A revision of the Cenozoic Ampullinidae and Naticidae from a wide range of localities and stratigraphic units in Patagonia revealed the occurrence there of thirteen species referable to these families. Ampullinid species described are Tejonia? tapia (Feruglio, 1935); Tejonia arroyoensis n. sp. and Pseudamaura dubia (Petersen, 1946). Naticids are represented by the following valid species: “Natica”entreriana Borchert, 1901; Euspira patagonica (Philippi, 1845); Notocochlis borrelloi (Brunet, 1995); Bulbus subtenuis (Ihering, 1897); Polinices santacruzensis Ihering, 1907; Polinices puntarenasensis Ihering, 1907; “Polinices”ortmanni Ihering, 1907 (nomen dubium); Polinices mina n. sp.; Glossaulax secundum (Rochebrune and Mabille, 1885); and Darwinices claudiae n. gen. n. sp.

Late Carnian–early Norian corals from the Luning and Osobb formations in west-central Nevada represent an important Late Triassic fauna for understanding the paleoecology and the paleogeography of the eastern Panthalassa region during Late Triassic time. The corals occur in bedded limestone representing biostromes and patch reefs and their composition presages the important global changeover of faunas of the intra-Norian interval. A taxonomic analysis of over 60 specimens reveals a majority of colonial corals ranging from cerioid, astreoid (i.e., cerioid-plocoid lacking walls), meandroid and thamnasterioid types. Surprisingly, remnants of the original aragonite microstructure remain in some specimens, allowing a better comparison with more remote Tethyan corals. In total, 14 genera have been identified from Nevada while two genera remain undetermined. The fauna is composed of species considered typical of both the North American Cordillera and cratonal South America. The following genera and species are new and endemic to the Americas: Khytrastrea silberlingi and K. cuifiamorpha, Flexastrea serialis, Nevadoseris punctata, Areaseris nevadaensis and a new genus Minasteria (with Astrocoenia shastensis Smith, 1927 as type species). Likewise are the new species: Margarogyra silberlingi and Curtoseris dunlapcanyonae. Genera Meandrovolzeia, Margarogyra, Ceriostella, Ampakabastraea, Retiophyllia, Distichomeandra, Curtoseris, Thamnasteria and Astraeomorpha provide important links to the former Tethys province. The revised coral fauna changes previous views of the close taxonomic similarity with the Tethys, instead producing a paleogeographic pattern emphasizing a much greater degree of endemism. This pattern emphasizes the isolation of Nevada from the Tethys and the similarities with some outboard terranes of the Cordillera.

Representatives of the family Inaniguttidae dominate a diverse and well-preserved radiolarian assemblage from Kazakhstan. The fauna was extracted from a limestone sample of the Shundy Formation, a limestone sequence that accumulated on the slope of a carbonate platform and which crops out in the Aksuran Mountains (North Balkhash Region). The family Inaniguttidae is represented in the studied assemblage by five genera and 14 species (including two new species, Triplococcus aksuranensis and Inanibigutta maletzi). The genus Triplococcus is particularly abundant, representing half of the Inaniguttids in the studied assemblage. Based on the presence of species Haplentactinia juncta, the fauna can be correlated with the upper Darriwilian Haplentactinia juncta–Inanigutta unica assemblage. Identified trilobites (Endymionia semielliptica and Porterfieldia sp. aff. P. delicata) found in the same sample also suggest a late Darriwilian age, which agrees with the age suggested previously by graptolites.

Karl Krömmelbein (1920–1979) worked on both Paleozoic and Mesozoic sequences but is best remembered for his pioneering work on late Jurassic–early Cretaceous ostracod assemblages from Brazil and West Africa, clearly demonstrating in a series of publications between 1961 and 1972 the presence of comparable marginal-marine and non-marine faunas in continental margin basins on each side of the modern South Atlantic. These ostracods and their biostratigraphical distributions have assumed great importance in recent years consequent on the discovery of hydrocarbons, especially offshore Brazil. All Krömmelbein's published and background material is housed the the Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany with the sole exception of the material figured in Krömmelbein & Weber (1971) which is housed in the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe and Landesamt für Bergbau, Energie und Geologie, Hannover, Germany. Do Carmo et al. (2008) make a number of erroneous statements about the material, i.e., that material of Krömmelbein (1965) was moved from Hannover to Frankfurt, and that Do Carmo et al.'s figured specimens from the Krömmelbein Collection in Frankfurt are ‘types’ when they are exclusively topotypic and not primary types. A statement in Poropat and Colin (2012, p. 701) attempts to clarify this situation, however, Antonietto et al. (2012, p. 663) compound the confusion by stating that the holotype of Hourcqia angulata salitrensis Krömmelbein and Weber, 1971 is housed in the Senckenberg, which it is not. The confusion may have arisen as a result of a temporary loan of the Krömmelbein and Weber (1971) specimens to Senckenberg.

We report on the faunal transition of benthic foraminifera during the middle Eocene at Site U1333 (4862 m water depth, 3,560–3,720 m paleo-water depth) of Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 320 in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. During the period ∼41.5–40.7 Ma, which includes carbonate accumulation event 3 (CAE-3), the benthic foraminiferal accumulation rate (BFAR) increased gradually and then it declined rapidly. In contrast, BFAR was considerably lower during ∼40.7–39.4 Ma, corresponding to the middle Eocene climatic optimum (MECO), and then it increased during ∼39.3–38.4 Ma, including CAE-4. Diversity (E [S200]) was slightly lower in the upper part of the study interval than in the lower part. The most common benthic foraminifera were Nuttallides truempyi, Oridorsalis umbonatus, and Gyroidinoides spp. in association with Globocassidulina globosa and Cibicidoides grimsdalei during the period studied. Quadrimorphina profunda occurred abundantly with N. truempyi, O. umbonatus, and G. globosa during ∼39.4–38.4 Ma, including CAE-4, although this species was also relatively common in the lower part of the study interval. Virgulinopsis navarroanus and Fursenkoina sp. A, morphologically infaunal taxa, were common during ∼38.8–38.4 Ma, corresponding to the late stage of CAE-4. Based on Q-mode cluster analysis, four sample clusters were recognized and their stratigraphic distributions were generally discriminated in the lower and upper parts of the study interval. Thus, there was only a small faunal transition in the abyssal eastern equatorial Pacific during the middle to late-middle Eocene. The faunal transition recognized in this study may be related to recovery processes following intense carbonate corrosiveness in the eastern equatorial Pacific during MECO.

As one of the highly diversified radiolarian groups in the Mesozoic, Vallupinae occurred widely in the tuffaceous claystone from the Mariana Trench of the upper Tithonian–Berriasian where the specimens are extremely well-preserved. The occurrence of diversified Vallupinae presented here is further evidence that the range of Vallupinae extends to Berriasian. The stratigraphic range and proposed possible phylogenetic relationships within the Subfamily Vallupinae are provided and 17 radiolarian species of this subfamily are presented, including three new species: Vallupus gracilis, Mesovallupus brevispina, and Neovallupus mediforma.