ALT Upper left: photograph of fossil specimen IVPP V26687, the placoderm Yipetalichthys maxiongensis, a natural mould of the dorsal part of the endocranium, preserving only a portion of the preorbital plate. Scale bar at lower right of photograph is 10 mm. Lower right, interpretive line drawing. Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT On the left: aerial photo of Section 2 of the Duntulm tracksite, with a line drawing below, highlighting Trackway 1 (line below, closer to vertical) and Trackway 2 (line above, closer to horizontal). Scale bar between the two images is 2 m. Lower right: aerial photo and line drawing of Trackway 1 (scale bar at lower right is 1 m). Upper right: photograph and line drawing of a manus-pes pair of footprints, illustrating the difference in size observed in all tracks. The manus at the top (DUNT_26) is smaller than the pes (DUNT_27). Scale bar to lower right of drawing is 5 cm. Red rectangle at the bottom is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Plot showing the height in metres (vertical axis) against trunk diameter (horizontal axis) for nine populations of Pinaceae trees from Denmark, China, Turkiye and Mexico. Coloured lines shown the ten different models that were fitted to this dataset.

ALT Upper left: photograph of a yellow-brown rock sample containing a fragment of the postcranial skeleton of a reptiliomorph (?Nyctiboetus kassini) (darker brown) with cololite from the Shikhovo–Chirki locality (PIN 161/180). Scale underneath is 10 mm. Lower left: interpretative sketch of the specimen showing tetrapod remains in brown, fields of scales (paler brown), the cololite in grey and undigested remains in red. Upper right: tentative reconstruction of the fragmentary skeleton in dorsal view; the bones in red are preserved and the cololite is shown in blue. Lower right: reconstruction of the postcranial skeleton with cololite, based on CT data. Scale bar in lower right corner is 5 mm. Red rectangle on right side is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT On the left: photographs of two views of the holotype specimen of megateuthidid Wyoteuthis linsterorum (WYDICE INV-001) from the Oxfordian (Late Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA, shown in dorsal (elongated view at the bottom) and circular cross section (upper image). Scale bar between the two images is 10 mm. In the upper right corner is a map of the Late Jurassic Sundance Sea, with an asterisk showing the original location of the specimen. Inset in the upper right corner shows Laurasia and Gondwana (in yellow) with the Pacific Ocean on the left and the Tethys on the right, with the fossil locality indicated by the same asterisk. Plots at lower right show the distribution of rostrum elongagation (horizontal axis) against alveolar angle (vertical axis) for different groups of belemnites. In each case, the position of the new genus Wyoteuthis, is indicated with a red star (on the left). Small red rectangle in the centre at the top is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Four photographs of trilobites, all Maotunia iddingsi from the Cambrian (Miaolingian, Drumian) Zhangxia Formation, Fei County, Shandong Province, North China. The images illustrate different stages of development within this species. Top right (larger image): holaspid morph 1 with five pygidial segments (YSMT 343). Three images in a row at the bottom, from left to right: meraspid degree 8, morph 2 with six pygidial segments (YSMT 245-2); meraspid degree 9, morph 1 with five pygidial segments (YSMT 165 and YSMT 251); meraspid degree 9, morph 3 with seven pygidial segments (YSMT 163). Each photograph has a white scale bar in the lower left corner, all are 5 mm. Red rectangle in upper right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Top left: Map of study localities (red circles) on the Varanger Peninsula, in relation to northern Europe (inset). Top right: black and white photograph of the Kommagnes Charnia (TSGF 18952): a high-relief specimen embedded within a clay-rich turbidite; scale bar in lower right corner is 1 cm. Bottom: Stratigraphic long (on the left) and photograph (main image) of part of the cliff from which the Kommagnes specimen was recovered, showing many horizontal layers of sediments. Scale on the left shows that the height of the section between the yellow lines is approximately 10 metres. Blue rectangle at top centre is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

ALT Three different images of a fossil lungfish skull. Top left: photograph of Sorbitorhynchus deleaskitus (GMC V2034.1) from the Lower Devonian of China in dorsal view. Top right: virtual rendering of the same specimen with various features including nerve canals marked in white. Bottom right: another virtual rendering of the same specimen, this time slightly enlarging rostral region, with partial transparency revealing internal canals and highlighting the path of various nerves, arteries and veins in different colours.

ALT Three black and white SEM images of three new species of linguliform brachiopod valves from the Lampazar Formation, Furongian, Quebrada Entre Rios section, and a colour map of South America, highlighting Argentina in blue, with the study area marked as a pink dot in the north west, and shown on a satellite image (Google Earth © Airbus 2023) underneath. Brachiopods: top left is Oaxaquiatreta argentina, fragment of a ventral valve showing the external pedicle tube (CEGH-UNC 28547) scale bar at lower right is 200 microns; top right is Dictyonina tetralobata, ventral valve exterior (holotype, CEGH-UNC 28145) scale bar at lower right is 200 microns; lower image is Eoscaphelasma santaolallai, ventral valve exterior (holotype, CEGH-UNC 28029) scale bar at lower right is 100 microns. Red rectangle on right is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Main photograph is of fossil Dickinsonia densa from the Konovalovka Member of the Cherny Kamen Formation of the Sylvitsa Group, Central Urals (paratype, GEOCHRON 2057-296). An oval, striped organism, the same colours as the surrounding matrix. Long white scale bar at lower right is 10 mm. On the right, a vertical set of diagrams showing a schematic model of Dickinsonia preservation in the Konovalovka Member. At the top, the specimen rests on a clay-rich substrate during life. Moving down, it is rapidly buried by an overlying sand layer and pyrite (Fe2S) forms around the decaying body due to microbial activity. Later partial erosion of the sand layer occurs, and finally, the organism is buried by alternating clay and sand layers. Red rectangle in lower left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Two images of Misikella posthernsteini specimens extracted using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) on the left and hydrofluoric acid (HF) on the right. Scale bar in lower right corner is 50 microns. Blue rectangle in upper left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

ALT Top left: map of the British Isles showing Lower Old Red Sandstone outcrops in orange. The map is overlaid with the palaeocoastline, palaeolatitude and palaeolongitude at the Silurian-Devonian boundary. Top left: a morphospace occupation plot of British 'cephalaspids' grouped by basin of origin (Midlands Valley in blue; Anglo-Welsh Basin in pink). Theoretical headshield shapes for are shown at the extremeties of the moprhospace. Bottom right: photograph of a fossil cephalaspid headshield: Cephalaspis fletti holotype (NHMUK PV P 25196); scale bar above and to the right is 10 mm. Blue rectangle in bottom left corner is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

ALT Diagrams highlighting (in red) new characters and character states used in the phylogenetic analysis of Lebanese pycnodonts. Red rectangle in upper left corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.

ALT Top left: map showing Valparaiso and Santiago (red diamonds) in Chile (shaded grey) and the study region outlined in red. To the right are two black and white photographs of drilled left valves of ostracods from the Miocene Navidad Formation. Upper image is Cytherella with drill hole trace Oichnus simplex; lower image is Apatihowella with hole trace O. paraboloides. Each photograph has a scale bar in the lower left corner, which is 100 microns. Lower right plot is a frequency distribution for outer drill hole diameter (vertical axis), with trace O. paraboloides on the left, in red, and O. simplex on the right in blue. Blue rectangle at the top in the centre is a cover image from the journal Palaeontology.

ALT At the top are two photographs of fossil octocorals, both species of Waiparaconus. On the left, a reddish fossil, W. imbricatus (MN-12294-I) from Vega Island off the Antarctic Peninsula (Snow Hill Island Formation). On the right, the holotype of W. gravidus (WAM 77.3532a) from Western Australia (Gingin Chalk). Scale bar beneath each image is 1 cm. At the bottom is an artist's reconstruction of both species. Red rectangle in bottom right corner is a cover image from the journal Papers in Palaeontology.