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Stromatolites just after the end-Permian extinction are exceptionally well developed in the Chongyang area of Hubei Province, South China. The stromatolites include endolithic coccoidal microbes and exhibit three growth forms: columnar-layered, pseudo-columnar, and columnar, each located in different stratigraphic horizons. The columnar type is the most conspicuous and provides key information on the mode of their construction. In this paper, we describe the mega- to microscopic features of these stromatolites together with interpretations of their construction. The columnar type typically comprises alternations of lighter and darker laminae with intercalations of dense micritic laminae. The lighter laminae are composed of fine to coarse calcite cement and fine dolomite, whereas the darker laminae are composed of micrite and microspar. Endolithic coccoids are sporadic in these laminae. In contrast, the dense micritic laminae consist of micrite with abundant endolithic coccoids, accentuating the laminae of stromatolites. The columnar stromatolites were formed under deteriorating conditions after the end-Permian mass extinction as follows: (1) the alternating development of lighter and darker laminae due to the colonization of different microbial communities in lower-energy, shallow- to deep-subtidal settings; (2) carbonate precipitation within each microbial community through microbial metabolic activity and degradation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), leading to the alternations of lighter and darker laminae; (3) episodic interruption of the growth of the lighter and darker laminae by endolithic coccoidal activity; and (4) high levels of endolithic activity, accompanied by the precipitation of carbonate within boreholes to produce the dense micritic laminae. In contrast, the columnar-layered and pseudo-columnar types comprise alternations of lighter and darker laminae, composed mainly of fine to coarse calcite cement, fine dolomite, micrite, peloids, and microspar with sporadic endolithic coccoids. The dense micritic laminae are absent or rare in these stromatolites. These types were essentially produced by the repetition of processes (1) and (2) documented in the columnar type. The finely alternating laminae of these stromatolites are therefore the product of the repeated initiation and cessation of growth of relevant microbial communities in response to changing environmental conditions. The stromatolites were formed immediately after the end-Permian extinction and persisted intermittently throughout the Early Triassic. The Chongyang stromatolites are undoubtedly some of the best-developed stromatolites near the Permian–Triassic boundary and retain a high-resolution record of microbial successions and palaeo-oceanic perturbations immediately following the end-Permian extinction.

Five sections, namely the Shipao section of Xilin, the Wuzhuan section of Donglan, the Shanglao section of Napo, the Lingma section of Wuming and the Longtang section of Pingxiang, of the Permian-Triassic sequence were microbiostratigraphically examined in the western Guangxi, China. These sections are composed mainly of shallow marine sediments in the Jiangnan Terrane which are almost the same lithofacies as those on the Yangzi Platform....

The Lower Carboniferous (Visean) succession of the Um Bogma Formation at Gabal Nukhul, west-central Sinai is subdivided into lower, middle and upper members. Integrating field observations and microfacies analysis led to the recognition of six microfacies as follows: wackestone/packstone, packstone/grainstone, grainstone, bafflestone, calcareous quartz arenite and paleokarst breccia....

Three sections of chert-clastics sequence in the Qinfang Terrane, Guangxi, South China were lithostratigraphically and biostratigraphically examined. Nine radiolarian zones of Early to Late Permian age were distinguished in the chert sequences. These radiolarian zones are correlated with those defined in the Permian chert sequences of Southwest Japan....

Late Permian (Wujiapingian - early Changxingian) radiolarians were detected from the Chituao section, Laibin, Guangxi, China. The radiolarian assemblages have several species similar to those from Southwest Japan....

This paper mainly concerns the systematic palaeontology of some Middle to Upper Permian corals from the Abadeh and Julfa regions, Iran. The fauna consists of 35 species of 15 genera belonging to eight families. Two different kinds of faunas are clearly distinguished. One is from the Middle Permian and is characterised by such typically Tethyan elements as waagenophyllids and by several species of Ufimia and micheliniids. It is followed by an Upper Permian fauna, terminal phylogenetic representatives of the Rugosa, composed mostly of solitary corals (Pentaphyllum). The Permian fauna corresponds well to that of the Transcaucasus, USSR, reported by Iljina (1962, 1965a). Many of the Middle Permian corals are known from South China, whereas Upper Permian corals indicate high endemism. Each species of Pentaphyllum shows a wide range of morphological variation, phylogenetically irrespective of Scleractinia. Inter- and intraspecific variability as well as ontogenetic changes are especially documented to clarify the distinctness of each species.

Corals belonging to genera Michelinia, Waagenophyllum, Ipciphylum, Aridophyllum, Wentzelloides and Yatsengia are described from Kampong Awah Quarry, Pahang. A Yatsengia is described from Bukit Biwah, Trengganu. The former occurrence denotes Yabeina Zone, while the latter Neoschwagerina Zone. All corals indicate Tethyan elements.

Four species of rugose corals including two new species, Pilophiyllum keimorii and Phaulactis variabilis are described from the upper Ludlovian Öved-Ramsåsa Group of Scania, southern Sweden. An attempt is made at re-classifying and synonymizing genera belonging to the Streptelasmatidae, Lykophyllidae and Kyphophyllidae.