Afrochoerodon nov. gen. kisumuensis (MacInnes) (Proboscidea,Mammalia) from Cheparawa,Middle Miocene,Kenya

A proboscidean skull from Cheparawa, (Muruyur Formation, Kenya), differs markedly from those of Eurasian Choerolophodon (C. pentelici, C. dhokpathanensis). It is morphologically and metrically close to the holotype of Choerolophodon kisumuensis (MacInnes) a partial skull from Maboko, much of which has been reconstructed in plaster of Paris. The more complete remains of this species now available indicate that it should be placed in a genus separate from Choerolophodon. The new genus Afrochoerodon is erected for it. Choerolophodon ngorora from Ngorora and Fort Ternan (Kenya), Choerolophodon zaltaniensis from Gebel Zelten (Libya) and Choerolophodon chioticus from Chios, Greece, should be transferred to the genus Afrochoerodon. Late Miocene specimens from Nakali, Kenya are probably referrable to the genus Choerolophodon. Fossils from Burji-Soyama (Ethiopia) hitherto assigned to Choerolophodon sp. are excluded from the subfamily Choerolophodontinae.     

A Fish Assemblage from the Middle Eocene from Libya (Dur At-Talah) and the Earliest Record of Modern African Fish Genera

In the early nineteen sixties, Arambourg and Magnier found some freshwater fish (i.e., Polypterus sp., Siluriformes indet. and Lates sp.) mixed with marine members in an Eocene vertebrate assemblage at Gebel Coquin, in the southern Libyan Desert. This locality, aged ca 37–39Ma and now known under the name of Dur At-Talah, has been recently excavated. A new fish assemblage, mostly composed of teeth, was collected by the Mission Paléontologique Franco-Libyenne. In this paper, we describe freshwater fish members including a dipnoan (Protopterus sp.), and several actinopterygians: bichir (Polypterus sp.), aba fish (Gymnarchus sp.), several catfishes (Chrysichthys sp. and a mochokid indet.), several characiforms (including the tiger fish Hydrocynus sp., and one or two alestin-like fish), and perciforms (including the snake-head fish Parachanna sp. and at least one cichlid). Together with the fossiliferous outcrops at Birket Qarun in Egypt, the Libyan site at Dur At-Talah reduces a 10-Ma chronological gap in the fossil record of African freshwater fish. Their fish assemblages overlap in their composition and thus constitute a rather homogenous, original and significant amount of new elements regarding the Paleogene African ichthyofauna. This supports the establishment of the modern African freshwater fish fauna during this time period because these sites mostly contain the earliest members known in modern genera.     

Ficoxylon sp., a fossil wood of 4.4 Ma (Middle Awash,Ethiopia)

In this article we describe the microscopic structures of a silicified piece of wood collected in the Middle Awash Valley (Ethiopia). The fossil wood was extracted from sediment precisely dated 4.4 Ma. Its attribution to the Ficoxylon species is based upon detailed comparison with published data and with comparisons of some modern species of the genus Ficus and similar characters encountered in fossil woods from West Africa, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia previously described and attributed to this taxon.     

中国北方黄土地层中的哺乳动物群及在磁性地层中的位置

本文研究了中国黄土地层中有确切层位的哺乳动物化石记录,并进行了生物地层学与磁性地层学对比,将黄土地层中的动物化石归纳成如下哺乳动物群：早更新世（2．50─0．73Ma）：午城动物群（2．50─1．20Ma）、公王岭动物群（1．20─1．10Ma）和阳郭动物群（1．10─0．90Ma）、中更新世（0．73─0．13Ma）：陈家窝子动物群（0．73─0．40Ma）;晚更新世（0．13─0．01Ma）：柔远─靖远动物群（0．13─0．01Ma）;全新世（0．01Ma─Rec）:半坡动物群。结果表明：早更新世许多森林习性的化石动物虽然反映出气候较第三纪的寒冷,但比后期温暖湿润。中更新世出现了较多的草原、干旱草原习性的动物,气候更为寒冷干旱,森林逐渐减少或消失,草原或干旱草原得到发展;晚更新世出现的沙鼠、跳鼠等动物,表明气候更加寒冷、干旱,部分地区甚至沙化。     

Another fossil agaric from Dominican amber

We report the discovery of a fossil agaricoid homobasidiomycete from Dominican amber (ca 15-20 Ma). Aureofungus yaniguaensis appears to be a member of the euagarics clade, but its precise taxonomic placement is obscure. This is the fourth known fossil agaric and the third from Dominican amber.     

我国最东部之第三纪哺乳动物在黑龙江省发现

<正> 1991年夏,地矿部沈阳地质矿产研究所苏养正先生来京,转交给我所一采自黑龙江省桦南县的哺乳动物牙齿化石以及一些鱼类化石请求鉴定.10月,笔者据此线索前往桦南县进行实地考察.其间曾到桦南县四方台村观察采到化石的砂金矿井内的地层剖面.黑龙江省地质三大队的倪春林工程师又将在同一地点采到的其它牙齿化石交与笔者,同时尚有一些鱼类及植物化石.经鉴定,这些牙齿化石属于一中新世轭齿象     

New fish fossils from the Pliocene of Wadi Natrun, Egypt

New material from the Pliocene fish beds of Wadi Natrun, Egypt, is described, including a new species of Alestes (Characidae). A total of 15 freshwater and at least four marine genera are now known from the site. This fauna is reviewed with particular regard to the fossil history and zoogeographical relationships of its component taxa.     

New cercopithecoids and a hominoid from 12.5 Ma in the Tugen Hills succession, Kenya.

The early evolutionary history of the cercopithecoids is poorly understood, primarily due to a lack of fossil material from between 15 and about 9 Ma. Cercopithecoid primate specimens from a fossil site in the Ngorora Formation of the Tugen Hills, Kenya, belong to the genus Victoriapithecus, possibly a new species. These fossils are associated with a hominoid specimen that resembles Proconsul, and another tooth of a catarrhine, also probably hominoid. The locality is BPRP#38, in the Kabasero type section of the Ngorora Formation, and well dated at 12.5 Ma. If the hominoid specimen is confirmed as Proconsul, it would be one of the most recent recorded. The relatively diverse mammal fauna from the site in some ways resembles that of Fort Ternan. The site is underlain, and not far removed in time, from one of the best fossil macro-floras in Africa, which indicates lowland rainforest conditions in this portion of the Rift Valley at 12.6 Ma.     

Systematics of early and middle Miocene Old World monkeys

New information about the early cercopithecoids Prohylobates tandyi (Wadi Moghra, Egypt) and Prohylobates sp. indet. (Buluk and Nabwal, Kenya) is presented. Comparisons are made among all major collections of Early and Middle Miocene catarrhine monkeys, and a systematic revision of the early Old World monkeys is provided. Previous work involving the systematics of early Old World monkeys (Victoriapithecidae; Cercopithecoidea) has been hampered by a number of factors, including the poor preservation of Prohylobates material from North Africa and lack of comparable anatomical parts across collections. However, it is now shown that basal cercopithecoid species from both northern and eastern Africa can be distinguished from one another on the basis of degree of lower molar bilophodonty, relative lower molar size, occlusal details, symphyseal construction, and mandibular shape. Results of particular interest include: 1) the first identification of features that unambiguously define Prohylobates relative to Victoriapithecus; 2) confirmation that P. tandyi is incompletely bilophodont; and 3) recognition of additional victoriapithecid species.     

云南省迪庆州更新世早期哺乳类化石的发现

本文简述横断山脉中段中甸尼西的哺乳类化石九种,能鉴定到种一级的只有1/3,其中(亻莫)鼠是新种.     

湖北秭归茅坪镇下茶庄剖面石牌动物群初探*

报道湖北秭归长江以南茅坪镇下茶庄剖面发现的寒武系下部(第2统第4阶)石牌动物群。该剖面石牌组出露良好,顶底界线清楚,总厚度208m。初步采集结果表明该剖面具有较大的开采潜力,化石数量上以腕足动物和软舌螺为主,同时还包括数量较多的三叶虫、双瓣壳节肢动物、开腔骨类和少量的鳃曳动物等,其中的腕足动物保存良好,数量丰度较大,壳体多以密集立体保存的内模形式出现,这是石牌组腕足动物大量壳体化石的首次报道。化石采集发现鳃曳动物与腕足动物可在相同的层面同时出现。与澄江动物群鳃曳动物化石相比,下茶庄剖面鳃曳动物的环纹保存的立体程度明显较强,但还未见到任何吻部和肠道结构保存。石牌动物群最早发现于长江以北宜昌三峡人家旅游风景名胜区内的王家坪剖面,但该地区石牌组覆盖严重,顶底未见出露,使王家坪剖面石牌动物群的后续研究存在较大困难。因此,石牌动物群在下茶庄剖面的发现和进一步采集和研究对深入揭示石牌动物群的组成、富集层位、群落结构和地理分布范围有重要的意义。     

A new Early Permian reptile and its significance in early diapsid evolution

The initial stages of evolution of Diapsida (the large clade that includes not only snakes, lizards, crocodiles and birds, but also dinosaurs and numerous other extinct taxa) is clouded by an exceedingly poor Palaeozoic fossil record. Previous studies had indicated a 38 Myr gap between the first appearance of the oldest diapsid clade (Araeoscelidia), ca 304 million years ago (Ma), and that of its sister group in the Middle Permian (ca 266 Ma). Two new reptile skulls from the Richards Spur locality, Lower Permian of Oklahoma, represent a new diapsid reptile: Orovenator mayorum n. gen. et sp. A phylogenetic analysis identifies O. mayorum as the oldest and most basal member of the araeoscelidian sister group. As Richards Spur has recently been dated to 289 Ma, the new diapsid neatly spans the above gap by appearing 15 Myr after the origin of Diapsida. The presence of O. mayorum at Richards Spur, which records a diverse upland fauna, suggests that initial stages in the evolution of non-araeoscelidian diapsids may have been tied to upland environments. This hypothesis is consonant with the overall scant record for non-araeoscelidian diapsids during the Permian Period, when the well-known terrestrial vertebrate communities are preserved almost exclusively in lowland deltaic, flood plain and lacustrine sedimentary rocks.     

Late Miocene hominoid from Niger

African Late Miocene hominoids are rare, having been reported from six localities in Kenya, Ethiopia and Chad ranging in age from 10.5 to 5.5 Ma. We here report the occurrence of a hominoid in Niger associated with a vertebrate fauna which indicates an age of between 11–5 Ma. The Niger fossil locality is 940 km north of the nearest known extant hominoids, 1000 km west of the nearest recorded fossil hominoid from Chad.     

浙江西天目山华严洞的动物化石

1983年5至6月间,在浙江临安县西天目山华严洞堆积中,采集到15种动物化石,其中14种是哺乳动物。动物化石的组合性质是属于华南大熊猫-剑齿象动物群,而时代当为晚更新世早期。     

Dating the Northern African cercopithecid fossil record

The primitive cercopithecidProhylobates is known only from the (middle?) Orleanian sites of Moghara (Egypt) and Zelten (Libya). No cercopithecid is known from north Africa during the Astaracian and Vallesian periods.Macaca (or a closely allied form) appears in the (late?) Turolian of Sahabi (Libya) and Menacer (Algeria) where it is associated with colobines.Macaca persists into the Pliocene (Wadi Natrun, Egypt; Garaet Ichkeul; Ain Brimba) but apparently disappears before the end of this period, and is absent from north Africa until the middle Pleistocene (Ain Mefta).Theropithecus is known from a single tooth from the upper Pliocene of Ain Jourdel, and from several jaws from the middle Pleistocene of Ternifine (c. 0.7 m.y.) and Thomas Quarry III (c. 0.4 m.y.) in Algeria.     

Middle Eocene Ostracods from southeast Fayoum area,Egypt: Systematics,paleobathymetry and paleobiogeography

This study deals with the Middle Eocene ostracods from southeast Fayoum area, Egypt. To carry out this investigation, three outcrops are examined, Gebel Elwe El Breig, Gebel Sath El Hadid and Gebel Munqar El-Shinnara. This study is based on the Midawara Formation that consists mainly of fossiliferous limestone, marly limestone and clay. The studied ostracod assemblage includes thirty-one species and subspecies, belonging to twenty-three genera and seventeen families. The ostracod group belonging to Cytheroidea Baird, 1850 represents the most abundant group that reaches 81.99% in Munqar El-Shinnara section, 81.88% in Sath El Hadid section, and 61.12% in Elwe El Breig section. The structure of the investigated assemblages (abundance of ostracods, number of taxa, Fisher's alpha, Shannon index, and equitability) indicates deposition in an environment belonging to the neritic zone. Moreover, this study tries to use the multivariate analyses to distinguish the paleobiogeographic provinces in Tethyan region during the Middle Eocene. These analyses are applied on a matrix consists of some nominated Middle Eocene species from 13 countries. The results point to two distinctive provinces, Southern Tethys Province (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Jordan) and the Northern Tethys Province (England, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Ukraine, Hungary and Turkey). The reasonable similarities between these provinces may reflect a possible connection between both sides of the Tethys during the Middle Eocene age.     

Microbial maceration and carbonate dissolution on cold‐temperate shelves

Nummulites beaumonti d'Archiac & Haime, 1853, originally described from El Basatin, Gebel Mokattam, Greater Cairo, is redefined from a nummulitic bank at the base of the Maadi Formation from its type locality as neotype. Schaub (1981) described the species from Libya and the type example of this species is still unknown. N. discorbinus Schlotheim (1820) is described as neotype from a nummulitic bank in the Mokattam Formation, which is located in the site of the Citadel tombs, near the Salah El Din Citadel, Gebel Mokattam, Egypt. According to Schaub (1981), the type example of this species is also unknown. For this reason the establishment of the neotypes of these two widespread nummulites species: N. discorbinus (Late Lutetian) and N. beaumonti (Bartonian) is important and tackled in this paper. N. qurnensis n. sp. ( = N. sp. cf. beaumonti in Boukhary et al. 2002) is introduced as a new species from the lower Bartonian part of the Qurn Formation of Helwan. Biometrical studies are carried out on the three species to present up to date information on these Nummulites, with particular attention to their biostratigraphic correlation with the Shallow Benthic Zones (SBZ) of Serra-Kiel et al. 1998. The authors would like to stress the importance of a careful designation of a neotype to avoid the introduction of complicated and unnecessary taxonomic problems.     

湖北宜昌乔家坪村寒武系水井沱组海绵动物化石群

海绵动物是最原始的动物门类之一,其演化史对于研究多细胞动物的起源和早期演化至关重要。现有的化石记录显示,水体较深的贫氧环境可能是寒武纪早期海绵动物演化的重要场所之一。前人在贵州、湖南、安徽等多地的斜坡至盆地相黑色页岩中已经报道了数个海绵化石群。在这样的环境中,由于水动力作用较弱,海绵骨架结构容易得到原位保存。湖北宜昌秭归乔家坪村剖面的水井沱组为一套寒武系第三阶的台内凹陷沉积。本文描述在此剖面顶部发现的一个海绵动物化石群,其中包含Palaeosaccus minus sp.nov.、Triticispongia giganta sp.nov.、Triticispongia cf.diagonata、Sanshapentella dapingi、?Wapkia sp.以及三类分类未定的海绵动物化石,共8类,分属至少4个属。其中Triticispongia和Sanshapentella也常见于前人报道的多个同时期深水相海绵动物化石群。除此以外,作者还识别出了三种根束类型。水井沱组海绵动物化石群所呈现出的形态多样性进一步佐证了在寒武纪大爆发期间,至515 Ma左右,海绵动物已成功适应多种环境,且繁盛于水体较深、大多数动物难以生存的贫氧环境。