Panicum sensu stricto is a genus of grasses (Poaceae) with nearly, according to this study, 163 species distributed worldwide. This genus is included in the subtribe Panicinae together with Louisiella, the latter with 2 species. Panicum and subtribe Panicinae are characterized by including annual or perennial taxa with open and lax panicles, and spikelets with the lower glume reduced; all taxa ...

Mantis shrimps (Crustacea: Stomatopoda) are rather rare in the fossil record. Nineteen species have been assigned to Squillidae, of which 12 species have been recorded from the Miocene. We describe herein a squillid, Squilla taulinanus n. sp., from the Miocene of Taulignan, south-eastern France. The exceptionally well-preserved specimen is remarkable in apparently having abdominal somites 5–6 c...

The present study deals with heavy mineral analysis of late Early Miocene marine sediments recovered in the McMurdo Sound region (Ross Sea, Antarctica) during the ANDRILL— SMS Project in 2007. The main objective is to investigate how heavy mineral assemblages reflect different source rocks and hence different provenance areas. These data contribute to a better understanding of East Antarctica i...

Background: We developed a method to estimate precipitation using mammalian ecomorphology, specifically the relative height of the molars of herbivores (see companion paper, this issue). Question: If we apply the new method to paleoenvironments, do the results agree with previous results from fossil mammals and paleobotanical proxies? Data: Large herbivorous fossil mammals of Eurasia. Data from...

A new taxon of stem otariid, Eotaria citrica sp. nov., is described from the upper Burdigalian to lower Langhian "Topanga" formation of Orange County, California. The new species is described from mandibular and dental remains that show a unique combination of plesiomorphic and derived characters. Specifically, it is characterized by having trenchant and prominent paraconid cusps in p3-m1, ling...

Arenas Blancas is a poorly known fossiliferous site located in the lower reach of Chasicó creek (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina), with great relevance from biostratigraphic viewpoint. The Macrochorobates scalabrinii Biozone was defined this site, proposed as basis early Huayquerian Stage/Age (Late Miocene); however, geological context and faunal record have never been studied detail. In work,...

Zircon and monazite from three restitic enclaves and one host dacite have been dated by ion microprobe (SHRIMP), with the aim of characterising their Miocene history and defining the timing relationships between crustal melting and eruption in the high-K calc-alkaline volcanics of the Neogene Volcanic Province of SE Spain. The studied samples are from the volcanic edifices of El Joyazo (Cerro d...

Fieldwork in the Yuanmou Basin of southern China has uncovered a large assemblage of late Miocene hominoid fossils assigned to Lufengpithecus hudienensis. Two mandibular first molars from this species were made available for histological analysis as part of a larger ongoing study on the ontogeny of dental development in Miocene to Recent hominoids. Results are compared with published and unpubl...

Specialized predators on polychaetes, fishes, hemichordates or other molluscs, members of the predominantly tropical gastropod genus Conus diversified rapidly during the Miocene to constitute the most species-rich modern marine genus. We used DNA sequence data from mitochondrial and nuclear loci of 76 Conus species to generate species-level phylogenetic hypotheses for this genus and then mapped...

Nakali is an early Late Miocene fossil locality in north-central Kenya, where the Kenya– Japan Joint Expedition team has carried out fieldwork since 2002. Previously, a large hominoid Nakalipithecus nakayamai was reported from site NA39 of this locality. In addition to Nakalipithecus, the hominoid material collected from Nakali includes an isolated P3, which shows a considerably different morph...