Abstract This contribution is an overview of the Early Jurassic dinoflagellate cysts of the Lusitanian Basin in Portugal, with particular emphasis on the effects of the Jenkyns Event (Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event) on the evolution of this planktonic group. We review and discuss data from 214 samples from six Lower Jurassic successions (upper Sinemurian to upper Toarcian) in the Lusitanian Basin. The late Pliensbachian radiation of dinoflagellate cysts was well recognized in this basin. The pre-Jenkyns Event interval is highly productive, with maximum abundance and species richness values. However, this palaeoenvironmental perturbation severely affected the evolution of this group for the remainder of the Early Jurassic. The prolonged recovery of the dinoflagellates in the Toarcian following the Jenkyns Event is not typical of the northern regions (Arctic and Boreal realms), where new species began to evolve earlier compared with southern European basins.

Abstract: Establishing a Permian brachiopod biochronological scheme for global correlation is difficult because of strong provincialism during the Permian. In this paper, a brief overview of brachiopod successions in five major palaeobiogeographical realms/zones is provided. For Gondwanaland and peri-Gondwanan regions including Cimmerian blocks, Bandoproductus and Punctocyrtella (or Cyrtella ) are characteristic of the lower Cisuralian, as is Cimmeriella for the middle Cisuralian. As the Cimmerian blocks continued drifting north during the late Kungurian, accompanied by climate amelioration, contemporaneous brachiopods inhabiting these blocks showed a distinct shift from cold-water to mixed or warm-water affinities. However, coeval brachiopods in the Northern Transitional Zone (NTZ) are characterized by warm-water faunas and are associated with fusulinids in the lower Cisuralian. The Guadalupian brachiopods of the NTZ were clearly mixed between the Boreal and palaeoequatorial affinities. The end-Guadalupian is marked by the disappearance of a few characteristic genera, such as Vediproductus , Neoplicatifera and Urushtenoidea , in the Palaeotethyan region. The onset of the end-Permian mass extinction in the latest Changhsingian is clearly exhibited by the occurrence of the dwarfed and thin-shelled brachiopods commonly containing Paracrurithyris .