Phytosaurs are a group of carnivorous, semi-aquatic archosaurian reptiles that attained an almost global distribution during the Late Triassic. We here describe a new species of the phytosaur genus Mystriosuchus from the Norian Dachstein Limestone of Austria, from a marine lagoonal depositional environment. The new Austrian material comprises remains of at least four individuals of similar size (c. 4 m in total length) found in association but disarticulated, and includes one complete and two partial skulls and postcrania. All of these specimens apparently represent a single taxon, which is distinguished by numerous anatomical features from the two previously named Mystriosuchus species. Maximum parsimony analysis of a comprehensive morphological dataset provides strong statistical support for the phylogenetic position of the new Austrian taxon in Mystriosuchus, as the sister taxon to a clade comprising M. planirostris and M. westphali. Histological analysis suggests that the Austrian phytosaur specimens represent individuals that were at least eight years old at time of death, but which had not yet reached skeletal maturity. Taphonomic and palaeoenvironmental data suggest that these phytosaurs were living in the marine lagoon in which they were preserved, providing the strongest evidence to date of marine adaptations in phytosaurs.

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A new fossil skate, Ostarriraja parva gen. et sp. nov., represented by a single partial articulated skeleton collected from the early Miocene fish-bearing strata of Upper Austria, is described here in detail. This taxon exhibits a unique combination of skeletal and dental features (e.g. nasal capsules broad and oval; presence of pectoral arch; compound radial articulated with single radial segments in serial fashion; separated pelvic girdle condyles; reduced catenated calcification of radials; about 86 pectoral radials; 20–21 pelvic-fin radials; 65–70 predorsal vertebrae) that clearly support its assignment to a new genus of the order Rajiformes, and the phylogenetic analyses reveal its basal position within the group. The comparison between Ostarriraja and the holomorphic batoids from Late Cretaceous of Lebanon traditionally aligned with skates concurs to suggest that this Neogene occurrence represents unquestionably the first known skeletal record for the group. The morphological and phylogenetic affinities of Ostarriraja with the living skates suggest a close association of this taxon with the temperate-cold water environments hypothesized for the Central Paratethys during the early Miocene. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8BB8F0F3-35C5-47FA-AE3C-2CBF445C4BCA

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The gadid fish Palimphemus anceps Kner, 1862 is redescribed in detail based on 43 specimens from the Miocene deposits of St. Margarethen, in the Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin, Burgenland, Austria. The morphoanatomical analysis of the material referred to Palimphemus anceps revealed that it can be distinguished from other members of the family Gadidae Rafinesque, 1810 by a unique combination of characters, including: elongated and laterally compressed body, head length about ⅓ of SL, large massive neurocranium with outer margins of the frontals thickened and ornamented by longitudinal pits and ridges along the ventral surface, hyomandibula with large ventrally directed preopercular process, opercle with a thick horizontal rib arising from the articular condyle, anal-fin insertion well behind the first dorsal-fin origin; preanal distance exceeding the base length of the first anal fin, length of the first anal-fin base reduced, 45-46 (18 + 27/28) vertebrae, third dorsal fin with 17-21 rays, first anal fin with 18-21 rays, second anal fin with 18-19 rays, caudal fin with 41-43 rays, and pectoral fin with 15-18 rays. Palimphemus anceps appears to be a basal gadine closely related to the genus Micromesistius Gill, 1867. Like other basal gadine genera-Gadiculus Guichenot, 1850, Micromesistius and Trisopterus Rafinesque, 1814-Palimphemus anceps possibly was a thermophilous gadid that inhabited the shallow waters of the central Paratethys during the Middle Miocene.