High quality 3D seismic data are used to assess the significance of mass-transport deposits (MTDs) to the evolution of the Pearl River Mouth Basin (South China Sea). Basal shear surfaces and lateral margins of seven recurrent MTDs are mapped to reveal a general NE-SW transport direction throughout the Late Miocene-Quaternary. A key result of our analysis is the perceived relationship between th...

An expansion of C 4 grasslands occurred between 6 and 8 million years ago in the Great Plains of North America, as evidenced by a marked shift to more 13 C-enriched carbon isotope compositions from large fossil mammal tooth enamel and paleosol carbonates. Prior to this expansion, habitats were comprised of exclusively C 3 vegetation. To explore this problem I present a compilation of bulk stabl...

A new genus and species of platyrrhine primate, Nuciruptor rubricae, are added to the increasingly diverse primate fauna from the middle Miocene of La Venta, Columbia. This species displays a number of dental and gnathic features indicating that it is related to living and extinct Pitheciinae (extant Callicebus, Pithecia, Chiropotes, Cacajao, and the Colombian middle Miocene Cebupithecia sarmie...

Spider crabs (Majoidea) are well-known from modern oceans and are also common in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean. When spider crabs appeared in the Western Atlantic in deep time, and when they became diverse, hinges on their fossil record. By reviewing their fossil record, we show that (1) spider crabs first appeared in the Western Atlantic in the Late Cretaceous, (2) they became common ...

Fourteen of the best sampled Oligo-Miocene local faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland, Australia are analysed using classification and ordination techniques to identify potential mammalian palaeocommunities and palaeocommunity types. Abundance data for these faunas are used, for the first time, in conjunction with presence/absence data. An early Miocene Faun...

Afropithecus turkanensis, a 17-17.5 million year old large-bodied hominoid from Kenya, has previously been reported to be the oldest known thick-enamelled Miocene ape. Most investigations of enamel thickness in Miocene apes have been limited to opportunistic or destructive studies of small samples. Recently, more comprehensive studies of enamel thickness and microstructure in Proconsul, Lufengp...

Primate hands display a major selective compromise between locomotion and manipulation. The thumb may or may not participate in locomotion, but it plays a central role in most manipulative activities. Understanding whether or not the last common ancestor of humans and Pan displayed extant-ape-like hand proportions (i.e., relatively long fingers and a short thumb) can be clarified by the analysi...

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 ...