A palynological study was conducted for the first time on the Lower Devonian Nakazato Formation in the South Kitakami Belt, northeast Japan. The palynomorphs were primarily examined using a scanning electron microscope as they exhibited opaqueness due to very high thermal maturity and coalification. The palynological assemblage comprises cryptospores, spores, tubular remains and conducting structures. However, species-level identification was proven challenging for many obtained palynomorphs. Nevertheless, the assemblage exhibited notable similarities to the Pragian to early Emsian palynoassemblages from South China in terms of composition and representation of genera. The age estimate derived from the palynological data slightly predates those obtained from marine invertebrates (Emsian to Givetian). To reconcile this discrepancy, a comprehensive comparison between terrestrial and marine biostratigraphies in Asia is necessary.

Two specimens of fossil lipotid have been recovered from the Upper Miocene of Gunma and Tochigi prefectures, Japan. The specimens consist of crania including periotic and tympanic bullae. We describe and diagnose the specimens as a new genus and species of the family Lipotidae, Eolipotes japonicus, gen. et sp. nov. The paratype of E. japonicus, GMNH-PV-1011, was found stratigraphically between two tuff layers and a well constrained age interval (11.29–11.25 Ma) can be proposed, indicating that E. japonicus is the oldest precisely dated lipotid species yet described. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that E. japonicus is more closely related to Parapontoporia spp. than to the recently extinct Yangtze river dolphin, Lipotes vexillifer. Given the phylogenetic relationships and parsimonious distribution of the event to fluvial invasion in Lipotidae, it is suggested that at least two independent invasions to the freshwater habitat occurred in Lipotidae.

The bias in fossil sampling impacts how we understand the macroevolution of life. Past research has explored the bias triggered by socioeconomic elements as well as geological and paleoclimatic factors, but there is a gap in our knowledge on how the modern climate and vegetation may impact fossil sampling. Here, an assessment has been conducted to study the relationship between the modern climate and fossil sampling biases. The Paleobiology Database (PBDB), WorldClim, and Maximum Green Vegetation Fraction (MGVF) datasets have been utilized to analyze the potential impacts of contemporary climatic variables (temperature, precipitation, and wind speed) and vegetation coverages on fossil sampling. Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnov and chi-squared tests indicate that the distributions of fossil sampling localities across modern climatic variables and vegetation coverage are different from the expected ones assuming these variables do not impact the fossil sampling. These results suggest that a portion of the spatial heterogeneity in fossil sampling rates could be explained by modern climate and the vegetation cover, with temperature being the most dominant potential factor. This study also found that highly productive localities are more likely to be distributed in regions with higher temperatures and more precipitation, and that the temperature range in which a higher concentration of fossil sampling has slightly broadened after 2000.

A very small-sized ammonoid, i.e., Tetragonites pusillus sp. nov., was newly found from the upper lower to middle Maastrichtian (Pachydiscus flexuosus Zone) in the Makarov area, southern Sakhalin, Russian Far East. The new taxon is characterized by a sub-rounded whorl section and a fairly narrow umbilicus with an oblique wall, and an aperture whose ventral margin either runs straight across the venter or exhibits a slightly concave sinus. Adult shells, 13–23 mm in diameter, exhibit no signs of dimorphism. Tetragonites pusillus sp. nov. morphologically most resembles T. superstes, which is known from the Santonian to the Campanian of South Africa and Madagascar and from the lower Maastrichtian of northeastern Mexico. It is suggested that the former species gave rise from the latter during the migration from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northwest Pacific region via the tropical eastern Pacific in the early Maastrichtian time. In the Northeastern Pacific region, T. pusillus sp. nov. could have survived at least until early late Maastrichtian time.