We document the occurrence of Early Triassic (Olenekian) crinoid ossicles in exotic blocks contained within the black limestone unit of the Thaynes Formation, which overlies the Dinwoody Formation at the classic Crittenden Springs Smithian ammonoid locality. Crinoid ossicles include two species, i.e., Holocrinus sp. and Articulata ord., fam., gen. et sp. indet. Furthermore, two co-occurring, age diagnostic conodonts, i.e., Neospathodus pakistanensis and Ns. posterolongatus, constrain the age of the crinoids from the early Smithian to the earliest middle Smithian. This discovery represents the third report of Smithian Holocrinidae in the Panthalassan area and it provides important data for the study of crinoid recovery during the Early Triassic.

Ontogeny and variation of the three barroisiceratine ammonoids Yabeiceras orientale Tokunaga and Shimizu, Yabeiceras cf. manasoaense Collignon, and Forresteria (F.) yezoensis Matsumoto were studied by means of X-ray micro-computer tomography based on the well-preserved material from the probable upper Turonian Obisagawa Member of the Ashizawa Formation, Futaba Group in Fukushima Prefecture, northeast Japan. Specimens of Y. orientale, F. (F.) yezoensis, and F. (F.) muramotoi from the Coniacian of the Yezo Group in Mikasa City, central Hokkaido, northern Japan were also examined for comparison. As the shell of Y. orientale grows, the relative umbilical size (U/D) becomes rapidly larger at shell diameter (D) of 30–50 mm, and the relative whorl thickness (W/H) first increases to the stage of 30–50 mm in D and then decreases gradually. The growth rate of whorl width in costal section (W) is relatively constant up to a diameter of 30–50 mm and then decreases gradually, whereas that of whorl height (H) is relatively constant throughout ontogeny. The intraspecific variations in U/D and W/H in middle whorls are wider than those in early and late whorls, as evidenced by the data from the present and previous studies. As the shell of F. (F.) yezoensis grows, U/D is almost constant, and W/H decreases gradually after D exceeds 30–50 mm. Forresteria (F.) yezoensis shows relatively narrow intraspecific variations in relative umbilical size and whorl thickness, as evidenced by the measurement data from the present and previous studies.

The Iwaki insect-bearing amber from Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Honshu, Japan, is considered from the Late Cretaceous Coniacian age. The insect-bearing amber localities from that period are few worldwide. Here, we report Iwakia longilabiata gen. et sp. nov., a new fossil genus and species of the infraorder Cimicomorpha Leston, Pendergrast and Southwood, 1954 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from the Futaba Group of Iwaki City. Although the preservation is incomplete, this fossil is provisionally placed in the family Microphysidae Dohrn, 1859 based on the general consistency of the diagnostic characters of the family. The fossil is distinguishable from any genus of Cimicomorpha including Microphysidae because of its long labium and brachypterous female. Additionally, the fossil shares the female diagnostic characteristics of the Palaearctic and Nearctic taxa, suggesting that it is an early stage in the evolution of sexual dimorphism of the family Microphysidae. The evolution of sexual dimorphism in Microphysidae may have already occurred in East Asia during the Late Cretaceous Coniacian age. This fossil may be the first discovery from Asia and the oldest record of the family Microphysidae.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CC4DAF02-7182-4D9E-871F-A3B81BFFBDFD

Herein, we describe Callorhinchus orientalis sp. nov., an extinct callorhinchid chondrichthyan species found in the lower Maastrichtian deposits of the Hakobuchi Formation in Hobetsu, Hokkaido, northern Japan. This species is the first record of the genus Callorhinchus from the northern Pacific region, filling the biogeographical gap and implying survival beyond the Cretaceous/Paleogene extinction event because of the broad distribution of the genus. A comparison of Maastrichtian Callorhinchus species, including C. orientalis sp. nov., and Danian species indicates a potential period of temporal dwarfing within the genus across this extinction event.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:7ED050DB-7A04-4999-9CA9-8E04E0B5AA56

Five species of Late Cretaceous ammonoids, Yezoceras miotuberculatum, Yezoceras elegans, Eubostrychoceras indopacificum, Pseudoxybeloceras sp., and Yabeiceras orientale, have been identified from the Obisagawa Member of the Ashizawa Formation, Futaba Group, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. Notably, Yezoc.miotuberculatum, Yezoc. elegans, and the genus Pseudoxybeloceras, previously known from the Yezo Group in Hokkaido, northern Japan, were identified for the first time from the Futaba Group. The presence of Yezoc.miotuberculatum and Yezoc. elegans indicates faunal similarities between the Ashizawa Formation and the Yezo Group in Hokkaido. Co-occurrence of age-diagnostic inoceramids suggesting latest Turonian to earliest Coniacian age allows us to provide a detailed biostratigraphic correlation between the Futaba and Yezo groups.

This study describes a new fossil butterfly species, Tacola kamitanii sp. nov., from the Upper Pliocene to the Lower Pleistocene Teragi Group in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. The new fossil is characterized by remarkably large wings, with an estimated forewing length of 48 mm and a wingspan of 84 mm. This new fossil species belongs to the genus Tacola based on the following characteristics: both discal cells open, smoothly curved humeral veins, and a thick thorax and abdomen. However, it does not identify with any modern relatives of Tacola with a small discal cell, straight 1A+2A anal vein of the forewing, or long hindwing median vein. Therefore, the fossil was identified as a new species of the genus Tacola and one of the largest species in the subfamily Limenitidinae. The modern relatives of Tacola are distributed in the subtropics and tropics, while this fossil species may have survived in the temperate zone. This is the first named Limenitidini fossil and the youngest example of an extinct butterfly.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FCF699C6-B28F-4916-91BE-B9C93A0BB0DC

We review the Anthracotheriidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from the lower part (ca. 15.0–14.4 Ma) of the middle Miocene Aka Aiteputh Formation in Nachola (northern Kenya), with a description of the specimens. The anthracotheriids of the Aka Aiteputh Formation in Nachola consist of two bothriodontine species, Brachyodus aequatorialis nacholaensis subsp. nov. and Nacholameryx baragoiensis gen. et sp. nov. The materials of B. aequatorialis nacholaensis consist of gnatho-dental, phalanx, metapodial, and scaphoid specimens that likely comprise a single individual. B. aequatorialis nacholaensis is distinguished from Brachyodus aequatorialis aequatorialis in having a lingual postprotocrista on P4 and a better developed cuspid on the p4 talonid and in lacking a buccal postprotocristid on p4. The materials of N. baragoiensis consist mainly of isolated teeth. N. baragoiensis is characterized by relatively small body size, tetracuspidate upper molars with a looplike mesostyle and without a lingual postprotocrista, lower molars with a preprotocristid and prehypocristid (cristid obliqua) reaching close to the lingual margin of the crown, a buccally positioned m3 hypoconulid, and a better-developed and isolated paraconid and metaconid (or entostylid) on p4 with an extra cuspid between the protoconid and the paraconid. Our phylogenetic analyses recover Nacholameryx as the sister taxon of the [Merycopotamus + Libycosaurus] clade within the Merycopotamini, raising the possibility that the [Merycopotamus + Libycosaurus] clade originated in Africa during the middle Miocene. This revision of the Nachola anthracotheriids demonstrates that the results of previous faunal analyses of the Nachola mammals should be reappraised.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:46DFEEF0-E0E8-4B80-BD7A-C9BE13B8D70D

Azooxanthellate colonial corals are important habitat-formers in deep-water ecosystems. Here, we provide detailed descriptions of three framework-forming azooxanthellate corals (Petrophyllia niimiensis, Dendrophyllia okamotoi and Dendrophyllia mokiensis sp. nov.) from the Miocene Omori Formation on the Moki coast in Oda, Shimane, Japan using microfocus X-ray computed tomography. With an estimated age of 17.65–13.60 Ma based on nannofossils, Dendrophyllia mokiensis sp. nov. represents the oldest member of Dendrophyllia with a sympodial budding colony. Moreover, this is the first report of the co-occurrence of Petrophyllia and Dendrophyllia in a high density fossil assemblage. Petrophyllia has been reported as a framework builder in cold-water coral reefs or a member of dense accumulations of azooxanthellate corals during the Turonian (Late Cretaceous), thereby raising the possibility that an azooxanthellate coral community dominated by Petrophyllia also existed in the Miocene. This discovery sheds light on changes in azooxanthellate coral communities in deep-water coral habitats during the Cenozoic.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:C3FFF753-2212-403F-9743-C84308CC0400

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:F8EDB286-64B8-4125-907E-4863368BF2DA

The first detailed systematic documentation of Late Ordovician (Katian) ostracods from the Phu Ngu Formation, northern Vietnam, yields nine species, two described in open nomenclature, from seven genera, two identified tentatively, with six new species, including two new palaeocopine species, five binodicopine species (three new species, including one new genus, one species described in open nomenclature, and the previously described Kinnekullea gaia Wong Hearing et al.), one new leiocopine species and a possible metacopine species. The ostracods co-occur with brachiopods, trilobites and graptolites, in lithofacies interpreted as deposited in a deep marine paleoarc setting on the South China paleoplate. Several ostracod genera from the Phu Ngu Formation are known from paleocontinents that were remote from South China during the Ordovician, including Baltica, Laurentia and the Argentine Precordillera. Assessing the taxonomic composition of the Phu Ngu ostracod assemblage, alongside other Ordovician ostracod faunas from the South China paleoplate reveals that there are very few endemic genera and high proportions of cosmopolitan genera, questioning the utility of ostracod genera for paleogeographical determination, and raising the possibility they were able to migrate via deep, cooler ocean waters.

ZooBank registration: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:622C3839-363F-4B01-89C1-B8ACFA077279

Distribution contour maps of aquatic palynomorphs in Osaka Bay were made to determine their horizontal distribution using 21 surface sediment samples. The aquatic palynomorphs consisted of planktonic autotrophic dinoflagellate cysts, raphidophyte cysts, heterotrophic dinoflagellate cysts, heterotrophic ciliate cysts, heterotrophic crustacean resting eggs, benthic foraminiferal linings, turbellarian egg capsules, as well as planktonic chlorophycean resistant cells. Most of these resistant cells are thought to have been transported via the Yodo River (Yodogawa), since most of them originated from freshwater areas, mainly Lake Biwa. Most of these palynomorphs were distributed mainly off the mouth of the Yodo River, while benthic foraminiferal linings were distributed mainly off Kobe Airport. A canonical correspondence analysis between each palynomorph and environmental factors including distance from the mouth of the Yodo River (Distance A), water depth, dissolved oxygen (DO), surface water temperature, salinity, transparency, grain size composition (Mdφ), chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrogen, phosphorus, and chlorophyll was performed. The results showed that the autotrophic dinoflagellate Spiniferites bulloideus and foraminiferal linings were strongly positively correlated with Distance A and Mdφ but negatively correlated with DO, whereas cysts of Alexandrium catenella/pacificum, which often form red tides with paralytic shellfish poisoning in Osaka Bay, were positively correlated with water depth and negatively correlated with COD. Turbellarian egg capsules, heterotrophic dinoflagellate cysts, Echinidinium spp., and foraminiferal linings were positively correlated with salinity and transparency. However, these results do not logically explain the relationship between the distribution of these palynomorphs and environmental factors, because the distribution of aquatic palynomorphs in a narrow sea area with complex marine environments such as Osaka Bay is caused by a combination of biological factors and physical factors that act after the formation of palynomorphs.

The westerlies, a major atmospheric circulation system, have a crucial role in driving climate and environmental changes in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in arid Central Asia (ACA). However, the influence of variations in the westerlies on biota remains elusive due to less sedimentary archives. Here, we focus on Holocene ostracods from a core in the Bosten Lake in Xinjiang of the ACA area. We conducted a comparative analysis of our ostracod records, including radiocarbon dating results, with ostracod and salinity records from other cores within Bosten Lake, and suggested that alternative ostracod assemblages can serve as indicators of salinity changes in the lake over the past 8,000 years, which corresponded to westerlies dynamics. We propose that over the course of 8,000 years, precipitation patterns in the Bosten Lake region were influenced by intensified westerlies, which were associated with high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the North Atlantic. This climatic shift, in turn, led to changes in the local ostracod communities.