A low‐diversity graptolite fauna from the upper part of the Eusebio Ayala Formation exposed in the intracratonic Paraná Basin of eastern Paraguay is reported herein. The sections studied are composed dominantly of red micaceous mudstones with intercalations of purple sandstones from a series of clay quarries (Santa Elena; Galeano; Western Itauguá) around Itauguá city. The graptolites Metaclimacograptus sp., Normalograptus cf. ajjeri (Legrand), and Normalograptus cf. medius (Törnquist) indicate an early Llandovery age for the upper Eusebio Ayala unit. Compared to coeval, postglacial successions in southwestern Gondwana, the graptolites studied have their closest affinities with those from the Rhuddanian lower Lipeón (Subandean Ranges, northwestern Argentina) and La Chilca (Precordillera) formations. In addition, a trilobite assemblage dominated by the genus Mucronaspis was collected from the Eusebio Ayala Formation type locality near Eusebio Ayala city. The latter represents an isolated small outcrop which seems to be latest Ordovician (Hirnantian) in age. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ascocerid cephalopods are described for the first time from high paleolatitudes of Gondwana. Studied material was collected from the Hirnantian?–Llandovery strata of the Eusebio Ayala and Vargas Peña formations, Paraná Basin, southeastern Paraguay. The specimens are poorly preserved and were questionably assigned to the subfamily Probillingsitinae Flower, 1941, being undetermined at genus and species rank because diagnostic characters are not visible. A particular feature seen in our material is the presence of both parts of the ascocerid conch (the juvenile or cyrtocone and the mature or brevicone) joined together, which is a very rare condition in the known paleontological record. The specimens are interpreted as at a subadult stage of development because fully grown ascocerids would have lost the juvenile shell. A planktonic vertical migrant mode of life with a subvertical attitude is proposed for the juvenile, and a horizontal demersal nektonic mode for the adult form, as has been previously suggested. A subvertical orientation near the bottom is proposed for the subadult stage. We suggest that the immigration of ascocerids to southwestern Gondwana was possible through ocean currents that would carry the planktonic juveniles from low to high latitudes during the end-Ordovician postglacial transgression that flooded the intracratonic basins of the region.