The Middle to Upper Carboniferous Akiyoshi Limestone Group is widely distributed in the Mt. Maruyama area, Mine City, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Limestones in this area are variable in their organic compositions, such as rugose corals, ammonoids, phylloid algae, brachiopods and fusulinids.

Lithologic facies and sedimentary features indicate a paleoenvironment of the reef flat or by-pass margin between the fore reef part of the Akiyoshi organic reef complex and open sea.

Locality MA66 is abundant in fusulinid species of primitive type- "Triticites". Four species, including three new ones can be discriminated as follows: Protriticites yanagidai Y. Ota, sp. nov., Protriticites masamichii Y. Ota, sp. nov., Protriticites toriyamai Y. Ota, sp. nov., and Protriticites aff. matsumotoi (Kanmera).

The Nishiichi Formation in the Nishiichi district, which has been generally assigned to the Oligocene in age, yields in its Middle Member the marine molluscan fauna characterized by Cyclina hwabongriensis, Vicaryella notoensis, V. bacula etc. and the palyno-flora correlated to the Neogene palyno-floral zones, NP-1 and NP-2, in the northeastern Japan region. This, together with a comparative consideration of their occurrences in the Miocene strata in central Japan and southeastern Korea, leads to the conclusion that the member is the late Early Miocene in age (around 17 to 18.5 Ma). The Middle Member includes shallow marine deposits as well as fluvial and lacustrine ones, whereas the Lower and the Upper Members exclusively comprise fluvial braided-river deposits. Our paleocurrent measurement reveals that the stream system went down into some marine bay, a branch of the Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Nishiichi district. A westward transgression must have caused the shallow marine deposition of the Middle Member associated with the reported marine molluscan fauna. A northward paleocurrent measured in the Upper Member could have resulted from a change of the stream system in its depositional time accompanied by a significant change of paleogeographic condition from late Early Miocene to early Middle Miocene time.

Minohellenus macrocheilus sp. nov. (Portunidae, Decapoda, Crustacea) is described from the Upper Oligocene Ashiya Group of Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu. The genus Minohellenus Karasawa, 1990 is transferred from the subfamily Portuninae Rafinesque, 1815 to the Polybiinae Ortmann, 1893.

Redescriptions are given at species- and subspecies levels for the hecabe groups (5 species) in the subgenus Terias. Each a new subspecies of simulatrix and blanda is described from Babi Is. off the south-eastern coast of Simeulue (Mentawai Archipelago) and from Palau Is., respectively. The following aspects of each recognized species and subspecies are presented: current combination, synonymy, diagnosis, external features, male and female genitalia, variation (seasonal and geographical), type material examined, material studied, taxonomic remarks, relationship, distribution, habitat, habits, early stages; adults of every recognized taxon, and male and female genitalia of every species are illustrated.

The Wakino Subgroup in the Kwanmon Group at Kitakyushu City in the northern part of Kyushu, Japan, has a rich yield of freshwater fish fossils. Twenty-one species, 8 genera and 6 families are described in the present study, among them, 15 species are described as new, plus 4 new genera Nipponamia, Aokiichthys, Wakinoichthys and Paraleptolepis; and 2 new families, Chuhsiungichthiidae and Wakinoichthiidae, are established. Three different paleoichthyofaunas are recognized in the Wakino Subgroup. The Nipponamia-Aokiichthys, the Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys and Diplomystus-Wakinoichthys faunas are proposed to designate them. The name Wakino fish fauna is proposed for the entire ichthyofauna of the Wakino Subgroup. It is composed of the primitive halecostome orders Semionotiformes and Amiiformes, and the primitive teleostean orders lchthyodectiformes, Osteoglossiformes and Clupeiformes. In numbers of species and individuals, osteoglossiform and clupeiform fishes are most abundant. This fish fauna is the only freshwater one known from the Mesozoic of Japan.

The Nipponamia-Aokiichthys fauna is found in the First Formation (W₁). This fauna consists of Lepidotes macropterus sp. nov. of the order Semionotiformes, Nipponamia satoi gen. et sp. nov. of the Amiiformes, Chuhsiungichthys yanagidai sp. nov. of the lchthyodectiformes, and Aokiichthys toriyamai gen. et sp. nov., A. changae gen. et sp. nov., A. otai gen. et sp. nov. and A. uyenoi gen. et sp. nov., A. praedorsalis gen. et sp. nov., and A. sp. of the Osteoglossiformes. Among these, the order Osteoglossiformes are the most abundant in numbers of species and individuals. The Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys fauna is found in the Third Formation (W₃). This fauna is composed of Paraleptolepis kikuchii gen. et sp. nov. and P. elegans gen. et sp. nov. of the order and family incertae sedis, Chuhsiungichthys sp. of the lchthyodectiformes, and Wakinoichthys aokii gen. et sp. nov. and W. robustus gen. et sp. nov. of the Osteoglossiformes. Fishes of the genera Paraleptolepis and Wakinoichthys are the most abundant. The Diplomystus-Wakinoichthys fauna is found in the Fourth Formation (W₄), and composed of Chuhsiungichthys japonicus sp. nov. of the order lchthyodectiformes, Yungkangichthys macrodon sp. nov. and Wakinoichthys aokii gen. et sp. nov. of the Osteoglossiformes, and Diplomystus primotinus, D. kokuraensis, D. altisomus sp. nov. and D. sp. of the Clupeiformes, with the genus Diplomystus being most abundant. No fish fossils have been found in the Second Formation (W₂).

Among the Wakino fish faunas, the Nipponamia-Aokiichthys fauna is closest to the Mesoclupea assemblage from southeastern China. Four families: Semionotidae, Amiidae, Chuhsiungichthiidae and Lycopteridae; and one genus, Lepidotes, are common in both faunas. The Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys and Diplomystus-Wakinoichthys faunas are considered to be endemic. In comparison with the Cretaceous freshwater fish faunas of the world, the Wakino fish fauna is characterized by the abundance of the Osteoglossiformes and Clupeiformes.

It is considered that the Nipponamia-Aokiichthys fauna became extinct by the end of the First Formation (W₁) or the beginning of the Second Formation (W₂). On the basis of this study, it is hypothesized that the clupeid fishes of the Fourth Formation entered the Kowakino-ko Lake from sea at the beginning of this period, and took its place as the most abundant fish, Paraleptolepis, of the Paraleptolepis-Wakinoichthys fauna.

Scale-like leaves and occasional club-shaped appendages collected from the Middle Jurassic Haifanggou Formation, western Liaoning, Northeast China were described. They were formerly considered by K. Pan to be dicots. But in this study we could not find the fact that they could be regarded as dicots. We are of the opinion that they would correspond to the scale leaves of a certain cycadophyte, but it is difficult to ascertain whether they are bennettitalean (e.g. Cycadolepis) or cycadalean (e.g. Deltolepis), because of the lack of their preserved cuticles. Under the circumstances, we propose a non-committal genus Pankuangia and describe P. haifanggouensis sp. nov. to accommodate the present specimens.