The type species of the eurekiid trilobite Corbinia Walcott, C. horatio Walcott, 1924, possesses very short palpebral lobes located opposite 2p glabellar lobe. The palpebral lobes of species of Eurekia Walcott and of Corbinia apopsis Winston and Nicholls, 1967, are considerably longer and located opposite 1p and 2p glabellar lobes. Corbinia is here restricted to the type species, and C. apopsis is assigned to Eurekia. Corbinia horatio occurs in the Basal Silty Member of the Survey Peak Formation of southern Alberta and appears to be confined to the lower part of the Eurekia apopsis Subzone of the Saukia Zone (basal Ibexian).

A new genus and species of turrid neogastropod, Kyllinia parentalis, is described based on three shells from the Pliocene (North Italy) and the Pleistocene (northwestern Peloponnesus) of the central Mediterranean area. the new taxon is compared to the buccinid (sensu lato) genus Metula H. and A. Adams, 1853 with which it shows a few superficial similarities mainly limited to the latticed sculptural pattern of the teleoconch. Kyllinia parentalis is placed in the turrid subfamily Mangeliinae on the basis of teleoconch characters (double sinuosity of the outer lip and the short, forward curved anterior canal) and protoconch (a characteristic pattern formed by narrow axial riblets giving a coronated suture to the larval shell). These taxonomic characters, together with the almost clathrate teleoconch sculpture, form an original combination within the Mangeliinae, thus justifying the description of a new genus. the Recent species Philbertia marchadi Knudsen, 1956 (for which we consider the previous attributions to Philbertia Monterosato, 1884 and Diaugasma, Melvill, 1917 incorrect) from the Republic of Guinea and Angola closely resembles K. parentalis, but differs in having axial folds on early teleoconch whorls, a more slender shell, and a proportionally taller last whorl. Philbertia marchadi fits well with the characteristics of the herein described genus, so that we propose the new combination Kyllinia marchadi (Knudsen, 1956). Kyllinia parentalis, a species originated in the Mediterranean Pliocene, is to be considered as the ancestor of K. marchadi. Kyllinia parentalis should be regarded as a meaningful marker in recognizing warm Mediterranean Pleistocene events.

Allmon (1996, p. 45) erected the genus Palmerella for a clade of gastropods from the Paleocene and Eocene of the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coastal plains, almost all of which had formerly been placed in the genus Turritella Lamarck, 1799. The name Palmerella, however, was previously used by Cameron (1908) for a Recent ichneumonid wasp. I therefore here propose the name Kapalmerella new name as a replacement for Palmerella Allmon, 1996, not Cameron, 1908. As was the case for Palmerella Allmon, Kapalmerella is named in honor of Katherine Van Winkle Palmer (1895–1982) in recognition of her contributions to the systematics of coastal plain Paleogene turritellids. The type species of Kapalmerella is Turritella mortoni Conrad, 1830 by original designation (Allmon, 1996).

The uppermost Lower Silurian and Upper Silurian Gascons and West Point Formations of the southern Gaspé Peninsula were deposited under a broad range of environmental conditions from deep offshore-shelf to reef facies. Halysitid and auloporid tabulate corals occur in a number of facies and show a high degree of endemism.

Two species of Halysitidae and three species of Auloporida are found in these formations. Both halysitids have been previously described from this region. The auloporids include the new species Syringopora minuta and another species that may represent the first known Silurian occurrence of the fletcheriellid genus Pseudofletcheria. A neotype for the halysitid Cystihalysites amplitubulatus (Lambe) is proposed.

Leviceraurus mammilloides n. gen. and sp. is an Ordovician cheirurine trilobite which occurs in limestones and shales of the Hallowell and Hillier Members of the Cobourg Formation, southern Ontario. It is a probable descendant of Ceraurus.

Apparatus-based conodont taxonomy has organized the plethora of generic and specific names of form-based taxonomy into a more biologically and phylogenetically sound taxonomy (Schopf, 1966; Webers, 1966; Bergström and Sweet, 1966; Sweet and Bergström, 1972; Rhodes and Austin, 1981; Sweet, 1981, 1988). In the transition from form-based to apparatus-based taxonomy, some conodonts that are not very common, or that have only one or two element types in their apparatus, have remained in a state of form-based taxonomy limbo. An example of this is Trichonodella? tricurva (Schopf, 1966). This relatively uncommon species was known from only one element type (Schopf, 1966) and has not been used in biostratigraphy. Schopf (1966) questioned the generic assignment of T.? tricurva and noted its distinct morphology. Sweet and Bergström (1972) indicated that the type species of Trichonodella (Branson and Mehl, 1948) is a junior synonym of Plectodina aculeata, or of a closely related Plectodina species. Trichonodella? tricurva does not fit within the apparatus-based generic concept of Plectodina (Sweet, 1981), and it is therefore inappropriate to refer it to Trichonodella or Plectodina. No genus contains a tertiopedate element that is morphologically similar to the holotype of T.? tricurva (Schopf, 1966). Additional material from strata that are in part coeval with the stratum typicum of T.? tricurva supports the idea that T.? tricurva represents a new genus. The new genus Schopfodus is proposed for the conodont elements described by Schopf as T.? tricurva and the associated elements of its apparatus.

A previously undescribed fossil specimen of deep water crab belonging to the family Homolidae de Haan, 1839 was discovered in the collection of the Museo Paleontológica de Bariloche of Río Negro Province, Argentina. the specimen is exceptional because one of the extra-lineal flanks is present. These lateral portions of the carapace are often absent in homolid crab specimens, due to disarticulation of the carapace along the lineae homolicae (Glaessner, 1969). the specimen was collected from the (middle?) Oligocene Río Foyel Formation (Casadío et al., 2004), which crops out south of the town of San Carlos de Bariloche, in the foothills of the Andes Mountains (Fig. 1). Paleogene specimens of the Homolidae are exceedingly rare, due in large part to the lack of preserved rocks from deepwater environments Feldmann et al., 1991), which they prefer in modern oceans. This specimen is of particular importance because it is not only the first reported fossil occurrence of the genus Paromola Wood-Mason, 1891 but also provides additional evidence as to the depositional environment of the Río Foyel Formation.

Actinocamax cobbani, a new belemnitellid species from the middle Coniacian of Montana and Wyoming, is described, including univariate and bivariate biometric analyses. The species is stout and medium sized, lanceolate or strongly lanceolate in ventral view, and has adorally a low cone-shaped alveolar fracture. It may be granulated. It is compared to species of Actinocamax Miller and Gonioteuthis Bayle from the North American and North European paleobiogeographic provinces. The importance of various morphological characters, such as the shape of the guard and the structure of the adoral end, are discussed. The majority of the belemnitellids of the North American Province are endemic and the stratigraphic distribution is punctuated during the Late Cretaceous, suggesting short-lived migrations of populations from the North European Province.

Conodonts display higher specific gravity (2.84-3.10) than common minerals in sedimentary rocks. For several decades this property has been exploited to separate these microfossils from sediment residues using density separation techniques. Two heavy liquids commonly used, bromoform and tetra-bromoethane, are toxic (Sax, 1979; HaufTand Airey, 1980) and constitute a danger to human health. Tetrabromoethane is a known carcinogen (Brem et al., 1974). Both of these liquids should be abandoned in favor of nontoxic sodium polytungstate (Callahan, 1987; Merrill, 1987b; Krukowski, 1988). There are, however, some technical problems with its use because of relatively high viscosity and a tendency to recrystallize during separation. Another big disadvantage is also its price at $100 per kilogram. These problems may be considerably overcome by using polytungstate in the way described by Savage (1988).

Articulated specimens of polyplacophorans are rare in the geological record, most being found as isolated valves. When found, it is useful to illustrate articulated specimens to provide a basis for making correct associations of isolated valves, to substantiate valve associations already proposed, and to determine valve order and amount of valve overlap.

Lyrischapa Aldrich (1911), originally described from the Eocene of North America, is represented in the Old World Tethyan paleobiotic province by three species that previously have been referred to other genera: L. haimei (d'Archiac), from the late Paleocene or early Eocene upper Ranikot Formation of Pakistan; L. sismondai (d'Archiac), from the upper Ranikot Formation and the late Paleocene Hangu Shales of Pakistan; and L. soudanense (Douvillé), from the late Paleocene Kalambaina Formation in the Republic of Niger. A fourth unnamed species of Lyrischapa may be represented by an internal mold from the middle Eocene Khirtar Formation of Pakistan. Lyrischapa probably originated within the ancient Tethys seaway between Eurasia and the Gondwana continents of Africa and southern India because its oldest known occurrence (late Paleocene) and closest relatives (Indovoluta Eames, 1952; Gosavia Stoliczka, 1865, 1868; possibly also Diconomorpha Wenz, 1943) are in that region. It has no apparent ancestor among described American Paleogene or Cretaceous Volutidae. Because its large protoconch suggests that it lacked a teleplanic larval stage, the trans-Atlantic migration of Lyrischapa to the New World probably resulted from chance dispersal, either by rafting of egg masses attached to floating plant debris or by drift of floating egg capsules.

A new lamellorthoceratid genus, Plicatoceras, is defined on the basis of Plicatoceras nishidai n. sp. from the early Gedinnian shale of the Fukuji Formation in central Japan. The new genus is the earliest known member of the Lamellorthoceratidae and is the first record of a lamellorthoceratid cephalopod from East Asia.

Species of Baculites are important marker fossils in the Upper Cretaceous rocks of the Western Interior of the United States and provide indices for 20 of the 29 Campanian and Maastrichtian zones recognized by Cobban (in Gill and Cobban, 1966; Cobban, 1977). They often occur in rock-forming proportions (Gill and Cobban, 1966, Pl. 11, fig. 3) and are common up through the lower Maastrichtian Baculites clinolobatus zone. In the type area of the Fox Hills Formation in west-central South Dakota, B. clinolobatus is present in the lower part of the Mobridge Member of the Pierre Shale, but Baculites are rare or absent in the rest of the member as well as in the overlying Elk Butte Member that forms the uppermost part of the Pierre Shale (Waage, 1968, p. 50, 51, fig. 6). Only the diminutive Baculites columna Morton, 1834, has been noted from the succeeding Fox Hills Formation (Waage, 1968). The highest marine Cretaceous rocks of the Western Interior are characterized instead by Sphenodiscus and a range of scaphitid species (Hoploscaphites, Discoscaphites). It is therefore of some interest to describe, for the first time, the baculitids from the very high Cretaceous of the Western Interior. The material described below was collected from the Fox Hills Formation by N. L. Larson, P. L. Larson, and R. A. Farrar of the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, Hill City, South Dakota. We are grateful to them for allowing us to describe this interesting collection. Specimens cited below are deposited in the collections of the Black Hills Institute (BHI) and in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (USNM) in Washington, D.C.

The rudist bivalve Durania aguilae Adkins was described from the Mendez Formation in Mexico and originally attributed to the Santonian. We revise this species and show that it belongs to the genus Chiapasella Müllerried. We also recognize that Chiapasella aguilae (Adkins) is a senior synonym of Chiapasella trechmanni Mitchell and Gunter, an important biostratigraphic indicator in the late late Maastrichtian of Jamaica. Chiapasella aguilae is therefore an important late late Maastrichtian marker fossil that has been recorded from Jamaica, Mexico, and Cuba.

The gastropod fauna of the Lower Cretaceous of the Argentinian Neuquén Basin contains three aporrhaid species. Protohemichenopus neuquensis Camacho, 1953 is the most abundant, longest-lived, and most geographically widespread of the aporrhaids of this basin, and its protoconch and early teleoconch whorls were unknown until now. The new species Dimorphosoma weaveri features convex to subtly angular spire whorls with opisthocyrt collabral ribs that are more prominent towards the mid-whorl, a bicarinate last whorl with small rounded nodes on the adapical carina, a simple, falcate labral wing which is more or less rectangular proximally and tapering and curving towards its distal end, and a short, straight rostrum. Tylostoma jaworskii Weaver, 1931 is now placed in Harpagodes, and other previous, scattered, coeval records of this genus in the basin are now recognized as part of this single species. It is believed that whereas H. jaworskii preferred shallower-water carbonate settings of low to moderate energy, P. neuquensis and D. weaveri favored siliciclastic to mixed clastic-carbonate environments, in deeper waters. In spite of its endemic elements, this aporrhaid association depicts a predominantly Tethyan influence.

Nectocaridids are soft-bodied Cambrian organisms that have been controversially interpreted as primitive cephalopods, at odds with the long-held belief that these mollusks evolved from a shell-bearing ancestor. Here, I document a new nectocaridid from the Whetstone Gulf Formation, extending the group's range into the Late Ordovician. Nectocotis rusmithi n. gen. n. sp. possesses a robust internal element that resembles a non-mineralized phragmocone or gladius. Nectocaridids can be accommodated in the cephalopod total group if the earliest cephalopods (1) inherited a non-mineralized shell field from the ancestral mollusk; and (2) internalized this shell field. This evolutionary scenario would overturn the traditional ectocochleate, Nautilus-like reconstruction of the ancestral cephalopod, and indicate a trend towards increased metabolic efficiency through the course of Cambrian–Ordovician evolution.

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Members of the echinoid order Spatangoida, a highly diverse and abundant marine invertebrate clade, were important denizens of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway (WIS), an epicontinental seaway that divided North America in two during an interval of greenhouse conditions between roughly 100 and 65 million years ago. A phylogenetic analysis of spatangoids was conducted using a character matrix of 32 characters from 21 species. Species that occur in the WIS were considered comprehensively, and species from other regions such as South America, Europe, and North Africa were also incorporated into the analysis. Phylogenetic patterns retrieved are largely congruent with preexisting family-level classifications; however, species within several genera, especially Hemiaster and Heteraster, need to be reassigned so that classification better reflects phylogeny. The genera Washitaster and Heteraster are closely related, as are Mecaster, Palhemiaster, and Proraster; Pliotoxaster, Macraster, and Hemiaster; and Micraster and Diplodetus. Biogeographic patterns were also considered using the phylogeny, and several episodes of vicariance and range expansion were identified. These were possibly related to some of the various major episodes of sea-level rise and fall during the Cretaceous. In particular, Valangian–mid-Aptian regressions may have caused vicariance within Heteraster and Washitaster while other early spatangoid vicariance may be related to regressions during the late Aptian–early Cenomanian. Further, vicariance caused by regressions during the mid-Cenomanian–Maastrichtian may have driven diversification within Micraster and Diplodetus. Last, transgressions during the late Aptian–early Cenomanian seem to have spurred prominent range expansions in Mecaster and Hemiaster.

A remarkable fossil assemblage composed of five gastropod taxa is described from the Early Miocene of Santa Cruz (Patagonia, Argentina) in southernmost South America. The assemblage includes extinct and living genera South America, and on geographic distributions and represent background new information on spatial and across time distributions as well as identification of new taxa. A new taxon, Patagocharopa enigmatica n. gen. n. sp., is tentatively assigned to Charopidae. Gastrocopta patagonica n. sp. (Vertiginidae) represents the oldest record of Gastrocopta in Argentina and the southernmost record for the Americas. Punctum patagonicum n. sp. (Punctidae) represents the first record of Punctum for continental South America, and characterized by a protoconch with traces of axial costulae and a teleoconch with strong radial ribs. Zilchogyra miocenica n. sp. is the first Miocene record of the charopid genus Zilchogyra. Fragments of a possible Scolodonta (Scolodontidae) are recorded. Overall, the assemblage represents an important and useful paleoenvironmental tool. This fauna suggests that a more temperate and humid environment than today—with a more dense vegetation cover—was prevalent at this site during the Early Miocene.

The trilobite Liostracina has been recognized as important in taxonomic and stratigraphic studies for more than a century. Until now, the genus Liostracina and family Liostracinidae have been known from only incomplete holaspid material, a degree 2 meraspis, and protaspides. A new locality in the Longha Formation (Cambrian: Guzhangian) of southeastern Yunnan, China, yields a rich collection of articulated holaspid exoskeletons and disarticulated sclerites of a new species, Liostracina fuluensis n. sp. These specimens reveal thoracic and ventral morphology that was previously unknown for Liostracina; they demonstrate that it has a rostral plate plus rostral and connective sutures, rather than a ventral median suture on the cephalic doublure. This confirms a natant hypostomal condition for the genus. Holaspid exoskeletal features, combined with evidence of a non-asaphoid-type protaspis, indicate that Liostracina is neither a primitive trinucleoid nor a primitive asaphoid. The family Liostracinidae is excluded from the superfamily Trinucleoidea and the order Trinucleida and reassigned to the order Ptychopariida.

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