A broad spectrum, total of 195 microfungal taxa, were isolated from various cave substrates (cave air, cave sediments, bat droppings and/or guano, earthworm casts, isopods and diplopods faeces, mammalian dung, cadavers, vermiculations, insect bodies, plant material, etc.) from the cave system of the Domica Cave (Slovak Karst National Park, Slovakia) using dilution, direct and gravity settling culture plate methods and several isolation media. Penicillium glandicola, Trichoderma polysporum, Oidiodendron cerealis, Mucor spp., Talaromyces flavus and species of the genus Doratomyces were isolated frequently during our study. Estimated microfungal species diversity was compared with literature records from the same substrates published in the past.

A Pleistocene new material of dormice (Genus Glis) is described.
Three morphological species are recognized on the basis of size and morphology of the teeth: Glis sackdillingensis Heller, 1930, Glis mihevci nov. sp., and Glis perkoi nov. sp. The two new species, larger than G. sackdillingensis, are morphologically less evolved than the present day Glis glis of Slovenia, which has larger teeth.

The Quaternary vertebrate fauna record of South America is characterized by the predominance of mammals, and the study of cave deposits can provide important information on their diversity and distribution. In Brazil, cave deposits have preserved remarkable fossil remains, including both large and small vertebrates, although the former have been the focus of most paleontological works. The fossils studied here came from Abismo Iguatemi, a karstic fissure located in the municipality of Apiaı´, upper Ribeira River valley, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. Blocks of sediment collected from its floor yielded a large sample of micro-remains, mainly composed of fragmentary small vertebrate specimens. Taphonomic parameters suggest that the fossil elements entered the cave either by entrapment or transported by rain runoff, as partially decayed carcasses or isolated elements. A total of 35 taxa were recorded in Abismo Iguatemi, four of which are extinct. The number of identified specimens per taxon (NISP index) is the best estimator of number of individuals at the burial site. The comparison of this fauna to that of other Quaternary deposits and to the present biodiversity of different areas reveals low similarity. The identification of fossil organisms with different ecological requirements (extinct savannah organisms and extant dense-forest organisms) suggests the existence of time averaging and may reflect environmental changes in the vicinity of the cave during the late Pleistocene and Holocene

Perpetual darkness, high humidity with almost constant geophysical factors are some of the abiotic factors which make the cave ecosystem unique. For any species a high degree of adaptation is always needed to thrive in such an ecosystem. Mammals in general have never adapted to cave life but they can play a major role in the cave ecosystem. Structurally, the Dandak cave has two distinct chambers that are completely different from each other in several geophysical factors. Thus both the cave chambers offer two distinct types of ecological niche. In the present study we found that both chambers of this cave were dominated by mammals all year round. Additionally, the group of mammals using the outer chamber completely differs from the group using the inner one. Possible geophysical factors responsible for such differences are discussed.

Understanding the diagenesis of speleothems is important on account of the fact that such deposits are often used for determining palaeoclimate parameters and for estimating the ages of speleothem growth. Impressive speleothem deposition of Vallesian age occurred in an immense palaeokarst network in the Western Desert, Egypt, the age of formation being determined on the basis of mammalian biochronology (fossils found in spelean clastic deposits intercalated between speleothems). Many of the Egyptian speleothems have been pervasively recrystallised internally, but their outer surfaces are usually well preserved except in the formations which were buried in clastic deposits, in which case the entire speleothem can be recrystallised. The recrystallisation results in large crystals (up to 20 cm diameter) growing radially outwards from the centre of stalagmites and stalactites, or at right angles to the outer surface of flowstone deposits. It is clear that crystal growth occurred without change of volume. Although the recrystallisation of speleothems in the Western Desert of Egypt resulted in the development of unusually large calcite crystals, it does indicate that diagenesis may be an important process that needs to be taken into account before speleothems in other karst systems can be used as raw material for unravelling palaeoclimatic and geochronological parameters. The gross morphology of the Egyptian speleothems is described in order to put on record the effects of diagenesis on them. The geochemistry of the speleothems remains to be studied.

The Cova des Pas de Vallgornera is the longest cave of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Western Mediterranean) and one of the 30 longest caves in the world. The exploration of one of the galleries allowed the discovery of a fossiliferous deposit of vertebrate remains in a remarkable preservation state. The fossil faunal complex found in this gallery is composed of up to 5 mammalian species (Myotragus aff. kopperi, Hypnomys onicensis, Nesiotites aff. ponsi, Rhinolophus aff. mehelyi and Pipistrellus sp.), at least 14 bird species (among them two Mallorcan endemic taxa: Pica mourerae and Athene vallgornerensis), one reptile (Podarcis aff. lilfordi) and one amphibian (Discoglossus sp.). This faunal composition is similar to the one recorded in the Pedrera de s’Ònix, a well known deposit from the Early Pleistocene of Mallorca, and shared morphological characteristics between taxa of both deposits suggest that the chronology of the Cova des Pas de Vallgornera should be considered Early Pleistocene as well. Both taxonomical analysis and chronology of this fauna furnished information on some speleological aspects of the cave.

The data set presented in this paper includes the fossil fauna collected in the cave named Cova des Pas de Vallgornera (CPV), located on the southern coast of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). It holds 1481 catalogued items, 97.5% identified at species level. Mammalia, Aves, Reptilia, and Amphibia are represented in the Database. The fauna collected in the cave includes the three endemic mammals present on Mallorca during the Early Pleistocene (Myotragus aff. kopperi, Hypnomys onicensis, and Nesiotites aff. ponsi). There are also represented two taxa of Chiroptera (Rhinolophus aff. mehelyi and Pipistrellus sp.), 16 taxa of birds (6 of them identified at species level), one Reptilian taxon (Podarcis sp.) and one Amphibian taxon (Discoglossus sp.). Most of fossils were collected during a single excavation campaign of 3 days (28-30th May, 2010). A few remains were obtained in two previous visits to the cave, in 2006 and 2009. All the specimens are curated and documented at the Vertebrate Collection of the IMEDEA [Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats (CSIC-UIB)]. The assemblage of CPV fossils is a part of the paleontological collection IMEDEA-PALEOVERT, included at the GBIF portal.