A systematic study on the evolution and stratigraphic distribution of the species of <i>Catinaster</i> from several DSDP/ODP sites with magnetostratigraphic records is presented. The evolution of <i>Catinaster</i> from <i>Discoaster</i> is established by documentation of a transitional nannofossil species, <i>Discoaster transitus.</i> Two new subspecies, <i>Catinaster coalitus extensus</i> and <i>Catinaster calyculus rectus</i> are defined which appear to be intermediates in the evolution of <i>Catinaster coalitus coalitus</i> to <i>Catinaster calyculus calyculus.</i> The first occurrence of <i>C. coalitus</i> is shown to be in the lower part of C5n.2n at 10.7–10.9 Ma in the low to mid–latitude Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The last occurrence of <i>C. coalitus coalitus</i> varies from the upper part of C5n.2n to the lower portion of C4A. Magnetobiostratigraphic evidence suggests that the FO of <i>C. calyculus rectus</i> is diachronous. <i>Catinaster mexicanus</i> occurs in the late Miocene and has been found only in the eastern equatorial Pacific, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.