Silicified oolites and pisolites from Bed 18 of the Upper Proterozoic (about 700–800 Ma) Limestone–Dolomite “Series” of the Eleonore Bay Group, central East Greenland, contain a diverse suite of organically preserved microfossils that is, for the most part, unlike assemblages previously described from Proterozoic cherts and shales. Three principal assemblages occur in these rocks: 1) a clast-bound assemblage found in detrital carbonate grains (now silicified) that served as nuclei for ooid and pisoid growth, as well as in uncoated mud and mat clasts that were carried into the zone of ooid and pisoid deposition; 2) an epilithic and interstitial assemblage consisting of microorganisms that occurred on top of and between grains; and 3) a euendolithic assemblage composed of microbes that actively bored into coated grains. The Upper Proterozoic euendolithic assemblage closely resembles a community of euendolithic cyanobacteria found today in shallow marine ooid sands of the Bahama Banks. Thirteen species are described, of which eight are new, five representing new genera: Eohyella dichotoma n. sp., Eohyella endoatracta n. sp., Eohyella rectoclada n. sp., Thylacocausticus globorum n. gen. and sp., Cunicularius halleri n. gen. and sp., Graviglomus incrustus n. gen. and sp., Perulagranum obovatum n. gen. and sp., and Parenchymodiscus endolithicus n. gen. and sp.

Craterolithus n. gen. is described. Craterolithus hoerstgensis (Müller) n. comb. is designated as type species, and its description is emended. This distinctive species occurs within a restricted range in the middle Oligocene (NP 23 to lower NP 24) of the Labrador Sea and northern Germany.

The heliolitid fauna of the Upper Silurian West Point Formation of southern Gaspé, Québec, Canada, consists of Propora tubulata (Lonsdale), Heliolites decipiens (McCoy), H. daintreei Nicholson and Etheridge, and Heliolites sp. cf. H. bohemicus Wentzel. All of these species are common in Europe, but are rare in North America. Heliolites sp. cf. H. bohemicus and H. daintreei are newly reported for North America. Very restricted facies occurrences, and presumed environmental preferences, of species such as P. tubulata and H. daintreei suggest that facies occurrences may be useful, along with conventional morphological criteria, in distinguishing species of heliolitid corals.

Three new species of Hippocardia, H. ancora, H. pala, and H. cucullata, are described. Hippocardia ancora and H. pala occur together in the Lazy Bend Formation (Desmoinesian) of Texas. Hippocardia cucullata occurs in the Imo Formation (Chesterian) of Arkansas.

Glyptospira is a small, highly ornamented, turriteliform gastropod found in the Lower Permian of the southwestern United States. Two species, Glyptospira cristulata Chronic and G. arelela Plas, have been previously described from the Kaibab Formation, Arizona, and the Bird Spring Group, Arrow Canyon Range, Nevada, respectively. The genus is most diverse in the Wolfcampian Hueco Formation of West Texas and southern New Mexico and the Colina Limestone of southeastern Arizona. This contribution describes four new species of Glyptospira from the southwestern United States: two bicarinate forms, G. huecoensis and G. turrita, and two tricarinate forms, G. tricostata and G. cingulata.

A phylogenetic analysis of all known species of Glyptospira was performed using qualitative characters for which transformation series could be established and two quantitative characters for which transformation series could not be established. The phylogenetic results provided the best available hypothesis of the evolutionary history of the genus.

Four species belonging in Tudiclidae and one in Melongenidae have been confused with perissityids. The new genus Rapopsis is proposed for a tudiclid species, R. joseana n. sp. of early Maastrichtian age. Three other tudiclid species may belong in the Tethyan genus Pyropsis, P. fantozzii n. sp. of early to middle Paleocene age, P. striata (Stanton, 1896) of later Paleocene age, and ?P. gabbi (Stanton, 1896) probably of early to middle Paleocene age. The melongenid genus Protobusycon, represented by P. judithae n. sp. of late Paleocene age, has not previously been recognized in eastern Pacific faunas.

Even though ammonites are not very abundant in Patagonia, a large number of specimens were collected by geologists from the Empresa Nacional del Petroleo (ENAP), Chile, during the course of several years of field work in the Magallanes Basin. This study describes the ammonite family Kossmaticeratidae present in that collection, which is a typical element of most southern hemisphere Late Cretaceous assemblages. The species described include: Kossmaticeras (Kossmaticeras?) fasciculatum n. sp., K. (Karapadites) constrictus n. sp., K. (Natalites) cecioni n. sp., K. (Natalites) hauthali (Paulcke), K. (Natalites) sp., Neograhamites kiliani Spath, N. taylori Spath, Gunnarites elegans n. sp., G. bhavaniformis (Kilian and Reboul), Grossouvrites gemmatus (Huppe), and Maorites densicostatus (Kilian and Reboul).

The stratigraphic information on this fauna indicates that it is distributed in four assemblages. The oldest (assemblage A), possibly late Santonian to early Campanian in age, includes the species Kossmaticeras (Kossmaticeras?) fasciculatum, Neograhamites taylori, and possibly N. kiliani. This is followed by assemblage B (possibly middle to late Campanian), with K. (Karapadites) constrictus, K. (Karapadites) centinelaense (Blasco, Nullo, and Proserpio), K. (Natalites) hauthali, K. (Natalites) cecioni, Neograhamites morenoi Riccardi, N. taylori, N. kiliani, K. (Natalites) sp., Gunnarites elegans, G. bhavaniformis, and possibly Pseudokossmaticeras paulckei Collignon. The third assemblage (C), possibly late Campanian to early Maastrichtian in age, contains G. elegans, G. bhavaniformis, Grossouvrites gemmatus, and K. (Natalites) hauthali. The youngest assemblage (D) is possibly late Maastrichtian in age and is composed of the species Maorites densicostatus and Grossouvrites gemmatus.

Eleven basic constructional designs are defined among the Crinoidea. Calyx designs are defined primarily by shape, geometry of plates at the base of the calyx, tegmen shape, fixed calyx plates, number of arms, and nature of radial facets. These calyx designs include the following: multiplated bowls, multiplated bicones, conical mosaics, urns, cylinders, cones, ellipsoids, hands, bowls, bilateral recumbents, and fists. Most crinoid subclasses and orders contain crinoids with several of these designs. This significant convergence and parallelism in calyx design indicates that the morphological evolution of crinoids has been substantially constrained by constructional and fabricational limitations.

The evolution of primitive calceocrinids with four arm-bearing rays, here termed cremacrinids, has been examined for 13 species of Cremacrinus, Paracremacrinus, and Anulocrinus using numerical cladistics. The lineage was reconstructed from a Wagner tree of a Manhattan distance matrix. The characters were polarized by outgroup comparison. The Calceocrinidae originated from the Homocrinidae by development of the hinge, recumbent stem, loss of the BC interray basal and the C ray arm, and reorganization of the dorsal cup plates. The main evolutionary trends within cremacrinids consist of differentiation of the B and E ray arms from those of the lateral rays, increase or decrease in the number of branches and size of all arms, reduction of the B ray arm relative to those of the A and D rays, acquistion of additional main axils in the lateral rays, fusion of the infer- and superradials in the B and C rays, development of elongate brachials, and changes in adult body size.

Relatively complete growth sequences are known for six species of cremacrinids and these are analyzed with allometric equations for the dorsal cup, hinge, and arms. The relationships between ontogeny and phylogeny for the links in the evolutionary sequence and the number of examples of each are listed in order of decreasing frequency and importance: 1) unclassified divergences (for example, changes in the number of branches in the E ray and the formation of elongate brachials), 12 examples; 2) 10 cases of paedomorphosis; 3) no significant differences between ancestors and descendants, seven instances; 4) five links where the dorsal cup plates are rearranged; and 5) a single change by recapitulation. Some phyletic links are characterized by several patterns whereas others only exhibit one or two kinds of transitions.

Trilobites are a relatively rare faunal component in Carboniferous marine strata of the north-central Appalachian Basin. Three of the seven trilobite species known from the Lower Mississippian Waverly Group of Ohio, Griffithidella waverlyensis Hessler, Paladin marginatus (Hyde), and Brachymetopus nodosus Wilson, are monotypic and are known only from the type material. More commonly occurring species include Proetus (Pudoproetus) missouriensis (Shumard) and Breviphillipsia sampsoni (Vogdes), which are present in the Wooster and Meadville Shales and Byers Sandstone. The rare species, Australosutura lodiensis (Meek) and Piltonia eurybathrea (Hessler), are found most commonly in the Wooster and Meadville Shales. At least two species are present in Upper Mississippian strata. Paladin chesterensis (Weller) is found in most Upper Mississippian marine units and ranges through most of the Chesterian. Paladin cf. P. pyriformus Chamberlain is present in a single horizon in the lower Mauch Chunk (lower Chesterian) in southwestern Pennsylvania. Five trilobite species are present in Pennsylvanian strata. Sevillia trinucleata (Herrick) and Sevillia sevillensis Weller are present in upper Atokan and lower Desmoinesian strata of the Pottsville Group of Ohio. Ameura missouriensis (Shumard) first occurs in the Lower Mercer marine horizon (upper Atokan) and ranges to the Ames (Virgilian) marine unit. Ditomopyge scitula (Meek and Worthen), the most pervasive Pennsylvanian trilobite species, ranges from the Lower Mercer (upper Atokan) marine interval into the Portersville (Missourian) marine interval. Ditomopyge decurtata (Gheyselinck) is known only from the Ames marine interval (Virgilian), but may be present in higher marine zones.

The echinoids Salenia cascadensis n. sp., Stomechinus? dissimilaris n. sp., Glyptocidaris sp., Arbacia abiquaensis n. sp., Lytechinus baldwini n. sp., Gagaria crenularis n. sp., and Kewia marquamensis n. sp. occur in the Late Oligocene (Chattian) Scotts Mills Formation near Silverton, Oregon, just north of 45°N latitude. The echinoids occur in shallow-water sediments deposited among basaltic sea stacks along a rockbound, storm-dominated marginal marine environment. Except for Kewia, these occurrences mark a more northerly limit for these genera in the northeastern Pacific and add to their stratigraphic range.

Vertebrate microfossils are commonly present as minor constituents of acid-etched limestone residues in the Lochkovian (Lower Devonian). This paper describes the fish taxa from the Simpson Park Range section at Coal Canyon, central Nevada. These include thelodont scales of the family Nikoliviidae; heterostracan scales; acanthodian scales, platelets, and spines of Nostolepis type, Gomphonchus type, Acanthodes type, Machaeracanthus type, and climatiid type; placoderm scales of buchanosteid and radotinid types; and the shark, Polymerolepis whitei.

Agnotocastor readingi n. sp., from the Orellan of Nebraska, is intermediate in size between the Chadronian A. galushai Emry from Wyoming and the Orellan A. coloradensis Wilson from Colorado. It differs slightly in dental and mandibular morphology from these latter species and cannot be transitional between them. The simplification of the dentition in A. readingi may indicate a position ancestral to the Whitneyan A. praetereadens Stirton from South Dakota.

The early terrestrial fossil record contains numerous Siluro-Devonian problematic Thallophyta which have morphological and habitat characteristics intermediate between the algae and the embryophytic plant kingdom. Three new species of the genus Nematothallus Lang (N. taenia, N. lobata, and N. elliptica) are described from a coaly lens in the Bloomsburg Formation (Ludlow). They are included in the order Nematophytales, which is placed in a new informal taxonomic group, Paraphyta, intended to include enigmatic, terrestrial plant-like fossils. These species designations are based upon the gross morphology of carbonized thalli which consist of an underlying anatomy of flattened tubular elements. The association and attachment of cuticles and axes of ?Prototaxites to Nematothallus is clearly demonstrated in these collections. The morphological and anatomical variety expressed in the numerous fragments of thalli from the deposit implies moderate levels of organic diversity in a “flora” of nonvascular, terrestrial plant-like thallophytes which predates the adaptive radiation of the embryophytes.

Recently collected specimens allow a better characterization of the frond architecture of Sphenopteris pottsvillea (White) Gastaldo and Boersma from the Plateau and Warrior Coalfields, Alabama. The bipartite frond consists of a naked petiole of moderate length (>0.3 m) and two pinnule-bearing sections. The angle of rachial bifurcation varies from 35° to 65°, with no one angle of divergence dominating the sample population. Basal exterior lateral rachises develop first, are oblong in outline, and do not possess spine-like prolongations. Lateral rachises develop alternately along each pinnule-bearing section. Pinnule-bearing sections of the described leaf fragment exceed 0.5 m in length, and the dimensions of an entire frond probably approached 2.0 m.