Flora
Plants
Fungi
Cnidarians
Research
New three dimensionally phosphatized microfossils of coronate scyphozoan Qinscyphus necopinus, including a new type of fossil embryo, are described from the Cambrian (Fortunian) Kuanchuanpu Formation (China) by Shao et al. (2018), who interpret their findings as indicating that Qinscyphus underwent direct development. A study on the morphology of the conulariid species Carinachites spinatus based on a new specimen collected from the lower Cambrian Kuanchuanpu Formation (China) is published by Han et al. (2018). Revision of stony corals from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian) Oehrli Formation (Austria and Switzerland) is published by Baron-Szabo (2018), who compares this fauna with five additional Berriasian coral faunas.
New taxa
Arthropods
Bryozoans
New taxa
Brachiopods
Research
Studies on the ontogenetic development of early acrotretoid brachiopods based on well preserved specimens of the earliest Cambrian species Eohadrotreta zhenbaensis and Eohadrotreta? zhujiahensis from the Shuijingtuo Formation (China) are published by Zhang et al. (2018). A study on the extinction and origination of members of the order Strophomenida during the Late Ordovician mass extinction is published by Sclafani et al. (2018). A study on the body size of several brachiopod assemblages recorded into the extinction interval prior to the Toarcian turnover, collected from representative localities around the Iberian Massif (Spain and Portugal), is published by García Joral, Baeza-Carratalá & Goy (2018).
New taxa
Molluscs
Echinoderms
Conodonts
Research
A study testing the proposed models of growth of conodont elements is published by Shirley et al. (2018). A study on the histological sections of Ordovician and Permian conodont dental elements from the Bell Canyon Formation (Texas, United States), Harding Sandstone (Colorado, United States), Ali Bashi Formation (Iran) and Canadian Arctic, examining those fossils for the presence and distribution of soft tissue biomarkers, is published by Terrill, Henderson & Anderson (2018). A study evaluating the δ18O variation within a species-rich conodont assemblage from the Ordovician (Floian) Factory Cove Member of the Shallow Bay Formation, Cow Head Group (western Newfoundland, Canada), as well as assessing the implications of these data for determining the paleothermometry of ancient oceans and conodont ecologic models, is published by Wheeley et al. (2018). A study on the body size and diversity of Carnian conodonts from South China and their implications for inferring the biotic and environmental changes during the Carnian Pluvial Event is published by Zhang et al. (2018). A study assessing the similarity of late Paleozoic to Triassic conodont faunas known from the Cache Creek Terrane (Canada) is published by Golding (2018). Reconstruction of the multi-element apparatus of the Middle Triassic conodont from British Columbia (Canada) belonging to the Neogondolella regalis group within the genus Neogondolella is presented by Golding (2018). Reconstruction of the number and arrangement of elements in the apparatus of Hindeodus parvus published by Zhang et al. (2017) is criticized by Agematsu, Golding & Orchard (2018); Purnell et al. (2018) defend their original conclusions. A cluster of icriodontid conodonts belonging to the species Caudicriodus woschmidti, providing new information on the apparatus structure of icriodontid conodonts, is described from the Lower Devonian sediments in southern Burgenland (Austria) by Suttner, Kido & Briguglio (2018). A study on the species belonging to the genus Neognathodus, evaluating whether previously defined morphotype groups are reliably distinct from one another, is published by Zimmerman, Johnson & Polly (2018).