Analysis of the evolution, distribution and ecology of marine prosobranchs of the genera Neptunea and Z4ttor/na and amphipods of the genera Anlsogammarus and Gararnarus demonstrates the possibilities of ecological and palaeoecologioal methods in composing evolutionary reconstructions. A comparative study of historical climate ch~n~ and of palaeogeography in areas inhabir by certain taxonomic groups, coupled with information on the distribution and ecology of species belonging to these groups, allows us to determine the time and locality of the origin of diverse bio-~hraphical groups of species and to trace the routes of their er distribution, even in those organisms which have no fossil remains. Species dwelling under conditions which correspond historically to the most ancient climate of their dwelling area prove to be more primitive f,h~n species dwelling under newly-formed climatic oonditSons. For instance, subtropical species of the genera under consideration, in the Northwestern parts of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, have proved to be more ancient and primitive than species inhabiting the upper boreal Pacific and Atlantic waters and the Arotic Ocean. Therefore, the palaeoocological analysis of the historical development of faunas from different regions of the globe, combined with the application of the morphological principle, can significantly contr~ute to a more detailed and precise under-sf~mding of the processes and/xends of evolu~on which compose the phylogenetio schemes of the taxonomic groups under dJscnssion.