In this study, we evaluated the fungal diversity present associated with cores of Oligocene rocks using a DNA metabarcoding approach. We detected 940,969 DNA reads grouped into 198 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) representing the phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota, Chytridiomycota, Mucoromycota, Rozellomycota, Blastocladiomycota, Monoblepharomycota, Zoopagomycota, Aphelidiomycota (Fungi) and the fungal-like Oomycota (Stramenopila), in rank abundance order. Pseudogymnoascus pannorum, Penicillium sp., Aspergillus sp., Cladosporium sp., Aspergillaceae sp. and Diaporthaceae sp. were assessed to be dominant taxa, with 22 fungal ASVs displaying intermediate abundance and 170 being minor components of the assigned fungal diversity. The data obtained displayed high diversity indices, while rarefaction indicated that the majority of the diversity was detected. However, the diversity indices varied between the cores analysed. The endolithic fungal community detected using a metabarcoding approach in the Oligocene rock samples examined contains a rich and complex mycobiome comprising taxa with different lifestyles, comparable with the diversity reported in recent studies of a range of Antarctic habitats. Due to the high fungal diversity detected, our results suggest the necessity of further research to develop strategies to isolate these fungi in culture for evolutionary, physiological, and biogeochemical studies, and to assess their potential role in biotechnological applications.

Brachiopods of the superfamily Chonetoidea are abundantly found in Devonian rocks in the Paraná Basin (Brazil). Despite this, only two species were formally known: Pleurochonetes falklandicus and Australostrophia mesembria, while at least 34 other taxa are known in other locations also within the Malvinokaffric Realm. In this contribution we present nine new taxa of Chonetoidea from the Ponta Grossa (late Pragian–early Emsian) and São Domingos (late Emsian–Frasnian) formations in the Paraná Basin: Babinia parvula maxima ssp. nov., Kentronetes? iclaense, Kentronetes? ortegae?, Sanjuanetes? sp., Chonostrophia? aff. truyolsae, Chonetidae indet., Pleurochonetes? comstocki?, Notiochonetes skottsbergi and Pleurochonetes surucoi?. Additionally, we emended the diagnosis of Babinia parvula. This expands the known diversity of Devonian Chonetoidea of the Paraná Basin. We also discuss the likely living environment of the identified taxa, based on the outcrops from which they came. The identification of these taxa provide new paleobiogeographic and chronostratigraphic information, allowing interpretations about possible affinities and migration routes of these benthic organisms within the Malvinokaffric Realm regions. Keywords: chonetoideans, Malvinokaffric Realm, Lower–Middle Devonian, systematic, paleoenvironments, paleobiogeography.

In the mid-twentieth century, geologist Kenneth E. Caster collected fossils of South American Paleozoic and Mesozoic invertebrates, further contributing to important research for Brazilian geology. The collected paleontological collection was later taken to study at the University of Cincinnati (USA), where it remained for more than six decades. In 2016, in an unprecedented agreement between the Universidade de Cincinnati and the Museu Nacional/UFRJ, the Caster collection was repatriated, incorporating it into the collection of paleoinvertebrates of the Museu Nacional/UFRJ. The report clarifying the trajectory of the collection's repatriation and its tragic, but partial, destruction in the institution's fire in 2018 and its current destination is the objective of this paper.

Tropidoleptus is a brachiopod genus with a very peculiar morphology that existed throughout the Devonian as a cosmopolitan taxon. Although there have been reports of the presence of this genus in the Paraná Basin since the nineteenth century, its actual occurrence has been the subject of much debate. The objective of this paper was to clarify this situation. For this purpose, dozens of specimens from Monjolo dos Padres and Juscimeira outcrops (São Domingos Formation, possibly Givetian) in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso were analyzed. The samples studied here exhibit the typical characteristics of Tropidoleptus, confirming that this genus also occurred in the Paraná Basin. It is possible that Tropidoleptus entered the Paraná Basin during the Eifelian/Givetian from the Amazonas and/or Parnaíba basins (Brazil), during a period of warm-water transgression. When Tropidoleptus is found in situ, it can serve as an indicator of a shallower water environment (shoreface to shallower portions of transitional offshore). In the Paraná Basin, its presence can indicate rocks no older than the Eifelian–Givetian transition.