Most Notosuchia were active terrestrial predators. A few were semi-aquatic, or were insectivorous, omnivorous or herbivorous. A question relative to their thermometabolism remains to be answered: were Notosuchia warm-blooded? Here we use quantitative bone palaeohistology to answer this question. Two variables were used as proxies to infer thermometabolism: resting metabolic rate and red blood cell dimensions. Resting metabolic rate was inferred using relative primary osteon area and osteocyte size, shape and density. Blood cell dimensions were inferred using harmonic mean canal diameter and minimum canal diameter. All inferences were performed using phylogenetic eigenvector maps. Both sets of analyses suggest that the seven species of Notosuchia sampled in this study were ectotherms. Given that extant Neosuchia (their sister group) are also ectotherms, and that archosaurs were primitively endotherms, parsimony suggests that endothermy may have been lost at the node Metasuchia (Notosuchia–Neosuchia) by the Early Jurassic. Semi-aquatic taxa such as Pepesuchus may have had thermoregulatory strategies similar to those of recent crocodylians, whereas the terrestrial taxa (Araripesuchus, Armadillosuchus, Iberosuchus, Mariliasuchus, Stratiotosuchus) may have been thermoregulators similar to active predatory varanids. Thermal inertia may have contributed to maintaining a stable temperature in large notosuchians such as Baurusuchus.

Conodont animals were early jawless vertebrates equipped with a feeding apparatus composed of several tooth‐like elements. The P1 elements, at the rear of the apparatus, were characterized by a robust shape and rapid morphological evolution. Occlusion occurred between paired right and left P1 elements, occasioning some bilateral asymmetry, which, together with allometric growth, may partially obliterate the temporal differences. The present study aims to disentangle these different components of morphological variation in Late Devonian Polygnathus P1 conodont elements. An extensive 2D geometric morphometric analysis of the platform shape was performed through the Famennian record of two outcrops. This analysis was completed by a 3D study on a subset of conodont elements. The 2D and 3D morphometric quantifications provided highly congruent results, showing that the 2D shape constitutes a good approximation of the element geometry. The 3D analysis delivered further insights into the relationship between the geometry of the elements and the constraints related to occlusion. The 2D analysis allowed a quantitative assessment of the variation among species and through time. Allometry and bilateral asymmetry were differently expressed depending on the species considered, suggesting that constraints imposed on pairing by the morphology of the elements varied even among related species. The within‐species variation was so important that it largely obliterated temporal trends; a relationship of Polygnathus shape and conodont biofacies variations through the Famennian nevertheless suggested an evolution driven by ecological interactions between conodont genera.

The Miocene Odonata are rather well documented in France, thanks to many discoveries in the ‘Massif Central’ outcrops of Sainte Reine (latest Miocene, Cantal) and Montagne d’Andance (late Miocene, Ardèche) (Nel et al., 1994, 1996, 1997a,b; Riou & Nel, 1995). Among these, the family Aeshnidae is well-represented by the genera Aeshna Fabricius, 1775, Boyeria MacLachlan, 1896, and Aeschnophlebia Selys, 1883. Thus, it is with great surprise that one of us has found a new well-preserved specimen in the outcrop of Montagne d’Andance, representing a new species that we describe herein.