During drilling of Leg 160 in the Eastern Mediterranean (April−May, 1995), Messinian (i.e., uppermost Miocene) facies were identified at a site at the base of the Cyprus slope (Site 968) and at two sites on the Eratosthenes Seamount (Sites 965 and 967). The new results can be compared with the recovery of Messinian evaporites from the Florence Rise west of Cyprus (Deep Sea Drilling Project Site...

A new genus and species of primitive cicada (Hemiptera: Tettigarctidae) is described from the early Miocene of southern New Zealand. Paratettigarctazealandica gen. et sp. n. is the first cicada (Cicadoidea) fossil from New Zealand and exhibits wing venation patterns typical for the subfamily Tettigarctinae. It differs from other fossil taxa and the extant genus Tettigarcta in the early divergen...

Integration of data from fully cored stratigraphic holes with an extensive grid of seismic reflection lines in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, has allowed the formulation of a new model for the evolution of the Cenozoic Victoria Land Basin of the West Antarctic Rift. The Early Rift phase (Eocene to Early Oligocene) is recorded by wedges of strata confined by early extensional faults, and which conta...

Modern cricetids originated in Asia and dispersed into Western Europe by the end of early Miocene, where they quickly became major components rodent faunas. Here we review Miocene record genera Democricetodon Fahlbusch, 1964 Megacricetodon Vallès-Penedès Basin (Catalonia, Spain). is represented four species studied sites (D. hispanicus Freudenthal, 1967, D. cf. decipiens (Freudenthal & Daam...

Trusler, P.W. and Sharp, A.C. 2016. Description of new cranial material of Propalorchestes (Marsupialia: Palorchestidae) from the Middle Miocene Camfield Beds, Northern Territory, Australia. Memoirs of Museum Victoria 74: 291–324. Additional material referable to Propalorchestes novaculacephalus from the middle Miocene Camfield Beds is described. A cranium prepared in 1999-2000 from material co...

Phylogenetic relationships among salamandrids of the "true" salamander clade are investigated using 2019 aligned base positions (713 parsimony informative) of 20 mitochondrial DNA sequences from the genes encoding ND1 (subunit one of NADH dehydrogenase), tRNA(Ile), tRNA(Gln), tRNA(Met), ND2, tRNA(Trp), tRNA(Ala), tRNA(Asn), tRNA(Cys), tRNA(Tyr), and COI (subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase), plus...

Rapid organismal radiations occurring on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and the mechanisms underlying Asia-Africa intercontinental disjunctions have both attracted much attention from evolutionary biologists. Here we use the genus Isodon (Lamiaceae), a primarily East Asian lineage with disjunct species in central and southern Africa, as a case study to shed light upon these processes. The mo...

The first known fossil ape from the early-middle Miocene of Fejej, Ethiopia, is described here. The specimen, FJ-18SB-68, is a partial ulna from a locality dated by 40Ar/39Ar and paleomagnetic methods to a minimum age of 16.18 MYA. Compared to a variety of extant and fossil ulnae, FJ-18SB-68 is most similar to Turkanapithecus, Proconsul, and Pliopithecus, and appears to have been an arboreal qu...

In the context of molecularly-dated phylogenies, inferences informed by ancestral habitat reconstruction can yield valuable insights into the origins of biomes, palaeoenvironments and landforms. In this paper, we use dated phylogenies of 12 plant clades from the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) in southern Africa to test hypotheses of Neogene climatic and geomorphic evolution. Our combined dataset f...

The Lower Miocene deposits in Gabal Gharra, Cairo – Suez District, unconformably overlies the Oligocene and Eocene deposits. They consist predominantly of regressive and transgressive mixed siliciclastic / carbonate sediments of shallow marine environments. The Lower Miocene deposits are represented lithostratigraphically by the Gharra Formation that comprises four members, from base to top: Ag...