Eocene Bird and Mammal Tracks from the Karaj Formation,Tarom Mountains,Northwestern Iran

A long continuous trackway of a shorebird (cf. Charadriipeda) and a suite of possible Pantodonta (?Corophydon) or Dinocerata tracks are reported from the Eocene Karaj Formation. Fossil footprints are still rare in Iran, described only from two Jurassic and three Tertiary sites. Thus the current record, the third in the Teritary, adds to a sparse record and increases the diversity of known track types.     

Mammal and Bird Tracks from the Eocene Puget Group,Northwest Washington,USA

In 1997, coal extraction at the John Henry Mine in western King County, Washington, USA, exposed bedding planes in Eocene sandstone that contained numerous bird and mammal tracks. By the time scientists arrived at the site several months later, the track-bearing surfaces had mostly been obliterated by landslides. Several track specimens were collected but not curated, described, or studied. In 2011, the specimens were found in a storage room at the University of Washington Burke Museum of History and Culture, triggering an investigation that yielded many photographs of the fossil site taken at the time of the 1997 discovery. Perissodactyl mammal tracks are named herein as Oplidcatylapes eocenica ichnogenus and ichnospecies nov. Photographs also show a trackway containing eight footprints that have prominent claw impressions. These tracks are inferred to have been made by a creodont, but because of the absence of specimens or track casts to serve as holotypes, ichnotaxonomic names have not been assigned.     

Eocene fossil is earliest evidence of flower-visiting by birds

Birds are important pollinators, but the evolutionary history of ornithophily (bird pollination) is poorly known. Here, we report a skeleton of the avian taxon Pumiliornis from the middle Eocene of Messel in Germany with preserved stomach contents containing numerous pollen grains of an eudicotyledonous angiosperm. The skeletal morphology of Pumiliornis is in agreement with this bird having been a, presumably nectarivorous, flower-visitor. It represents the earliest and first direct fossil evidence of flower-visiting by birds and indicates a minimum age of 47 million years for the origin of bird–flower interactions. As Pumiliornis does not belong to any of the modern groups of flower-visiting birds, the origin of ornithophily in some angiosperm lineages may have predated that of their extant avian pollinators.     

A diversified vertebrate ichnite fauna from the Dasheng Group (Lower Cretaceous) of southeast Shandong Province,China

The Qingquan dinosaur tracksite, from the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group, Shandong Province, China adds to the growing record of saurischian-dominated ichnofaunas of the region. The site reveals the presence of avian theropods (Koreanaornis) and non-avian theropods tentatively referred to Jialingpus. Sauropod tracks are referred to Brontopodus. One site shows evidence of extensive trampling attributable to sauropods and theropods that moved in the same westerly direction, though not necessarily at exactly the same time. This site is reminiscent of the famous Davenport Ranch site in Texas which has provoked much debate about the herding behavior of sauropods as a defense strategy against theropod predators.     

A whole new world of ancestors: Eocene anthropoideans from Africa

The last decade has witnessed enormous gains in our knowledge of early anthro-poidean primates,

1 “Anthropoidean” refers to members of the suborder Anthropoidea, whch contaings New and Old world monkeys, apes, and humans. These primates are also often called “simians,” “simiiforms” or “anthropoids;” the latter term is potentially confusing because it has often been used to refer only to the great apes.

the oldest known relatives of monkeys, apes and humans. Recent fossil finds in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Oman, along with the associated geological research at these sites, have radically changed our models of anthro-poidean origins and differentiation. Instead of first appearing as robust-jawed herbivorous primates in the earliest Oligocene, it is now apparent that there was radiation of small-bodied, fruit-and-insect-eating anthropoideans during the Eocene. These early forms included at least two oligopithecines (squirrel-monkey-sized primates with a catarrhine dental formula) and two early “parapithecid monkeys” (three-premolared primates with lumpy, bunodont dentitions). In addition, several smaller species from Algeria and Egypt, ranging in size from pygmy marmosets to tamarins, are not definitely assignable to previously known families. Alongside the early anthropoideans, there are also at least four recently identified prosimian families. The continental Eocene of Africa—for years, little more than a blank on the paieontologi-cal map—now comprises an increasingly productive field source of new data that is important in deciphering phyletic and adaptive aspects of the prosimian-anthropoid transition.     

Squamate reptiles from the middle Eocene of Lissieu (France). A landmark in the middle Eocene of Europe

In Europe, faunas of squamates (lizards and snakes) from the middle Eocene are very poorly known, with the exception of those from the level MP 16 (latest middle Eocene). From the MP 11-MP 15 interval, squamates were previously reported only from Messel (MP 11, earliest middle Eocene) and from the untere and obere Mittelkohle of Geiseltal (MP 12 and MP 13 respectively) in Germany. The present report describes the middle Eocene assemblage of squamates from Lissieu (France), the first fauna reported from the level MP 14. Whereas fossils from Messel and Geiseltal are mostly articulated skeletons, fossils from Lissieu are represented by disarticulated bones; such fossils may be more easily compared to those from other Cenozoic localities, in which bones are almost always disarticulated. The fauna from Lissieu is more diverse than those from the Geiseltal sites and approximately as diverse as that from Messel as they are presently known; it is comprised of 17 distinct taxa. These taxa cannot be all identified to the species or genus level. They belong to iguanids, gekkonids, lacertids, anguids, thecoglossan platynotans, ophidians incertaesedis, boids, ?tropidophiines, “tropidophiids” incertaesedis, booids incertaesedis, and perhaps russellophiids. The fauna includes several new taxa but only a presumed tropidophiine snake may be named on the basis of the available material. The fauna from Lissieu is a mixture of taxa restricted to the middle Eocene and taxa known from older or younger levels. Taxa shared by Lissieu and the few other localities from the middle Eocene of Europe are rare. This fauna from Lissieu represents a stratigraphical landmark for the middle Eocene.     

Footprint on a coprolite: A rarity from the Eocene of Vietnam

A rare ichnological example of a crocodilian footprint on an Eocene crocodilian coprolite has been discovered. The enigmatic specimen, measuring 4 cm in length, was found among 100 coprolites at the Na Duong coal mine in Lang Son province, northern Vietnam. Almost all the discovered coprolites were ascribed to a potential crocodilian producer, suggesting the existence of an ancient lacustrine environment. Furthermore, neoichnological analyses of extant crocodilian footprints also corroborate the inference of a crocodilian as the producer of the footprint. We concluded that the 4-cm-long Na Duong fingerprints most likely belonged to a 2-m-long crocodilian whose IV or V finger of the right manus might have made the fingerprints. Since no other records of foot traces or trackways were identified during the fieldwork in the fall of 2018, the Na Duong fossil site should be investigated for further ichnofossil analysis.     

Footprints of Giant Birds from the Upper Eocene of the Paris Basin: An Ichnological Enigma

In 1859 the French geologist Jules Desnoyers reported the discovery of vertebrate footprints in the Late Eocene gypsum of the Paris region. Although they attracted some attention at the time, those footprints were never illustrated or described in detail, and the present whereabouts of the specimens seem to be unknown. Several types of footprints were referable to animals known by skeletal elements from the gypsum, but some were not. Among the latter were tridactyl footprints of very large birds, which Desnoyers tentatively attributed to the giant ground bird Gastornis, which had been discovered in the Lower Eocene of the Paris region a few years earlier. Gastornithids are now known from the Paleocene to the Middle Eocene, but no skeletal remains of giant birds have yet been found in the Upper Eocene of Europe. The tracks of giant birds from the gypsum of the Paris region are thus an example of fossil footprints without known osteological counterparts, and the identity of the trackmakers remains an enigma.     

A new primate from the Eocene Pondaung Formation of Myanmar and the monophyly of Burmese amphipithecids

The family Amphipithecidae is one of the two fossil primate taxa from Asia that appear to be early members of the anthropoid clade. Ganlea megacanina, gen. et sp. nov., is a new amphipithecid from the late middle Eocene Pondaung Formation of central Myanmar. The holotype of Ganlea is distinctive in having a relatively enormous lower canine showing heavy apical wear, indicating an important functional role of the lower canine in food preparation and ingestion. A phylogenetic analysis of amphipithecid relationships suggests that Ganlea is the sister taxon of Myanmarpithecus, a relatively small-bodied taxon that has often, but not always, been included in Amphipithecidae. Pondaungia is the sister taxon of the Ganlea + Myanmarpithecus clade. All three Pondaung amphipithecid genera are monophyletic with respect to Siamopithecus, which is the most basal amphipithecid currently known. The inclusion of Myanmarpithecus in Amphipithecidae diminishes the likelihood that amphipithecids are specially related to adapiform primates. Extremely heavy apical wear has been documented on the lower canines of all three genera of Burmese amphipithecids. This distinctive wear pattern suggests that Burmese amphipithecids were an endemic radiation of hard object feeders that may have been ecological analogues of living New World pitheciin monkeys.     

辽宁抚顺始新统黑三棱属一新种

本文描述了辽宁抚顺始新统黑三棱属的一个种——抚顺黑三棱Sparganium fushunense,化石标本仅保存果枝部分。根据新标本头状聚花果显示的形态与结构特征,对该属的现生种和化石种做了详细的比较。     

Non-marine Teredolites from the Middle Eocene of southern England

Middle Eocene, non-marine sediments from southern England contain examples of Teredolites borings in two contrasting palaeoenvironmental settings, viz.: (A) as in situ borings in an allochthonous lignite in an abandoned river channel and (B) as bored logs in cross-bedded fluvial sandstones of probable point-bar origin. The lignite is 0.30 m thick, of which the upper 0.20 m is intensely bored. Rounded pebbles of ?charcoal at its base also show small borings. A log in a fluvial sandstone shows densely-packed. radial club-shaped borings. now filled with sandstone. The wood substrate has subsequently been oxidized away. To our knowledge, this is the first detailed account of Teredolites from an ancient freshwater setting.     

A new species of Sparganium from the Eocene of Fushun,Liaoning Province

Sparganium fushunense Geng is described as new from the Jijuntun Formation (Middle to Late Eocene) of Fushun region in Liaoning Province, China. The preserved fertile branches bear fruiting heads. A morphological comparison of the fruit heads is made between the specimens studied here with those of the living species and other fossil species. The results show that the new species is distinguishable mainly by the shape of the tepals and the size of the fruits. Sparganium fushunense Geng, sp. nov. Head-bearing axis at least 14.5 cm long, about 1.0 mm wide, with longitudinal striae more or less parallel on its surface. Axes with 4～6 lateral fruit heads, interval between heads 0.5～2.0 cm. Fruiting head sessile, globose, about 5 mm in diameter, made up of tightly packed tepals and fruits radiating from a small receptacle. Tepals narrowly obovate, apically rounded, about 1.8 mm long, 0.2～0.7 mm wide. Fruits elliptic, sessile, with smooth surface, 1.16～1.25 mm long, at apex with a beak 1.5～2.0 mm long. Seed elliptic, long axis 0.48～0.75 mm long, short axis 0.23～0.45 mm long. Seed coat cells irregularly polygonal , 4.1～19 vn in diameter, with smaller ones in both the apical and basalparts,the larger ones in the middle part and a papillate process at the apex.     

Attockicetus praecursor, A New Remingtonocetid Cetacean from Marine Eocene Sediments of Pakistan

A new early-to-middle Eocene cetacean from the Kala Chitta Hills of northern Pakistan is described: Attockicetus praecursor new genus and species. It is based on fragmentary cranial material, including a rostral fragment, P3–M3, endocast, and ectotympanic. Attockicetus is the first remingtonocetid from northern Pakistan, and the oldest member of its family. Attockicetus praecursor is smaller than the species of the other remingtonocetid genera, Remingtonocetus, Andrewsiphius, and Dalanistes. It is also more primitive in the retention of large protocones on the upper molars and the anterior position of the orbit. Known material for Attockicetus is fragmentary, but the taxon is important because it extends the geographic and temporal range of remingtonocetids, is one of the few remingtonocetids in which toothcrowns are preserved, and because it is probably the most plesiomorphic remingtonocetid.     

Diversity of Menispermaceae from the Paleocene and Eocene of South China

We present here the earliest known Asian fossil records of the Menispermaceae based on fossil fruits from Paleocene and Eocene localities in South China. A new genus and species, Paleoorbicarpum parvum sp. nov., and two new species of Stephania Loureiro, S. ornamenta sp. nov. and S. geniculata sp. nov., are recognized from Paleocene deposits of the Sanshui Basin, Guangdong, and a new occurrence of the widespread Eocene species Stephania auriformis (Hollick) Han & Manchester is recognized from the Maoming Basin, Guangdong. The Paleocene Stephania specimens described here represent the earliest fossil endocarp record of the Menispermaceae in eastern Asia. This discovery shows that the moonseed family had arrived in tropical and humid South China by at least the middle Paleocene, which provides important evidence for the origin and phytogeographic history of the family.     

First substantial Middle Eocene record of the Lithornithidae (Aves): A postcranial skeleton from Messel (Germany)

A postcranial skeleton of a representative of the palaeognathous Lithornithidae (Aves) is described from the Middle Eocene of Messel in Germany. The specimen is slightly smaller than Lithornis plebius from which it, however, differs in limb bone proportions. It constitutes the latest fossil record of the Lithornithidae in Europe, whose only other Middle Eocene record is a fragmentary tibiotarsus from North America.     

An omomyid primate from the Pontide microcontinent of north-central Anatolia: Implications for sweepstakes dispersal of terrestrial mammals during the Eocene

A new genus and species of omomyid primate is described from the middle Eocene (Lutetian) Lülük Member of the Uzunçarşidere Formation, Orhaniye Basin, north-central Anatolia, Turkey. This is the first Eocene primate to be reported from the vast area between Switzerland and Pakistan. The new taxon is currently represented by a single dentary fragment, limiting the scope of morphological comparisons that can be made with related taxa. Nevertheless, its dentition differs fundamentally from that of contemporary European microchoerids. The new taxon most closely resembles North American middle Eocene omomyines such as Mytonius hopsoni, and it is therefore interpreted as a member of the Asian/North American omomyine radiation. Its occurrence on the Pontide microcontinent must have resulted from sweepstakes dispersal across the intervening Tethyan barrier that separated the Pontides from adjacent parts of Eurasia during the Lutetian. Sweepstakes dispersal by various terrestrial mammal clades, especially rodents and primates, was facilitated by Eocene greenhouse climatic conditions, which promoted extreme precipitation events and frequent flooding of major river drainages.     

Spatial and temporal ecological diversity amongst Eocene primates of France: evidence from teeth

Diet is of paramount importance in the life of a primate. It is also highly variable, as potential food sources vary in spatial distribution and availability over time. The fossil record, due to its fragmentary nature, offers few possibilities to assess the dietary range of a given primate across its spatial and temporal distribution. Here we focus on three taxa, Leptadapis magnus (Adapidae, Adapiformes), Necrolemur cf. antiquus (Microchoeridae, Omomyiformes), and Pseudoloris parvulus (Microchoeridae, Omomyiformes). These taxa occur at different localities of the Late Eocene in the south of France ranging from MP16 (Robiac, Lavergne; 39 Ma), MP17a (La Bouffie, Euzet, Fons 4; 38 Ma) to MP17b (Perrière; 37 Ma). Diets of fossil taxa are assessed here by dental microwear analysis using a comparative database of 11 species of living strepsirhines. On the whole, leaves were a preferred food for the large-bodied Leptadapis (4-5 kg). However, the diet of this taxon varied from a mix of leaves and fruit at La Bouffie, a closed tropical rain forest environment, to a strictly leaf-eating one in the more open environment of Perrière. Based on body mass (200-350 g) and dental microwear patterns, Necrolemur had a mainly fruit-based diet, perhaps supplemented by insects. However, the comparison of the different localities reveals the dietary range of this small-bodied omomyiform which seems to vary between insects and a much softer diet. Pseudoloris had a diet strictly based on insects. Contrary to Leptadapis or Necrolemur, its diet seems to have been confined to insects whatever the locality considered.     

A new skull of early cetacean Remingtonocetus harudiensis from the Eocene of Kutch Basin,India

A nearly complete skull of Remingtonocetus harudiensis was discovered from the Harudi Formation of the Kutch Basin, western India. Though several specimens have been collected over the last two decades by earlier workers, this skull shows variations in morphology within the species that were not known earlier. Hence, this finding is significant because it helps in expanding our knowledge of the skull morphology with the addition of characters such as the larger size of the skull, the difference in dental morphology, and the two-ridged external nasal feature and our understanding of how the molar morphology can vary within the same species. The newly excavated skull is the largest Remingtonocetus skull so far discovered and is similar to the size of Dalanistes ahmedi from Kutch, India and from Baluchistan, Pakistan. Thus, the range of the overall body size of the species will change considerably towards the higher side nullifying a major distinction between Dalanistes and Remingtonocetus. The new skull was excavated from the chocolate brown shales of the clastic facies of the Harudi Formation, in the inner ramp of a lagoonal phase. It is approximately 4 m above the nodular limestones from which the other Remingtonocetus materials were previously described. The limestone represents the carbonate facies of the Formation formed in a middle to outer ramp setting. An emended diagnosis of R. harudiensis is provided in this study. The Bartonian Harudi Formation of the Kutch Basin, thus, becomes unique in having Remingtonocetus specimens discovered from two different lithological facies from both the inner and outer ramp settings.