A biometrical study on four reticulate Nummulites populations from the lower part ofAsmari Formation of the Vazag section (Zagros zone) is carried out. The biostratigraphy obtained by studing the succession points to the Early Oligocene (Rupelian), indicating shallow benthic zones SBZ21 and SBZ22A by the occurrence of Operculina cf. complanata, Eulepidina formosoides, Nephrolepidina sp. The age assignment is calibrated with calcareous nannofossils biostratigraphy indicating the NP22-NP23 (=CNO2-CNO3) Zones.We have observed a stratigraphic trend related to Nummulites bormidiensis Tellini 1888 that results to be characterized by two populations composed of transitional Nummulites fichteli/bormidiensis with values of mean inner proloculus that exceeds by very little the boundary commonly established at 300 um. Such a populations, indicated as Nummulites ex interc. bormidiensis et fichteli, span through the lower Rupelianwhere classically just N. fichteli is reported so far. The stratigraphic distribution of Nummulites bormidiensisis and related transitional forms is here stretched to the Rupelian (SBZ21 and SBZ22A), encompassing older ages than previously recorded throughout the Neo-Tethys Ocean.

The Yangtze carbonate platform (Southern China) recorded a long sedimentary evolution from Neoproterozoic to the basal Upper Triassic. During the Early and Middle Triassic, this platform was dominated by shallow-water carbonates. In various sectors of the platform, the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian) succession contain abundant assemblages of benthic foraminifera and calcareous algae. Following a previous paper about the Middle Triassic dasycladalean algae from SW Guizhou Province, the present study describes algae and microproblematic organisms from three sections: Honyan, Longtou and Guanling. Some dasycladalean algae are well known from the Alpine-Dinaric domain: Diplopora annulatissima, D. annulata, Euteutloporella triasina, Macroporella dinarica, Oligoporella minutula, O. pilosa pilosa, Poncetella hexaster and Pseudodiplopora proba. However, the dasycladalean association is dominated by species belonging to the genus Kantia, including K. cf. dolomitica and K. cf. comelicana. New Kantia species (K. intusannulata n. sp., K. granieri n. sp., K. muxinanii n. sp.) are characterized by the presence of intusannulation, a feature unknown from the Kantia species in the Alpine domain. The dasycladalean association also contains new species of the genus Mizzia and specimens belonging to the organo-genus Acicularia and/or Terquemella. Besides, rare specimens of "Solenopora" and Rivularia-type cyanobacteria are also present. The algal association is accompanied by microproblematic organisms including Tubiphytes sp., Zorniella obscura, Plexoramea cerebriformis, Ladinella porata, and Baccanella floriformis. Anisian-Ladinian foraminifera complete the micropaleontological spectrum of the sections studied. The most important are Meandrospira dinarica, Endotriadella wirzi, Paleolituonella meridionalis, and Turriglomina mesotriasica. The microfossils from the Middle Triassic Yangtze carbonate platform of south China belong to the Eastern Tethys province. Some of these species are also present in the Western Tethys (Alpine Domain). The new species presented in this study are absent from the Alpine Domain and probably represent endemic species for the Eastern Tethys.

DNA sequencing shows that species of the genera Notorotalia, Porosorotalia and Buccella form a distinct branch (Notorotaliidae) of Rotaloidea, and cluster as sister to Elphidiidae. In this review we report on the sequencing of three species of Buccella (from the Arctic Ocean, Patagonia and Chile) and one each of Notorotalia (New Zealand) and Porosorotalia (Chile). This information has been combined with all the morphological descriptive information on species of these genera plus the genera Cristatavultus and Parrellina to provide a global synthesis of living species of the Notorotaliidae. We recognize 11 species of the southern hemisphere genus Notorotalia, which has a centre of diversity around New Zealand (8 species). A second southern-hemisphere-restricted genus, restricted to eastern Australia is Parrellina (3 species) although specimens (possibly introduced) have been recorded from the Mediterranean Sea. Cristatavultus has a single species, with a tropical west Pacific distribution.We synonymize Cribrorotalia under Porosorotalia, which has a disjunct distribution with one species in the northwest Pacific and a second around the southern parts of South America. Buccella is the most diverse and widespread genus (16 species recognized) with its greatest abundance in the Arctic Ocean and around subantarctic-temperate South America. Five species of Buccella live in a belt along the west coast of central America, from USA to Peru, with some spillage into the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Two new species of Buccella are recognized: B. dejardini (from South Georgia) and Buccella n. sp. A (from Chile).

Radiolarians of the order Latentifistularia are described from strata of the Roadian Stage (Guadalupian Series, middle Permian) exposed in a small roadside quarry (Quarry section) in the Guadalupe Mountains, West Texas. The families Cornellidae Kozur and Mostler and Ishigaidae Kozur and Mostler are discussed. The genus Pseudotormentus is reassigned to the family Latentifistulidae. The genus Octatormentum and species Latentifistula patagilaterala, Quinqueremis robusta, Ormistonella minima, Tetratormentum nitidus and Octatormentum cornelli are revised. The species Tormentum delicatum assigned to the genus Rectotormentum. One genus, Nabespecha, is reinstated herein. Three new genera, Murcheyella, Sashitonishella and Quadrulites, and 17 new species: Latentifistula crassa, L. macilenta, L. coniformis, Murcheyella marginata, Latentibifistula dellensis, Pseudotormentus ornatus, Cauletella caridroiti, Praedeflandrella insueta, Quinqueremis pentagonus, Q. porosus, Sashitonishella rara, Polyfistula composita, Ormistonella aetheria, O. decurvata, Tetragregnon delawarus, Tormentum lobatum, and Grandetortura sashidai are described.

A relatively diverse assemblage of larger benthic foraminifera from the Asmari Formation is described based on the recovered samples from two subsurface sections, offshore and onshore, southern Iran. Due to its position in the Tethyan Seaway between the Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific, the Zagros belt as a part of theMiddle East has high significance in palaeobiogeography. The fauna is dominated by both hyaline perforated and porcelaneous forms. Eight species of larger benthic foraminifera are described, including Nummulites fichteli, N. vascus, Operculina complanata, Archaias operculiniformis, Praerhapydionina delicata, Austrotrillina striata, Peneroplis thomasi, and P. evolutus. The presence of N. fichteli and N. vascus in the absence of lepidocyclinids indicates the SBZ 21 Zone referring to a short time span restricted to early Rupelian.

Small reticulate Nummulites are found across the Eocene shallow marine deposits of the Paris Basin, Belgium, as far north as northern Germany and southern United Kingdom. Only two isolated instances of Nummulites at higher latitudes than this are known, from the Rockall bank and Wyville-Thomson ridge in the north Atlantic, and no Nummulites have been reported from the Nordic North Sea Basin - until now. Here Nummulites planulatus is described within a glacial erratic dredged from Jyske Rev in the Danish North Sea of likelyYpresian age.Whilst the specimen is not in situ, it indicates that populations of Nummulites were living further north in the North Sea region than previously known. This range expansion may have been facilitated by the hyperthermal events of the early Eocene.

Paleogene sedimentary deposits are exposed in several localities along the extended Thrace Basin in the Greek territory. One of the best sites in terms of preservation, richness and type of sediment occurs along the coastline of Fanari village (SW ofKomotini city). Two outcrops, which consist of upper Eocene shallowmarine clastic sediments, were sampled to analyze the full spectrum of larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) that comprises a rich and diverse assemblage of orthophragmines (Discocyclina, Orbitoclypeus and Asterocyclina), nummulitids (Nummulites, Assilina, Operculina, Heterostegina and Spiroclypeus), and other benthic taxa (e.g., Silvestriella, Pellatispira, Fabiania, Sphaerogypsina, etc.).Adetailed systematic description of LBF from Fanari is presented,which refines the biostratigraphic age of SBZ (Shallow Benthic Zone) 20 corresponding to the late Priabonian for the whole sequence. Twenty-four taxa among which six at (chrono)subspecies level belonging to twelve genera were identified and morphometrically analyzed for the first time from Greece. The LBF assemblage is characterized by the constant presence of Nummulites fabianii almost throughout the whole sequence. The most abundant species are Pellatispira madaraszi and Spiroclypeus carpaticus, though they occur in the upper part of the sequence along with orthophragmines. The foraminiferal distribution in the sequence enables paleoenvironmental observations and the reconstruction of the evolution of the Fanari area. Three main depositional marine shelf facies are distinguished at the shallow upper foreslope of the carbonate platform, making the Fanari section a key area not only of latest Priabonian but also of outer shelf biofacies.

Here, we revise and update the biostratigraphy of larger foraminiferal assemblages in three sections of the Priabonian Sanetsch Formation in the Helvetic Nappes of theWestern Swiss Alps: The SexRouge (SE) and the Sanetsch Buvette (SA) sections in the Wildhorn Nappe Complex, and the Col des Essets (ETS) section in the most external Morcles Nappe. In the SE and SA sections, the Tsanfleuron and most of the Pierredar Limestone members of the formation are assigned to SBZ 19 (early Priabonian), while the uppermost part of the formation is assigned to SBZ 20 (late Priabonian). In the external ETS section the entire Sanetsch Formation contains assemblages characteristic of SBZ 19, suggesting an earlier, middle-late Priabonian onset of the hemipelagic Stad Formation (Globigerina Marls). Since it was established in 1998, the Shallow Benthic Zones (SBZ), a biozonation based on larger foraminifera, has been a useful tool in the biostratigraphy of the Paleogene. Biozonation proposals for the late middle-late Eocene are based mainly in biometrical subdivision of lineages of nummulitids and orthophragmines,which requiresmeasurements in oriented sections of isolated specimens. Here, we define previously unreported taxa from the Sanetsch Formation, which are considered characteristic for the Priabonian. They are easy to identify in random sections and thus useful biostratigraphical markers.We also describe a new orthophragminid genus, Virgasterocylina n. gen. (Orbitoclypeidae) characterized by the presence of rods, radial thickenings of calcite along ribs; a new species of Rotorbinella, R. epardi n. sp., and a new genus and new species of difficult suprageneric attribution, Sanetschella indeprensa n. gen., n. sp. We add the new taxa to the larger foraminiferal association characterizing the Priabonian (SBZ 19-20). The revision of the literature, together with our own sample collections revealed that these new taxa occur in Priabonian rocks from different basins in the western Tethys. Virgasterocylina n. gen. also occurs in the Caribbean bioprovince in the middle and upper Eocene. In the western Tethys, Virgasterocylina ferrandezi is subdivided into two subspecies, V. f. ferrandezi (Ozcan and Less) and V. f. lessi n. ssp., which characterize the SBZ 19 and 20 biozones respectively.

The Oligo-Miocene sediments of Central Iran were deposited in part of the Tethyan Seaway connecting the Mediterranean Sea (western Tethys) to the Indian Ocean (eastern Tethys). The Qom Formation sediments were deposited in the northeastern part of the Tethyan Seaway. For analyzing the depositional environments of the Qom Formation in the Tigheh Reza Abad section (type area of the Qom Formation) samples through 967 m thickness were studied which yielded 64 genera and 106 species of benthic and planktic foraminifera, including index species indicative of Aquitanian to Burdigalian age. Five faunal associations (I-V) are recognized on the basis of foraminiferal diversity and abundance. The faunal associations indicate different paleoenvironments along a gradient from inner to outer shelf in the warm, shallow-marine Qom Basin.