Abstracted/indexed

Clown beetles (Histeridae) are insufficiently studied in fossil resins. The aim of the present research is to describe a new species of Bacaniini from Eocene Baltic amber. The specimen is studied using X-ray micro-computed tomography, imaged and compared with fossil and extant related beetles. A mixed sporophagous–predaceous diet in rotten wood of fallen and standing trees was assumed to be the ecological niche for the fossil species.

Whereas true dolphins (Delphinidae) are the most diversified family of cetaceans today, their evolutionary history remains poorly known due to a relatively patchy fossil record. Based on a fossil skull discovered in early Pliocene (5 to 4.4 million years ago) marine sediments from Antwerp (Belgium), we describe here a new genus and species of small dolphin, Pliodelphis doelensis. This is the first delphinid species to be recorded from the early Pliocene in the North Sea.

The 296 million year old rocks of Odernheim (Germany) preserve numerous fossils of fishes and amphibians (temnospondyls) of Permian age. This site is exceptional for yielding two large temnospondyl predators: the 2 m long Sclerocephalus nobilis and 1.5 m long Glanochthon lellbachae. A revision of G. lellbachae reveals that it forms the most ancient relative of the genus Glanochthon, a gracile fish eater, and that the origin of this group can be traced back to the genus Sclerocephalus.

Although thousands of vertebrate remains have been found in Thailand, few amphibian remains have been reported. Here, we present an overview on the Thai amphibian paleo-diversity. The Thai amphibian fossils show the most diverse Mesozoic amphibian record in Southeast Asia, and this agrees with the hypothesis of a large physical connection between the Indochina block and Laurussia during the Mesozoic era.

Two new fossil species of turtle beetles have been identified from inclusions in Baltic amber (approx. 41–38 million years old). These beetles are the first described representatives of the family from this amber type and the first known turtle beetles from Europe. The paper also contains a discussion about possible association of the fossil turtle beetles with orchids in the Eocene amberiferous forest and remarks concerning fossil beetles of the group.

Biodiversity at the primate-bearing Çorakyerler site, Turkey, dating to the upper Miocene, is high, including up to 10 distinct bovid taxa. In this work, we describe five new bovid crania of a new bovid genus and species, Gangraia anatolica. The new taxon is characterized by long, keelless, and transversally ridged, homonymously twisted horn cores, and it shows a particular mixture of caprine and alcelaphine cranial features that are similar to the Alcelaphini–Caprini–Hippotragini clade.

Glaesotropis rohdendorfi sp. nov. belongs to the subgenus Electranthribus, described from Eocene Rovno amber. The new species is similar to G. zherikhini from Baltic amber. It is the first described beetle from the Olevsk amber locality, the sixth amber species reported from the Zhytomyr region, the first record of the subgenus Electranthribus, and the third Anthribidae from Rovno amber. An aggregation of glaesacarid mites as a syninclusion with the fungus weevil is reported for the first time.