Abstract:  The species Heteroceras gracile sp. nov. is described; it is a small and slender species, with a small helix and hamuliniform morphology, previously considered as an atypical variant of Heteroceras baylei (Reynès, 1876). In southeast France, it is mainly known in the Morteiron section (Alpes de Haute-Provence, France), but the species is also present in Bulgaria and possibly in Japan.

 Abstract:  Six new Valanginian belemnite species (Duvalia crassa sp. nov., Duvalia elongata sp. nov., Duvalia kleini sp. nov., Duvalia superconstricta sp. nov., Castellanibelus vaubellensis sp. nov., and "Hibolithes" lebresensis sp. nov.) are described here and two species (Duvalia aff. elongata and "Hibolithes" aff. pistilliformis (Blainville, 1827)) are left in open nomenclature. They come from both the distal and proximal parts of the Vocontian Basin in south-east France and the Baetic Cordillera in south-east Spain. In addition lectotypes are selected for Castellanibelus orbignyanus (Duval-Jouve, 1841), Castellanibelus picteti (Mayer, 1866), and Duvalia lata (Blainville, 1827)<

 Abstract:  Strontium-isotope measurements on Lower Cretaceous marine rocks derive from belemnite material sampled in ammonite-constrained basinal successions. A group of values with a narrow range across the Barremian/Aptian boundary does not allow the separation of the uppermost Barremian (Martelites sarasini ammonite zone) from the lower Aptian pro parte (Deshayesites oglanlensis-D. forbesi ammonite zones). Growing numbers of studies applied Sr-Isotope Stratigraphy (SIS) on Barremian-Aptian shallow-marine sequences (Urgonian facies) in order to solve controversial results obtained by using different shallow-water biological time markers. Based on re-examination of case studies, we conclude that Sr-isotope values can neither be used to prove nor to disprove the location of the putative Barremian/Aptian boundary based on biostratigraphy. Pending more data available, SIS should be used with caution for dating ammonite-free carbonate sediments in the corresponding time interval.

 Abstract:  Boueina hochstetteri Toula (type-species of the genus) was published by Toula (1884) in the 10^th report of his travel through the Balkan region. He considered this species to be a problematic organism with uncertain systematic affiliation. Later, Steinmann (1901) assigned this fossil to the calcareous algae. Our own field work performed in the autumns of 2015 and 2016 in the Pirot area (SE Serbia) led to re-identification of the rich Boueina hochstetteri type level, close to the confluence of the Temska and Nišava Rivers, the type locality of Toula. The rich Boueina level is part of a succession of bioclastic limestones. The fragments of Boueina thalli are occasionally branched, a feature supporting the interpretation of Boueina as an inarticulate udoteacean alga with rare branching.

 Abstract:  A Lower Cenomanian marine succession rich in corals is reported from the western margin of the Pelagonian zone in central Greece. The succession starts with a coarse conglomerate followed by sandstone, nodular limestone and massive limestone. Fifteen levels contain corals with the nodular limestone being the most species-rich. As a total, 78 species in 46 genera are described. They belong to 15 superfamilies. Three genera and four species are described as new. The new genera belong to the families Heterocoeniidae and Felixaraeidae, and the informal Plesiosmiliids. The record of six genera results in stratigraphical range extensions. The coral associations show more relationships to Lower than to Upper Cretaceous faunas. Thirty-nine genera already existed before the Cenomanian and 33 genera continued into the Middle Cenomanian, but only 19 genera persisted into the Turonian. The coral fauna has close palaeobiogeographic relationships with mainly Boreal or North Tethyan Cenomanian faunas such as those of the Aquitanian Basin, the Basque-Cantabrian Basin, or with faunas from the northern margin of the Rhenish Massif, but shares also species with the Upper Aptian to Lower Albian of the Bisbee Basin in North America and with faunas of the Lower to Middle Albian of the Northern Pyrenees.

 Abstract:  We report on three shells of whale barnacle (Cirripedia: Coronulidae) collected from Pleistocene shallow-marine deposits exposed at Cinisi (northwestern Sicily, southern Italy). These specimens are identified as belonging to the extinct species Coronula bifida Bronn, 1831. Calcareous nannoplankton analysis of the sediment hosting the coronulid remains places the time of deposition between 1.93 and 1.71 Ma (i.e., at the Gelasian-Calabrian transition), an interval during which another deposit rich in whale barnacles exposed in southeastern Apulia (southern Italy) formed. Since Coronula Lamarck, 1802, is currently found inhabiting the skin of humpback whales [Cetacea: Balaenopteridae: Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)], and considering that the detachment of extant coronulids from their hosts' skin has been mainly observed in occurrence of cetacean breeding/calving areas, the material here studied supports the existence of a baleen whale migration route between the central Mediterranean Sea (the putative reproductive ground) and the North Atlantic (the putative feeding ground) around 1.8 Ma, when several portions of present-day southern Italy were still submerged. The early Pleistocene utilization of the epeiric seas of southern Italy as breeding/calving areas by migrating mysticetes appears to be linked to the severe climatic degradation that has been recognized at the Gelasian-Calabrian transition and that is marked in the fossil record of the Mediterranean Basin by the appearance of "northern guests" such as Arctica islandica (Linnaeus, 1767) (Bivalvia: Veneroida). The subsequent abandonment of the Mediterranean Sea by most species of mysticetes is likely to have resulted from the progressive emergence of shallow-water coastal environments that occurred in Calabrian and Middle Pleistocene times.

 Abstract:  International Commission of Zoological Nomenclature decided in September 2015 on case 3620 submitted by A. Ando (United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.), which regards the status of the species Ticinella primula Luterbacher in Renz et al., 1963, and Hedbergella trocoidea yezoana Takayanagi & Iwamoto, 1962. Decision was to place the former on the Official List of Specific Names in Zoology and the latter on the Official Index of Rejected and Invalid Specific Names in Zoology (ICZN, 2015, p. 227). The scientific fundamentals in the presentation of case 3620 are weak and do not support such a decision by the International Commission. Moreover, they create a significant disturbance of nomenclatural stability in the Linnaean classification of the Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera.