The use of surface digitization techniques and methods in palaeontology has increased in the last two decades, mainly due to recent improvements in devices and software. However, many digitization efforts are published only as 3D models, with only a few details on the exact protocols used and sometimes not even indicating how to access these digital data, thus reducing the long‐term reusability of

Epidermal scales among modern reptiles are morphologically diverse and serve a variety of functions ranging from moisture balance to chemoreception. Despite being predominantly squamous‐skinned (scaly), the functional implications of this type of integument have never before been explored for a dinosaur. Re‐examination of the holotype of the theropod Juravenator starki (Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic)

Scaphitids rank among the commonest and best‐known Late Cretaceous ammonites, yet many aspects of their palaeobiology are still unresolved. Here, natural moulds and co‐occurring aptychi (calcitic coverings of the lower jaw) of Hoploscaphites constrictus crassus from the upper Maastrichtian of Poland are studied. For the first time in a scaphitid ammonite, growth marks are identified on the moulds and

Taxonomic identification of fossils is fundamental to a wide range of geological and biological disciplines. Many fossil groups are identified based on expert judgement, which requires extensive experience and is not always available for the specific taxonomic group at hand. Nerineoideans, a group of extinct gastropods that formed a major component of Mesozoic shallow marine environments, have distinctive

The Cambrian Period, primarily known for animal life diversifying, experienced global extinctions. Pulses of extinction in Cambrian Series 2 are exemplified by the disappearance of archaeocyath sponges and olenelline and redlichiid trilobites. However, the effect of such extinctions on outer shelf organisms, as typify Burgess Shale‐type (BST) deposits, remains relatively unknown. The phylogeny of naraoiid

In the recent publication by Caron & Aria (2020), the proposed new family‐group name ‘Teratopodidae’ is not available because it is not formed from the stem of an available generic name (ICZN 1999; Art. 11.7.1.1). A replacement name is proposed here, along with corrected Remarks.

Phytosaurs are a group of large, semi‐aquatic archosaurian reptiles from the Middle–Late Triassic. They have often been interpreted as carnivorous or piscivorous due to their large size, morphological similarity to extant crocodilians and preservation in fluvial, lacustrine and coastal deposits. However, these dietary hypotheses are difficult to test, meaning that phytosaur ecologies and their roles

Conodont animals were early jawless vertebrates equipped with a feeding apparatus composed of several tooth‐like elements. The P1 elements, at the rear of the apparatus, were characterized by a robust shape and rapid morphological evolution. Occlusion occurred between paired right and left P1 elements, occasioning some bilateral asymmetry, which, together with allometric growth, may partially obliterate

The latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG), the increase in biodiversity from the poles to the equator, is one of the most widely recognized global macroecological patterns, yet its deep time evolution and drivers remain uncertain. The Late Triassic (237–201 Ma), a critical interval for the early evolution and radiation of modern tetrapod groups (e.g. crocodylomorphs, dinosaurs, mammaliamorphs), offers

Taxonomic identification of fossils based on morphometric data traditionally relies on the use of standard linear models to classify such data. Machine learning and decision trees offer powerful alternative approaches to this problem but are not widely used in palaeontology. Here, we apply these techniques to published morphometric data of isolated theropod teeth in order to explore their utility in

A key feature of the pigment melanin is its high binding affinity for trace metal ions. In modern vertebrates trace metals associated with melanosomes, melanin‐rich organelles, can show tissue‐specific and taxon‐specific distribution patterns. Such signals preserve in fossil melanosomes, informing on the anatomy and phylogenetic affinities of fossil vertebrates. Fossil and modern melanosomes, however

Biogeographical distributional patterns of cetaceans reflect dispersal events and colonization of the oceans from their ancestral area in the ancient Sea of Tethys ̃53 Ma. Likewise, they reveal several vicariance events throughout the evolutionary history of this group. However, our understanding of how these processes took place and what biogeographical scenarios occurred among the different groups

Ecology and morphology are different, and yet in comparative studies of fossil vertebrates the two are often conflated. The macroevolution of Mesozoic marine tetrapods has been explored in terms of morphological disparity, but less commonly using ecological‐functional categories. Here we use ecospace modelling to quantify ecological disparity across all Mesozoic marine tetrapods. We document the explosive

Serial sectioning of a nodule encapsulating an adult specimen of the arthrodire placoderm Watsonosteus fletti from the Eday Flagstone Formation (Givetian) in the Orcadian Basin of northern Scotland has revealed the presence of a number of embryos within the adult. This specimen represents the oldest known record of fossilized vertebrate embryos. Thin sections of two of the slices have revealed the

The distribution of last occurrences of fossil taxa in a stratigraphic column are used to infer the pattern, timing and tempo of extinction from the fossil record. Clusters of last occurrences are commonly interpreted as an abrupt pulse of extinction. However, stratigraphic architecture alone can produce clusters of last occurrences that can be misinterpreted as an extinction pulse. These clusters

Limited taxonomic classification is possible for Archaean microbial mats and this is a fundamental limitation in constraining early ecosystems. Applying Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), a powerful tool for identifying vibrational motions attributable to specific functional groups, we characterized fossilized biopolymers in 3.5–3.3 Ga microbial mats from the Barberton greenstone belt

Whilst bones present a static view of extinct animals, fossil footprints are a direct record of the activity and motion of the track maker. Deep footprints are a particularly good record of foot motion. Such footprints rarely look like the feet that made them; the sediment being heavily disturbed by the foot motion. Because of this, such tracks are often overlooked or dismissed in preference for more

As animals grow in size, their relationship to the physical environment necessarily changes, but molluscs and brachiopods whose accretionary skeletons expand at one end of a hollow cone conform to logarithmic‐spiral growth and retain a constant shape. Dissolution and remodelling of previously formed parts of the skeleton can alleviate the constraints of strict logarithmic‐spiral growth. How, when,

Recent advances in computer technology have substantially changed the field of palaeontology in the last two decades. Palaeontologists now have a whole new arsenal of powerful digital techniques available to study fossil organisms in unprecedented detail and to test hypotheses regarding function and behaviour. Multibody dynamics analysis (MDA) is one of these techniques and although it originated as

Establishing hypotheses of relationships is a critical prerequisite for any macroevolutionary analysis, but different approaches exist for achieving this goal. Amongst palaeontologists using morphological data the Bayesian approach is increasingly preferred over parsimony, but this shift also alters the way we think about samples of trees. Here we revisit stratigraphic congruence as a comparator between

Spatiotemporal changes in fossil specimen completeness can bias our understanding of a group's evolutionary history. The quality of the sauropodomorph fossil record was assessed a decade ago, but the number of valid species has since increased by 60%, and 17% of the taxa from that study have since undergone taxonomic revision. Here, we assess how 10 years of additional research has changed our outlook

Lobopodians, a paraphyletic group of rare but morphologically diverse Palaeozoic vermiform animals bearing metameric appendages, are key to the origin of extant panarthropods. First discovered in 1983 on Mount Stephen (Yoho National Park, British Columbia), the Cambrian (Wuliuan) Burgess Shale lobopodian nicknamed ‘Collins’ monster’ is formally described as Collinsovermis monstruosus gen. et sp. nov

Reconstructing the function and behaviour of extinct groups of echinoderms is problematic because there are no modern analogues for their aberrant body plans. Cinctans, an enigmatic group of Cambrian echinoderms, exemplify this problem: their asymmetrical body plan differentiates them from all living species. Here, we used computational fluid dynamics to analyse the functional performance of cinctans

The Cryogenian Period experienced two long lived global glaciations known as Snowball Earths. While these events were dramatic, eukaryotic life persisted through them, and fossil evidence shows that eukaryotes thrived during the c. 30‐million‐year interlude between the glaciations. Carbonate successions have become an important taphonomic window for this interval. One of the most notable examples is

A panel of geochemical techniques is used here to investigate the taphonomy of fossil feathers preserved in association with the skeleton of the Jurassic theropod Anchiornis huxleyi. Extant feathers were analysed in parallel to test whether the soft tissues morphologically preserved in the fossil also exhibit a high degree of chemical preservation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive

Rhynchocephalians were a successful, globally distributed group of diapsid reptiles that thrived in the Mesozoic. Multiple species of Clevosaurus existed worldwide in the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic, characterized by shearing bladelike teeth perhaps functionally analogous to the carnassial teeth of mammals. Morphometric analysis shows that the dentary morphospace of clevosaurs differs significantly

Abundant, well‐preserved specimens of spheroidal organic‐walled microfossil Yurtusia uniformis are reported from the basal Cambrian Yanjiahe Formation in the Changyang area of Hubei Province, South China. Thin and hollow processes extend between the double walls of the vesicle. The single to multiple internal bodies within the vesicle cavity are observed in the genus for the first time, representing

The advent of palaeontological occurrence databases has allowed for detailed reconstruction and analyses of species richness through deep time. While a substantial literature has evolved ensuring that taxa are fairly counted within and between different time periods, how time itself is divided has received less attention. Stage‐level or equal‐interval age bins have frequently been used for regional

A macroalgal holdfast (root‐like structure) anchored or grown into sediments is a key trait of metaphytes and eukaryotic algae. Various patterns and taphonomic variants of congeneric holdfasts are preserved on the bedding planes of black shales of the Ediacaran Wenghui biota in South China. The macroalgal holdfast, which commonly consists of a rhizome, rhizoid and pith (perhaps mechanical tissue),

The magnitude and ontogenetic patterns of intraspecific variation can provide important insights into the evolution and development of organisms. Understanding the intraspecific variation of organisms is also a key to correctly pursuing studies in major fields of palaeontology. However, intraspecific variation has been largely overlooked in ectocochleate cephalopods, particularly nautilids. Furthermore

The Cambrian coral Cambroctoconus occurs selectively in the crypts of calcimicrobe Epiphyton reefs of the Zhangxia Formation (Miaolingian) in Shandong Province, North China. These cryptobionts preferentially grow laterally and/or downward, in some cases showing pendent growth from the ceilings of the reef framework. The upside‐down growth is clearly shown by the downward‐oriented aperture and the presence

We test for the presence of evolutionary stasis in a species of Late Cretaceous ammonoid cephalopod, Hoploscaphites nicolletii, from the North American Western Interior Seaway. A comprehensive dataset of morphological traits was compiled across the entire spatial and temporal range of this species. These were analysed in conjunction with sedimentologically and geochemically derived palaeoenvironmental

The tetraradial or pentaradial fossil embryos and related hatched individuals from the early Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation are of great interest for understanding the early evolution of medusozoans. The phylogenetic and evolutionary significance of their external and internal characters (e.g. manubrium, tentacles, septa and claustra) is still controversial. Here we describe a new pentamerous medusozoan

The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) refers to one of the greatest increases in biodiversity during the Phanerozoic. Recent studies have shown that this taxonomic increase can be attributed to elevated origination rates around the Dapingian–Darriwilian boundary in the Middle Ordovician, while extinction rates stayed relatively constant throughout the Ordovician. Even though this global

Turtles are key components of modern vertebrate faunas and their diversity and distributions are likely to be affected by anthropogenic climate change. However, there is limited baseline data on turtle taxonomic richness through time or assessment of their past responses to global environmental change. We used the extensive Triassic–Palaeogene (252–223 Ma) fossil record of terrestrial and freshwater

Conspicuously few body‐fossil taxa are known to span the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary, a pattern usually taken to signal either a terminal Proterozoic mass extinction, or taphonomic failure. We draw attention to the emerging record of small carbonaceous fossils (SCFs), which exhibit continuous preservation spanning this critical interval. Here we focus on the enigmatic SCF Cochleatina, a morphologically

Morphological variation (disparity) is almost invariably characterized by two non‐mutually exclusive approaches: (1) quantitatively, through geometric morphometrics; and (2) in terms of discrete, ‘cladistic’, or categorical characters. Uncertainty over the comparability of these approaches diminishes the potential to obtain nomothetic insights into the evolution of morphological disparity and the few

Silicification is the most important process of fossilization resulting in the preservation of internal tissues in plants, thereby providing essential information on the anatomy, life history, and evolution of land plants. However, fundamental knowledge of silica uptake, precipitation, and contribution to in situ plant fossilization is limited. To identify the cellular pathway of aqueous silica and

Exceptionally well‐preserved impressions of two bundles of bristles protrude from the apertures of small, spiral shells of Pelagiella exigua, recovered from the Kinzers Formation (Cambrian, Stage 4, ‘Olenellus Zone’, c. 512 Ma) of Pennsylvania. These impressions are inferred to represent clusters of chitinous chaetae, comparable to those borne by annelid parapodia and some larval brachiopods. They

Modern elasmobranchs have a long evolutionary history and an abundant fossil record that consists mainly of teeth. Many fossil taxa have living representatives. However, the representation of extant taxa in the fossil record is unknown. To begin to understand the geological history of extant elasmobranchs, we here assess the quality of their fossil record. We do so by assessing the Pull of the Recent

There are few cases where numbers or types of possible phenotypes are known, although vast state spaces have been postulated. Rarely applied in this context, graph theory and topology enable enumeration of possible phenotypes and evolutionary transitions. Here, we generate polyhedral calyx graphs for the Late Cretaceous, stemless crinoids Marsupites testudinarius and Uintacrinus socialis (Uintacrinoidea

Despite their importance for understanding phylogeny, character evolution and classification, well‐constrained homology relationships for posterior plating in crinoids have only recently been attempted. Here, we re‐evaluate posterior plate homologies in all major crinoid lineages using development, fossil ontogenies and phylogenetic evidence. Based on these lines of evidence, we change terminology

Iterative evolution has proved a difficult evolutionary phenomenon to study and interpret. Inferences of causality vary from study to study and quantitatively based phylogenetic reconstruction has never been attempted. In an effort to better understand iterative evolution we employed stratocladistics, gap analysis and disparity analysis to study the case of the Monograptidae in the aftermath of the

Duck‐billed dinosaurs (Hadrosauridae) were the most common ornithopods of the Late Cretaceous. Second only to sauropods and in many cases exceeding the sizes of the largest land mammals (such as indricotheres or proboscideans), they are among the largest terrestrial herbivores to have walked the Earth. Despite their gigantic size, diversity and abundance, their growth strategies remain poorly understood

Cover Illustration : Rhyniophytoid 'early land plant' from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of the Anglo‐Welsh Basin. Height: 1.2 mm

Terrestrial insects are often remarkably well preserved in lacustrine Konservat Lagerstätten. However, the assumption that carcasses should sink fast through the water column seems contradictory as this scenario is unlikely due to excessive buoyancy and surface tension. The mechanisms that promote rapid and permanent emplacement onto the sediment surface (RPESS) of such terrestrial animal remains are

The carditid genus Cyclocardia is currently the most diverse genus of the family, including nearly 180 nominal species encompassing wide stratigraphical (Cretaceous–Recent) and geographical (Antarctica, South and North America, Europe, Africa, Alaska, Russia, Japan and New Zealand) ranges. Due to the lack of autapomorphies in the diagnosis of the genus and its large account of species, we re‐evaluate

Herein, we describe Alatochelon myrteum gen. et sp. nov., a large tortoise from the post‐Messinian (lower Pliocene) of the area of Puerto de la Cadena (Region of Murcia), Spain. The new taxon cannot be attributed to Titanochelon, which represented the only lineage of large tortoises previously recognized in the Neogene record of Europe. Alatochelon myrteum shows African affinities, especially with

Although extensive research has been carried out in recent years on the origin and evolution of human bipedalism, a full understanding of this question is far from settled. Miocene hominoids are key to a better understanding of the locomotor types observed in living apes and humans. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, an extinct stem great ape from the middle Miocene (c. 12.0 Ma) of the Vallès‐Penedès Basin

Collagens are the most abundant proteins in the animal kingdom. They form the structural framework of connective tissues such as bones, tendons and skin, and play important biomechanical role in supporting tissue functions. The preservation of collagen in deep time is a topic of intense debate. Here we provide indisputable evidence for the presence of collagen in early Eocene fish vertebrae using online

The most commonly preserved soft tissues associated with ornithischian dinosaurs are skin remains. The apparent resistance of hadrosaur skin to decay, and its abundance in the fossil record relative to that of other tetrapods, has been attributed to factors such as thickness and composition. Here we report additional intrinsic factors within hadrosaur skin: 3D‐preserved eumelanin‐bearing bodies, dermal

Lophialetidae is an extinct group of endemic Asiatic tapiroids that are widely distributed in the Eocene sediments of Asia. Schlosseria magister and Lophialetes expeditus are the most abundant species in this family. However, their dietary and ecological characteristics are largely unknown. For the first time, we reconstruct the palaeodiet and habitat of these two lophialetids using a combination of

Definitions of macroevolution fall into three categories: (1) evolution of taxa of supraspecific rank; (2) evolution on the grand time‐scale; and (3) evolution that is guided by sorting of interspecific variation (as opposed to sorting of intraspecific variation in microevolution). Here, it is argued that only definition 3 allows for a consistent separation of macroevolution and microevolution. Using

Shell decollation is a growth strategy that has been adopted by a number of invertebrate taxa to offset the metabolic and ecological disadvantages of shell growth. However, little is known about the origin and evolution of this process. We here describe well‐preserved specimens of the hyolith Cupitheca decollata sp. nov. preserving the decollation process, from the early Cambrian Yu'anshan Formation

Echimyidae is a species‐rich clade of Neotropical rodents, which diversified in association with forested biomes. Since the late Miocene, a few lineages from southern South America have been adapted to open environments. Eumysops is one of these southern echimyids, and its peculiar craniomandibular morphology has been assumed to be a result of adaptation to open environments. We performed a geometric