The developmental stages of feathers are of major importance in the evolution of body covering and the origin of avian flight. Until now, there were significant gaps in knowledge of early morphologies in theoretical stages of feathers as well as in palaeontological material. Here we report fossil evidence of an intermediate and critical stage in the incremental evolution of feathers which has b...

This paper discusses the lithostratigraphy of the Xinminbao Group in the Mazongshan area of Gansu Province, northwestern China, and the correlation of its biota. The Xinminbao Group was deposited in a fluviolacustrine setting in Mesozoic graben basins under a semi-arid, subtropical climate. The fossil sites concentrated in the lower part of the group have yielded dinosaurs, mammals and other ve...

Despite the extensive fossil record of higher crabs (Eubrachyura) from Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic rocks worldwide, their Early Cretaceous occurrences are scarce and fragmentary, obscuring our understanding of their early evolution. Until now, representatives of only two families of eubrachyuran-like crabs were known from the Early Cretaceous: Componocancridae and Tepexicarcinidae fam. nov., b...

Collections made by Máximo Ruiz de Gaona and Luis Via Boada between 1940 and 1982, from the Albian-Cenomanian reefal limestones at Monte Orobe (Navarra, northern Spain), now housed at the Museo Geológico del Seminario de Barcelona together with newly recovered material, have enabled the recognition of two new primitive crabs. A new genus, Viaia n. gen. (type: Viaia robusta n. sp.), is compared ...

A new genus and species of leptopodid bug, Grimaldinia pronotalis Popov & Heiss is described and illustrated from Burmese Middle Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) amber originating from the northern Myanmar's Kachin State. This is the second finding of Leptosaldinae (Leptopodidae), after Poinar published on Palaeoleptus burmanicus from Burmese amber in 2009.

Ectaetia capdoliensis sp. n., first Cretaceous and oldest representative of the scatopsid subfamily Ectaetiinae, is described from the Late Albian / Early Cenomanian amber of southwestern France. This fossil demonstrates the remarkable morphological stability of these flies since at least the mid-Cretaceous. It suggests the presence of rotten wood under wet palaeoenvironment for the correspondi...

Microcrinoids of the family Roveacrinidae Peck, 1943 are described from lower and middle Albian clays Anglo-Paris Basin (Seine Maritime, Pas de Calais Aube, France; Kent Bedfordshire, UK). They referred to two subfamilies - Orthogonocrininae Gale, 2019 Plotocrininae 2020. Orthogonocrinines include long-ranging (middle Albian-lower Cenomanian) species Orthogonocrinus apertus 1943, Styracocrinus ...

Palerasnitsynus ohlhoffigen. et sp. n. is described fromBurmese amber of late Albian (Lower Cretaceous) age. This is the first record of the family Psychomyiidae from Burmese amber, and the earliest fossil record of the family. The genus Palerasnitsynusgen. n. differs from all other known psychomyiid genera by the absence of fork III in the forewings.

[1] Mid-Cretaceous (Barremian-Turonian) plankton preserved in deep-sea marl, organic-rich shale, and pelagic carbonate hold an important record of how the marine biosphere responded to shortand long-term changes in the ocean-climate system. Oceanic anoxic events (OAEs) were short-lived episodes of organic carbon burial that are distinguished by their widespread distribution as discrete beds of ...