The present publication reports new discoveries of Oligocene and early Miocene aplodontid rodents from the Taatsiin Gol area (Valley of Lakes) in Mongolia. The fossil aplodontids recovered in this area are mainly composed of dental remains, some fragmentary jaws plus one partially preserved skull. Aplodontid rodents have been found from the early Oligocene (local biozone A) to the early middle ...

[1] We use paleomagnetic data from Tertiary volcanic rocks to address the rates and timing of vertical‐axis block rotations across the central Sierra Nevada‐Walker Lane transition in the Bodie Hills, California/Nevada. Samples from the Upper Miocene (∼9 Ma) Eureka Valley Tuff suggest clockwise vertical‐axis block rotations between NE‐striking left‐lateral faults in the Bridgeport and Mono Basin...

The phylogenetic position of the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca (Carnivora: Ursidae: Ailuropodinae), has been one of the most hotly debated topics by mammalian biologists and paleontologists during the last century. Based on molecular data, it is currently recognized as a true ursid, sister-taxon of the remaining extant bears, from which it would have diverged by the Early Miocene. However...

The status of Miocene ramamorphs has been the cause of continuous debate sine the early 19OOs. Both cladistic and molecular data has been applied to answer some of the questions that arise. However, both approaches present problems. A discussion of taxonomic nomenclature, cladistic and molecular data pertaining to middle to late Miocene ramamorphs, and six possible phyletic affinities are prese...

BACKGROUND Caviidae is a diverse group of caviomorph rodents that is broadly distributed in South America and is divided into three highly divergent extant lineages: Caviinae (cavies), Dolichotinae (maras), and Hydrochoerinae (capybaras). The fossil record of Caviidae is only abundant and diverse since the late Miocene. Caviids belongs to Cavioidea sensu stricto (Cavioidea s.s.) that also inclu...

kuh-e-siah is located in the north of gavkhuni lagoon and east of the varzaneh (se of isfahan) and is a part of urumieh-dokhtar magmatic arc (udma). the volcanic rocks of this area are vesicular basalt and basaltic andesite with late miocene age. the most common textures of these rocks are porphyry, microlitic porphyritic, hyaloporphyric and vesicular. plagioclase, olivine and clinopyroxene are...

A shortage of Cenozoic vertebrate fossils in the Tibetan Plateau has been an obstacle in our understanding of biological evolution in response to changes in tectonism, topography, and environment. This is especially true for Paleogene records, so far known by only two sites along the northern rim of the Plateau. We report a Hongyazi Basin in northern Tibetan Plateau that produces at least three...

Deep-time perspectives in macroecology are essential with regard to understanding the impact of climate forcing on faunal communities. Using late Miocene rodent faunas (12 to 5 Ma) from two different biogeographical provinces from southwestern Europe, we asked whether the waxing and waning of faunas with dissimilar ecological affinities tracked climate in different ways. The latest middle Mioce...

A new species of the bovid Shaanxispira, from the upper Miocene deposits of the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China, is described here. Shaanxispira is endemic to Northern China and was previously known only from the Lantian area, Shaanxi Province, by two species, S. chowi and S. baheensis. The new species, S. linxiaensis nov. sp., is of early Bahean in age, slightly older than the species from...

Thylacinus yorkellus is described as a new, moderately small-bodied species of thylacinid from the latest Miocene or, more likely, earliest Pliocene of South Australia. The new species can be diagnosed by the autapomorphic presence a strongly developed precingulid that terminates in a cuspidule on the anterobuccal face of the paraconid of the lower molars and a tiny basal anterior cuspidule on ...