Prolagus italicus n. sp. (Ochotonidae, Lagomorpha), a new Pliocene species of peninsular Italy

Prolagus italicus n. sp., a new endemic Pliocene species of peninsular Italy, is described here, adding new details to the knowledge of this widespread and long-lasting ochotonid genus. Several dental morphodimensional characters suggest a close relationship between P. italicus and P. sorbinii (evaporitic and postevaporitic Messinian, central Italy). On the other hand, P. italicus shares with other Plio-Pleistocene Prolagus species of continental Europe a large size and some peculiar characters of dental occlusal surface. Actually, an evolutionary trend can be detected in Plio-Pleistocene species of the genus Prolagus. The value of P. italicus in biochronology is quite consistent, as this species seems to mark MN17 in central Italy. Moreover, some morphodimensional differences between P. italicus populations have been identified: this can help to infer relative chronological positions to the fossil sites in which P. italicus is present. Some morphological characters present in one of the two available P. italicus populations are apparently related to ecological more than to evolutionary factors: this may be a starting point for in-depth palaeoecological studies related to the genus Prolagus. The presence of P. italicus in the Italian peninsula may have prevented the entrance of other species of western European affinity.     

The oldest marine vertebrate fossil from the volcanic island of Iceland: a partial right whale skull from the high latitude Pliocene Tjörnes Formation

Extant baleen whales (Cetacea, Mysticeti) are a disparate and species‐rich group, but little is known about their fossil record in the northernmost Atlantic Ocean, a region that supports considerable extant cetacean diversity. Iceland's geographical setting, dividing North Atlantic and Arctic waters, renders it ideally situated to shed light on cetacean evolution in this region. However, as a volcanic island, Iceland exhibits very little marine sedimentary exposure, and fossil whales from Iceland older than the late Pleistocene are virtually unknown. Here, we present the first fossil whale found in situ from the Pliocene Tjörnes Formation (c. 4.5 Ma), Iceland's only substantial marine sedimentary outcrop. The specimen is diagnosed as a partial skull from a large right whale (Mysticeti, Balaenidae). This discovery highlights the Tjörnes Formation as a potentially productive fossil vertebrate locality. Additionally, this find indicates that right whales (Eubalaena) and bowhead whales (Balaena) were sympatric, with broadly overlapping latitudinal ranges in the Pliocene, in contrast to the modern latitudinal separation of their living counterparts.     

A new species of Haborophocoena, an Early Pliocene phocoenid cetacean from Hokkaido, Japan

A new species of phocoenid cetacean Haborophocoena , collected from the Early Pliocene Embetsu Formation, in the close vicinity to the site where the holotype of the type species of the genus Haborophocoena was retrieved, improves our knowledge of the anatomy of this cetacean. The new species, represented by a skull, lacking distal half of the rostrum, ear bones, and teeth, is significantly smaller than, but morphologically similar to, the type species Haborophocoena toyoshimai Ichishima and Kimura 2005 . This new record of Haborophocoena confirms the veracity of the genus Haborophocoena as a biological entity, contributes to understanding the interspecific variation, and suggests that the genus diversified in the northwestern Pacific of early Pliocene time. The adult-like degree of ossification in this small skull precludes it from being a juvenile of Haborophocoena toyoshimai . Autapomorphies of Haborophocoena minutus include narrow premaxilla on the dorsal surface of the rostrum, the anterior position of the premaxillary foramen, and a distinct ridge dividing a fossa on the lateral face of the base of the zygomatic process into the dorsal and the ventral halves, the zygomatic process rectangular in lateral profile, and its small size, which is the most compelling feature, making it a distinct species.     

Phylogeny and systematics of the Orycteropodidae (Mammalia,Tubulidentata)

The systematics of the order Tubulidentata is poorly known. Its phylogeny has never been thoroughly analysed and only a single review has ever been performed, which was over 30 years ago. This situation has hampered palaeoecological and palaeobiogeographical studies of these Neogene mammals. The present revision of the Orycteropodidae deals with the phylogeny and systematics of all African and Eurasian species over the last 20 Myr. The first comprehensive cladistic analysis of the family is presented here. The results of this analysis, based on 39 coded morphological characters, supplemented by non‐coded features taken from all over the skeleton, was used to reconstruct the phylogeny of the order Tubulidentata. Two distinct lineages within the genus Orycteropus are recognized and characterized. The new genus Amphiorycteropus is subsequently created, in order to harmonize taxonomy and phylogeny. The fossil genera Leptorycteropus and Myorycteropus are validated, bringing the number of genera in the order Tubulidentata to four. Moreover, within the family Orycteropodidae, the number of confirmed species is now 14. The outcome of this study allows us to propose a consistent palaeobiogeographical scenario for aardvarks. Finally, this revision represents the most comprehensive work on the evolutionary history of the order Tubulidentata to date, and provides a new framework for future studies. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 155 , 649–702.     

南海莺琼盆地渐新世—上新世孢粉组合序列及其古环境意义

本文对莺琼盆地新生代的孢粉资料进行了综合梳理,划分出6个特征明显的孢粉组合。根据孢粉组合的特征及具有时代意义的化石分子对地层的时代进行划分,探讨了各个时代的植被类型、气候条件及沉积环境。孢粉组合显示,莺琼盆地陵水组/三亚组出现的孢粉组合差异大,气候条件发生了较大突变,由偏凉干向偏暖湿变化,是古近纪/新近纪的界线。     

First fossil evidence of Palaeocarya (Engelhardioideae: Juglandaceae) from India and its biogeographical implications

Even though presently indigenous to eastern Himalaya in India, no Engelhardioideae have been reported from the Cenozoic sediments of India till date. Here, we report the first Indian occurrence of a characteristic engelhardioid winged samaroid fruit having a tri-lobed wing (oblong-ovate median lobe and two lateral lobes) and a globose nut from the latest Neogene (Pliocene: Rajdanda Formation) sediments of Chotanagpur Plateau, eastern India. This is the first fossil evidence of relict family Juglandaceae from the Indian Cenozoic. We determine its taxonomic position on the basis of detailed macromorphological comparison with similar extant and fossil specimens and discuss its palaeoclimatic significance in terms of the present-day distribution of modern analogous species. We assign this Pliocene winged fruit specimen to the morphogenus Palaeocarya sect. Monocosta Manchester and describe it as a new species, namely Palaeocarya indica Hazra, Hazra M & Khan sp. nov. Palaeocarya sect. Monocosta has rich fossil records from the Cenozoic sediments of Europe, North America, and eastern Asia (China, Korea), but the modern analog, Engelhardia, is presently native only to India and neighboring Southeast Asia. We discuss the possible causes of disappearance of Engelhardia from the present-day vegetation of Chotanagpur Plateau. Its disappearance may be related to the gradual intensification of monsoonal rainfall seasonality since the Pliocene. Here, we also review in detail the biogeographic history of Palaeocarya sect. Monocosta and suggest its possible migration routes.     

Amphibians and squamates from the Neogene Siwalik beds of Jammu and Kashmir, India

The Neogene Siwalik deposits of Jammu Province (India) have yielded amphibians and squamates. The collection includes the first amphibians and the first colubroid snakes from the Siwalik Group. Amphibians comprise only anurans: a possible Ranidae and one, or perhaps two, non-ranid frogs Squamates include one lizard,Varanus sp. (Varanidae), whereas snakes are represented by three taxa:Acrochordus dehmi (Acrochordidae), an indeterminate Colubridae, and a snake that is either a Colubridae or an Elapidae.Varanus sp. andA. dehmi have been yielded by the Upper Miocene Ramnagar Member, whereas the anurans and colubroid snakes come from the Upper Pliocene Labli Member. These taxa are indicative of aquatic palaeoenvironment.     

THE GEOLOGICALLY YOUNGEST ALBANERPETONTID AMPHIBIAN, FROM THE LOWER PLIOCENE OF HUNGARY

Abstract:  The Albanerpetontidae are salamander-like, Middle Jurassic to Neogene lissamphibians from Laurasia and North Africa. Extensive series of albanerpetontid bones recently identified in collections from the Csarnóta 2 locality, south-central Hungary, extend the temporal range of the clade forward about seven million years from the middle Miocene to the early Pliocene. The Hungarian material is diagnostic for the Euramerican type genus Albanerpeton and pertains to a new species, A. pannonicus sp. nov., which differs from the seven previously reported congeners (Early Cretaceous–Miocene) in a distinctive combination of primitive and derived character states of the jaws and frontals, including a unique ventromedian keel on the azygous frontals. Some of the Hungarian specimens are articulated sets of skull bones, including ones containing the first three-dimensional examples of a nasal and jugals known for albanerpetontids, that help clarify some details of cranial osteology in these amphibians. Cladistic analysis nests A. pannonicus within the robust-snouted clade, as the sister taxon to an unnamed late Palaeocene species from Canada and A. inexpectatum from early–middle Miocene deposits in France, Austria and Germany. This phylogeny and recent reports of diagnostic Albanerpeton material from the Campanian of France and Maastrichtian of Romania suggest the evolutionary history of Albanerpeton was more complex than previously hypothesized, with Europe having played a larger role. The 25 fossiliferous layers at Csarnóta 2 record a shift from forest to grassland palaeoenvironments. Fossils of A. pannonicus are present in all layers, implying that this species was not adversely affected by the change in palaeoenvironments.     

The late Neogene rodent succession of the Guadix–Baza Basin (south‐eastern Spain) and its magnetostratigraphic correlation

In this paper a magnetostratigraphically calibrated biozonation of the Miocene–Pliocene continental record of the Guadix–Baza Basin (south‐eastern Spain) is presented. This biozonation is based on a rodent succession which ranges from the latest Miocene (c. 6 Ma) to the latest Pliocene (c. 2.6 Ma). A total of nine biozones have been defined for the late Miocene and Pliocene, all of them based on the range or concurrent‐range of rodent species: Apodemus gudrunae – Apocricetus alberti Zone, Apocricetus barrierei Zone, Paraethomys aff. abaigari Zone, Trilophomys Zone, Mimomys davakosi Zone, Dolomys adroveri Zone, Mimomys hassiacus Zone, Mimomys polonicus Zone and Kislangia ischus Zone. A magnetobiostratigraphical correlation has been established between these biozones and the standard ATNTS scale, on the basis of the palaeomagnetic analysis carried out on the sections of Negratín, Botardo‐1 and Gorafe. The correlation has been completed with previous palaeomagnetic analysis in the sections of Galera and Zújar. The magnetobiostratigraphical correlation here established indicates a late Messinian age for the Apodemus gudrunae – Apocricetus alberti Zone, a Zanclean age for the Apocricetus barrierei, Paraethomys aff. abaigari, Trilophomys and Mimomys davakosi zones and a Piazencian age for the Mimomys hassiacus, Mimomys polonicus and Kislangia ischus zones. The Dolomys adroveri Zone is mostly Zanclean in age, but its uppermost part belongs to the Piazencian. Therefore, unit MN13 is correlated with the late Messinian, MN14 is correlated with the early Zanclean, most of MN15 is correlated with the late Zanclean, while the uppermost part of MN15 and MN16 are correlated with the Piazencian.