Twenty-four species of pteropods are described from the Pliocene Miyazaki Group in the Tsuma-Takanabe district, Miyazaki Prefecture, southwest Japan. Five are new: Clio shibatai new species, Cuvierina miyazakiensis new species, Cavolinia floridana japonica new subspecies, C. itoigawai new species, and C. vendryesiana hyugaensis new subspecies.

The pteropod fauna of the two lower members of the Miyazaki Group consists largely of extinct species. Whereas more than one-half of the species of the two upper members are extant.

Twelve species, Limacina sp., Clio hataii (Noda, 1972), C. shibatai new species, Cuvierina miyazakiensis new species, Bowdenatheca? sp., Diacria digitata subsp. indet., Cavolinia floridana japonica new subspecies, C. cf. C. gypsorum (Bellardi, 1873), C. itoigawai new species, C. mexicana (Collins, 1934), C. rattonei Simonelli, 1896, and C. vendryesiana hyugaensis new subspecies seem to serve as good index fossils for the Pliocene.

The following stringocephalid brachiopods are formally described from upper Givetian (late Middle Devonian) strata of the Selennyakh Range (Northeast Asia): Omolonia antiqua Alekseeva (in Alekseeva and Nuzhdina, 1967) (subfamily Omoloninae), Geranocephalus inopinus Crickmay, 1954 and Geranocephaloides krivensis n. gen. n. sp. (subfamily Geranocephalinae), Newberria gigantea n. sp., and Rensselandioidea talyndzhaensis n. sp. (subfamily Rensselandinae). Broad paleobiogeographical connections between the seas of Northeast Asia, northwest Alaska, western Canada (Manitoba), Nevada, and also between the seas of Northeast Asia and South China are clearly established in the Givetian. In addition, two new stringocephalid-bearing communities are established: 1) the Omolonia Community in early Givetian strata of the Baird Group, northwestern Brooks Range, Alaska; and 2) the Omolonia-Geranocephaloides-Newberria-Rensselandioidea Community in late Givetian strata of the Lower Prianikskay Subsuite in the Selennyakh Range, Northeast Asia, Russia. Both of these communities occur in shallow, quiet-water, lagoonal carbonate platform environments.

The dalmanitid trilobite Kasachstania Maksimova, 1972, previously reported from the Lower Devonian of Kazakhstan and North America (USA) and the upper Silurian–Lower Devonian of South America (Bolivia and Argentina), is revised. Kasachstania kasachstanica (Balashova in Maksimova,1968) and K. septicostata (Maksimova, 1968) are regarded as junior synonyms of the type species K. saryarkensis (Maksimova, 1960), all from the Lower Devonian of the type locality in central Kazakhstan (northern Balkhash). On the basis of a new diagnosis, K. ulrichi ulrichi (Delo, 1940) from the Emsian of the United States, K. ulrichi asiatica (Maksimova, 1968), K. pristina (Maksimova, 1968), and K. alperovichi Pour et al., 2019, from the Lower Devonian of Kazakhstan, K. andii (Kozłowski, 1923) from the upper Silurian–Lower Devonian of Bolivia, and K. gerardoi Edgecombe and Ramsköld, 1994, from the upper Silurian–Lower Devonian of Bolivia and Argentina are excluded from Kasachstania. This genus, represented only by K. saryarkensis and K. kiikbaica (Maksimova, 1968), is restricted to the Lower Devonian of central Kazakhstan, corresponding to the Balkhash–Mongolo–Okhotsk province in the paleobiogeographic context of the Old World Realm, instead of being nearly cosmopolitan as previously considered. In addition, we provide some remarks about Saryarkella Maksimova, 1978b, a monospecific dalmanitid genus largely overlooked although valid from the Emsian of the same area in central Kazakhstan.

Fifteen species of stylasterids from the late Miocene (Messinian) are reported from the Carboneras region of southeastern Spain. Eleven of these species are described as new: Lepidopora fistulosa, Pliobothrus striatus, Pliobothrus nielseni, Distichopora patula, Stylaster (Group A) digitiformis, Stylaster multicavus, Stylaster tuberosus, Conopora forticula, Conopora alloporoides, Crypthelia zibrowii, and Crypthelia ingens. The other four have been identified as species previously described from the Recent fauna. On the basis of bathymetric ranges of similar living stylasterids and other associated fauna, the paleodepth of this fauna is estimated to be from the upper bathyal zone (200–600 m). All fossil stylasterid records, worldwide, are reviewed, resulting in four new combinations and the transfer of one species to the Bryozoa. The species reported herein increase the known number of named fossil stylasterids from 24 to 32 species.

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In midcontinent North America, the Fox Hills Formation (Upper Cretaceous, upper Maastrichtian) preserves the last marine faunas in the central Western Interior Seaway (WIS). Neritoptyx hogansoni new species, a small littoral snail, exhibited allometric change from smooth to corded ornament and rounded to shouldered shape during growth. Specimens preserve a zig-zag pigment pattern that changes to an axial pattern during growth. Neritoptyx hogansoni new species was preyed on by decapod crustaceans, and spent shells were occupied by pagurid crabs. Dead mollusk shells, particularly those of Crassostrea subtrigonalis (Evans and Shumard, 1857), provided a hard substrate to which they adhered on the Fox Hills tidal flats. This new neritimorph gastropod establishes a paleogeographic and chronostratigraphic proxy for intertidal conditions on the Dakota Isthmus during the late Maastrichtian. Presence of a neritid extends the marine tropical/temperate boundary in the WIS northward to ~44° late Maastrichtian paleolatitude. Late Maastrichtian closure of the isthmus subsequently altered marine heat transfer by interrupting northward flow of tropical currents from the Gulf Coast by as much as 1 to 1.5 million years before the Cretaceous ended.

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The suborder Phacopina, characterized by schizochroal eyes, is among the most common groups of trilobites in Devonian strata. The marine sediments of the Famennian in western Junggar, Xinjiang, contain abundant low-disparity phacopids, which have previously been designated to Omegops accipitrinus mobilis, Phacops circumspectans tuberculosus, and Omegops cornelius on the basis of small numbers of poorly preserved specimens. In this study, these phacopids were identified as two new species of Omegops, O. honggulelengensis n. sp. and O. xiangi n. sp., on the basis of nearly 200 well-preserved specimens. The intraspecific variations of eye lenses of these specimens were quantitatively analyzed. On the basis of differences in the total number, number of dorsoventral files, and arrangement of the eye lenses, the absence of lenses in the middle part of the visual surface, and asymmetry of the number and/or arrangement of lenses in the two eyes, it was concluded that the reasons for intraspecific variation in eye lenses of Late Devonian Omegops from western Junggar were different from previously described factors but were likely genetic or embryological malfunctions or abnormalities caused by pathological conditions. Diversity of lenses in the schizochroal eyes shows that the number and arrangement of eye lenses was not stable in Phacopina. Therefore, many specimens are needed for quantitative study to determine the true characteristics of the number or arrangement of eye lenses when these features are used in the systematic taxonomy of Phacopina.

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Solitary rugose corals assigned to Streptelasma rutkae n. sp. and an annulated orthoconic cephalopod identified as Gorbyoceras sp. occur in nearshore shallow-marine sandstone of the Whirlpool Formation in Hamilton, southern Ontario. They are the first macrofossils contributing to a modern understanding of the age and correlation of this stratigraphic unit. Streptelasma rutkae most closely resembles S. subregulare (Savage, 1913), which occurs widely in the Edgewood Province of the east-central United States, in strata considered latest Ordovician (Hirnantian). Gorbyoceras ranges into the latest Katian (latest Richmondian) in the Cincinnati Arch region. Thus, the occurrences of S. rutkae and Gorbyoceras sp. support other biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data suggesting that the Whirlpool Formation is latest Ordovician, rather than earliest Silurian as traditionally thought. They also indicate paleogeographic connections between the area of Whirlpool deposition in Ontario and the Edgewood Province and Cincinnati Arch region in the east-central United States

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Permian millipedes are rare, especially so considering the relative abundance of millipedes in Carboniferous rocks. We report an early Permian millipede fauna containing three new genera and species of millipedes (Oklahomasoma richardsspurense new genus new species, Karstiulus fortsillensis new genus new species, and Dolesea subtila new genus new species) found in fossil-producing pockets of the Fort Sill fissures exposed in the Dolese Quarry near Richards Spur, southwest Oklahoma, USA. These are the first new genera of invertebrates to be described from this site, one of the most prolific fossil-vertebrate sites in the world. We also comment on taxa with morphological similarities and note previously described occurrences of Permian millipedes as well as occurrences of fossil myriapods (millipedes and centipedes) in karst deposits (caves and fissure fills) in Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, and the Caribbean. In contrast with the forms found at Richards Spur, most of these previous accounts of millipedes found in caves and fissure fills are of Pleistocene forms that are closely allied to modern taxa. The taxa from Richards Spur bear some similarities to Pennsylvanian forms. Karst (cave and fissure) faunas should be ranked with concretion faunas, cannel coals, and amber faunas as a major source of fossil myriapods.

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The morphology of Zygospira, an early atrypide brachiopod, was analyzed using a multivariate approach. Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis clearly differentiated species as they are currently defined primarily based on differences in shell size and ornamentation but not in terms of overall shell shape. The older Zygospira modesta was able to persist into the late Katian (Richmondian) while smaller early species in other brachiopod lineages mostly went extinct. This may have been possible through niche partitioning because the smaller shells have been found attached to other filter feeders and no larger species have been found in these associations so far. This could represent a rare example of sympatric speciation preserved in the fossil record. In the future, detailed study of the spiralia and their associated structures may provide clues as to the ultimate evolutionary affinities of this group in relation to the other atrypide brachiopods evolving at this time.

The zosterophyllopsids had a widespread distribution and constituted a dominant component in many plant assemblages during the Early Devonian. Although a large number of zosterophyllopsids have been documented, knowledge about the paleogeographic distribution of different genera/species remains to be expanded by further fossil evidence. In this article, new material assigned to the genus Gosslingia Heard, 1927 and designated as Gosslingia cf. G. breconensis Heard, 1927 is described from a new locality of the Lower Devonian of Guizhou Province, China. The Guizhou material shows main axes that are pseudomonopodially branched, pseudomonopodial lateral branching systems, subaxillary tubercle branches, circinate apices, elliptical xylem strand, exarch maturation of xylem, and G-type tracheids, and exhibits considerable similarities with the type and only species of Gosslingia, Gosslingia breconensis. Our finding represents the first report of Gosslingia in the South China Block and the most convincing occurrence of this genus outside of Wales, UK. Gosslingia adds to the diversity of genera shared among the Early Devonian floras of South China, western Europe, and North America, along with Distichophytum Mägdefrau, Estinnophyton Fairon-Demaret, Zosterophyllum Penhallow, and others, and indicates that the dispersal of early vascular plants among different paleocontinents was more common than previously appreciated.

Tropidoleptus is a brachiopod genus with a very peculiar morphology that existed throughout the Devonian as a cosmopolitan taxon. Although there have been reports of the presence of this genus in the Paraná Basin since the nineteenth century, its actual occurrence has been the subject of much debate. The objective of this paper was to clarify this situation. For this purpose, dozens of specimens from Monjolo dos Padres and Juscimeira outcrops (São Domingos Formation, possibly Givetian) in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso were analyzed. The samples studied here exhibit the typical characteristics of Tropidoleptus, confirming that this genus also occurred in the Paraná Basin. It is possible that Tropidoleptus entered the Paraná Basin during the Eifelian/Givetian from the Amazonas and/or Parnaíba basins (Brazil), during a period of warm-water transgression. When Tropidoleptus is found in situ, it can serve as an indicator of a shallower water environment (shoreface to shallower portions of transitional offshore). In the Paraná Basin, its presence can indicate rocks no older than the Eifelian–Givetian transition.

Bryozoans are common and diverse in fossil and modern coral reefs. However, studies of bryozoans in ancient reefs are generally limited, and even less is known about fossil bryozoan faunas associated with coral reefs in the Caribbean region. This is the second contribution describing the bryozoan assemblage from the early Miocene (Aquitanian) reefs of the Siamaná Formation in the La Guajira Peninsula, southern Caribbean. Here, we describe and illustrate 17 species of ascophoran-grade cheilostomes, including one new genus and three new species, Ditaxiporina colombiana n. sp., Poricella paulae n. sp., and Cycloavicularia parva n. gen. n. sp. Of the remaining fourteen taxa left in open nomenclature, one is considered confer and three affinis to species previously described, one is identified at family level, and nine at genus level. The Siamaná bryozoan fauna differs in species and colony-form composition from those associated with other paleoenvironments from Oligocene and Miocene localities of North America, the Caribbean, and Brazil.

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The trilobite Needmorella new genus, with type species N. simoni new genus new species from the late Emsian to mid-Eifelian Needmore Shale of West Virginia, is a distinctive member of the subfamily Synphoriinae. It also occurs in the same formation in Pennsylvania and Virginia. It is not very similar to other Devonian representatives of the subfamily and is considered to have its origins in a morphologically less-derived ancestor because it shares certain similarities with Silurian genera, including the very short anterior cephalic border unmodified by crenulations or spines, S2 that is not largely reduced to a deep pit adaxially, the relatively low inflation of L3, and the well-defined interpleural furrows on the pygidium. Other particularly distinctive characters of the genus include the very long genal spines and the abaxially inflated and expanded posterior pleural bands on the thorax and pygidium that project slightly distally. The conventional concept of the Devonian synphoriine Anchiopsis Delo, 1935 appears to be incompatible with the holotype of the type species, judging from the early illustrations of the specimen, and the genus could be a synonym of Synphoria Clarke, 1894.

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Successions in Oklahoma and Nevada record trilobite extinction and replacement near the Steptoean–Sunwaptan boundary in inner-shelf and outer-shelf settings, respectively. Prior to the extinctions, different trilobite biofacies occupied these environments, but faunas became similar in composition across the environmental gradient in the overlying I. “major” and Taenicephalus zones. Faunal changes in the outer shelf at the I. “major” Zone begin at a drowning unconformity that brought dark, laminated calcisiltite and silty lime mudstone above a subtidal carbonate succession. In contrast, Oklahoma shows facies continuity in a succession of tidally influenced bioclastic carbonates. Loss of genera and a dramatic abundance “spike” of Irvingella are features of the I. “major” Zone in both regions. Turnover of biofacies occurred in the succeeding Taenicephalus Zone, with both the inner and outer shelf dominated by Orygmaspis (Parabolinoides). Blooms of orthid brachiopods in shallow water settings are underappreciated signals of faunal change in the extinction interval. Although absent from the outer shelf in Nevada, orthids became abundant enough in Oklahoma to form shell beds in the lower Taenicephalus Zone, but became rare in overlying strata. Carbon isotope stratigraphy includes a modest positive δ13C excursion that peaks in the extinction interval at 1.4‰ (Oklahoma) and 2.2‰ (Nevada), which is congruent with previous reports from Utah and Wyoming. Although consistent with regional upwelling of dysoxic waters, the absence of sedimentary evidence for significant environmental change over much of the shelf is problematic. This suggests that physical environmental change acted primarily as a catalyst for cascading ecological and biogeographic effects.