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Records of chondrichthyan egg capsule morphotypes from the paralic deposits of the Belgian Coal Measures Group (Pennsylvanian; Bashkirian-Moscovian; Namurian B-Westphalian B according to the traditional subdivision) are presented and discussed. These include several species of the hybodontiform type Palaeoxyris as well as the putative holocephalian types Vetacapsula and Crookallia. Furthermore, the type specimens of Scapellites cottoni and S. minor, two additional putative and enigmatic egg capsules from the same lithostratigraphic unit, are figured and discussed. Altogether, a highly diverse egg capsule assemblage documented from the Belgian deposits implies the presence of at least eleven different Carboniferous chondrichthyan species using the ancient aquatic environments for spawning and as nurseries. The absence of the xenacanthiform morphotype Fayolia, known from surrounding coeval Coal Measures areas of northern France, the Netherlands, and Germany, is conspicuous. This lack may be a result of collecting bias and does not reflect a real pattern., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Origin of (3)He in the Earth is a mystery. Lacking a production mechanism, scientists assume (3)He was trapped in the Earth, when the Earth was formed. In contrast to this assumption, we have found (3)He and (3)H concentrations in excess of the atmospheric values in the deep waters of the volcanic Lakes Pavin (France), Laacher (Germany) and Nemrut (Turkey). This paper reports the result of finding (3)H in these three volcanic lakes that appear to originate from the mantle. Because (3)H has a half-life of 12.3 years, this (3)H and the resulting (3)He must have formed recently in the mantle and not be part of a primordial reservoir. The nuclear reactions that generate tritium might be a source of "missing" energy in the interior of the Earth.

Recent studies on the ant phylogeny are mainly based on the molecular analyses of extant subfamilies and do not include the extinct, only Cretaceous subfamily Sphecomyrminae. However, the latter is of major importance for ant relationships, as it is considered the most basal subfamily. Therefore, each new discovery of a Mesozoic ant is of high interest for improving our understanding of their early history and basal relationships. In this paper, a new sphecomyrmine ant, allied to the Burmese amber genus Haidomyrmex, is described from mid-Cretaceous amber of France as Haidomyrmodes mammuthus gen. and sp. n. The diagnosis of the tribe Haidomyrmecini is emended based on the new type material, which includes a gyne (alate female) and two incomplete workers. The genus Sphecomyrmodes, hitherto known by a single species from Burmese amber, is also reported and a new species described as S. occidentalis sp. n. after two workers remarkably preserved in a single piece of Early Cenomanian French amber. The new fossils provide additional information on early ant diversity and relationships and demonstrate that the monophyly of the Sphecomyrminae, as currently defined, is still weakly supported.