Fusulinaceans from the flank of Northwind Ridge in the Arctic Ocean indicate that this feature is underlain by miogeoclinal upper Paleozoic strata, and that the fauna belongs to the Middle Carboniferous through Early Permian Arctic Fusulinacean Province. This province stretched from the Canadian Arctic Islands eastward to Svalbard where it merged with the similar Ural Fusulinacean Province in the western Ural Mountains. Because these provinces did not extend into Siberia, the Northwind Ridge assemblage indicates that these rocks originally were adjacent to, or a part of, the Canadian Arctic Islands Carboniferous-Permian shelf margin.

Echinus gyracanthus Eaton, 1832, was the first tentaculitid reported from North America, but the original description and illustration are vague by present-day standards. Study of the type material and topotypes from the Lower Devonian Manlius Limestone in the Town of Schoharie, New York, suggests that Tentaculites gyracanthus (Eaton) is a discrete species, but one with pronounced and remarkable intraspecific variability. Tentaculites simmondsi new species also occurs in the same unit and locality.

The type species of Parastrophinella, P. reversa, a pentamerid brachiopod from the uppermost Ordovician (Hirnantian) Ellis Bay Formation of Anticosti Island, Quebec, shows that the genus is characterized by three features: 1) a ventral median septum apically buried in a thickened valve floor, but anteriorly rising above valve floor; 2) prominent alate plates, which are homologous to brachial processes; and, 3) a pseudocruralium consisting of a dorsal median septum, which is largely buried in the valve floor posteriorly, and outer plates that are connected to the median septum via prismatic substance (with poorly developed lamellar layer at the junctions) at, or slightly above, the valve floor. These constitute criteria by which many species previously assigned to Parastrophinella are excluded from the genus. Late Ordovician species that fit the redefinition of Parastrophinella are now confined to eastern North America. The genus crosses the Ordovician/Silurian boundary without major morphologic change, and Early Silurian species of Parastrophinella occur in both eastern North America and Great Britain. In the Late Ordovician, the pentamerid fauna of North America (Laurentia) contrasted sharply with that of Baltica and Kazakhstan, where the Holorhynchus fauna was dominant. Typical elements of the Holorhynchus fauna, such as the large-shelled Holorhynchus and Proconchidium, are known only in the northern parts of Laurentia (Baffin Island, Greenland, and Kolyma), and are absent in the Hudson Bay and Williston basins and southwards.

In the Lower Devonian the first productellids evolved from their chonetidine ancestors as the Productellinae. This subfamily was the stem group from which all the later Productidina evolved, yet three of its five subfamilies persisted to the end of the Permian. The main characters used in the new classification, here presented, for the Productellidae are described and reviewed, and the main changes seen during its evolution are discussed. Within this new classification five new genera are described: in the Overtoniinae are Barunkhuraya Lazarev from the latest Famennian, Onavia Lazarev from the Tournaisian, both from Mongolia, and Echinariella Lazarev (type species Krotovia jisuensiformis Sarycheva) from the late Permian of Transcaucasia; in the Marginiferinae there is Breileenia Brunton from the Visean of western Europe and in the Plicatiferinae is Maemia Lazarev from the mid and Upper Carboniferous on the coast of the Barents Sea. New species described in these genera are Barunkhuraya indrengynensis Lazarev, Onavia barunkhurensis Lazarev, Breileenia radiata Brunton, Maemia chaykensis Lazarev, and M. nana Lazarev.

Two occurrences of Middle Ordovician opercula belonging to the gastropod Maclurites are described, one from the Taimyr Peninsula, Siberia, and one from the Kuskokwim Mountains, Alaska. The Taimyr opercula are the first to be described from Russia. Like other opercula of the genus, these thick specimens have a relatively massive prong on the interior to which the retractor muscle was attached. The Alaskan specimens preserve a secondary muscle attachment site. The described occurrences of Maclurites opercula are summarized.

Five species of nuculoid bivalves are described from Pennsylvanian outcrops of the Ixtaltepec Formation, Oaxaca, Mexico: Nuculopsis sp., Palaeoneilo sinuosus new species, Paleyoldia sp., Phestia bellistriata, and Phestia sp. have been collected in clastic rocks and in association with other marine invertebrate groups, which represent a peri-reefal environment.

The Campanian-Maastrichtian-aged Grande Carriere quarry near Tercis, southwest France, contains a diverse and abundant assemblage of both micro-and macrofossils from a thick sequence of well-exposed limestones. Its fauna is also a mixture of both Boreal and Tethyan Province species. Because of these two traits, the quarry provides an excellent source of information about integrated biostratigraphic events among diverse taxa, as well as providing a reference section for correlation between the two biogeographic provinces. The quarry has recently been proposed as a candidate for the Campanian/Maastrichtian boundary stratotype section, while one ammonite found there, Pachydiscus neubergicus, has been proposed as the index fossil marking the base of the Maastrichtian Stage. We have made collections of Upper Cretaceous ammonites and planktonic foraminifera from limestones exposed in, and near this site, which yield new information about the relative stratigraphic ranges of Upper Campanian and Lower Maastrichtian ammonites and foraminifera.

Silicified material from the Early Caradoc part of the Las Aguaditas Formation in San Juan Province, Argentina, includes a nearly complete growth series for a new species of the tropidocoryphid Stenoblepharum Owens, 1973. Cladistic analysis of Stenoblepharum species indicates that S. astinii new species is most closely allied to the Early Caradoc S. strasburgense (Cooper, 1953) from Virginia. Chinese species of Stenoblepharum are sister group to a Baltic/Laurentian clade. A single adult-like protaspid stage occurs in the life cycle of S. astinii, closely resembling the protaspis of Decoroproetus. It is preceded by a non-adult-like first protaspid instar that appears to be characteristic of Proetoidea in general but contrasts markedly with the early larval stages of other taxa in Proetida.

Larvae of three proetide trilobites are described from the Garden City Formation: Proetide A, Goniophrys prima, and Licnocephala cavigladius. The larvae of Proetide A share a spindle-shaped axis and natant hypostomal condition with other proetide larvae as synapomorphies. The forward-tapering glabella and slender posterior fixigenal area of post-larval cranidia of Proetide A indicate a close affinity to the earliest proetide family (Hystricuridae). The primitive nature of the larvae of Proetide A is further supported by the possession of plesiomorphic features, including four glabellar lobes and bilobed axial lobes (L1/L2/L3). Larval features of Goniophrys prima (a telephinid) such as an elliptical outline and smooth exoskeleton are not consistent with the hypothesis that the genus is the ancestor to younger telephinids. The larvae of Licnocephala cavigladius are typical of the Bathyuridae in having a smooth, ovoid shield and less distinct axial furrows.

Three homocrinid crinoids from the Upper Ordovician Maquoketa Formation of northern Iowa and southern Minnesota are described: Ectenocrinus simplex (Hall), Drymocrinus strimplei new species, and Sygcaulocrinus typus Ulrich. Ectenocrinus simplex is relatively abundant, geographically widespread in the Appalachians and midcontinent of North America, and long-ranging in time (Middle Ordovician Shermanian to Upper Ordovician Maysvillian). The aboral cup of ectenocrinids underwent transpositional allometry during its evolution so that juvenile cups from the Upper Ordovician Maquoketa Formation resemble the adult cups of ancestral individuals from the Middle Ordovician. Sygcaulocrinus typus exhibits a unique expanded proximal stem consisting of three-to-five large columnals throughout its post-larval development. These columnals are rigidly joined to the aboral cup. Consequently, the proximal generative zone for new columnals is displaced below the proximal part of the stem. In addition, the columnals in the proximal stem of S. typus mainly grow with stong positive allometry with respect to the aboral cup. Essentially, the growth vectors of the proximal columnals converge on those of the aboral cup plates.

Streptognathodus Pa elements dominate conodont faunas from the proposed Carboniferous-Permian boundary stratotype at Aidaralash Creek, northern Kazakhstan. The phyletic development of this genus provides the means for subdividing the late Gzhelian to early Sakmarian prodeltaic section (Beds 9-37) into six zones. The preferred Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Permian System is 27 m above the base of Bed 19 at the first occurrence of Streptognathodus isolatus Chernykh, Ritter, and Wardlaw, 1996. This arbitrarily chosen point in the evolutionary continuum of nodose streptognathodids is recognizable in basinal rocks elsewhere in the Ural trough (lower part of Bed 16 at Usolka) as well as the cyclic shelf succession of the American Midcontinent (Glenrock Limestone Member of the Red Eagle Limestone).

Eight new species of Streptognathodus occur in the Aidaralash collections: S. bellus n. sp., S. costaeflabellus n. sp., S. flexuosus n. sp., S. glenisteri n. sp., S. longilatus n. sp., S. rectangularis n. sp., S. sigmoidalis n. sp., and S. tenuialveus n. sp. In addition, three morphotypes with limited occurrence (S. sp. A-C) are left in open nomenclature. New collections of topotype material from the nearby Tabantal River section permit clarification of S. barskovi (Kozur).

Utatsusaurus hataii, an Early Triassic ichthyosaur from Japan, is represented by exceptionally well preserved materials but is poorly known because of incomplete preparation. Further preparation of the holotype and one of the paratype specimens has revealed nearly complete forefins that are pentadactyl, with no more than five phalanges in any of the digits. The first digit is not well developed, and the fifth distal carpal appears to be absent. The phalanges along the fin margin tend to be lunate; others are flattened cylinders. These findings indicate that the relationship of Utatsusaurus with other Early Triassic ichthyosaurs must be reconsidered.

A large ichthyosaur from the Early Tithonian (Late Jurassic) of the Neuquén province, Argentina, represents a new genus and species, Caypullisaurus bonapartei, within the family Ichthyosauridae. The holotype is the most complete skeleton of a mature ichthyosaur known to date from the Jurassic of South America. In comparison with other Late Jurassic ichthyosaurs, the new taxon shares a long and slender rostrum, degenerate dentition in adults, and the enlargement of the orbit with Ophthalmosaurus. Unlike Ophthalmosaurus, the forefin of Caypullisaurus has four major digits composed of tightly packed, polygonal phalanges, and pre- and post-axial accessory digits. Caypullisaurus demonstrates that ichthyosaurs were more diverse during the Late Jurassic than thought previously.

Recently collected specimens of Catopsalis fissidens from the Torrejonian interval of the Nacimiento Formation in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico significantly augment knowledge of the morphology and dental variability of the species. This new knowledge suggests C. foliatus Cope, 1882 (=C. johnstoni Fox, 1989) is a valid Puercan species and that C. fissidens Cope, 1884a is a subjective senior synonym of C. utahensis Gazin, 1939. This latter synonymy further increases taxa shared between the Dragon Canyon local fauna of Utah and the Torrejonian fauna of the San Juan Basin, thus supporting previous inclusion of the Dragonian land-mammal “age” in the Torrejonian.

Species of Eugonophyllum (Codiaceae, Chlorophyta) have traditionally been characterized as phylloid or leaf-like. But a reconstruction of well preserved specimens of Eugonophyllum, probably E. johnsonii Konishi and Wray, from Upper Pennsylvanian limestone formations of Palo Pinto County, Texas, indicates it was cyathiform or cup-shaped. Reconstruction was based on the forms of membranes as seen in sections and on partial excavation of thalli. This Eugonophyllum shared with congeneric species of Eugonophyllum the characteristic two-layered cortex (outer and inner), and with other codiaceans the same general membrane structure consisting of bilateral cortices with palisades of utricles now filled with micrite, and a medulla of tubular coenocytes, an area now mostly filled with mosaic sparry calcite. A cyathiform thallus would have inner and outer cortices but no differences were found in the structure of the inner and outer cortical utricular casts. The thalli were apparently anchored with elongated, cylindrical holdfasts. Internal spherical structures, presumably developed from differentiated utricles, may have been zygotes or young embryos from an oogamous fertilization. These were apparently released to the environment through the membrane.

Isoetes beestonii new species is the most ancient known species of this living genus. In earliest Triassic shales of the Sydney and Bowen Basins of Australia it is locally abundant as circlets of transversely wrinkled leaves. It was heterosporous with megaspores of Maiturisporites rewanensis and microspores of Lundbladispora sp. cf. L. springsurensis.

Isoetes thus predates Pleuromeia from which it has been thought to have evolved. Australian Pleuromeia-like subarborescent lycopsids are here reviewed as whole plants, with names based on fertile structures, and include Cylostrobus sydneyensis Helby and Martin from the Sydney Basin, Pleuromeia dubia (Seward) Retallack from the Sydney and Canning Basins, and Cylostrobus indicus (Lele) new combination and Pleuromeia sternbergii (Münster) Corda for Germar, newly recorded from the Canning Basin.

There are in addition an array of cormose lycopsids that formed compact conelike plants when fertile, intermediate in stature between Isoetes and Pleuromeia. One of these is Tomiostrobus australis (Ash) Sadovnikov, formerly regarded as a cone, but here reinterpreted as a small pioneering plant of oligotrophic lakes and ponds, like Isoetes. Its megaspores are Horstisporites and its microspores are the stratigraphically important Aratrisporites tenuispinosus. Other similar forms are Tomiostrobus polaris (Lundblad) new combination from the early Triassic of Greenland, T. mirabilis (Snigirevskaya) new combination from the early Triassic of the Tunguska Basin of Siberia, T. taimyrica (Sadovnikov) new combination from the Early Triassic of the Taimyr region of Siberia, Lepacyclotes ermayinensis (Wang) new combination from the middle Triassic of China, L. convexus (Brik) new combination from the middle-late Triassic of Kazachstan, and L. zeilleri (Fliche) new combination from the middle Triassic of France and Germany.

The diversity of isoetaleans in early Triassic floras and the weak vascular system of permineralized Tomiostrobus and Pleuromeia contradict the traditional view that Isoetes evolved by reduction in size from Pleuromeia and that its opportunistic life style allowed it to avoid plant competition. It is now more likely that Isoetaceae were weedy survivors of Permian-Triassic extinctions. The adaptive radiation and decline of Triassic quillworts matches the recovery from near-extinction, then decline of therapsid reptiles, for which these plants may have been an important food.

Fossil sharks are represented primarily by isolated teeth. Teeth are usually used for classification of extinct sharks, but their vertebrae may provide interesting paleoecological and taphonomical information even if not in association with teeth (e.g., Lucas et al., 1985; Gottfried, 1995). In this paper, I describe an isolated centrum of a shark vertebra from the Lower Cretaceous Kiowa Shale in Kansas, housed in the University of Kansas, Museum of Natural History (KUVP), Lawrence. A precise taxonomic assignment for this Kiowa shark is difficult because of its isolated occurrence, lack of large comparative collections of fossil shark vertebrae found in association with teeth, and poorly known morphological variation of fossil shark vertebrae. However, the specimen is noteworthy, because it is the largest Mesozoic shark vertebra known to date.

The newly organized Long Island Natural History Museum (LINHM) has assembled a small collection of fossil vertebrates from the Cretaceous of Morocco. Among the remains in this collection are two spinosaurid (Theropoda) teeth and one sauropod tooth that we refer to either the Diplodocidae or Titanosauridae. Because of the scarcity of spinosaurid and Cretaceous sauropod teeth, a short description of the material is presented here. In addition to the dinosaurian remains, the collection includes an unidentified crocodilian tooth and a tooth identified tentatively as that of a pterosaur, which we also describe briefly. Furthermore, there are other fossil reptile teeth from the Ksar es Souk Province in the collections of the LINHM. Some of these may represent groups of reptiles other than those discussed here, but the taxonomic identity of these teeth is still being determined.

As the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology prepares for the coming century, the staff of the Paleontological Institute and the boards of advisors have begun the development of PaleoBank, an electronic, relational database that will facilitate the capture of up-to-date, paleontological information. Moving the Treatise project into the electronic age will make the task of the authors less daunting and enable future volumes of the Treatise to be updated in a more timely manner.