A skull of a fossil deer dredged from the sea-floor of the East China Sea off Ushibuka City, Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Kyushu, Japan is identified by the size and shape of its pedicles as the red deer Cervus elaphus, presently living on the Eurasian and North American continents. This is the first well-documented fossil record of red deer from Japan, although less reliable and doubtful fossil occurrences of the species have previously been reported from the Pleistocene of central Japan. A ¹⁴C date of 19, 780±190 yr BP was obtained for collagen fractions extracted from the fossil skull of C.elaphus using a Tandetron accelerator mass spectrometer. The geologic age of the fossil agrees with the accepted ¹⁴C age of the Last Glacial maximum. The present finding of the fossil red deer strongly indicates that during the Last Glacial maximum the Asian continent and Kyushu were connected by a land bridge in the northern part of East China Sea.

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The Shimosato Formation comprises the lower part of the Kumano Group of the southeastern Kii Peninsula, southwestern Honshu. It yields such mollusks as Saccella miensis (Araki), Cyclocardia siogamensis (Nomura), Macoma (Macoma) izurensis (Yokoyama), Cultellus izumoensis Yokoyama, Dosinia (Phacosoma) nomurai (Otuka), Periploma (Aelga) mitsuganoense Araki, Thracia watanabei ltoigawa and Shibata, Turritella (Hataiella) sagai Kotaka, and Fulgoraria (Musashia) yanagidaniensis Araki. The Periploma-Saccella-Cyclocardia and Turritella-Dosinia assemblages of the Shimosato Formation are inferred to represent lower sublittoral to bathyal and sublittoral environments, respectively. The fauna of the Shimosato Formation is comparable with the subtropical Akeyo Fauna of late Early Miocene age, based on the occurrence of diagnostic species such as Dosinia (Phacosoma) kawagensis Araki, Thracia watanabei ltoigawa and Shibata, Turritella sagai, and Fulgoraria yanagidaniensis. The assemblages of the middle part of the Shikiya Formation and the lower part of the Mitsuno Formation are comparable with those of the tropical Kurosedani (subtropical Kadonosawa) Fauna of latest Early to earliest Middle Miocene age.

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Nemestheria aidaensis sp. nov. represents the first appearance in Japan of this genus, which is considered as the leading form of conchostracan fossils in nonmarine Cenomanian deposits and has a wide distribution. This new species is very similar to Nemestheria lineata Chang and Chen and Nemestheria robusta Zhang and Chen collected from the Qingshankou Formation of NE China. The results of both palaeontological researching and Fission-Track dating have shown that the Tsurukame Upper Formation of the Aioi Group might be Cenomanian in age.

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One hundred and forty-nine ostracode species are identified among 42 samples from the lower to middle part of the Middle Miocene Kobana Formation, Arakawa Group, distributed in Tochigi Prefecture, Central Japan. Dominant throughout the formation are such species living around Japan as Schizocythere kishinouyei (Kajiyama), Paracytheridea neolongicaudata Ishizaki, Cornucoquimba moniwensis (Ishizaki), Cornucoquimba saitoi (Ishizaki) and Cythere omotenipponica Hanai. Tropical to warm-temperate species living off Southwest Japan are abundant, but circumpolar and cryophilic species are also present (less than 10%) in most samples. Q-mode cluster and principal components analyses disclose the following sequence of ostracode faunas : 1) The lowest part is dominated by nearshore and subtropical species and contains about 5-13% of circumpolar and cryophilic species; 2) The lower middle part is dominated by lower sublittoral to upper bathyal muddy dwellers, suggesting a rapid increase of water depth. The horizon characterized by the increase of deep cool-water species is recognized; 3) The middle to upper part, characterized by lower to middle sublittoral subtropical to warm-temperate water species mixed with intertidal to upper sublittoral ones; 4) The upper part containing many Laperousecythere species, suggesting a cooler climate. Analyses of ostracode faunas indicate that after the mid-Neogene climatic optimum, benthic environments underwent fluctuations of water temperatures, with no rapid decrease, in the Karasuyama area.

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A predominantly microvertebrate assemblage from the Tetori Group (Lower Cretaceous) of central Honshu is described. The fauna consists of many hundreds of vertebrate fossils which represent a diverse terrestrial/non-marine fauna. Taxa present include fish, reptiles, amphibians and birds. The preservation of the fossils is generally good, although there are few articulated and associated remains.

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A new large tillodont, represented by a fragmentary right mandible with M/2-3, was found in the upper part of the Akasaki Formation, the early Middle Eocene of Japan. It is the first record of the order Tillodontia in Japan, and is described as a new genus and species, Higotherium hypsodon, of the subfamily Trogosinae. It resembles the North American forms Trogosus and Tillodon in size; however it apparently differs from those and Kuanchuanius from China in having more hypsodont molars with well developed cusps. In detailed comparison with other trogosine molars, this new tillodont is one of the most derived taxa of the order, and morphologically situated in between the above three genera and the genus Chungchienia known from China, which was recently reassigned to the order. Morphological differences among these genera, including Higotherium hypsodon, indicate that the new taxon shows a closer relationship with Chungchienia than with North American genera, and that the rapid evolutionary diversification of the Trogosinae occurred before and during the Middle Eocene.

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Paleontological evidence indicates that crinoids (sea lilies : Echinodermata) were a major constituent of Paleozoic and Mesozoic shallow-marine communities (Meyer and Macurda, 1977; Cain, 1968). In the fossil record crinoid stalks usually occur in much greater abundance than other body parts such as arms and calyces. This difference has been attributed to selective preservation, the result of post-mortem process of fossilization or taphonomy (Baumiller and Ausich, 1992; Moore and Jeffords, 1968). Our observation of living crinoids in aquaria demonstrates that stalk fragments detached and isolated from a living crinoid survive more than one year, whereas other body parts tend to disarticulate rapidly. Such long survival of stalk fragments of crinoids firstly explains the dominance of crinoid stalks over other body parts in the fossil record, and secondly, and more importantly, it strongly suggests that such detached fossil stalks, as well as stalk pieces observed on today's sea floor, continued living for a long time, and were not dead body parts as previously considered.

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