This paper describes a pattern recognition method, Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy-Modeling And Classification Using Partial least squares (SIMCA-MACUP), and demonstrates its application to two common paleontological problems—identification and prediction. SIMCA-MACUP performs statistical pattern recognition at four hierarchical levels. At level 1, SIMCA builds disjoint principal component models to characterize multivariate data patterns of several classes. At level 2, new, unknown objects are either classified into one of the classes, or recognized as outliers. At levels 3 and 4, the MACUP method models the relationship between external (dependent) variables and internal (independent) variables, and allows prediction of the values of external variables of new objects which are classified at level 2.

The applicability of the SIMCA-MACUP has been demonstrated in a case study of the Pliocene planktic foraminiferal clade Globoconella. Two morphotypes of the clade Globorotalia (Globoconella) puncticulata and Globorotalia (Globoconella) inflata were characterized in a reference sample with SIMCA. Ancestral forms of the two morphotypes were traced through the early phylogenetic history of the clade, resulting in a reconstruction of the branching pattern of the divergence of G. inflata from G. puncticulata. The apertural height and apertural width of specimens in the ancestral stocks were then treated as if there were two “external” variables, and predicted using MACUP. The predicted values show slight discrepancy from the observed values. The deviation is size-dependent, indicating a decoupling of the apertural shape from the size of foraminifers during the branching process.

All aspects of stromatolites can be quantified, encompassing morphologic, dimensional, material, and positional attributes. Numerical data obtained by electronic image analysis or otherwise can facilitate taxonomy, classification, and studies of evolutionary tendencies in stromatolites, and bridge the language barriers as well. Consensus on basic attributes for recognizing taxa at different levels of hierarchy still needs to be developed; quantitative data can promote reduction or elimination of disagreements.

Disklike, firm, bilaterally symmetrical fossils recovered from the middle Lower Cambrian Amouslek Formation of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas are described under the name Microschedia amphitrite n. gen. and sp. Their systematic affinity, particularly to brachiopods and cnidarians, and resemblance to existing taxa are discussed. Although interpretation as a brachiopod appears to be more convincing, their morphology does not permit a precise determination of systematic position.

Patanacta pedina n. gen. and sp. is interpreted as a medusoid from the late Ordovician or early Silurian of Jämtland, central Sweden. The unique specimen is from the Kyrkås Quartzite Formation, a poorly fossiliferous, allochthonous sequence of metasediments in a lower nappe of the frontal zone of the Scandinavian Caledonides. A marginal marine depositional environment is inferred for the Kyrkås facies.

The tricranoclad demosponge Hindia sphaeroidalis Duncan, 1879, is reported as a common silicified sponge in the basal dolomite of the Deep Lakes Member of the Upper Ordovician Fish Haven Formation of northeastern Utah for the first time. A small juvenile orchoclad anthaspidellid, Hudsonospongia? sp., is also the first of that family reported from Fish Haven beds and the Deep Lakes Member. Both taxa are from localities on the eastern slope of Mount Magog, north of Tony Grove Lake, in the Bear River Range, Cache County, east of Logan, Utah.

Part and counterpart of a well-preserved specimen of Gondekia lancifer (Reimann, 1945a), and a well-preserved specimen of Pseudohydnoceras erraticum Reimann, 1935, are described from the Wanakah Member of the Middle Devonian, Givetian, Ludlowville Formation, of western New York State. The specimen of Gondekia is only the second articulated specimen known and is more complete than the holotype. It has an intact skeleton of felted sexiradiates of three orders of spicules; the largest has rays approximately 2 mm long. The specimen of Pseudohydnoceras has preserved hexactine-based spicules in a dictyid skeleton, described for the species for the first time.

Silicified and well-preserved specimens of the new orchocladine anthaspidellid genus and species, Virgaspongia ichnata, the rhizomorine haplistiid, Haplistion sphaericum Finks, 1960, and various root tufts, and the new hexactinellid species Steioderma hadra are reported from the Brentwood Member of the Morrowan Bloyd Formation from the Sulphur City quadrangle, in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas. Virgaspongia is a subcylindrical branched or unbranched sponge that lacks a spongocoel and has a dendroclone-based skeleton in which trabs diverge upward and outward from an axial region. It is abundant here but is one of only a few anthaspidellid genera known from the Pennsylvanian. This is the first record of Haplistion from Pennsylvanian rocks of Arkansas, although the genus is widespread in upper Paleozoic rocks. The new hexactinellid species, Stioderma hadra, also documents the first occurrence of that genus from Arkansas and in Morrowan rocks. Only fragments were recovered but the swollen grotesque spicules, of several sizes, that make the fused dermal layer and outer sponge wall are distinctive, particularly where combined with an inner layer(?) or root tuft of monaxons of various sizes. Two different root tufts and one demosponge wall fragment(?) also occur in the collection.

Recently developed analytical procedures for meshwork fenestrate and pinnate bryozoans made it possible to recognize two Russian species in the Toroweap Formation of southern Nevada. This analysis separates zoarial and zooecial features and emphasizes the three-dimensional form and size of the zooecial chamber as well as accessory features. In this investigation, these analytical procedures are successful even when specimens are fragmented and embedded in a hard rock matrix.

The bryozoans in the Toroweap Formation in this study were found to be more similar to Permian species of the Russian platform than to species described in earlier North American Permian studies. Five species of fenestrate bryozoans are present in the Toroweap Formation. Wjatkella permiana Morozova, 1970, and Polypora sargaensis Trizna, 1948, originally described in Russia, are recognized in the Toroweap. Three new species, Penniretepora oppositus n. sp., Septopora bilateralis n. sp., and Reteporidra anaphora n. sp., are present and, along with the Russian species, are described in this paper.

The local range zones of the five species of fenestrates were identified in three measured sections. Penniretepora oppositus and Septopora bilateralis are present throughout the three sections; Reteporidra anaphora is present in the lower two-thirds of the three sections; Wjatkella permiana is present in the middle parts of the three sections; and Polypora sargaensis is present in the upper parts of the three sections. Concurrent range zones, based on ramose bryozoans, were previously identified in two of the three sections and, using the distribution of the fenestrates in these two sections, four of the five concurrent range zones were recognized in the third section.

Eospirifer praecursor n. sp. is the oldest known eospiriferine, probably ancestral to the entire Spirifer group. It is described here based on external and internal mold material from the uppermost part of the Changwu Formation (mid-Ashgill, Late Ordovician), Hejiashan, Jiangshan, western Zhejiang, East China. A study of the ontogeny of E. praecursor n. sp. suggests that the cardinalia of early growth stages are more similar to those of early atrypoids rather than to those of the orthoids but the brachidia in these earliest Eospirifer are still unknown. The possibility that eospiriferines were derived from an atrypoid stock cannot be excluded. All early eospiriferine species recorded from the Ashgill, Rhuddanian, and early Aeronian are reviewed for comparison. Their morphological diversification reveals early evolutionary experimentation. Based on the Ashgill occurrence of Eospirifer, it is likely that East Asia may be considered as one of the eospiriferine source areas.

The brachiopod fauna that presently lives in the seas off the coasts of Namibia, South Africa, and southern Moçambique comprises 35 named plus seven unnamed species belonging to 26 genera, making it one of the most diverse in the world. Within the fauna are some species that are confined to the warm waters of the east coast, some that are restricted to the cold west coast waters, and others that enjoy a more widespread distribution. The geographic distribution of species is believed to be controlled by the two major oceanographic systems operating off southern Africa, namely, the Agulhas Current on the east and the Benguela Upwelling System on the west.

Among the species that live off the west and south coasts are many that appear to have evolved in situ during times of pronounced environmental stress since the late Miocene. The fauna living off the east coast shows strong similarity with others in the Indian Ocean and it is inferred that many of the species migrated into the South African region by way of the ocean current systems that were established by the mid-Pliocene.

Descriptions of Xenobrochus naudei and the previously undescribed Argyrotheca sp. and Amphithyris cf. A. richardsonae are provided.

We document a speciation event between two species of Prunum (Marginellidae: Gastropoda) in Pliocene strata of the northern Dominican Republic. The ancestral species, P. coniforme, is widely distributed in the Mio-Pliocene of the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and has a range of at least 11 m.y. The descendant species, P. christineladdae, is endemic to the northern Dominican Republic. The ancestral species persists after its descendant arises. The transition between species is marked by stratigraphic and morphologic intermediates, and occurs during an interval estimated to be between 73,000 and 275,000 years (representing 0.6-2.5 percent of the duration of the ancestral species). Although the transition takes more than a geologic instant, the overall pattern of morphologic change is best described by the model of punctuated equilibrium. The change between species apparently involved a habitat shift into deeper water, and occurred during accelerated deepening. All of the Neogene Dominican species of Prunum appear to have had depth-defined ranges.

A fossilized nest found in a 17 Ma paleosol on Rusinga Island is similar in many respects to those constructed by bees. The nest consists of subellipsoidal cells arranged in paired, parallel rows, which are themselves arranged in clusters. Typical cells average approximately 6 mm by 3.5 mm, and have curved dorsal surfaces and nearly flat ventral surfaces. The nest is here referred to a new ichnospecies: Celliforma habari. The cell shape and nest architecture are most like those of modern bees of the subfamily Halictinae (Apoidea: Halictidae), and probably were constructed by bees with a societal structure that was at least communal and quite possibly more highly social. The nest suggests a subhumid to humid climate and angiosperm-dominated vegetation for Rusinga Island during Early Miocene time.

Speocarcinus berglundi n. sp. is described from the Imperial Formation in Riverside County, California. Although the Imperial Formation spans late Miocene through late Pliocene time, the part of the unit that bears crabs has been radiometrically dated as late Miocene. The identification of a new species was based upon comparison with four extant species and represents the first documented fossil occurrence for the genus. The occurrence of this new species suggests that the genus may have originated in the Pacific and, during the Miocene, dispersed through the Isthmus of Panama to the Caribbean. Two of the specimens exhibit parasitism by Bopyridae (Isopoda).

Museum and field restudy of Cryptolithus from all known geographic and stratigraphic occurrences in eastern North America shows that the principal variable character in this genus is the number of fringe pit arcs. Because this character varies within populations and even single individuals, it cannot be used to distinguish the earlier, typologically defined species of the genus. Instead, a neotype is designated here for the type species, Cryptolithus tessellatus Green, 1832, and morph designations are used for all pit arc variants. Over the time span considered, the species increased the number of pit arcs, but the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms responsible cannot be identified with certainty.

Silicified encrinurine trilobites from Telychian strata of the Whittaker Formation east of Avalanche Lake, District of Mackenzie, Canada, include Briania jeffersoni n. gen. and sp. and Johntempleia pamae n. gen. and sp. Morphology of Briania suggests an origin near the divergence of Pacificurus from the variolaris plexus. Johntempleia also includes Rhuddanian–Aeronian diversity from Scotland, and is resolved as the basal branch of the punctatus plexus. Briania jeffersoni and Johntempleia pamae co-occur with rare taxa of the variolaris plexus (“Nucleurus” spp. A and B) in a deep-water assemblage dominated by Cromus and the odontopleurid Stelckaspis. Stratigraphic range data for encrinurine genera identify the late Telychian to early Sheinwoodian as a time of taxonomic turnover.

The acastomorph calmoniid trilobite Andinacaste Eldredge and Braniša, 1980, has been known from the basal Devonian (Lower Lochkovian) of Bolivia. Andinacaste espejensis n. sp., described from probable Lower Lochkovian strata of the Los Espejos Formation in the Precordillera of San Juan Province, is the first Argentine record of this genus. Accordingly, Andinacaste is identified as a typical component of basal Devonian trilobite assemblages over a broad geographic range in Andean South America.

Fossil crinoids are poorly known from the Antillean islands. To the five taxa of fossil crinoid previously recorded from Jamaica are added two further species of isocrinid, both based on pluriocolumnals and left in open nomenclature. Austinocrinus n. sp. is the first Lower Cretaceous echinoderm to be described from Jamaica and represents the earliest report of this genus. It is the only fossil stalked crinoid from Jamaica to occur in a shallow-water deposit. Isselicrinus cubensis? (Valette, 1926) forms part of an allochthonous assemblage in the Lower Eocene Port Maria shell bed. Isselicrinus cubensis was originally described from Cuba, and the genus also occurs in Haiti, Mexico, and elsewhere.

The oligopygoid echinoid Haimea bajasurensis n. sp. is described from middle lower Eocene (”Capay Stage”) shallow-marine sandstones in the middle part of the Bateque Formation and shallow-marine limestones in the upper part of the Tepetate Formation, Baja California Sur, Mexico. The new species is both the earliest and the westernmost oligopygoid, and the first occurrence of Haimea in North America.

Beautifully preserved, isolated and uncompressed plectograptine graptolites from the uppermost Wenlock “Pristiograptus” ludensis Biozone and the lower Ludlow Lobograptus progenitor Biozone are described from the Arctic Islands. Described species comprise Agastograptus robustus Obut and Zaslavskaya from the ludensis and progenitor zones; Agastograptus sp., Gothograptus chainos Lenz, and Plectograptus (Sokolovograptus?) sp., from the ludensis Zone; and Holoretiolites (Balticograptus) erraticus (Eisenack) from the progenitor Zone. The dozens of specimens of A. robustus from one locality are covered with almost continuous periderm and interthecal tissue, a feature rarely seen in plectograptines.