Coccolithophores are an important group of phytoplankton that produce intricate skeletons of calcium carbonate. They contribute to the base of the marine food web and are important drivers of the global carbon cycle. Here, we describe novel coccolithophores and novel life cycle combinations detected by electron microscopy in samples collected in the Red Sea and the western Mediterranean. Our study advances our understanding of coccolithophore diversity and life cycle complexity.

This study presents a taxonomic revision of calcareous nannoplankton, known as fasciculiths (family Fasciculithaceae). The investigation approach is based on a direct light microscope and SEM comparison of the same individual specimen, providing a key to clarify a correct classification of several taxa. The new findings document the early evolutionary history of fasciculiths, demonstrating the biostratigraphic relevance of this group in the early Paleocene (Danian–Selandian transition).

We examined the planktonic foraminifera (calcareous zooplankton) from a section in northern Saudi Arabia. We found the assemblages to be diverse, well-preserved and of late Eocene age. Our study provides new insights into the stratigraphic ranges of many species and indicates that the late Eocene had a higher tropical/subtropical diversity of planktonic foraminifera than previously reported.

In this study, we constructed an open dataset, which contains computed tomography (CT) data on nearly 500 vertebrate microfossils. We propose a semantic segmentation method for CT fish microfossil data based on deep learning (DL). We expect that our proposed method could be applied to CT data on other fossils with good performance. We also believe the fast-accumulating CT data on vertebrate microfossils might become a source of information-rich datasets for deep learning.

We use marine microfossil (dinocyst) assemblage data as well as seismic and tectonic investigations to reconstruct the oceanographic history south of Australia 37–20 Ma as the Tasmanian Gateway widens and deepens. Our results show stable conditions with typically warmer dinocysts south of Australia, which contrasts with the colder dinocysts closer to Antarctica, indicating the establishment of modern oceanographic conditions with a strong Southern Ocean temperature gradient and frontal systems.

Ammonia beccarii was described from Rimini Beach in 1758. This taxon has often been mistaken with other species in the past. Recent studies assessed the biometry of Ammonia species and integrated it with genetic data but relied on a few large and dead specimens only. In a comprehensive approach, we assessed the whole living Ammonia assemblage near the type locality of A. beccarii and identified parameters which are robust and facilitate a secure species identification.