A new species of syngnathiform fish, Gerpegezhus daniaoriundus n. sp., from the Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark is described herein. The description is based on 17 specimens preserved in either soft diatomite or carbonate concretions. The two lithologies result in different preservation of the morphological features. Gerpegezhus daniaoriundus n. sp. exhibits a set of diagnostic features of the extinct monotypic family Gerpegezhidae and of the genus Gerpegezhus, including (1) greatly elongated body, (2) presence of ossified myoseptal tendons, (3) lower procurrent caudal-fin rays absent, (4) dorsal- and anal-fin spines absent, and (5) pelvic fin and girdle absent. It can be separated from the species Gerpegezhus paviai by having a much slenderer body bearing unpaired leaf-like appendages protruding from its ventral side, and completely different meristic values, including up to 39 (or 40) vertebrae, a total of 16 unbranched caudal-fin rays, dorsal and anal fins with 5 and 16 unbranched rays, respectively, and a different organization of body armor comprising two dorsal bilateral series of dermal plates. The occurrence of the genus Gerpegezhus from the Fur Formation provides a remarkable example of the biogeographic relationships between the North Sea realm and the Tethys in the earliest Eocene.

http://zoobank.org/3a57ae6b-faae-44c6-9a0a-aaeea03b57b3

The current study records a new distributional range for Elysia cf. leucolegnote Jensen, 1990, which was previously reported only from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India. The collection was carried out in the mangroves of Kali Estuary situated in Karnataka (14°50ʹ55.27″N, 74° 9ʹ44.04″E & 14°50ʹ16.36″N, 74°10ʹ8.81″E), southwest coast of India. Prior studies had documented the distribution of this species in the tropical West Pacific and East Indian Oceans; this study reports the first record of E. cf. leucolegnote in the Northwestern Indian Ocean, expanding its documentation of a wider distribution range. The species was first discovered in Hong Kong and described in 1990. It was identified by its distinctive morphological characteristics, which featured black eyes situated proximally at the base of the rhinophores and a flattened, generally green body with a distinct white border line along the rhinophores and parapodia.

Rivers act as long-term plastic storage and a pathway for land-based plastic pollution into the ocean. Monitoring river plastic at a global scale remains challenging, with only limited large-scale and long-term monitoring efforts to date. Citizen science approaches may ensure a more continuous basic knowledge of plastic pollution in rivers, which can be used to assess the efficacy of reduction measures. We evaluated the suitability of several river plastic monitoring methods for citizen science, through field monitoring and a subsequent survey with citizen scientists in Accra, Ghana. Four measurement techniques (visual counting, macroplastic net sampling, microplastic net sampling and hydrometric measurements) were tested in the field and evaluated by citizen scientists. The visual counting method, used to estimate floating macroplastic transport, emerged as the most promising method for citizen science–based river plastic monitoring. Using the data collected by citizens, we quantify the variability in transport and concentration of both macroplastic and microplastic.

Malacostracan crustaceans are very diverse today, but their evolutionary history and biodiversity during the Paleozoic remain understudied. One clade within Malacostraca is Belotelsonidea, crustaceans with a shrimp-like body plan only known from the Carboniferous. We describe the fourth species of this group, Lobetelson feldmanni n. sp., from the Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) of the Kinney Brick Quarry, New Mexico, USA. The holotype is a flattened, relatively complete specimen with an eye preserved. A second, less well-preserved specimen from the same locality might be referable to the new species. This record represents the youngest record of Belotelsonidea, now ranging from the upper Tournaisian to the Kasimovian, equivalent to ca. 40 Myr. Paleobiogeographically, belotelsonids are only known from Scotland and various parts of the USA thus far, located near the equator to ~20° south during the Carboniferous. Whereas most belotelsonids are thought to have lived in a marine environment, some of the oldest specimens from Scotland are interpreted to have inhabited areas with limited to no marine influence.

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Parachute science is the problematic and extractive practice of non-local researchers taking data, knowledge and information from communities of which they are not members, failing to engage the local community and local scientists, marginalizing them in most aspects of the research, and using the results to their own benefit. Perpetuated by colonialism and unequal access to resources such as funding, education and data, it is harmful to local scientists and undervalues the contributions of the community as a whole. Ultimately, it erodes trust within the scientific community and, more broadly, builds dependence on foreign researchers and makes science less global and collaborative. Increasing international and cross-cultural collaborations while being careful to avoid parachute science can help minimize these impacts. Here, we offer our perspectives on parachute science and suggestions on how to avoid it, based on our experiences conducting research internationally with diverse scientists and communities, including both academics and non-academics. Instead of a parachute, we suggest opening the scientific “umbrella” to incorporate diverse perspectives and local contributions in generating relevant and impactful scientific insight.

Anningite-(Ce) ideally (Ca0.5Ce4+0.5)(VO4), was found within a phosphate coprolite from the sand-dominated sediments of the Gara Samani Formation, Algeria. As a tetragonal anhydrous vanadate, this mineral is classified in the xenotime group. It occurs in rock cavities and forms small (typically up to 100 μm in length) sheaf-like aggregates composed of crystals 30–40 μm in length and ∼7 μm in diameter. Anningite-(Ce) crystals are green with a vitreous lustre. No cleavage is observed and the fracture is uneven or conchoidal. Its empirical formula, calculated on the basis of 4 oxygen atoms, can be written as (Ca0.52Ce4+0.47Y3+0.01)Σ1.00[(VO4)0.88(PO4)0.05(SO4)0.06(SiO4)0.01]Σ1.00. The calculated density is 3.887 g/cm3. Anningite-(Ce) is tetragonal with space group I41/amd and unit-cell parameters a = 7.1500(4) Å, c = 6.3343(7) Å, and V = 323.82(5) Å3. Anningite-(Ce) is isostructural with wakefieldite-(Ce).

Elaborately zoned blue–grey tourmaline from the Dorothy China Clay Pit, St. Austell, Cornwall, UK reveals a history of hydrothermal activity in an open system. At least five distinct generations of tourmaline are identified within a single crystal. They are characterised by complex replacement textures displaying dissolution and reprecipitation features and compositional variations identified using optical microscopy, BSE-imaging and EPMA. The Li-rich, alkali-poor rossmanite core of the grain is considered as generation 1 tourmaline. Generation 2 tourmaline comprises a more Na-rich species, especially elbaite. Generation 3, partially replacing the core, is richer in Fe, and is mostly schorl and foitite. Generation 4, primarily Fe-rich dravite, forms an Mg-enriched rim around generations 1–3. Generation 5 fluor-schorl replaces all previous tourmaline generations and parts of the quartz matrix. Each generation corresponds to a chemically distinct fluid event suggested by dissolution textures and compositionally differing overgrowths. Infiltration of B-bearing, neutral-to-acidic fluids facilitated the growth of tourmaline. These fluids contained varying amounts of major elements reflected in the changing tourmaline composition. Dissolution probably occurred because of an increase in fluid pH or a change in major cation abundances. Generation 1 tourmaline crystallised in equilibrium with a Li-rich, Na-poor granitic host rock. From generations 1 to 3, fluids generally increased in Na and Fe while decreasing in Al and Li. Fluids increased in F at generation 3, followed by the influx of more oxidising, Mg-enriched fluids at generation 4. The final generation 5 represents a return to compositions richer in Fe and F. The episodic changes in fluid composition preserved by each generation of tourmaline records fluid infiltration. These differing compositions might reflect, in part, progression of kaolinisation of the host granites or changes in the magmatic–hydrothermal fluids. The St. Austell kaolinite deposits formed from hydrothermal alteration of the preexisting granite through multiple stages of reactive fluid infiltration as recorded in tourmaline.

Pseudosection modelling of a relict garnet-core in Palaeoproterozoic rocks from the Gridino area in the southern Belomorian belt of Karelia reveals peak-pressure eclogite-facies conditions of 610–650°C, 18–20 kbar for two retro-eclogite samples and 610–665°C, 23–26 kbar for a rare Mg-rich biotite-orthopyroxene eclogite, suggesting low initial metamorphic field gradients of 6.6–10°C/km. This confirms an earlier finding in Karelia and, considering other Palaeoproterozoic eclogite occurrences worldwide, that ‘cold’ subduction conditions, characteristic of modern-style subduction, occurred during the Palaeoproterozoic, ∼2 Ga ago, for the first time in Earth history. However, compositions of most other phases in the retro-eclogite were reset by diffusion, deformation and recrystallisation during subsequent pressure release and heating to variable degrees, a reason for earlier overestimations of temperatures. By contrast, peak-pressure conditions for a biotite paragneiss (640–740°C, 15–18 kbar) that occurs close to the biotite-orthopyroxene eclogite locality already show an early resetting of its initial assemblage. High-pressure granulite-facies peak-temperature conditions of the retro-eclogite at 712± 5°C, 9–12 kbar (along a field gradient of 20°C/km) were determined by Zr-in-rutile thermometry and quartz-in-garnet elastic barometry. These conditions were dated by a Rb/Sr mineral isochron for the biotite-orthopyroxene eclogite at 1830±20 Ma for the first time. Using existing ages for the peak-pressure conditions, possible slow overall exhumation rates of <0.9 mm/y between eclogite and the granulite-facies stages could be determined that are compatible with erosion as the main exhumation mechanism. The peak-temperature conditions were possibly established by thermal relaxation during early exhumation. However, a younger Rb/Sr mineral isochron for the biotite paragneiss indicates a characteristic Sr-isotopic disequilibrium distribution caused by diffusion during slow cooling between ∼1800 and 1750 Ma during later exhumation.

I consider the conditions for defining a mineral by its dominant end-member formula. One can calculate the end-member proportions of the end-members of a mineral provided that the end-members are linearly independent (i.e. they are phase components of the mineral); the result includes the dominant end-member of the mineral. If the end-members used in this calculation are not linearly independent, the corresponding set of simultaneous equations is indeterminate. One may remove an end-member from the system, removing the linear dependence; however, any end-member formula may be removed, leaving various sets of end-members that function as phase components. Each set of end-members produces a different solution for the end-member proportions. Each set of positive end-member proportions may (or may not) result in a different dominant end-member; however, within the compositional limits of the species, the same end-member is dominant over all others calculated with different combinations of component end-members. Problems previously encountered in attempting to calculate the dominant end-member formula were due to (1) using mineral formulae that do not accord with the requirements of stoichiometry, and (2) using end-members that are not components of the system. Where the set of end-members chosen to relate mineral composition to end-member proportions contains an end-member that is a linear combination of the other end-members, one must calculate the end-member proportions for all distinct subsets of linearly independent end-members. The dominant end-member over all sets of end-member proportions with all proportions positive is the dominant end-member. Thus for any mineral formula, the dominant end-member formula may be identified and serves to uniquely characterize and identify the mineral. The arguments used here are illustrated by reference to the minerals of the garnet supergroup.

Fanfaniite, Ca4Mn2+Al4(PO4)6(OH)4·12H2O, from the Hühnerkobel pegmatite mine, Bavaria, has been characterised by chemical analyses and synchrotron single-crystal diffraction. The average crystal structure was refined in space group C2/c (cell parameters a = 10.055(2), b = 24.132(5), c = 6.2590(10) Å, β = 91.35(3)°) to compare with reported monoclinic structures of other calcioferrite-group minerals with general formula Ca4AB4(PO4)6(OH)4·12H2O, A = Mn2+, Fe2+, Mg, B = Al, Fe3+. The average structure contains disordered half-occupied A sites and associated coordinated water molecules. The diffraction data for fanfaniite contains weak reflections that violate the c-glide condition, as also reported for montgomeryite, and in addition contains extremely weak, diffuse reflections requiring a doubling of a, as reported for kingsmountite. Structure refinements were conducted for the noncentrosymmetric C2 model used for montgomeryite and for the P$\bar 1$ model used for kingsmountite. The fanfaniite diffraction data is better explained by the triclinic model with doubled a cell parameter, although the extent of ordering of the A-site cations is considerably lower (56%) than reported for kingsmountite (85%). If the C2 model contributes, it can only be at the scale of the unit cell.

Modern supply chains are vital to global commerce, but they are also major contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As climate change intensifies, achieving carbon neutrality – particularly through supply chain decarbonisation – has become a global imperative. While organisations have made strides in reducing direct emissions, addressing indirect supply chain emissions presents greater complexity and urgency. We invite academic contributions that examine the challenges, enablers, potential risks, strategic approaches and innovative practices related to decarbonisation across a wide range of sectors, including manufacturing, service industries and humanitarian logistics. Emphasis is placed on holistic, multi-stakeholder approaches aligned with the GHG Protocol. The issue welcomes interdisciplinary research employing varied methodologies – ranging from empirical studies to conceptual frameworks – to inform practice, policy and sustainability transitions. By showcasing sector-specific insights and cross-cutting solutions, this issue aims to advance knowledge and action in building low-carbon, resilient supply chains.