Extant eutherian mammals and their most recent common ancestor constitute the crown group Placentalia. This taxon, plus all extinct taxa that share a more recent common ancestor with placentals than they do with Metatheria (including marsupials), constitute Eutheria. The oldest well documented eutherian-dominated fauna in the world is Dzharakuduk, Uzbekistan. Among eutherians that it yields is Kulbeckia, an 85-90-Myr-old member of Zalambdalestidae (a family of Late Cretaceous Asian eutherians). This extends Zalambdalestidae back by some 10 million years from sites in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia. A phylogenetic analysis of well described Late Cretaceous eutherians strongly supports Zalambdalestidae, less strongly supports 'Zhelestidae' (a Late Cretaceous clade related to Tertiary ungulates), but does not support Asioryctitheria (a group of Late Cretaceous Asian eutherians). A second analysis incorporating placentals from clades that include rodents (Tribosphenomys), lagomorphs (Mimotona) and archaic ungulates (Protungulatum and Oxyprimus) strongly supports Zalambdalestidae in a clade with Glires (rabbits, rodents and extinct relatives) and less strongly 'Zhelestidae' within a clade that includes archaic ungulates ('condylarths'). This argues that some Late Cretaceous eutherians belong within the crown group Placentalia. The ages of these taxa are in line with molecularly based estimates of 64-104 Myr ago (median 84 Myr ago) for the superordinal diversification of some placentals, but provide no support for a Late Cretaceous diversification of extant placental orders.

Levnesovia transoxiana gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous (Middle-Late Turonian) of Uzbekistan, is the oldest well-documented taxon referable to Hadrosauroidea sensu Godefroit et al. It differs from a somewhat younger and closely related Bactrosaurus from Inner Mongolia (China) by a tall sagittal crest on the parietals and the absence of club-shaped dorsal neural spines in adult specimens. Levnesovia, Bactrosaurus and possibly Gilmoreosaurus represent the earliest radiation of Hadrosauroidea, which took place during the Cenomanian-Turonian and possibly in North America. The second, Santonian-age radiation of Hadrosauroidea included Aralosaurus, Hadrosauridae and lineages leading to Tanius (Campanian) and Telmatosaurus (Maastrichtian). Hadrosauridae appears to be monophyletic, but Hadrosaurinae and Lambeosaurinae originated in North America and Asia, respectively.

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The taxonomy, geographic distribution, and paleoenvironmental context of azhdarchid pterosaurs are reviewed. All purported pteranodontid, tapejarid, and azhdarchid specimens from the Cenomanian Kem Kem beds of Morocco are referred to a single azhdarchid taxon, Alanqa saharica. The four proposed autapomorphies of Eurazhdarcho langendorfensis from the lower Maastrichtian Sebeş Formation of Romania are based on misinterpretations of material and this taxon is likely a subjective junior synonym of Hatzegopteryx thambema. Among 54 currently reported azhdarchid occurrences (51 skeletal remains and 3 tracks) 13% are from lacustrine deposits, 17% from fluvial plain deposits, 17% from coastal plain deposits, 18% from estuarine and lagoonal deposits, and 35% from costal marine deposits. Azhdarchids likely inhabited a variety of environments, but were abundant near large lakes and rivers and most common in nearshore marine paleoenvironments.

The eutherian, family‐level clade Zhelestidae is consistently although weakly supported in five phylogenetic analyses that we performed on all Cretaceous eutherians. Additionally in the fifth analysis, which included some placentals, Zhelestidae is placed as a stem eutherian clade rather than grouping within the crown clade Placentalia as argued in some previous studies but not others. The subfamily Zhelestinae, Dzharakuduk (Turonian –?Coniacian ages), Kyzylkum Desert, Uzbekistan includes Zhelestes temirkayzk, Aspanlestes aptap, Parazhelestes mynbulakensis (= Sorlestes budan), Parazhelestes robustus, Eoungulatum kudukensis. Additional taxa for the time being recognized as Zhelestidae incertae sedis are: Sheikhdzheilia rezvyii (Cenomanian, Uzbekistan), Borisodon kara gen. nov. (=‘Sorlestes’kara) (Turonian, Kazakhstan), Lainodon orueetxebarriai (Campanian or Maastrichtian, Spain), Labes quintanillensis (Maastrictian, Spain), Labes garimondi (Campanian, France), Gallolestes pachymandibularis (Campanian, Mexico), Gallolestes agujaensis (Campanian, USA), and Avitotherium utahensis (Campanian, USA). Eozhelestes mangit (Cenomanian, Uzbekistan) is a questionable zhelestid (?Zhelestidae), possibly stem to Zhelestidae. Paranyctoides (Asia and North America) is often linked to Zhelestidae. Alostera, previously referred to Zhelestidae, is a eutherian of unknown affinities. Associated skull fragments permitted the first reconstruction of a zhelestid (Aspanlestes) skull. Abundant dentulous and edentulous dentaries allowed examination of dental replacement from the canine posteriorly in Dzharakuduk zhelestids as follows: [dc, p1, dp2, p3, dp4, dp5]‐> m1‐> p2‐> c, p4, m2‐> p5‐> m3. © 2012 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2012, 164, 361–426.

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