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Early and Middle Devonian gastropods show biogeographic patterns remarkably similar to those of better studied faunal groups of this same interval, notably articulate brachiopods, rugose corals, and trilobites. Three biogeographic realms are recognized: Old World, Eastern Americas, and Malvinokaffric Realms. Gastropod diversity is highest in the Old World Realm and lowest in the Malvinokaffric Realm. The diversity patterns and the high degree of shell ornamentation suggest that the Old World Realm was generally warmer than the Eastern Americas Realm, and that both were considerably warmer than the cool temperate to cold polar waters of the Malvinokaffric Realm. The utility of gastropods for fine-scale delineation of biogeographic units is illustrated for the Eifelian of western North America. At least two subprovincial units (the Alaska-Yukon and Nevada subprovinces) can be recognized. Eifelian gastropods from interior and southeastern Alaska belong to a single unit (the Alaska-Yukon Subprovince), and are most closely related to coeval faunas of northwestern Canada, suggesting little displacement of most of Alaska's so-called 'suspect' terranes. Plotting the data on the Devonian palaeogeographic maps of Scotese results in several suggested emendations: (1) North America should be moved south by 10-20°; (2) Australia is too far south on the Emsian and Givetian reconstructions, it should be in a more palaeotropical position; and (3) Siberia is too far north, it too should also be placed in a palaeotropical position.

Delnortea is a monotypic genus (type‐species: D. abbottiae) of Lower Permian gymnosperms based on leaves from uppermost Leonardian deltaic sediments exposed in the Del Norte Mountains, West Texas. The leaves are simple, symmetrical, mostly oblong or elliptical, and vary in length from 1.2 to about 35 cm. The petioles are short and stout, with a basally enlarged abscission zone. The margins are crenate, with a narrow, indurated border. Venation is in 4 orders: the secondaries and tertiaries are robust, unbranched, and pinnately arranged in a precise “herringbone” pattern, with the secondaries ending in the marginal sinuses; the quaternaries divide sparingly and fuse with others to form a dense reticulum of small meshes. Permineralized petiole and midrib material reflects a bifacial cambium, shown by a semicircular vascular arc, irregularly divided into several collateral bundles with secondary xylem and phloem. Delnortea is referable to the Gigantopteridaceae, a probably artificial family of gymnosperms incertae sedis with important venation features in common, but without known diagnostic reproductive organs. With Delnortea, the North American gigantopterids now include 5 genera, but Gigantopteris itself is lacking. Delnortea holds a relatively advanced evolutionary position among the American gigantopterids; its leaf morphology and gymnospermous anatomy entail intriguing points of comparison with Gnetum. The limited geographic and stratigraphic ranges and morphological distinctiveness of the American gigantopterids and associated taxa attest to rapid evolution and dispersal from a small area of origin in the southwestern United States during Leonardian time.