Musculature of the pectoral and pelvic appendages and girdles of adult and nestling Maiasaura peeblesorum (Dinosauria: Ornithischia: Hadrosauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Montana is restored according to a phylogenetically based methodology. This methodology uses an explicit, independently derived phylogenetic hypothesis of the fossil taxon and related extant taxa to generate a series of inferences regarding the presence of a muscle, its number of components, and the origin(s) and insertion(s) of these components. Corroborative osteological evidence is sought on the fossil in the form of scars and processes that fulfill the criteria for muscular attachment according to generalisations based upon extant vertebrates. A total of 46 muscles are restored, although separate attachment sites for numerous muscles cannot be discerned on the fossils. Osteological evidence for several muscles can be found in nestlings of Maiasaura despite their skeletal immaturity. Results of the phylogenetically based approach and new hypotheses for homologies of deep dorsal thigh muscles suggest that it is more parsimonious to restore the femoral insertions of M. iliofemoralis on the greater trochanter and M. puboischiofemoralis internus on the anterior (lesser) trochanter, a reversal of the traditional interpretation. The often-cited osteological specialisations of birds for flight are not accompanied in all instances by profound myological transformations, and birds must be included in any attempt to restore the myology of extinct dinosaurs.

The Polish Sudetes on the NE margin of the Bohemian Massif comprise a complex mosaic of pre-Permian basement units, traditionally included in the Variscides. A hypothesis of significant Caledonian orogenesis in this area originated in the 1920s, was subsequently rejected, and then was recently revived in models which invoked Early Palaeozoic to Early-Mid Devonian subduction and continental collision along a proposed extension of the Tornquist suture zone. We reassess the evidence invoked in support of the Caledonian orogeny, such as supposed regional pre-Upper Devonian unconformity, Ordovician bimodal magmatism and radiometric, palaeontological, palaeomagnetic and structural data, and suggest these are either inconclusive or misinterpreted. On the other hand, the Sudetes record Mid?-Late Devonian blueschist metamorphism followed by an Early Carboniferous regional high temperature event, widespread Late Devonian/Early Carboniferous flysch/molasse sedimentation and abundant granite intrusion in the Carboniferous to Early Permian. We discuss the usage of the term ‘Caledonian’ in a plate tectonic context and suggest it should not be used simply to denote Early to Mid-Palaeozoic tectonic activity. The tectonic evolution of the Sudetes was temporally different from, and resulted from convergence of different crustal domains than that of the British-Scandinavian-Pomeranian Caledonides. The Sudetic Palaeozoic sequences most probably developed on Armorican Neoproterozoic crust and in adjacent oceanic(?) domains and, therefore, the Sudetes form part of the Variscan orogenic belt.

The very large trilobite Taihungshania miqueli occurs abundantly in siliceous nodules in the Ordovician of the Montagne Noire, southern France, but in these, larval individuals are not preserved. At a new locality at Peret, near Cabrières, protaspid and early meraspid growth stages occur in great abundance, together with a few complete specimens belonging to meraspid degrees 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, and a single young holaspis. Although this material is largely flattened, and the originally globular protaspides crushed, it is still possible to establish the development of several axial rings before the transitory pygidium becomes liberated. In the degree 0 meraspis, the cephalon and transitory pygidium are about the same size, and the presence of a partially enrolled degree 3 meraspis indicates that protective coiling was possible by this early stage. Palpebral lobes are incipient in degree 2 meraspides, and fully formed by degree 7, otherwise the morphology of the cephalon becomes quite adult-like by degree 4. The pygidial spines begin to appear in degree 5, at which stage there are about 10 axial rings; there are about 13 in a degree 7 meraspis, and in the adult, where the posterior contour is semi-elliptical, there are some 22. The smallest hypostomes present belong to a degree 6 meraspis, and these are morphologically similar to those of adults. Observations on the later growth stages were made on material from another locality (Caramaou), as well as that from Peret. In the eye the upper lenses are large and slightly separated, but those towards the base are much diminished in size; this is a function of an unusual growth geometry.

At Peret, all stages of development, at least as far as young adults, are represented, albeit often in a fragmentary state. As with other asaphines, the protaspides are assumed to be planktic, and T. miqueli presumably left the plankton and became benthic between the protaspid and meraspid periods.

The Trekantnunatakker rise from the inland ice NW of the head of Kangerlussuaq fjord on the Blosseville Coast of central East Greenland. In these nunataks the main sequence of Tertiary flood basalts is overlain by picritic and ankaramitic lavas. These mildly alkaline lavas have lower 143Nd/144Nd and higher 87Sr/86Sr than the tholeiitic flood basalts. Their isotopic and incompatible element characteristics are similar to those of moderately enriched ocean island basalts, and comparable to the alkaline lavas of the nearby Prinsen af Wales Bjerge. The Trekantnunatakker lavas were the result of small-volume deep melting and it is concluded that an enriched OIB-type source was present as a component of the East Greenland plume.