GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA, APRIL 2022, 73, 2, 159–171 https://doi.org/10.31577/GeolCarp.73.2.4 www.geologicacarpathica.com A review of Procházka’s otoliths from Lower Badenian deposits from Moravia, Czech Republic (Langhian, Middle Miocene), primarily from Borač WERNER SCHWARZHANS Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 København, Denmark, and Ahrensburger Weg 103, 22359 Hamburg, Germany;  wwschwarz@aol.com (Manuscript received December 29, 2021; accepted in revised form March 14, 2022; Associate Editor: Tomáš Přikryl) Abstract: A historic collection of fossil otoliths from V. J. Procházka from the lower Badenian of Moravia, Czech Republic, was recently recovered at the Moravian Museum in Brno. Likely with the intent to publish, Procházka labeled the specimens with original identifications; unfortunately, however, publication never occurred. Procházka’s type-material of his earlier publications, notably that from 1893, remains unrecovered and must be considered lost. Several of the species he described in 1893 are problematic because of his less-than-optimal descriptions and documentation. However, with this newly recovered material containing his original identifications, it is now possible to select a neotype for one of those problematic species, Otolithus (Berycidarum) kokeni = Diaphus kokeni, as well as resolve another: Otolithus (Bery- cidarum) splendidus. Most of the recovered otoliths originated from the deep-water environment of Borač. Although the locality has been well-studied for otoliths, the recovered collection of Procházka has yielded seven species not previously recorded from the Badenian of the Central Paratethys. One species is described as new: Nezumia prikryli n. sp. Keywords: otoliths, Czech Republic, Macrouridae, Ophidiidae, Myctophidae, deep water. Introduction Vladimír Josef Procházka was among the first paleontologists to describe fossil otoliths after the original establishment of otolith taxonomy by Ernst Koken (1884). He described otoliths from the lower Badenian of the Czech Republic in the years 1893, 1894, and 1900, and established a series of new species that have subsequently been widely cited. Unfortunately, his type-material of those publications must now be considered lost (personal communication with Brzobohatý in 2019; see also Schwarzhans et al. 2020). Furthermore, several of the species described by V. J. Procházka are poorly defined and not well documented in his publications; therefore, they have been controversially interpreted in subsequent studies (e.g., Nolf 2013 and Schwarzhans et al. 2020). Recently, Brzobohatý discovered a number of otoliths in the Moravian Museum in Brno that were collected by Procházka and bear his original identifications. Though they were likely meant for publication, that never occurred. Most of the oto- liths were obtained from Borač, north of Brno, in clays and silt deposits in an isolated relic of the Carpathian Foredeep (Brzobohatý & Nolf 2018). The otolith association contains an abundance and high diversity of otoliths of mesopelagic Myctophidae and benthopelagic Macrouridae and Ophidiifor- mes, indicating that the sediments were deposited in a deep- water environment (Brzobohatý & Nolf 2018). These authors came to the conclusion based on a revision of the Badenian fish otoliths from the Carpathian Foredeep in Moravia, which also included newly collected material from Borač. Seventeen species have been identified from the historic collection of Procházka, 16 of which occur in Borač. Although much smaller in size, Procházka’s collection is of interest because his original assignments offer clarification to the status of a number of his problematic species, as well as contain faunal elements that hadn’t been previously recorded by Brzobohatý & Nolf (2018). Schwarzhans et al. (2020) recently reviewed gobiid otoliths that also contained specimens from Procházka’s historic collection. Materials and methods The specimens studied for this review are all from Procházka’s historic collection and are housed at the Moravian Museum in Brno (MZM Ge). The specimens stem primarily from Borač, but a few specimens stem from other localities, including Býkovice, Jabloňany, Kienberg near Mikulov, Lomnice, Tišnov, Uhřice, and Železné, all of which are in the Czech Republic (Table 1). All otoliths were studied with a reflected-light microscope. Photographs were captured using a Canon EOS mounted on the phototube of a Wild M400 photomacroscope. The photo- graphs were taken at regular field-of-depth levels for each view with the camera being remotely controlled from a com- puter. The individual photographs of each view were stacked using Helicon Soft’s Helicon Focus software. The conti- nuously focused pictures were digitally processed with Adobe Photoshop to enhance contrast, balance exposition, or retouch