The Lower Muschelkalk Vossenveld Formation has yielded a diverse and abundant vertebrate fauna. In this contribution, we describe a small saurichthyid fish, Saurichthys dianneae sp. nov., from the Winterswijk locality in the eastern Netherlands. This species is represented by multiple specimens ranging from the Bithynian to the early Illyrian (middle-early late Anisian) in age. The material from Winterswijk includes articulated postcranial material, which is unusual for a saurichthyid from the Muschelkalk. Saurichthys dianneae sp. nov. is diagnosed by its small size (less than 10 cm in total length), elongate shape, extremely constricted interorbital region, neural arches lacking well-developed neural spines, and morphology and organization of the squamation. The slender body shape, flattened upper jaw, and dorsally directed orbits suggest that S. dianneae may have lived near the sea surface. Saurichthys with a similar body shape are known from the Middle Triassic of Germany, and indicate that these small, surface-dwelling saurichthyid fishes may have been widespread in coastal areas of the Middle Triassic Muschelkalk Sea.

The Palaeozoic-Mesozoic transition is characterized not only by the most massive Phanerozoic mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, but also its extensive aftermath and a prolonged period of major biotal recovery during the succeeding Middle to Late Triassic. Particularly, Anisian insect species from units of the Lower to Middle Muschelkalk from the Central European Basin are rare. The specimens described here originated from the Anisian Wellenkalk facies (Lower Muschelkalk), Vossenveld Formation of the Winterswijk quarry, The Netherlands, and from the orbicularis Member (lowermost Middle Muschelkalk, Anisian) of Esperstedt near Querfurt (Saxony-Anhalt). Thus, the described insect remains from Winterwijk and Esperstedt expand our knowledge about Middle Triassic terrestrial arthropod communities and their palaeodiversity. A new species of Chauliodites (C. esperstedti sp. nov) is introduced.

We describe a tetrapod swimming traceway from the Middle Triassic Vossenveld Formation of the Netherlands. Forty-five individual traces, each consisting of two parallel claw drag marks, were followed over 9 m in a roughly east–west direction. The asymmetry of the traceway geometry indicates the trace maker negotiated a lateral current. The trace maker could not be identified, but the traces described here are markedly different fromDikoposichnustraces attributed to swimming nothosaurs.

Two recently found dentaries from the Lower Muschelkalk of Winterswijk (The Netherlands) and from the Upper Muschelkalk of an outcrop in the vicinity of Hünfeld (Hesse, Germany) are studied and compared to lower jaws of placodonts. As a result, the here described specimens can be assigned to Placodus cf. gigas. However, this assignment should be regarded as preliminary due to the isolated nature of the material. More diagnostic material is necessary to validate this affiliation. A certain morphological variability in P. gigas dentaries that had been pointed out before is also obvious among the new material. Placodus gigas has a wide paleogeography and stratigraphic range and a revision of the material assigned to P. gigas with new methods is overdue but beyond the scope of the current paper. The dentary from Hünfeld is with about 4 cm preserved length the smallest so far known dentary of a Placodus. It provides interesting insights in morphological changes during ontogeny and reveals differences in trajectories when compared to dentaries of different ontogenetic stages of Cyamodus hildegardis.