“…Given that many species and genera of ostracods occur in the same abyssal and bathyal environments in more than one ocean basin (Whatley & Ayress 1988;Coles et al 1990), they should potentially be of value in correlating oceanic deposits between such basins, provided that they evolved rapidly enough and were also distributed rapidly enough from one basin to another as to appear as though this happened 'synchronously' in the geological record. Benson (1975Benson ( , 1979, Benson & Peypouquet (1983), Whatley (1985), Whatley et al (1983), Whatley & Coles (1987, 1991, and a number of unpublished doctoral theses completed at Aberystwyth (Downing, 1985;Millson, 1988;Ayress, 1988;) have all shown in various ways that elements of the deep-sea Cenozoic ostracod fauna have at times evolved very rapidly.…”