Crinoid pluricolumnals and natural moulds are amongst the least loved of fossils, yet may provide important information on crinoid form. Herein, we document two crinoid columnal taxa in open no-menclature based on moulds, namely platycrinitid gen. et sp. indet. and Pentagonocyclicus? (col.) sp. Platycrinitids can rarely be classified to below family level from columnals alone; they presumably evolved neotenously from juveniles with synarthrial articulations. Pentagonocyclicus? (col.) sp. is rec-ognised by ‘lumping’ together pluricolumnals of unimportantly differing morphologies, the sum of which might be found in the xenomorphic column of a single species. The pluricolumnal is robust, homoeomorphic to heteromorphic, N2221222; column circular or rounded pentagonal in section; columnals low; articulation radial symplectial; no areola; lumen rounded pentagonal; broad spatium and narrow axial canal.

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Neoberingius minamichitaensis sp. nov. is described from the upper Lower Miocene Yamami Formation (Morozaki Group) in Utsumisanbi, Minamichita-cho, Chita-gun, Aichi Prefecture and Utsumi Formation (Morozaki Group) in Akanotani, Noma, Mihama-cho, Chita-gun, Aichi Prefecture. This species can be inferred to have lived on the muddy bottom of the bathyal zone. Neoberingius and its related genus Beringius fossils are rare, and this is the first report of their discovery in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan which is thought to represent the southern limit of Neoberingius fossils. It has been revealed that during the Early Miocene, the distribution of Neoberingius expanded from around Kamchatka to the deep waters of present-day Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The discovery of this species is regarded as crucial for understanding the migration, distribution, and evolution of this genus.

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Fifty molluscan species have been recovered from boulders in the lower Middle Miocene Sazen Formation at Unazukimachi-Oritate in Kurobe City, Toyama Prefecture. The assemblage includes new species of the trochid Protorotella and the plesiotrochid Trochocerithium, herein described. Based on the living species of the same genera, it can be estimated that the Oritate assemblage was deposited in water deeper than 50 m. Some characteristic species of Yatsuo-Kadonosawa and Shiobara-Yama faunas are mixed in the assemblage. Moreover, some cold-water species are shared with the Early Miocene Sankebetsu and the Middle Miocene Chikubetsu faunas in Hokkaido which first appeared in the Japan Sea borderland of Honshu. The first appearance of cold-water species corresponded with the Middle Miocene Climatic Transition (MMCT) around oxygen isotope zone Mi 2a.

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Professor Trevor A. Jackson (1941–2016) was a distinguished igneous geochemist at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica for many years. This document is based on his professorial inauguration presentation from 2002. Jackson’s contributions spanned the length of the Caribbean, concerning both intrusive and extrusive rocks of the Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Territories of interest, apart from Jamaica, included Belize, Carriacou, Tobago and Trinidad. His research was significant and substantial, shedding light on the geochemical evolution and tectonic settings of the Caribbean Plate.

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Miocene barnacles (Cirripedia, Thoracica) from the Mizunami Group are clarified, based upon examinations of the paleontological collection in the Mizunami Fossil Museum and newly obtained materials. The present taxonomic study reports 31 species in 23 genera, divided between eight families. Of these, nine genera and 21 species are recorded for the first time from the Miocene of Japan. Five new species are included: Lepas tanakai (Lepadidae), Tetraclitella mizunamiensis (Tetraclitidae), Tetraclitella tokiensis (Tetraclitidae), Megabalanus yamaguchii (Balanidae), and Solidobalanus hataii (Balanidae). Additionally, Amphibalanus itoigawai, a new species of Balanidae, is described, based upon examination of the Iwamura and Mizunami groups. The cirripede fauna of the Mizunami Group is the most diverse in the Miocene of Japan. The fauna consists of all extant genera and largely represents benthic taxa which lived in the intertidal–upper sublittoral zone at the present Japan and adjacent seas.

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Fossil specimens are collected more expeditiously than they can be documented and published. Thus, museum collections invariably contain interesting specimens that remain undescribed. Herein, we document three intriguing specimens from the Angela Marmont Centre. All are borings. Apectoichnus longissimus (Kelly and Bromley) from the Albian of Kent is phosphatized and preserves two generations of borings in wood. A single Recent Caulostrepsis taeniola Clarke is associated with multiple Maeandropolydora sulcans Voigt, emphasising their common derivation as the spoor of spionid polychaetes. Maeandropolydora is reported from the Recent of Lyme Regis, Dorset, and Blue Anchor, Somerset, for the first time.

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Paleontological restoration of the “Paleoparadoxiid Mizunami-Kamado specimen” (MFM 18130), which was excavated from the Lower Miocene Shukunohora Formation (ca. 16.5 Ma) Mizunami Group in Kamado-cho, Mizunami City, was created as a reconstruction of a complete skeleton, a 2D illustration of the paleoecology of the Paleoparadoxiidae and the paleoenvironment around the paleoparadoxiids, and a model of a living body. The form of the paleoparadoxiid was reconstructed based on the 3D digital skeletal model and restored. The paleoecology of the time when the individuals represented by the present specimen lived around shallow marine was reconstructed based on the molluscs, barnacles, echinoids, sharks, and plants that were associated with the present skeleton. They have been exhibiting at the Mizunami Fossil Museum as a new exhibition since March 2025, with an assembled skeleton of MFM 18130 supported by steel frames. It is hoped that these illustrations will not only help people understand how the extinct paleoparadoxiid lived around the northern Pacific realms, but also museum visitors’ interests in Desmostylia, paleontology and fossils.

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Earliest Eocene carbonates of the Vincentown Formation, New Jersey, yield a limited but notable brachyuran fauna. Arcticocarcinus americanus new species marks the first Cenozoic record of Necrocarcinidae (Raninoida) in North America. Three different epibionts colonize the carapace of the holotype of A. americanus new species. Feldmannicarcinus new genus documents a preference for carbonate environments within Tumidocarcinidae (Carpilioidea), unusual among members of the family. Feldmannicarcinus sturgeoni (Feldmann et al., 1998) new combination and Feldmannicarcinus hajzeri new species document the new genus from Ypresian through Bartonian rocks of east coastal North America. Mounting evidence suggests that Paleocene carbonate localities of the North Atlantic served as a Cenozoic refugium for many decapod lineages that originated in the Cretaceous (Schweitzer and Feldmann, 2023).

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A new species of Macrocheira, M. enoptra from the Lookingglass Formation of Oregon, appears to be a smaller, younger individual than those from previously described extinct species. Fossil species of Macrocheira from west coastal North America fall into three categories: older, Eocene-Oligocene, strongly ornamented forms; younger, Oligocene-Miocene forms with subdued ornamentation; and the comparatively small form described here. Macrocheiridae is a small but well-represented family in the North Pacific from the Eocene through Holocene. Ontogenetic changes in carapace shape and ornamentation are observable in both extinct and extant species of Macrocheira.

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A venerid (Mercenaria?) bivalve fossil, recently collected as an allochthonous bioclast from a beach in Florida, USA, presents an opportunity to discuss aspects of paleontology and sedimentology that may be useful to educators involved in the geological and/or biological sciences. The specimen, which was transported to the shore following a storm event, is preserved as an internal mold (steinkern) that is completely penetrated by the bioerosional ichnogenus Gastrochaenolites. This otherwise inconspicuous fossil records evidence of a surprisingly complicated history, including shell burial and infilling, lithification of infilling sediment, dissolution of shell, incorporation into a lithified bioclastic sedimentary layer, boring through the layer by a different bivalve, erosion by storm currents, and transportation onto the beach. The occurrence of this specimen as an allochthonous pebble illustrates an instance in which trace fossils can be transported and highlights the significance of storm events in facilitating resedimentation of bioclastic material in carbonate settings.

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