A well-preserved, near-complete goniasterid asteroid, provisionally referred to the genus Ceramaster, is recorded from a rhyolitic ignimbrite assigned to the Dej Tuff Formation, exposed near Ciceu Giurgesti (northwest Romania). The main interest of this specimen lies in the fact that it constitutes a rare example of preservation of (shallow-) marine biota, and echinoderms in particular, in volcanic strata. Superficially, overall disc shape and size, as well as ornament of marginal and abactinal ossicles, resemble to some extent that of coeval and slightly younger material from the Paratethys (south-central Poland, Austria) and the North Sea Basin (northwest Belgium), previously assigned to Ceramaster. So far, only the Polish and Austrian material has been formally named; however, this might actually represent but a single species. The record from Belgium refers to a form which is either conspecific with C. muelleri from the Paratethys, or represents a closely related taxon. These, and associated asteroids (e.g., Astropectinidae, Luidiidae), are in need of a modern taxonomic revision and a reappraisal of their palaeoecology is called for as well.

A well-preserved, near-complete goniasterid asteroid, provisionally referred to the genus Ceramaster, is recorded from a rhyolitic ignimbrite assigned to the Dej Tuff Formation, exposed near Ciceu Giurgesti (northwest Romania). The main interest of this specimen lies in the fact that it constitutes a rare example of preservation of (shallow-) marine biota, and echinoderms in particular, in volcanic strata. Superficially, overall disc shape and size, as well as ornament of marginal and abactinal ossicles, resemble to some extent that of coeval and slightly younger material from the Paratethys (south-central Poland, Austria) and the North Sea Basin (northwest Belgium), previously assigned to Ceramaster. So far, only the Polish and Austrian material has been formally named; however, this might actually represent but a single species. The record from Belgium refers to a form which is either conspecific with C. muelleri from the Paratethys, or represents a closely related taxon. These, and associated asteroids (e.g., Astropectinidae, Luidiidae), are in need of a modern taxonomic revision and a reappraisal of their palaeoecology is called for as well.

The Late Badenian (=early Serravallian of the Mediterranean) chitons of Ukraine, housed in the Museum of the Earth PAS, Warsaw, are described systematically. Eight species are identified: Leptochiton cancellatus (Sowerby, 1840), Lepidopleurus cajetanus (Poli, 1791), Ischnochiton rissoi (Payraudeau, 1826), Chiton corallinus (Risso, 1826), Chiton olivaceus Spengler, 1797, Lepidochitona lepida (Reuss, 1860), Acanthochitona faluniensis (Rochebrune, 1883) and Craspedochiton profascicularis (Boettger, 1906). Most of the material comes from Varovtsi, in the Khmelnytskyi region. The predominant faunal element is Acanthochitona faluniensis, comprising 55% of all investigated valves.

Based on high resolution biostratigraphic analysis of planktic foraminifers, it is confirmed that the Bidart section (eastern margin of the Atlantic Ocean) represents a continuous Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) succession. Nevertheless, the foraminiferal species Plummerita hantkeninoides, regarded as a latest Maastrichtian marker species, is absent and Abathomphalus mayaroensis ranges to the top of the Maastrichtian (= K/Pg boundary). Pseudoguembelina hariaensis is present throughout the succession, and it is proposed herein to substitute Pl. hantkeninoides as the marker of the uppermost Maastrichtian. At least 53 out of 72 species became suddenly extinct at the K/Pg boundary, defined by the Ir anomaly (Bonté et al. 1984; Delacotte et al. 1982). The extinct species are represented by globotruncanids and large heterohelicids, characteristic of the tropical-subtropical deep photic sea water under the mesotrophic conditions of the Late Maastrichtian. The Lower Danian succession (the zones of Guembelitria cretacea, Parvularugoglobigerina eugubina, Parasubbotina pseudobulloides) is less expanded than at El Kef (Tunisia) [the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary] or at Elles (Tunisia) [its auxiliary section].

The late Ladinian to Late Triassic succession of the Tahtalidag (upper) Nappe of the Antalya nappes was studied in the Egregindere section, north of the city of Antalya, SW Turkey. The chert bands in the central part of the section have yielded poorly to moderately preserved radiolarians documenting the Late Ladinian Muelleritortis firma and Muelleritortis cochleata radiolarian zones. Based on the Egregindere succession, a major deepening event, evidenced by radiolarian cherts, took place between the middle and late Late Ladinian. The Late Triassic thick-bedded neritic limestones represent a shallowing-upward sequence, which formed as a result of the horst-like rising of the Tahtalidag Nappe during the Late Triassic block faulting. Fifty-nine radiolarian taxa have been determined from the Upper Ladinian of the Egregindere section. One species (Muelleritortis elegans) and two subspecies (Muelleritortis firma equispinosa and Muelleritortis firma globosa) are described as new.

The belemnite records of the lower Danubian Cretaceous Group (DCG, northeastern Bavaria, southern Germany) are compiled, taxonomically described and placed within the new integrated stratigraphic framework of the group. Three specimens from the lower Regensburg Formation (Saal Member) south of Regensburg can be assigned to Neohibolites cf. ultimus (d'Orbigny) and are dated as late Early Cenomanian (Mantelliceras dixoni Zone). Eight specimens represent Praeactinocamax plenus (Blainville) and occur in an event (plenus Event) in the lower Eibrunn Formation (Regensburg area) or basal Regensburg Formation (Roding area in the Bodenwöhrer Senke). Biostratigraphy and carbon stable isotopes suggest that the belemnite horizon with P. plenus in the DCG has strictly the same chronostratigraphic position (mid-Late Cenomanian, middle Metoicoceras geslinianum Zone) as elsewhere in Central and NW Europe. The lithostratigraphic units of the lower Danubian Cretaceous Group (i.e., the Regensburg and Eibrunn formations), however, are characterized by a pronounced diachronism based on their time-transgressive (i.e., onlapping) deposition during the Cenomanian-Early Turonian transgression. The distribution of P. plenus around the Mid-European Island can be easily explained by migration around the positive area without the necessity of a marine strait across the Bohemian Massif.

Two genera from Upper Serpukhovian strata in the Czech Republic part of the Silesian Coal Basin are described and figured. Ostravaia gen. nov., included in Ostravaiainae subfam. nov., may belong to the Family Antiphyllidae Ilina, 1970. It is represented by one, morphologically variable new species, O. silesiaca. Two other species, conditionally included in that genus, are left in open nomenclature. Variaxon gen. nov., included in Variaxoninae subfam nov. of an undetermined family, is represented by two species, one of which, V. radians, is new.

The ammonoid "Trachyphyllites costatum" Arthaber (1927), based on a single specimen from an erratic boulder of presumed Late Triassic (Norian age) from Timor, (Indonesia), was originally described as a phylloceratid but later recognized as a true lytoceratid by Basse (1952) and Schindewolf (1961), and used by Wiedmann (1966a, 1966b, 1970) to support his idea of a polyphyletic origin of the post-Triassic ammonoids and of the Late Triassic roots of the lytoceratids. New collections of additional specimens and associated taxa from other erratic boulders in the type locality have confirmed observations (Tozer 1971; Krystyn 1978) that the age of the original boulder was misinterpreted, and have shown that "Trachyphyllites" is actually of Early Jurassic (Hettangian) age. An unpublished generic revision of the entire superfamily Lytoceratoidea by Hoffmann (2009) has shown that "Trachyphyllites costatum Arthaber" is a junior synonym of Analytoceras hermanni (Gümbel, 1861), a taxon thought by Wähner (1894) to be a subjective synonym of Analytoceras articulatum (J. Sowerby, 1831) We reestablish the species Analytoceras hermanni (Gümbel, 1861) for Analytoceras articulatum "Type B" (Wähner 1894), which is characterized by a wide umbilicus and a small whorl expansion rate. The morphologically distinct "Type A" (Wähner 1894) corresponds to the type species of Analytoceras, A. articulatum (J. Sowerby, 1831). A revised phylogeny of the Early Jurassic lytoceratids is presented.

The upper part of the Woodward Shale of southern Oklahoma has yielded the first moderately diverse North American ammonoid fauna from the uppermost Famennian (Upper Devonian VI). It includes six species from three clymeniid and one goniatite family: Kielcensia vagabunda sp. nov., Riphaeoclymenia polygona sp. nov., R. pontotocensis sp. nov., Cyrtoclymenia cf. procera Czarnocki, 1989, Spirosporadoceras overi gen. nov. sp. nov., and a poorly preserved different juvenile sporadoceratid that may represent a second new genus. For comparison, the related Spirosporadoceras delicatum sp. nov. from Germany is described. Kielcensia specimens from Oklahoma represent the first uncontested record of triangularly coiled wocklumeriids from North America. Together with Riphaeoclymenia, the Oklahoma fauna has similarities and strong biogeographical ties with the far distant Holy Cross Mountains of Poland. Kielcensia and Riphaeoclymenia are missing from the diverse contemporaneous ammonoid faunas of Middle and Southern Europe, which were located between the Oklahoma and the Polish occurrences. Geographically intermediate contemporaneous Moroccan faunas also show a fundamentally different composition but the Afro-Appalachian migration route must have been viable in the uppermost Famennian Migrations through regions without leaving a trace in available very rich fossil records ("ghost distributions") create a bias for the palaeobiogeographical analysis of nektonic organisms. The faunal composition of the Woodford Shale suggests a control of ammonoid distribution patterns by palaeoecological factors that are not recognizable in the lithofacies.