subfamily Toarciconiopteryginae subfam. nov. for it, which is distinguished from other Coniopterygidae by its hind wings possessing two branches of RP and a proximal forking of M. These conditions are also known in some Sialidae (Megaloptera), supporting the hypothesis that Coniopterygidae is the sister group of all other Neuroptera, as Megaloptera is considered by most authors to be sister to Neuroptera. New interpretations of some aspects of the Coniopterygidae venation are proposed.

Internal conulariid structures unveiled using μCT: a discussion - Heyo Van Iten; Nigel C. Hughes; Mary L. Droser (PalZ, 2024)

A new holocrinid sea lily from the Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Qingyan, south-western China, and the morphological variability of the distal nodal facets in the genus Holocrinus - Frank Stiller (PalZ, 2024)

An obituary for Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Herbig (March 8th, 1955–August 1st, 2023) - Markus Aretz; Michael R. W. Amler; Sven Hartenfels (PalZ, 2023)

Preface: Palaeontological papers written in honour of Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Herbig, a tribute and memorial - Michael R. W. Amler; Markus Aretz; Sven Hartenfels (PalZ, 2023)

A unique pericyclid from the Viséan of the eastern Anti-Atlas (Morocco) and other Helicocyclinae n. subfam. (Goniatitida) - Ralph Thomas Becker (PalZ, 2023)
The Jebel Begaa region of the eastern Anti-Atlas in SE Morocco yielded a single, very well-preserved goniatite that is closely related to Helicocyclus divergens Riley, 1996 from the lower Viséan (Chadian) of northern England. Both are placed in a new genus, Tectocyclus n. gen., with the Moroccan T. herbigi n. sp. as the type species. Characteristic are its subtriangular suture elements, which distinguish it strongly from Helicocyclus gracillimus Schindewolf, 1951, which is revised based on the re-examination of its types. The type-species of Helicocyclus is characterized by wide, bell-shaped lateral lobes, unlike as in described helicocyclids from the upper Tournaisian and Viséan of North Africa, Russia, and Central Asia. These are assigned, partly with reservation, to Serpenticyclus n. gen., with the oldest species, Helicocyclus fuscus Korn, Bockwinkel, Ebbighausen, and Klug, 2003, as the type-species. All three genera form the Helicocyclinae n. subfam., which first appeared in North Africa, migrated at the end of the Tournaisian across the Variscan Sea to the southern shelf of Laurussia, to Central Asia, and to the Urals seaway, where it survived into Arundian levels of the Viséan.

A new alcyonacean octocoral (Anthozoa) from the Late Silurian of Gotland, Sweden - Mike Reich; Manfred Kutscher (PalZ, 2023)
A new species and genus of stem-group ‘soft corals’ (Anthozoa: Octocorallia: Alcyonacea) is described and illustrated in detail, as well as compared to other species of the sparse octocorallian fossil record. Sueciatractos leipnitzae gen. et sp. nov. has been collected from the Upper Silurian Hemse beds of the Isle of Gotland, Sweden. The new taxon differs from all other taxa by its unique form of sclerites which were fused at first glance, but stacked compactly, densely packed aggregates forming a nearly solid skeleton or former supporting layers in part. Sueciatractos is compared with other fossil octocoral species that were known by microscopic/mesoscopic sclerites.

Radiolarian cherts and associated siliceous rocks of the Rhenish Massif and Harz Mountains, lower Carboniferous (Mississippian), Germany - Hans-Jürgen Gursky (PalZ, 2023)
Siliceous sedimentary rocks are major constituents of the rock succession in the Central European part of the Kulm Basin (Mississippian) and crop out in the eastern Rhenish Massif and the western Harz Mountains. These rocks occur in five lithostratigraphical units: Oberrödinghausen Formation, subdivided into Kahlenberg Subformation (“Untere Alaunschiefer”) and Hardt Subformation (“Schwarze Kulm-Kieselschiefer/-Lydite”), Laisa Formation (“Helle Kulm-Kieselschiefer”) and coeval Hillershausen Formation (“Kulm-Kieselkalke”), as well as Bromberg Formation (“Kieselige Übergangssschichten”); upper Hastarian to Asbian. Biostratigraphically, the formations can be dated by means of radiolarians and, in the upper part of the Kulm succession, also by ammonoids. Various siliciclastic, calcareous and, locally, mafic volcanic and pyroclastic rocks are associated with these strata. Four palaeogeographical facies zones have been identified. Radiolarian chert, spiculitic chert, homogenous chert, and silicified tuff are the main siliceous rock types. These mostly form current-laminated grey, black, greenish or reddish beds rhythmically alternating with layers of siliceous mudstone and are, in places, variably intercalated with grey and black mudstones and siltstones, phosphorites, metabentonites, turbiditic limestones, greywackes and quartz arenites. The depositional area of the Kulm Basin was situated at the northwestern margin of the elongate, relatively narrow tropical Palaeotethys Ocean, a shallow-bathyal sea strait between Gondwana and Laurussia that was successively closed during the Variscan Orogeny. Westbound nutrient-rich currents favoured high fertility of siliceous plankton (radiolarians). The latter gave rise to the formation of relatively pure biosiliceous oozes and muds under temporarily anoxic conditions at the seafloor, when, contemporaneously, terrigenous detrital input and sedimentation rates became low (approx. 2 mm/1000 a) due to relatively high sea level and dry climate. Biosiliceous sedimentation terminated, when, due to the Gondwana–Laurussia collision, terrigenous detrital input multiplied, the basin narrowed and oceanic circulation was restricted resulting in lowering of radiolarian productivity.

Brachiopods from the Early Carboniferous Erdbach limestones in Hesse (Germany, Kulm Basin) - Bernard Mottequin; Michael Amler; Dieter Weyer (PalZ, 2023)

An unusual styliolinid limestone in the early Frasnian of the southwestern Wittgenstein Syncline (eastern Rhenish Massif, Germany) - Manfred Gereke; Matthias Piecha (PalZ, 2023)

Oldest known West Gondwanan graptolite: Ovetograptus? sp. (lower Agdzian/lowest Wuliuan; basal Middle Cambrian) of the Franconian Forest, Germany, and review of pre-Furongian graptolithoids - Gerd Geyer; Ed Landing; Stefan Meier; Stefan Höhn (PalZ, 2023)
The occurrence of a likely graptolite in lowest Wuliuan strata of the Franconian Forest almost certainly records the oldest known graptolithoid hemichordate in West Gondwana and possibly the oldest graptolite presently known. The fossil is a delicate, erect, apparently unbranched rhabdosome with narrow thecae tentatively assigned to the poorly known genus Ovetograptus of the Dithecodendridae. This report includes an overview of pre-Furongian graptolithoids with slight corrections on the stratigraphic position of earlier reported species.

Coral assemblages of the Serpukhovian–Bashkirian transition from Adarouch (Morocco) - Sergio Rodríguez; Ismail Said; Ian D. Somerville; Pedro Cózar; Ismael Coronado (PalZ, 2023)
The Carboniferous outcrops from Adarouch (central Morocco) are composed of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks, and the latter have yielded abundant fossils. The upper part of the marine succession in the Idmarrach Formation and its laterally equivalent Tirhela Formation belong to the Bashkirian. More recent investigations of poorly preserved coral assemblages from the upper part of Idmarrach 2 section and the upper part of the Tirhela Formation are here described. The assemblage from the upper Idmarrach Formation comprises several typical Mississippian taxa, such as Aulophyllum fungites , Dibunophyllum bipartitum , Koninckophyllum interruptum, Siphonodendron scaleberense and Lithostrotion decipiens, and some highly evolved forms previously undescribed of Mississippian genera such as Haplolasma sp., Arachnolasma sp., Siphonodendron sp., Diphyphyllum sp., Solenodendron sp., Clisiophyllum sp. and a new species Corwenia tirhelensis sp. nov. In addition, an undetermined petalaxid has been also recorded. Similarly, the assemblage from near the top of the Tirhela Formation yielded some species regarded usually as Mississippian, such as Palaeosmilia murchisoni and Lithostrotion decipiens . We also identified the long-ranging tabulate Syringopora sp., Corwenia tirhelensis sp. nov., and a single species of the fasciculate rugosan, Siphonodendron tindoufense, previously described from Bashkirian rocks in the Tindouf Basin (southern Morocco). The presence of the latter taxon in both the Idmarrach and Tirhela sections implies a communication between the Adarouch region and the Saharan basins. The occurrence of S. tindoufense at the approximately same stratigraphic level in Tindouf, Taoudenni, Reggan-Ahnet and Adarouch, demonstrates its important regional stratigraphic value in North Africa.

Semicosciniid bryozoans from the Middle Devonian of Rommersheim (Eifel, Germany) - Andrej Ernst (PalZ, 2023)
Two bryozoan species belonging to the Family Semicosciniidae Morozova, 1987 are described from the Middle Devonian of the Eifel— Bigeyina winteri (Bornemann, 1884) and Loculipora alvearis (Maurer, 1885). The two species are endemic to the Middle Devonian (Eifelian–Givetian) of the Eifel. Morphology and taxonomical assignment of the studied bryozoans are discussed. The Family Fenestraporidae Xia, 2002 is considered to be invalid.

Colonial Heterocorallia (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) and their epibionts from the lower Carboniferous of Montagne Noire and Pyrenees, southern France - Julien Denayer; Edouard Poty; Francis Tourneur; Markus Aretz (PalZ, 2023)

A new look at Eccaparadoxides (Cambrian, Trilobita) and its biostratigraphic significance - Gerd Geyer; Ed Landing; Anna Żylińska (PalZ, 2023)
Eccaparadoxides is a geographically widely distributed trilobite genus that occurs in the middle part of the Cambrian System. However, the systematically important morphologic characteristics that can be used to differentiate taxa are often problematical in their application. A review of the large number (over 30) of significant species or forms assigned to Eccaparadoxides clearly indicates that only the pygidia offer fairly reliable morphologic criteria that can be used taxonomically and phylogenetically. The pygidia allow for recognition of four different morphological groups ( pusillus , lamellatus , pradoanus and asturianus ) of which the asturianus group can only be questionably assigned to the genus. Species known only from cranidia cannot be assigned to Eccaparadoxides with certainty. This study refines the biostratigraphy for the interval from the upper Wuliuan to the middle Drumian and shows that this interval brackets the range of most Eccaparadoxides species. The genera or subgenera Baltoparadoxides , Rejkocephalus and Macrocerca are evaluated. Eccaparadoxides zelus , E. epimetheus and Eccaparadoxides ? hestia are newly proposed species.

First Eugereonidae (Insecta: Palaeodictyoptera) from the Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous) of the Piesberg site near Osnabrück, Germany - Carsten Brauckmann; Karl Josef Herd; Angelika Leipner (PalZ, 2023)
Sandiella herbigi sp. nov. is the first record of the family Eugereonidae Handlirsch, 1906 (Insecta: Palaeodictyoptera) in the Pennsylvanian (Late Carboniferous: Westphalian D) sequence of the Piesberg quarry near Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany. It is represented by a single fragment of a mesothoracic wing with the typical coarse reticulation in this family. The species is mainly characterized by the following features: (i) the shape of the mesothoracic wing is extremely narrow, (ii) the posterior subcostal vein is ending before the wing apex, (iii) all the main veins show a typical bend close to the posterior margin. The new wing is the second most ancient record of the Eugereonidae.

Re-assessment of ammonoid specimens from the Early Carboniferous Protocanites Beds of the Badenweiler–Lenzkirch Zone (Schwarzwald, Central Variscan Belt): age constraints for a lithostratigraphic key bed - Dieter Korn; Michael Montenari (PalZ, 2023)
The Protocanites Beds of the Black Forest Massif (Germany) form an important lithostratigraphic key bed, as the index fossils contained in this formation enable correlation within large areas of the internal zone of the central Variscan Belt of Europe. Furthermore, the formation provides significant information on the geodynamic evolution of the Moldanubian Zone. The stratigraphic age of the formation has been a subject of controversy in the past; a Devonian to Viséan age has been proposed. To determine the age of the Protocanites Beds, two ammonoid specimens from the Protocanites Beds of Schönau are re-described here. They belong to Becanites abnobensis and Pericylcus princeps and fix the stratigraphic position of the Protocanites Beds to the early Late Tournaisian.

Hyaenid remains from the Late Miocene of Kutschwan (Shanxi Province, China) - Nikolaos Kargopoulos; Panagiotis Kampouridis; Josephina Hartung; Madelaine Böhme (PalZ, 2023)
The hyaenid family reached its peak of spatial range and taxonomic diversity during the Late Miocene, including a very wide range of different forms that were spanning throughout the Old World. Particularly, the fossil record of the family in the Balkans and China has been extremely variable during that time. The present paper deals with cranial and postcranial hyaenid material from the Late Miocene locality of Kutschwan (Shanxi Province, China). The specimens were identified as Hyaenictitherium wongii , a widespread species with well-known occurrences throughout Eurasia during the Vallesian and the Turolian. The material presents some notable features, such as the enlarged M1, M2 and m2 that point towards a more basal form of the species. However, the statistical analysis of the variability of these characters points towards intraspecific divergence based on selective release, instead of taxonomically significant adaptive traits. The postcranial material conforms very well to the known material of H . wongii from other localities, indicating an agile cursorial hunter. This species is the only carnivoran found in Kutschwan, based on the current data.

The first Palaeozoic spider (Arachnida: Araneae) from Germany - Jason A. Dunlop (PalZ, 2023)
The first Palaeozoic spider (Arachnida: Araneae) from Germany is described as Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki sp. nov. and comes from the late Carboniferous (Moscovian) strata of Piesberg near Osnabrück in Lower Saxony. Characteristic for the genus, the new fossil reveals a posteriorly tuberculate dorsal opisthosoma, and relatively elongate and setose legs in which the first leg is longer than the second and third legs. Spinnerets are also preserved, confirming its status as a genuine spider rather than being part of an extinct spider-like arachnid lineage. Carboniferous spiders in general are rather rare. While modern spiders are a megadiverse group, the published fossil record suggests they were only moderately diverse in the late Carboniferous compared to other Coal Measures arachnids. Part of the explanation must be that major radiations within Araneae occurred later, probably during the Mesozoic. If the lifestyle of the Carboniferous fossils was similar to that of modern mesothele spiders their rarity as fossils might also relate to them spending much of their lives in burrows, or similar retreats, with limited opportunities for preservation.

A new Mesozoic scorpion from the Besano Formation (Middle Triassic, Monte San Giorgio UNESCO WHL), Italy - Marco Viaretti; Gabriele Bindellini; Cristiano Dal Sasso (PalZ, 2023)
The first Mesozoic scorpion from Italy, Protobuthus ziliolii sp. nov., is here described and named thanks to a single specimen. This new species comes from the Besano Formation (Middle Triassic) of Monte San Giorgio, a UNESCO World Heritage Locality (WHL). Taphonomical analysis allows interpretation of the specimen as a full-body fossil, rather than an exuvia. Different analytical techniques, such as optical, UV, and SEM microscopy, reveal different characters, not visible together with a single method. The new species is assigned to the family Protobuthidae. Protobuthus ziliolii is the first arachnid to be reported from the Besano Formation and the Mesozoic of Italy, the second from the Monte San Giorgio WHL, and the second species of the genus Protobuthus in the world. This discovery corroborates the previously hypothesized nearshore deposition for the genesis of the upper portion of the Besano Formation.

Gross and microscopic anatomy of a tibia tentatively attributed to a cetacean from the Middle Eocene of Europe, with a note on the artiodactyl Anoplotherium and on the perissodactyl Lophiodon - Svitozar Davydenko; Pavel Gol’din; Mark Bosselaers; Bernd Vahldiek; Henk Jan van Vliet (PalZ, 2023)

Discovery of Cainochoerus (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Suidae, Cainochoerinae) from the basal upper Miocene Nakali Formation, Kenya - Takehisa Tsubamoto; Yutaka Kunimatsu; Masato Nakatsukasa (PalZ, 2023)

A new sponge genus from the Chengjiang biota with an intriguing combination of skeletal characters - Ailin Chen; Luis Porras; Haidan Ma; Xianguang Hou; Gert Wörheide (PalZ, 2023)
The development of fossil sponge systematics is hindered by factors such as their low anatomical complexity and the low preservation potential of many characters used in the definition of extant sponge clades. Here we describe Calliospongia chunchengia gen. et sp. nov., a new sponge from the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang biota, which possesses a unique combination of characters. The skeleton of C. chunchengia is similar to those of leptomitid protomonaxonids in being composed of large spicules arranged longitudinally. However, it is distinct enough to belong in its own genus and even question a leptomitid affinity, because, unlike the members of this group, which usually have two categories of diactine spicules, its skeleton is entirely composed of triactines. The new taxon shares the presence of large megascleres with demosponges, hexactinellids and the ascosponges, suggesting an affinity to the total group of Silicea. It is also reminiscent of the hexactinellid-like reticulosans, showing a potential connection between two major types of Early Palaeozoic sponge body plans. A more accurate definition of the Cambro-Ordovician groups and the creation of a total evidence framework that integrates extinct and extant sponge morphology into the phylogenetic scenario derived from phylogenomics seem to be essential steps for the improvement of our understanding of early sponge evolution.

Mandibular and dental characteristics of the Late Jurassic mammal Henkelotherium guimarotae (Paurodontidae, Dryolestida) - Zhe-Xi Luo; Thomas Martin (PalZ, 2023)

Unusual larviform beetles in 100-million-year-old Kachin amber resemble immatures of trilobite beetles and fireflies - Carolin Haug; Ana Zippel; Patrick Müller; Joachim T. Haug (PalZ, 2023)
Despite the large number of species in the group Coleoptera (beetles), it is usually relatively easy to identify an adult beetle as such due to certain common characteristics. Among beetle larvae, however, there is a larger variability of body organisation. In some lineages, specialised larval morphologies are carried on into the adult phase by heterochrony, more exactly paedomorphosis. Such evolutionary events resulted in larviform females, as they occur in some extant representatives of Lycidae (net-winged beetles) and Lampyridae (fireflies). However, such larviform individuals, larvae or paedomorphic females, have been very rarely described in the fossil record until now and were restricted to Cenozoic ambers. Here, we report fossil larviform representatives, resembling larvae of the groups Lampyridae and Lycidae in certain aspects, from 100-million-year-old Myanmar amber. We furthermore discuss the morphological similarities and differences of the three new specimens in relation to extant larviform representatives of the groups and possible relationships of the new fossils.

Stepwise growth changes in early post-embryonic stages among Cretaceous tetragonitid ammonoids - Yoshitaka Kawakami; Ryoji Wani (PalZ, 2023)
In this study, we analyzed the ontogenetic trajectories of shell morphology in some Cretaceous tetragonitid ammonoid specimens (Tetragonitidae) collected from the Tomamae, Mikasa, and Hamanaka areas of Hokkaido, Japan. In all examined species, the ontogenetic trajectories of septal spacing between successive chambers had similar characteristics during their early ontogeny: two cycles, each comprising an increase and subsequent decrease in septal spacing until ~ 30th septum. The trends of whorl expansion rate changed at 5–7 or ~ 10 mm in the Gaudryceratinae and ~ 3 mm shell diameter in the Tetragonitinae. Based on these observations, we propose that the planktic phases of Gaudryceratinae and Tetragonitinae ended at those shell diameters. These different shell diameters at the end of the planktic phase suggest slightly differing strategies within the family Tetragonitidae.

Internal conulariid structures unveiled using µCT - Consuelo Sendino; Brett Clark; André C. Morandini; Tobias Salge; Miranda Lowe; Willian Rushlau (PalZ, 2023)
An extensive sample of well-preserved conulariids from the Pennsylvanian of the North American Midcontinent (Texas and Oklahoma, USA) have been studied using X-ray micro-Computed Tomography (µCT) and have shown structures identified as longitudinal muscle bundles and a potential gastric cavity. These unequivocal structures appear in several specimens coming from different sites. Their preservation varies from a gastric cavity with muscle bundles in some individuals to only longitudinal muscle bundles in others. The muscle bundles fuse apically or medially, normally forming V-shaped pairs, and they extend along the theca/exoskeleton, parallel to the corner, towards the aperture. Longitudinal bundles have predominant perradial positions. Although there have been some articles on conulariid soft parts, most of them refer to relic soft parts. This is the first time that these structures are shown using µCT. Discovery of conulariid soft parts contributes to knowledge of metazoan evolutionary history.

The pterosaurs of the Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco - Roy E. Smith; Nizar Ibrahim; Nicholas Longrich; David M. Unwin; Megan L. Jacobs; Cariad J. Williams; Samir Zouhri; David M. Martill (PalZ, 2023)
The pterosaur assemblage of the mid-Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of Morocco is reviewed. This analysis examines their taxonomy, palaeoecology and palaeobiology with comments on taphonomy. New material permits the rediagnosis of the azhdarchoids Alanqa saharica and Afrotapejara zouhrii . Several specimens are reported that do not fit within the paradigms of previously named taxa. They represent three distinct jaw morphotypes, but are not assigned to new taxa here. The assemblage is highly diverse, including four tooth-bearing taxa assigned to Ornithocheiridae and five named taxa and three additional morphotypes assigned to Azhdarchoidea. The Kem Kem Group assemblage is the most diverse for any pterosaur-bearing fluvial deposit and one of the most diverse of any pterosaur assemblage. The assemblage is heavily biased in terms of preservation with an as yet unexplained high abundance of jaw fragments. We highlight the importance of fragmentary material in pterosaur studies.

Retiolitid graptolites from the collection of Hermann Jaeger III. Paraplectograptus, Gothograptus and their relatives - Jörg Maletz (PalZ, 2023)
The graptolite collection of Hermann Jaeger at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, Germany includes a number of Paraplectograptus and Gothograptus specimens. The material provides another glimpse into the dramatic changes affecting retiolitine graptoloids across the Lundgreni Extinction Event of the mid Homerian (Wenlock, Silurian) which led to the demise of most earlier groups of retiolitines. The material indicates that the diversity of the pre-extinction retiolitines might have been larger than is already known through the recognition of previously unknown constructional details in earlier Gothograptus and Paraplectograptus species. Especially, Gothograptus shows a much higher diversity in the pre-extinction interval than previously recognized. In the Pristiograptus parvus/Gothograptus nassa Biozone interval Gothograptus re-emerged with new species and Semigothograptus is shown to have survived unchanged, indicating that these two genera represent survivors of the extinction event. A number of new genera originated and diversified in the Pristiograptus dubius/Gothograptus nassa to Colonograptus praedeubeli/deubeli Biozone interval, but their evolutionary relationships with earlier taxa are still only partly understood. Paraplectograptus hermanni sp. nov., Gothograptus berolinensis sp. nov. and Gothograptus osgaleae sp. nov. are described as new. Several species are described in open nomenclature due to the lack of sufficiently well preserved material.

Multiple skeletons of Rhynchaeites from the London Clay reveal the osteology of early Eocene ibises (Aves, Threskiornithidae) - Gerald Mayr; Andrew C. Kitchener (PalZ, 2023)
We describe a new species of Rhynchaeites from the early Eocene London Clay of Walton-on-the-Naze (Essex, UK), which is represented by a partial skeleton comprising a skull and most major postcranial bones. Multiple further partial skeletons are assigned to Rhynchaeites sp. and include skeletal elements that are rarely preserved in Paleogene birds. Rhynchaeites is for the first time included in a phylogenetic analysis, which did not unambiguously resolve its affinities, but provided weak support for a sister group relationship to the Threskiornithidae. If Rhynchaeites is a stem group representative of ibises, its skeletal morphology indicates significant homoplasy in the evolution of Aequornithes, the higher level clade including the Threskiornithidae and most other aquatic or semi-aquatic birds. In particular, Rhynchaeites has much shorter legs than extant ibises and the new fossils show that its palate was schizognathous. Current phylogenies suggest that a desmognathous palate as well as long legs evolved multiple times independently within Aequornithes. Unlike in extant ibises, the tip of the beak of Rhynchaeites lacks a densely pitted surface. We hypothesize that vision played a greater role in the foraging strategy of Rhynchaeites , whereas extant ibises are tactile probers and use their beaks for “remote sensing”.

A new pterodactyloid pterosaur with a unique filter-feeding apparatus from the Late Jurassic of Germany - David M. Martill; Eberhard Frey; Helmut Tischlinger; Matthias Mäuser; Héctor E. Rivera-Sylva; Steven U. Vidovic (PalZ, 2023)
A new long-legged, spatula-beaked, filter-feeding pterodactyloid pterosaur from Upper Jurassic plattenkalk limestones at Wattendorf, Bavaria, Southern Germany, is remarkable for its completeness, unusual dentition and hints of the preservation of soft tissues, including wing membranes. The fully articulated specimen displays both jaws each side with over one hundred sub-parallel-sided teeth with a small, slightly hooked expansion at the crown tip. There are at least 480 teeth in total. The tip of the rostrum widens to a spatula-like, laterally concave structure with teeth only along its lateral margins. The straight anterior margin is devoid of teeth allowing plankton-rich water to stream in, while the teeth interdigitate forming a fine mesh trap. A slightly up swept rostrum assisted filtering by probable pulsating movements of the long neck, while wading or swimming through shallow water.

Bohemicardia hainense (Maurer) revisted: insights into ontogeny and variability of a Devonian hippocardiid rostroconch (Conocardiida: Hippocardiidae) - Julia C. Friedel; Michael R. W. Amler; Berna Balik (PalZ, 2023)
Re-examination of type material and abundant specimens enable the reinstatement of ‘ Conocardium hainense Maurer, 1885’, a species erroneously synonymised with Babinicardia clathrata by Rogalla and Amler. Based on the completely reconstructed morphology, C. hainense can be assigned to the genus Bohemicardia within the Hippocardiidae of the Hippocardioidea. About 600 specimens from a single locality available for study including a wide range of ontogenetic stages allow documentation of allometric growth, with shell width increasing faster than shell height. Protoconchs are not preserved, leaving the development from larval stages to early juveniles unrecorded. The large number of specimens confirms a rather narrow range of morphological variation within the taxon. Based on the preservation of the rarely observed external shell layer, conclusions on shell shape, presence of a hood and external shell ornamentation of the taxon are possible. The material confirms that recognising different shell layer architecture in conocardiid rostroconchs is a prerequisite for specific identification and basic taxonomy.

Latest Triassic (Sevatian–Rhaetian) reef carbonates from the Northern Calcareous Alps (Austria), their mollusc dwellers, and their fate at the end-Triassic extinction event - Alexander Nützel; Martin Nose; Michael Hautmann; Rupert Hochleitner (PalZ, 2023)
A reef-associated mollusc fauna (gastropods and bivalves) and its facies context are described from latest Triassic (Sevatian–Rhaetian) reef carbonates of Austria (Rötelwand reef at Gaissau and Gosaukamm near Hallstatt). The studied carbonates from the Rötelwand reef consist of mollusc-rich rudstones, partly boundstones, which contain branched corals ( Cycliphyllia and Retiophylia, Pinacophyllum ), whereas coralline sponges are absent. The rich foraminiferid fauna that is associated with the reef builders consists of 11 genera; eight of these genera became extinct until the end of the Rhaetian. Associated with small patch reefs was a rich mollusc fauna with 19 gastropod species and 8 epifaunal bivalve species. The gastropod fauna is dominated by Microschiza rhaetica , Trochotoma praecursor , and the large growing Purpuroidea moosleitneri . Six gastropod species are new to science: Angulomphalus senowbarii sp. nov., Stuorella zapfei sp. nov., Hologyra callosa sp. nov., Microschiza rhaetica sp. nov., Angularia corallina sp. nov., and Purpuroidea moosleitneri sp. nov. Four Triassic gastropod species are placed in other genera (new combinations): Tylotrochus diversicostatus Wolff, 1967 and Eucycloscala epitoniformis Nützel and Senowbari-Daryan, 1999 are placed in Sadkia, Praelittorina sepkoskii Nützel and Erwin, 2004 in Microschiza , and Purpuroidea ? minioi Leonardi, 1935 in Angularia Koken, 1892. Reversal of precedence is proposed for Angularia Koken, 1892 (Gastropoda) and Angularia Busk, 1881 (Bryozoa) under ICZN Art. 23.9. Although reefs suffered a catastrophic decline at the end of the Triassic, most of the studied reef-associated bivalve and gastropod genera survived into the Jurassic, indicating a considerable ecological plasticity of these groups. Only 12 out of 47 reef-associated mollusc genera became extinct (25.5%). This observation is at variance with earlier suggestions that taxa that were associated with reefs and carbonate substrata had a significantly higher extinction risk than level-bottom dwellers. However, extinction at the species level appears more severe; only three bivalve species but no gastropod species recorded in this fauna have records from the Jurassic.

Diversity of gobioid fishes in the late middle Miocene of northern Moldova, Eastern Paratethys—Part II: description of †Moldavigobius helenae gen. et sp. nov. - Bettina Reichenbacher; Alexander F. Bannikov (PalZ, 2023)
The middle Miocene (upper Serravallian, lower Volhynian) deposits at Karpov Yar near Naslavcea, northern Moldova, are among the few settings in which fossil fish are preserved with otoliths in situ. Here, we describe the new gobiid † Moldavigobius helenae gen. et sp. nov. from this locality. The taxon is characterized by small size (up to 34.2 mm SL), a compact body (body depth 17–21% SL), a fan-shaped caudal fin, large ctenoid scales (< 30 scales in the longitudinal row) and nearly square otoliths (sagittae) with a slender, shoe sole-shaped sulcus. It has 27 vertebrae, six spines in the first dorsal fin, one spine and 11 soft rays in both the second dorsal and the anal fin, 15–17 pectoral-fin rays, and 17 (9/8) segmented caudal-fin rays. The meristic characters of † Moldavigobius gen. nov., together with its sagitta shape, suggest a relationship with Lesueurigobius Whitley, 1950, but its fan-shaped caudal fin and the unique sulcus contour of the otoliths preclude its attribution to that genus. In addition, we re-assign an otolith-based species previously described as Knipowitschia suavis Schwarzhans, 2014 as a second member of † Moldavigobius gen. nov. Accordingly, † Moldavigobius gen. nov. was represented by at least two species in the Serravallian of the Eastern Paratethys († M. helenae gen. et sp. nov., † M. suavis nov. comb.). Moreover, † M. suavis is also known from the Serravallian ichthyofauna of the SE Mediterranean. † Moldavigobius gen. nov. thus demonstrates the key role of fossil skeletal material with otoliths in elucidating the ancient diversity of the Gobioidei.

Turtle barnacles have been turtle riders for more than 30 million years - Alberto Collareta; Michael W. Rasser; Eberhard Frey; Mathias Harzhauser (PalZ, 2023)
In contrast to other kinds of biological interactions, symbiosis is a scarcely investigated aspect of the fossil record. This is largely due to taphonomic biases that often frustrate any attempt to make a strong case that two organisms shared an intimate association in life. Among extant marine vertebrates, the sea turtles (Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae) bear a broad and diverse spectrum of epibiotic symbionts, including specialists such as the turtle barnacles (Chelonibiidae and Platyleapadidae). Here, we reappraise an early Oligocene (Rupelian) fossil cheloniid skeleton, featuring the remains of cirripedes on the exterior of its entoplastron, from the Rauenberg fossil-lagerstätte , southwestern Germany. The barnacle specimens are assigned to Protochelonibia melleni , an extinct protochelonibiine species and the geologically oldest known member of Chelonibiidae. In the light of taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental considerations, and given that the extant chelonibiids are mostly known as epizoic symbionts of sea turtles, we conclude that this unique fossil association resulted from the epizoic growth of the barnacles on the external surface of the plastron of the turtle during its lifetime. This remarkable fossil association provides evidence that chelonibiids, including the extinct protochelonibiines, have been chelonophilic epizoans for more than 30 Myr. A survey of the trace and body fossil records shows that platylepadids are also likely as old as the Rupelian as is their symbiotic association with cheloniid hosts. This early emergence of the modern-looking, turtle-dwelling barnacle lineages corresponds to a climate-driven phase of major radiation and taxonomic turnover among sea turtles at the Eocene–Oligocene transition.

A new conulariid from the Upper Mississippian (early Serpukhovian) of Central Russia (Moscow Basin): systematics, microstructure, and growth abnormalities - Heyo Van Iten; Alexandr Mironenko; Olev Vinn (PalZ, 2023)

Large-sized Late Turonian–Early Coniacian (Late Cretaceous) inoceramid bivalves from Germany: taxonomic issues, temporal framework and palaeoecological implications - Birgit Niebuhr; Markus Wilmsen (PalZ, 2023)
A systematic-stratigraphic revision of selected large Late Turonian–Early Coniacian inoceramids of the lamarcki group from Germany showed that both historical specimens of Goldfuss (1836), introduced as Inoceramus annulatus and later becoming the types of Late Turonian I. lamarcki stuemckei Heinz, 1928a and Early Coniacian I. annulatus Goldfuss, 1836, respectively, are of Late Turonian age. I. stuemckei Heinz, 1928a, as emended herein, is well represented by its lectotype. Bulky isolated hinges from Upper Turonian strata, used by Heinz (1932a) to erect Heroceramus hercules , are just fragments of contemporaneous large I. stuemckei ; H. hercules is thus invalid. The common Late Turonian I. stuemckei occurs facies-independent from near- to offshore settings and its first common appearance is an excellent marker for the substage base. I. annulatus Goldfuss, 1836 was later applied to very large forms first appearing in the mid-Early Coniacian. Thus, I. annulatus sensu Walaszczyk and Wood (1998) is poorly represented by its medium-sized latest Turonian lectotype, causing some nomenclatorial issues. I. stuemckei (height max 500 mm) and I. annulatus (height max one metre) are characterized by a stratigraphically abrupt shell enlargement and hinge buttressing across the Middle/Upper Turonian boundary and within the Early Coniacian, respectively. This shift to larger sizes, a common passive defense strategy against predation, is accompanied by widespread evidence for increased Late Turonian predation pressure by marine durophages. We thus speculate that the size increase in Late Turonian–Early Coniacian inoceramid bivalves is part of an escalating arms race between prey and predators, ultimately triggering Late Cretaceous inoceramid gigantism.

Spiriferide and spiriferinide brachiopods from the Frasnian (Upper Devonian) of the Bergisches Land, Germany - Yi-Ning Wang; Xue-Ping Ma; Volker Ebbighausen; R. Thomas Becker (PalZ, 2023)

The new fossil site Krimni-3 in Mygdonia Basin and the first evidence of a giant ostrich in the Early Pleistocene of Greece - Dimitris S. Kostopoulos; George E. Konidaris; Marina Amanatidou; Krystalia Chitoglou; Emmanouil Fragkioudakis; Nikolaos Gerakakis; Vasiliki Giannakou; Anastasia Gkeme; Christina Kalaitzi; Christos Tsakalidis; Vaggelis Tsatsalis (PalZ, 2023)

Oechsleria unterfeldensis, gen. et sp. nov., a sailfin velifer fish (Lampridiformes, Veliferidae) from the Oligocene of the Unterfeld (“Frauenweiler”) clay pit - Norbert Micklich; Alexandre F. Bannikov (PalZ, 2023)
These are the first and so far only records of a sailfin velifer fish from the Lower Oligocene of the Unterfeld (“Frauenweiler”) clay pit at Rauenberg (S Germany), and only the fourth fossil skeletal finds of this group worldwide. The new genus and species † Oechsleria unterfeldensis is described in detail, diagnosed, and compared to other fossil and extant representatives of the Veliferidae. It appears to be a comparatively small-sized fish, which differs from the other representatives of this family, apart from body proportions, by having a lower number of vertebrae and dorsal-fin rays, the absence of massive spines in the dorsal and anal fins, four anal-fin pterygiophores in front of the anteriormost haemal spine, and a different morphology and size of various skeletal elements. Amongst others, the following character states are of relevance: a supraoccipital that is laterally sculptured by strong surface ridges; a weak ascending process of the premaxilla that is shorter than in the other veliferid taxa; compound (fused) anteriormost dorsal- and anal-fin pterygiophores, together with spineless dorsal and anal fins with unornamented rays (no spinules), of which the majority are bilaterally paired and both halves are fused only proximally but separate and segmented distally; a short coracoid that does not reach the ventral body margin; a broad and anterodorsally directed pelvic bone that bears a well-developed postpelvic process, and probably also the presence of a short pointed neural spine (in contrast to a distally blunt one and/or a low crest) on the second preural centrum. All in all, the new fossil records remarkably increase the known biodiversity of the Veliferidae. They also expand the known palaeogeographic range of this family as far as to the Western Paratethys. With reference to the occurrence and life habits as deduced from the extant forms, they seem to be another Indo-Pacific (respectively Palaeo-Mediterranean, when referring to the fossil forms) element of the Grube Unterfeld fish fauna with a preference for deeper waters and affinities to temperate to tropical climates.

The first fossil false click beetle larva preserved in amber - Ana Zippel; Carolin Haug; Patrick Müller; Joachim T. Haug (PalZ, 2023)
We report a new and unusual beetle larva preserved in ca. 100 million-year-old Kachin amber. Larvae of many modern lineages of beetles are associated with wood, breaking it into smaller pieces or directly digesting it. With such a lifestyle, beetle larvae are important for carbon cycling. We can assume that this is not only the case in modern ecosystems, but was similar in the past. Yet, wood-associated beetle larvae seem so far rare in Kachin amber despite its otherwise rich record of many different ecotypes. Only recently, solid-wood-boring larvae and those living in decaying wood have been reported from this amber deposit. Larvae of the group Eucnemidae, false click beetles, which are also wood-associated, have so far been only known from sedimentary rock deposits. Here we report the first larva of a false click beetle preserved in amber. The fossil larva combines features of different modern lineages of Eucnemidae in a unique morphology that is not known in the modern fauna. The fossil adds to the growing number of wood-associated holometabolan larvae in Kachin amber and with this contributes to a more complete view on this now extinct community and ecosystem.

Did stalked echinoderms bioerode calcareous substrates? A possible boring crinoid attachment structure in a stromatoporoid from the early Silurian (Telychian) of Estonia - Olev Vinn; William I. Ausich; Mark A. Wilson; Ursula Toom (PalZ, 2023)

A new canid species (Carnivora: Canidae) from the Plio-Pleistocene hominin-bearing site of Kromdraai (Cradle of Humankind, Gauteng, South Africa) - Jean-Baptiste Fourvel; Nicolas Frerebeau (PalZ, 2023)

Seeds of Coronilla talaverae (Fabaceae), an endemic endangered species, in Argaric Early Bronze Age levels of Punta de Gavilanes (Mazarrón, Spain) - Diego Rivera; Milagros Ros-Sala; Concepción Obón; Pedro Sánchez-Gómez; Francisco Alcaraz; Pablo Ferrer; Emilio Laguna; Agustín Lahora; Javier Valera; Maria-Teresa Coronado-Parra; Maria Luisa Precioso (PalZ, 2023)
Punta de Gavilanes (Mazarrón Bay, Spain) was occupied from third millennium cal BC to the first century BC. Overall, the archaeobotanical remains suggest that agriculture and gathering coexisted in the site since the beginning of the occupation of the site. Depending on the sea level variation, the site passed from island in the middle Holocene to peninsula in the late Holocene. Seeds from this archaeological site associated with radiocarbon dates of ≈ 4200 and ≈ 1500 cal years BP include specimens of eight species of shrubs and trees, of which a winter flowering shrub ( Coronilla talaverae Lahora and Sánchez-Gómez), is an endangered species that no longer occurs on Punta de Gavilanes area. The seeds of this endemic Coronilla species are associated with materials dated ≈ 3900 cal years BP in a Bronze Age cultural context. The vanished species was presumably locally exterminated by human alteration of its natural habitat or because of environmental changes. The species of Coronilla identified from Punta de Gavilanes is known from relatively distant seashore areas. This endangered species could be effectively preserved by reintroduction to areas that it occupied prior to human alteration, in particular Punta de los Gavilanes.

The age of the Bailongbinghe Formation and the oil shales in northern Qiangtang (North Tibet) - Jiarun Yin (PalZ, 2023)

Reappraisal of the braincase anatomy of the ornithopod dinosaurs Telmatosaurus and Zalmoxes from the Upper Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin (Romania) and the taxonomic reassessment of some previously referred specimens - Felix J. Augustin; Mihai D. Dumbravă; Dylan Bastiaans; Zoltán Csiki-Sava (PalZ, 2023)
The hadrosauroid Telmatosaurus and the rhabdodontid Zalmoxes were the first and second dinosaur taxa that were described in detail from the famous Upper Cretaceous continental deposits of the Haţeg Basin by Franz Baron Nopcsa at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although they are among the most common and best-known dinosaurs discovered from these deposits, there are still many open questions as to their taxonomy and anatomy. Here, we re-describe two partial braincases from the uppermost Cretaceous of the Haţeg Basin that have been recently referred to the rhabdodontid Zalmoxes and re-assign them to hadrosauroids, possibly to Telmatosaurus . These specimens both exhibit basicranial features that are characteristic of derived hadrosauroids but are absent in more basal iguanodontians. These include an antero-posteriorly short basioccipital lacking a distinct neck, the presence of two well-developed sphenoccipital tubercles on the ventral aspect of the braincase and that are directly positioned anterior to the basioccipital, as well as a deep depression on the ventral aspect of the braincase between the sphenoccipital tubercles. The comparison provided herein demonstrates several important differences between the basicranium of hadrosauroids and that of rhabdodontids, which allows for the confident identification of even isolated and incomplete specimens. Moreover, the removal of the only basicranium that has been referred to Zalmoxes shqiperorum prompts a revised diagnosis of that species.

New perspectives on late Tethyan Neogene biodiversity development of fishes based on Miocene (~ 17 Ma) otoliths from southwestern India - Nora Carolin; Sunil Bajpai; Abhayanand Singh Maurya; Werner Schwarzhans (PalZ, 2023)

A new basal zatracheid temnospondyl from the early Permian Chemnitz Fossil Lagerstätte, central-east Germany - Ralf Werneburg; Florian Witzmann; Joerg W. Schneider; Ronny Rößler (PalZ, 2023)

Late Early Devonian ostracodes from the Torkoz area (SW Morocco) and the Emsian/Eifelian boundary - Helga Groos-Uffenorde; Eberhard Schindler; R. Thomas Becker; Claudia Dojen; Rainer Brocke; Ulrich Jansen (PalZ, 2022)
A new rich and diversified ostracode fauna from the Torkoz area (section Hassi Mouf South, Moroccan Anti-Atlas) is described and the ostracode distribution near the Early/Middle Devonian boundary is discussed. This ostracode fauna of a single limestone bed yields 32 taxa and is compared with the less-diversified ostracode fauna from an adjacent parallel section Hassi Mouf South as well as with a published conodont-bearing sample from section Torkoz. All three ostracode faunas are closely related, and therefore, the same latest Emsian age is postulated. Palynomorphs (acritarchs and prasinophytes) from section Torkoz support this late Early Devonian age and the scarce brachiopod fauna of the equivalent level from section Hassi Mouf South suggests a stratigraphical position very close to the Emsian/Eifelian boundary, probably latest Emsian. Zygobeyrichia subcylindrica from a thin marly bed embedded in shales, slightly below the ostracode-rich sample from section Hassi Mouf South, and the conodonts of the patulus Zone from section Torkoz, favours the position of the Early/Middle Devonian boundary within the Yeraifia Formation and not in or on top of the Rich 4 Sandstone in the SW Dra Valley area as hitherto published. The latest Early Devonian ostracode faunas from the Torkoz area belong to the shallow-water Eifelian Ecotype of G. Becker. The new genus Karlingrella for Euglyphella ? granulosa Blumenstengel, 1962 and the new species Quasillites ( Beckjennites ) gebeckeri are erected.

Fruit taphonomy and origin of hollow goethite spherulites in lacustrine sediments of the Maastrichtian Whitemud Formation, western Canada - Paul L. Broughton (PalZ, 2022)

Contribution of August Heinrich Ernst Beyrich to the knowledge of Ordovician trilobites in the Czech Republic - Oldřich Fatka; Petr Budil (PalZ, 2022)

On the dimorphic occurrence of the upper Tithonian ammonite genus Djurjuriceras Roman from the Blue Nile Basin (Ethiopia) - Sreepat Jain; Guenter Schweigert (PalZ, 2022)

Declining morphological diversity in snakefly larvae during last 100 million years - Joachim T. Haug; Michael S. Engel; Patrick Mendes dos Santos; Gideon T. Haug; Patrick Müller; Carolin Haug (PalZ, 2022)
Raphidioptera, the group of snakeflies, is a rather species-poor in-group of Holometabola. Yet, fossils of snakeflies indicate that the group was more diverse in the past. Here we compare the morphological diversity of snakefly larvae over time. Snakefly larvae are well represented in Cretaceous and Eocene ambers facilitating such a comparison. We used measurements of discrete dimensions as a basis for comparison. This reveals a larger diversity of snakefly larvae in the Cretaceous, especially in relation to head shapes and morphology of the antennae, which were much more variable. In particular, some Cretaceous larvae possessed greatly elongated head capsules and uniquely long and prominent antennae, unparalleled among modern forms. Already by the Eocene, snakefly larvae were less variable than those of the Cretaceous, although some still possessed longer antennae than modern-day larvae. The loss of morphological diversity supports the already well-established loss of taxonomic diversity in the group across time. Quite likely, this also indicates a loss of ecological diversity. These results are comparable to losses in different lineages of the closely related group Neuroptera.

Oldest East Gondwanan pycnodont fishes (Neopterygii, Pycnodontiformes) from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian) of Jaisalmer, western India - Krishna Kumar; Sunil Bajpai; Triparna Ghosh; Pragya Pandey; Debasish Bhattacharya (PalZ, 2022)

Historically transposed flipper pairs in a mounted plesiosaurian skeleton - Anna Krahl; Adam S. Smith; Ingmar Werneburg (PalZ, 2022)
Plesiosaurians evolved four wing-like flippers that are morphologically similar to each other and were most likely used in underwater flight. Plesiosaurians have been the subject of a long research history as well as a long history of misidentifications and misinterpretations, especially transposition of parts of or entire fore- and hind flippers. We identified the transposed fore- and hind flippers in a mounted Cryptoclidus eurymerus specimen (GPIT-PV-30092) on display in the Paleontological Collection of Tübingen University. It is likely that the fore- and hind flippers were accidentally transposed when the skeleton was mounted, although, amongst plesiosaurians, the fore- and hind flippers of Cryptoclidus eurymerus are some of the least similar-looking ones. This occurred either during a remounting of the skeleton from a free-standing armature on the ground to a freely “flying” skeleton hanging from the ceiling, or after a research project conducted on the specimen in the 1970s. We summarize osteological characteristics that can be used to correctly identify fore- and hind flippers of this species, and for better future assessment of the plesiosaurian locomotory system.

A monospecific assemblage of cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Subioblattidae) from the Triassic of Kyrgyzstan - Jan Hinkelman (PalZ, 2022)

Eocene tube-dwelling annelids (Polychaeta: Sedentaria) from the Black Hills, western Washington State: the first record of Neodexiospira from North America - Tomáš Kočí; James L. Goedert; John S. Buckeridge (PalZ, 2022)

George Demetrius Sevastopulo (1941–2021), palaeontologist and stratigrapher: an appreciation - Patrick N. Wyse Jackson; Markus Aretz (PalZ, 2022)
George Demetrius Sevastopulo (1941–2021) was a palaeontologist, stratigrapher and educator who made significant contributions in these fields and who was an inspirational teacher and mentor to his peers and to generations of students.

Special Issue: 19th International Congress on the Carboniferous and Permian, Cologne 2019. Palaeontological contributions - Hans-Georg Herbig; Michael R. W. Amler; Markus Aretz; Sven Hartenfels (PalZ, 2022)

Fusulinid biozonation of the Bashkirian–Moscovian successions from the Hadim Nappe, central Taurides, southern Turkey - Melikan Akbaş; Cengiz Okuyucu (PalZ, 2022)

Progress in the study of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary sections in the Berchogur Depression (Mugodzhary Mountains, western Kazakhstan) - Svetlana V. Nikolaeva; Elena I. Kulagina; Sezim N. Mustapayeva; Alexander S. Alekseev; Yury A. Gatovsky; Julien Denayer; Viktor Ohar; Alena V. Kurilenko; Valentina Ja. Zhaimina; Eduard V. Mychko (PalZ, 2022)
The Devonian–Carboniferous boundary beds in the Berchogur (Birshogyr) sections in the Mugodzhary (Mugalzhary) Mountains in western Kazakhstan, known to contain various fossil groups, including ammonoids, conodonts, foraminifers, corals, crinoids, and trilobites, are re-examined. The siliciclastic-carbonate succession of the Zhangana Formation reveals the presence of several ammonoid, conodont, and foraminiferal zones. The succession contains the Acutimitoceras ammonoid Genozone, equivalent to the level of the Stockum ammonoid fauna of Germany, with the conodont Siphonodella sulcata appearing within the Genozone. The same beds show mass occurrences of the foraminifer Tournayellina pseudobeata. The study of the Berchogur sections began in the 1980s; these sections are among very few successions globally with ammonoids of the Acutimitoceras Genozone in association with conodonts and foraminifers. At that time, several outcrops in a small area in the upper reaches of Burtybai (Zhangansai) Creek and two boreholes drilled near the sections were studied, and new taxa of ammonoids, foraminifers, ostracods, conodonts, algae, and spores were described. New excavations in 2018–2020, in conjunction with a search for a new definition of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary, provided abundant new information on these taxa, on the lithology, and on crinoids, trilobites, and corals. The exact position of marker fossils and lithological changes are documented in several sections along Burtybai Creek allowing an amended correlation with sections of the D–C boundary beds in Western Europe.

Moscovian–Kasimovian boundary conodont assemblages from the Kalinovo section, Donets Basin, Ukraine - Tamara Nemyrovska (PalZ, 2022)

New species of small foraminifers from the Mechetlino Quarry section (Southern Urals, Russia): a potential candidate for the GSSP of the lower boundary of the Global Kungurian Stage - Tatiana V. Filimonova; Tatiana N. Isakova (PalZ, 2022)

Tournaisian and early Viséan tabulate corals from the Donets Basin, Ukraine and some aspects of their taxonomy - Viktor Ohar (PalZ, 2022)

First data on in situ pollen of Permotheca sardykensis Zalessky 1929 from the middle Permian of the Russian Platform - Tatiana Foraponova (PalZ, 2022)

Late Devonian–Mississippian conodont biostratigraphy of the Chelcheli section, NE Shahrud (Eastern Alborz, North Iran) - Ali Bahrami; Peter Königshof; Christoph Hartkopf-Fröder; Sandra I. Kaiser (PalZ, 2022)

An early Capitanian (Middle Permian) foraminiferal connection between southern British Columbia, Canada and South Primorye, Russian Far East - Merlynd K. Nestell; Galina P. Nestell (PalZ, 2022)

Foraminiferal sequence of the middle–upper Viséan (Mississippian) of the Sikasya River Valley in the South Urals and correlation with the Belgian standard - Elena Kulagina (PalZ, 2022)

Placodus (Placodontia, Sauropterygia) dentaries from Winterswijk, The Netherlands (middle Anisian) and Hünfeld, Hesse, Germany (late Anisian) with comments on ontogenetic changes - Nicole Klein; Tania Wintrich; Hans Hagdorn; Dave Spiller; Herman Winkelhorst; Gerard Goris; Torsten M. Scheyer (PalZ, 2022)
Two recently found dentaries from the Lower Muschelkalk of Winterswijk (The Netherlands) and from the Upper Muschelkalk of an outcrop in the vicinity of Hünfeld (Hesse, Germany) are studied and compared to lower jaws of placodonts. As a result, the here described specimens can be assigned to Placodus cf. gigas . However, this assignment should be regarded as preliminary due to the isolated nature of the material. More diagnostic material is necessary to validate this affiliation. A certain morphological variability in P. gigas dentaries that had been pointed out before is also obvious among the new material. Placodus gigas has a wide paleogeography and stratigraphic range and a revision of the material assigned to P. gigas with new methods is overdue but beyond the scope of the current paper. The dentary from Hünfeld is with about 4 cm preserved length the smallest so far known dentary of a Placodus . It provides interesting insights in morphological changes during ontogeny and reveals differences in trajectories when compared to dentaries of different ontogenetic stages of Cyamodus hildegardis.

Listriodon dukkar sp. nov. (Suidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Pasuda (Gujarat, India): the decline and extinction of the Listriodontinae - Jan van der Made; Deepak Choudhary; Ningthoujam Premjit Singh; K. Milankumar Sharma; Nongmaithem Amardas Singh; Rajeev Patnaik (PalZ, 2022)
The Listriodontinae were a common and widespread group of Suidae (pigs) that lived in an area extending from Portugal to China and to southern Africa. Here, we describe the new species Listriodon dukkar from Pasuda (Gujarat, India). It shares features with Li. pentapotamiae, evolved from it, and is the last representative of this lineage. The Listriodontinae flourished for about 10 million years, reached their maximum diversity and geographic extension during the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (about 17–13.6 Ma), and their last records are close in age and date to ~ 9.8 Ma in the Indian Subcontinent, 9.78 Ma in Europe, and ~ 10 Ma in Africa. We review the environments in which the last listriodont lineages lived and went extinct. Their extinctions occurred against a background of increasing seasonality, vegetation change, a rise in bovid diversity and abundance, and local events, such as the European Vallesian Crisis and a dramatic drop in tragulid abundance in the Siwaliks. However, changes in the atmospheric pCO 2 may have contributed to their decline and extinction in all their geographic distribution. Decreasing pCO 2 is expected to have decreased sugar content and increased protein content of leaves and fruit. Hindgut fermenting Suoidea have higher protein requirements, while foregut fermenting Suoidea are more efficient in digesting sugars. Listriodontinae were probably foregut fermenters and were less well adapted in a low pCO 2 world.

The first fossil from the superdiverse clade Loricariinae (Siluriformes, Loricariidae): a new species of the Armored Catfish from the late Miocene of Paraná, Argentina - Sergio Bogan; Federico L. Agnolin (PalZ, 2022)

First fossil tumbling flower beetle-type larva from 99 million-year-old amber - Ana Zippel; Carolin Haug; Patrick Müller; Joachim T. Haug (PalZ, 2022)
Beetle larvae often differ significantly in morphology from their adult counterparts. Therefore, it should be surprising that these immatures are often not considered to the same extent as the adult beetles. As an example, the fossil record of most beetle groups is largely represented by adult specimens. Representatives of Mordellidae, the group of tumbling flower beetles, have a cosmopolitan distribution with myriads of formally described species, based mostly on adult male specimens. Mordellidae is also well represented in the fossil record, but again only by adults; not a single fossil specimen of a larva has been reported until now. We report a new well-preserved beetle larva in 99 million-year-old Kachin amber. The larva possesses specialisations not known from the modern larvae of Mordellidae, but otherwise is clearly similar to them in many aspects. It appears possible that the fossil represents yet another holometabolan larva in Kachin amber that is associated with life within wood and/or fungi, and therefore, may have contributed to carbon cycling of the past.

Caught in travertine: computed tomography reveals the youngest record of Amphicyon giganteus from the travertine deposits of Karacalar (late middle Miocene, central Anatolia, Turkey) - Julien van der Hoek; Aslı Karabaşoğlu; Serdar Mayda; Lars W. van den Hoek Ostende (PalZ, 2022)
A computed tomography scan of a travertine slab from the Karacalar Silver Travertine Quarry (Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey) revealed the presence of an encased partial cranium, partial mandible and three vertebrae. 3D reconstruction of the fossil helped identifying it as Amphicyon giganteus. As the travertine caps a section correlated to MN7/8, the specimen represents the youngest record of Amphicyon giganteus , the known range previously being limited to MN4 – MN6. This young age is in line with the more advanced morphology of the lower molars.

Morphological analysis of Cricetodon aliveriensis (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the locality of Karydia (Rhodope, Northern Greece) - Panagiotis Skandalos; Wilma Wessels; Socrates Roussiakis; Constantin S. Doukas (PalZ, 2022)

Dermal tubercles and bucklers of gigantic stingrays (Dasyatidae) from the Pleistocene of South Carolina and the stratigraphic origin of “Ceratoptera unios” Leidy, 1877 - Robert W. Boessenecker; Matthew L. Gibson (PalZ, 2022)

New Pliocene Rhinocerotidae findings from the Iberian Peninsula and the revision of the Spanish Pliocene records - Luca Pandolfi; Joaquín Sendra; Matías Reolid; Lorenzo Rook (PalZ, 2022)
A fragmentary mandible from the early Pliocene of the Vera Basin is here investigated to clarify its taxonomic position. The studied specimen is here assigned to Pliorhinus megarhinus , documented in Europe from the latest Miocene to the mid-Pliocene. The morphometrical comparison reveals that this taxon is larger than Stephanorhinus etruscus and S. jeanvireti but overlaps with Dihoplus schleiermacheri . P. megarhinus and D. schleiermacheri differ in some characters of the lower molars, such as the length of the metalophid and the shape of the trigonid in occlusal view, thus allowing new considerations on the Pliocene Spanish rhinocerotine record. According to the results here obtained, three species are at least documented in Span during the Pliocene: P. megarhinus , P. miguelcrusafonti , and S. etruscus . The presence of S. jeanvireti has to be verified and confirmed by further evidence. The presence of Dihoplus schleiermacheri as a relict taxon in the Pliocene of Spain is here discarded.

New thyreophoran dinosaur material from the Early Jurassic of northeastern Germany - Marco Schade; Jörg Ansorge (PalZ, 2022)
Thyreophora is a clade of globally distributed herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs. The earliest forms are known from the Early Jurassic, and their latest surviving representatives witnessed the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Throughout their evolutionary history, these ‘shield bearers’ became lumbering quadrupeds, evolved a wide array of bony armor, plates and spikes, as well as sweeping tail weapons in the form of tail clubs and thagomizers. An isolated new thyreophoran osteoderm from a Lower Jurassic Konservatlagerstätte near Grimmen is described and, with the aid of micro-CT data, compared to an osteoderm of the early diverging thyreophoran Emausaurus ernsti from a different stratigraphic horizon at the same locality.

Eifelosaurus triadicus Jaekel, 1904, a “forgotten” reptile from the Upper Buntsandstein (Triassic: Anisian) of the Eifel region, Germany - Hans-Dieter Sues; Martín D. Ezcurra; Rainer R. Schoch (PalZ, 2022)

A remarkable new thorny lacewing from mid-Cretaceous amber from northern Myanmar (Neuroptera: Rhachiberothidae) - Hiroshi Nakamine; Shûhei Yamamoto; Yui Takahashi; Hongyu Li; Xingyue Liu (PalZ, 2022)