The Shanghuang Mammalian Fauna, Middle Eocene of Jiangsu:History of Discovery and Significance

APaleogenemammalianfauna,herenamedtheShanghuangfauna,wasdiscoverednearthevillageofShanghuang,closetoLiyangCity,JiangsuProvince,China(Fig.1).Atpresent,rouglilysixtyspeciesoffossilmammalshavebeenrecogniedintheShanghuangfauna.Manyofthesemammaltaxaarenewtoscience,andothersrepresentnewoccurrencesfortheEoceneofChina.ParticularlywellrepresentedintheShanghuangfaunaaremicromammals(includingmarsupials,insectivores,rodents,lagomorphs,primates,andbats)thathaveseldomifeverbeenfoundinotherEoceneAsianl…     

New chiropterans from the middle Eocene of Shanghuang (Jiangsu Province,Coastal China): new insight into the dawn horseshoe bats (Rhinolophidae) in Asia

Until recently, the fossil record of Paleogene bats in Asia primarily included extinct families (i.e. ‘Eochiroptera’) from the early Eocene of Vastan in India and from the middle‐late Eocene of the Liguanqiao and Yuanqu basins in central China. Here, we describe a new fauna of Chiroptera from the middle Eocene Shanghuang fissure fillings of China. The fauna includes abundant material referred to a new rhinolophid (Protorhinolophus shanghuangensis gen. and sp. n.), one specimen of a possible rhinopomatid and several indeterminate rhinolophoids. This new bat assemblage constitutes the earliest record of extant families of microbats in Asia. Because it lacks representatives of ‘Eochiroptera’, this Shanghuang bat fauna indicates significant turnover in Asian bat communities. The dental pattern of P. shanghuangensis shows a mosaic of primitive and derived features (‘Eochiroptera’ vs Rhinolophidae dental characteristics), suggesting that this taxon occupies a basal position among the Rhinolophidae. Rhinolophids were already well diversified at the end of the late Eocene in Europe. Interestingly, many dental characteristics of Protorhinolophus are also found in a primitive rhinolophoid taxon, Vaylatsia, from the middle Eocene to late Oligocene of Europe, supporting a close relationship between these taxa. These affinities testify to the widespread Eurasian distribution of rhinolophoids during the Eocene and are consistent with a westward dispersal of the group from eastern Asia to Europe owing to the greater antiquity of Protorhinolophus.     

新疆布尔津地区晚始新世哺乳动物化石的发现及其意义(英文)

1995年以来作者等人在新疆准噶尔盆地北缘乌伦古河地区开展了第三纪哺乳动物地层研究工作。在调查研究该区乌伦古河组地层同时 (叶捷等 ,2 0 0 1a ,b) ,为搞清乌伦古河组的区域分布 ,我们在 1 999年和 2 0 0 1年先后两次前往布尔津地区考察了那里的“乌伦古河组”。在布尔津县城西北 1 4km处额尔齐斯河北岸的一片新生代露头 ,长期被视为乌伦古河组 ,因而时代也被定为始新世至渐新世 ,但一直没有确凿的化石依据。 1 999年我们首次在该套地层中采集到哺乳动物化石 ( 990 2 7地点 ) ,2 0 0 1年再次在同一地点、同一层位采集到化石并实测了地层剖面。布尔津的该乌伦古河组地层可大致分为两段 ,下段为富含铁质的砂岩与泥岩互层 ,上段为浅灰绿色砂岩与杂色泥岩互层 ,整套地层的风化表面呈黄棕色。在乌伦古河组建组的乌伦古河流域 ,乌伦古河组则由一套浅灰绿色砂岩与棕灰色含砂泥岩构成 ,整套地层风化表面呈灰白色 (叶捷等 ,2 0 0 1a)。两个地区的乌伦古河组的岩性显然是不同的。野外追索证明 ,这两个地区的两套不同岩性的地层是两个不同沉积盆地的堆积物 ,这两个盆地在乌伦古湖附近 (E87°1 2′)被一由古生代地层构成的山岭隔开。作为地质体 ,这两套地层间没有联系 ,不应当归为同一岩石地层单位。因此 ,布尔津     

New Discoveries of “Opposum-Like” Marsupials from Antarctica (Seymour Island, Medial Eocene)

Five new species of marsupials are described from the middle Eocene La Meseta Formation of Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Three are derorhynchid didelphimorphians; one species is a prepidolopid polydolopimorphian, and the last is a microbiotheriid australidelphian. Additionally, fragmentary specimens representing an indetermined derorhynchid and a possible marsupial are also described. The prepidolopid and one of the derorhynchids are sufficiently derived as to preclude any close relationship to other members of that family, but the remaining taxa show the closest affinity with species otherwise known only from Itaboraian and older faunas in Patagonia. This differs from the affinity to early Eocene (Casamayoran) taxa shown by the polydolopid marsupials and placental mammals previously known from the La Meseta Formation. The newly described marsupials indicate that the relict La Meseta Fauna is composed of forms that must have dispersed to Antarctica no later than about early late Paleocene, whereas the previously known taxa apparently arrived in the early Eocene. Ecologically, the La Meseta Fauna is composed mostly of small-sized marsupials of likely insectivorous to frugivorous habits and larger-sized placental herbivores. Whereas the ratite bird of the La Meseta Fauna was probably also herbivorous, the phorusrhachoid and falconid birds comprised a large and smaller carnivorous to possibly scavenging component, respectively. Compared to contemporary faunas of Patagonia, the medium- to large-sized marsupial carnivores are lacking in the Antarctic Peninsula. Nevertheless, the La Meseta Fauna is Patagonian in origin and affinity. In conjunction with new faunas of Itaboraian age (early late Paleocene) in Patagonia, the evidence available indicates that from at least Itaboraian time onward the land mammal fauna of Patagonia and northern South America, as well, is a self-contained unit, developing the diversity characteristic of the Paleogene in that continent, including the australidelphian (but South American) microbiotheres. This, in combination with the apparent separation of Australia from Antarctica at ca. 64 Ma, reinforces interpretations that the precursors of the Australian marsupial fauna most likely dispersed from South America to Australia in the late Cretaceous–early Paleocene.     

日本九州西部赤崎组和中甑组始新世哺乳动物:初步结果及其与亚洲陆相哺乳动物分期的对比(英文)

日本已知时代最早的古近纪哺乳动物化石产自九州西部熊本县天草(Amakusa)地区始新世地层赤崎(Akasaki)组以及鹿儿岛县甑岛(Koshiki Islands)相当层位的中甑(Nakakoshiki)组。初步研究显示这两个组产出的哺乳动物分异度较高,包括9个目的至少18种动物。赤崎动物群有3种trogosine裂齿类、2种冠齿兽科全齿类、1种等脊貘科奇蹄类、2种dichobunoid偶蹄类、1种下齿兽科踝节类、1种西瓦兔猴科灵长类、1种未定食虫类以及2种可能的梳趾鼠类。中甑动物群包括1种冠齿兽科全齿类、2种小型雷兽科奇蹄类、1种高冠的下齿兽科踝节类、2种啮齿类和1种细齿兽科食肉类。这两个日本哺乳动物组合很接近早-中始新世界线。由于出现了trogosine裂齿类和雷兽,它们的时代要晚于伯姆巴动物群,极有可能与亚洲大陆阿山头期哺乳动物群相当。这两个动物群还包含了在亚洲大陆没有发现过的几个新种,并具有独特的哺乳动物组合。     

拉萨地区林周盆地设兴组上部(古近系)年代研究的新进展及意义

拉萨地区林周盆地典中那玛剖面设兴组上部新发现的孢粉组合以落叶、阔叶植物为主体,主要为桦科的Alnipollenites,Betulaepollenites,Carpiniptes,山毛榉科的Quercoidites,胡桃科的Juglanspollenites,榆科的Ulmipollenites,椴科的Tiliapollenites等,孢粉化石多为古近纪常见分子,未发现白垩纪的特征分子。古近纪早期大量出现的三孔沟,网面三孔沟等花粉少量出现;孢粉组合更接近于古近纪中晚期的面貌,其时代可能属于晚始新世。因此,设兴组上部的年代可能是始新世晚期。由此推论,设兴组和林子宗群之间的角度不整合不能代表白垩纪古近纪之间的构造运动,而是代表始新世晚期后的构造运动。同时,林周盆地可能沉积有古近纪的河湖相地层。     

The Early Origin of the Antarctic Marine Fauna and Its Evolutionary Implications

The extensive Late Cretaceous – Early Paleogene sedimentary succession of Seymour Island, N.E. Antarctic Peninsula offers an unparalleled opportunity to examine the evolutionary origins of a modern polar marine fauna. Some 38 modern Southern Ocean molluscan genera (26 gastropods and 12 bivalves), representing approximately 18% of the total modern benthic molluscan fauna, can now be traced back through at least part of this sequence. As noted elsewhere in the world, the balance of the molluscan fauna changes sharply across the Cretaceous – Paleogene (K/Pg) boundary, with gastropods subsequently becoming more diverse than bivalves. A major reason for this is a significant radiation of the Neogastropoda, which today forms one of the most diverse clades in the sea. Buccinoidea is the dominant neogastropod superfamily in both the Paleocene Sobral Formation (SF) (56% of neogastropod genera) and Early - Middle Eocene La Meseta Formation (LMF) (47%), with the Conoidea (25%) being prominent for the first time in the latter. This radiation of Neogastropoda is linked to a significant pulse of global warming that reached at least 65°S, and terminates abruptly in the upper LMF in an extinction event that most likely heralds the onset of global cooling. It is also possible that the marked Early Paleogene expansion of neogastropods in Antarctica is in part due to a global increase in rates of origination following the K/Pg mass extinction event. The radiation of this and other clades at ∼65°S indicates that Antarctica was not necessarily an evolutionary refugium, or sink, in the Early – Middle Eocene. Evolutionary source – sink dynamics may have been significantly different between the Paleogene greenhouse and Neogene icehouse worlds.     

New macrostomatan snake from the Paleogene of northwestern Argentina

The lower Eocene Lumbrera Formation in Salta province, northwestern Argentina, outstands for providing snake remains from a non-Patagonian Paleogene site. The material consists of articulated precloacal vertebrae that represent a new medium-sized macrostomatan snake, namely Amaru scagliai nov. gen., nov. sp. The vertebral characters of Amaru scagliai nov. gen., nov. sp., suggest affinities with advanced clades, which is consistent with the recognition of derived macrostomatans in the early Paleocene of Bolivia and early Eocene of Brazil. The new snake confirms the presence of macrostomatan snakes in South America as early as the Eocene and suggests that the southern continents may have played an unsuspected role in the origin and evolution of advanced macrostomatans during the earliest Cenozoic.     

First Record of Eocene Bony Fishes and Crocodyliforms from Canada’s Western Arctic

Background

Discovery of Eocene non-marine vertebrates, including crocodylians, turtles, bony fishes, and mammals in Canada’s High Arctic was a critical paleontological contribution of the last century because it indicated that this region of the Arctic had been mild, temperate, and ice-free during the early – middle Eocene (∼53–50 Ma), despite being well above the Arctic Circle. To date, these discoveries have been restricted to Canada’s easternmost Arctic – Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands (Nunavut). Although temporally correlative strata crop out over 1,000 km west, on Canada’s westernmost Arctic Island – Banks Island, Northwest Territories – they have been interpreted as predominantly marine. We document the first Eocene bony fish and crocodyliform fossils from Banks Island.

Principal Findings

We describe fossils of bony fishes, including lepisosteid (Atractosteus), esocid (pike), and amiid, and a crocodyliform, from lower – middle Eocene strata of the Cyclic Member, Eureka Sound Formation within Aulavik National Park (∼76°N. paleolat.). Palynology suggests the sediments are late early to middle Eocene in age, and likely spanned the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO).

Conclusions/Significance

These fossils extend the geographic range of Eocene Arctic lepisosteids, esocids, amiids, and crocodyliforms west by approximately 40° of longitude or ∼1100 km. The low diversity bony fish fauna, at least at the family level, is essentially identical on Ellesmere and Banks Islands, suggesting a pan-High Arctic bony fish fauna of relatively basal groups around the margin of the Eocene Arctic Ocean. From a paleoclimatic perspective, presence of a crocodyliform, gar and amiid fishes on northern Banks provides further evidence that mild, year-round temperatures extended across the Canadian Arctic during early – middle Eocene time. Additionally, the Banks Island crocodyliform is consistent with the phylogenetic hypothesis of a Paleogene divergence time between the two extant alligatorid lineages Alligator mississippiensis and A. sinensis, and high-latitude dispersal across Beringia.     

First record of a tarsometatarsus of Tonsala hildegardae (Plotopteridae) and other avian remains from the late Eocene/early Oligocene of Washington State (USA)

New bird fossils from the late Eocene/early Oligocene Makah Formation and the Oligocene Pysht Formation on the Olympic Peninsula (Washington State, USA) are described. A partial skeleton from the Pysht Formation includes the first reported tarsometatarsus of Tonsala hildegardae Olson, 1980, a wing-propelled diving bird of the taxon Plotopteridae. It shows that Tonsala had a tarsometatarsus that was morphologically intermediate between that of the late Eocene Phocavis and more derived plotopterids. We introduce the new taxon Tonsalinae nov. subfam. for a clade including all named plotopterids except Phocavis, Plotopterum, and the recently described Stemec. We furthermore describe a partial plotopterid pelvis and a sternum from the Makah Formation. The sternum shows a close resemblance to that of extant Phalacrocoracoidea (cormorants and darters) and may be the earliest North American record of this taxon.     

Middle–Late Permian tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation,Southern Brazil: a biostratigraphic reassessment

Dias‐da‐Silva, S. 2011: Middle–Late Permian tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation, Southern Brazil: a biostratigraphic reassessment. Lethaia, Vol. 45, pp. 109–120. The Rio do Rasto Formation (Permian of Southern Brazil) was previously regarded as Guadalupian–early Lopingian age. Three tetrapod‐based localities are known: the Serra do Cadeado area, Aceguá and Posto Queimado. The latest tetrapod‐based biostratigraphic contribution considers that the Posto Queimado and Aceguá faunas are coeval and Wordian (middle Guadalupian) in age, correlated to the Isheevo faunas from Eastern Europe and to the Tapinocephalus Assemblage Zone of South Africa; whereas the Serra do Cadeado fauna is Capitanian (late Guadalupian), correlated to the Kotelnich fauna of Eastern Europe and, from bottom to top, to upper Pristerognathus, Tropidostoma and lower Cistecephalus assemblage zones of South Africa. A re‐evaluation of the tetrapods from the Rio do Rasto Formation and new fossil discoveries in the localities of Posto Queimado and Serra do Cadeado area (melosaurine and platyoposaurine temnospondyls, a basal anomodont, a dinocephalian and a basal dicynodont) supports a new tetrapod‐based biostratigraphic scheme for the Rio do Rasto Formation. Accordingly, the age of the fauna at Aceguá is late Roadian‐early Wordian, whereas the locality of Posto Queimado is late Wordian‐Capitanian. The Serra do Cadeado Area is correlated with both southernmost ones (Guadalupian) but also Wuchiapinghian (early Lopingian). □Paraná Basin, Passa Dois Group, tetrapod biostratigraphy, Western Gondwana.     

DISCOVERY OF TWO MID-TERTIARY MAMMALIAN FAUNAS FROM HAIYUAN, NINGXIA, CHINA

Inl988-199otheRegionalGeologicalSurveyTeamoftheGeologicalBureauofNingxia(RGSN)foundsomefossilmammalsinthelowerpartoftheHo11g1iugouFormationandtheupperpartoftheOligocene.Inl992ajointteamoflnstituteofVertebratePaleontologyandPaleoanthropo1ogy,AcademiaSinica(IVPP),andtheRGSNwenttoHaiyuailCountyandcollectedmorefossilmamma1sfromtheYuanjia-wowoareausi11gascreen-washingmethodThemammalfaunafromthelowerpartoftheHongliugouFormationiscomposedofAprotodonsp.,Indricotheriidaeindet.,Rhinoceroti…     

新疆玛纳斯古近纪—新的鲤科鱼类

记述了新疆玛纳斯古近纪安集海河组发现的鲤科(Cyprinidae)一新属、种——刘氏天山鱼(Tianshanicus liui gen.et sp.nov.)。新属具有臀鳍分叉鳍条多于7根、体长形稍侧扁、口端位、下咽齿近锥形而齿尖前后略侧扁、背鳍和臀鳍均无硬棘、背鳍起点略在腹鳍起点之后以及尾鳍深分叉等特征,表明它应属于雅罗鱼亚科(Leuciscinae sensu Cavender & Coburn,1992)。然而,它又具有额骨前宽后窄、顶骨长方形、膜质蝶耳骨很大、齿骨冠状突较低、鳃盖骨近长方形等特征而有别于本亚科中其他属。值得注意的是,这些特征却见诸于现生的胭脂鱼类Myxocyprinus中,这将对研究雅罗鱼类的起源很有意义。根据鱼化石和哺乳化石的证据,认为含鱼层的时代为晚始新世。     

An assemblage of early Oligocene lizards (Squamata) from the locality of Boutersem (Belgium), with comments on the Eocene–Oligocene transition

A diverse, new lizard assemblage from the early Oligocene of Belgium is described. The Boutersem railway local fauna is the most species‐rich lizard assemblage yet reported from the European early Oligocene. Four lizard taxa are present: Lacertidae, Anguidae, Scincoidea and Platynota. One new species is described, Folisaurus boutersemensis sp. nov . This fauna provides new insight into the profound turnover that took place during the Eocene/Oligocene boundary in Europe. The new fauna confirms a marked decrease in diversity across the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. Two groups encountered in the European late Eocene became extinct (Iguanidae*, Glyptosaurinae). Estimates of species‐level extinctions range up to 80%. These estimates include members of virtually all the families present in the late Eocene. The relative importance of climate change and biotic interactions in controlling this pattern is discussed, and negative interactions between lizards and new carnivorous mammals are favoured. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 155 , 148–170.     

New chondrichthyan fauna from the Palaeogene deposits of Barmer district,Rajasthan, western India: Age,palaeoenvironment and intercontinental affinities

Field investigations of the Palaeogene sections exposed in Barmer district, Rajasthan (India) led to the discovery of a new fossiliferous horizon in the Padma Rao Open Cast Bentonitic Clay Quarry. The bentonitic clay sequence of this quarry is considered as representing the upper part of the shale, carbonaceous shale, lignite and bentonitic clay succession of the Akli Formation exposed in the Giral Lignite Mine, 2.5 km to its north. Screen-washing of the sediments from a fossiliferous level within the bentonitic clay of the new site has yielded nine taxa of sharks and batoids: Squatiscyllium nigeriensis White, 1934, Ginglymostoma sokotoense White, 1934, Ginglymostomatidae gen. et sp. indet., Brachycarcharias sp., Abdounia recticona Winkler, 1873, Premontreia (Oxyscyllium) peypouqueti Noubhani et Cappetta, 1997, Eotorpedo hilgendorfi Jaekel, 1904, Coupatezia sp. cf. C. danica, and Myliobatidae gen. et sp. indet. The fauna recovered is mainly represented by nearshore shallow marine forms. This fauna is quite different from that of Palaeocene Fatehgarh Formation, the Lower Eocene Kapurdi Formation (Barmer Basin), the Khuiala Formation (Jaisalmer Basin) and the Cambay Shale (Cambay Basin), and favours a late Palaeocene (Thanetian) age for the upper part of the Akli Formation. A nearshore shallow marine palaeoenvironment is favored for the investigated stratigraphic horizon on the basis of the selachian fauna. Majority of the fossil shark species described from the Padma Rao quarry section are known from a number of sites in Africa, western Europe, Asia and southeastern USA, suggesting that free faunal interchanges were possible between the western Tethys and Indo-Madagascan faunal provinces during the late Palaeocene.     

Ecology,Systematics and Biogeographical Relationships of Dinosaurs,Including a New Theropod,from the Santana Formation (?Albian,Early Cretaceous) of Brazil

Although rare, dinosaurs are well preserved in calcareous nodules of the Santana Formation (Early Cretaceous, ?Albian) of the Araripe Basin, in northeastern Brazil. So far, including only a spinosauroid and three coelurosaurs, the dinosaur fauna appears depauperate. High theropod diversity in assemblages where other dinosaurs are rare or absent is not unique to the Santana Formation. It is seen also in several other assemblages, including Solnhofen and the Maevarano Formation of Madagascar. We consider several factors, including the occurrence of intraguild predation, the possibility that small theropods could subsist in marginal environments, and reliance on coastal resources, that may have been responsible for this apparent ecological imbalance. A new coelurosaur from the Santana Formation, here formally named Mirischia asymmetrica, is shown to be distinct from Santanaraptor placidus [Kellner, A.W.A. () “Short note on a new dinosaur (Theropoda, Coelurosauria) from the Santana Formation (Romualdo Member, Albian) northeastern Brazil”, Boletim do Museu Nacional, Nova Serie, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil 49, 1–8]. Other theropods from the Santana Formation are briefly reviewed. Mirischia is a compsognathid, more similar to the European Compsognathus than to the Asian Sinosauropteryx.     

First record of non-marine ostracods from the Paleogene “hamadian deposits” of Méridja area,west of Bechar (southwestern Algeria)

A new non-marine ostracod fauna from the Paleogene “hamadian deposits” outcropping west of Bechar (southwestern Algeria) has been recovered from lacustrine to fluvial deposits of the Oued Méridja section and fluvial deposits on the southern edge of the Hamada de Méridja section. Recently, these sections have been dated as late Thanetian – early Ypresian (latest Paleocene to earliest Eocene) and Ypresian – earliest Lutetian (early to earliest middle Eocene), respectively, based on charophytes. The associated ostracod fauna recovered consists of relatively mostly moderately to badly preserved specimens and comprises 14 taxa, none of which could be identified to species level in view of its poor state of preservation; we have nevertheless been able to identify and describe the following taxa: Herpetocypris sp., Cyprinotus? sp., Heterocypris? sp. 1 and sp. 2, Cypris? sp., Ilyocypris sp., Cytheroidea indet. sp. 1 and sp. 2, Limnocytheridae indet. sp. 1, Cypridoidea indet. sp. 1, Cyprididae indet. sp. 1, and Ostracoda indet. sp. 1, 2 and 3. Only Heterocypris sp. 1 occurs in both sections. Although the fauna can as yet not be related to the few other contemporaneous faunas reported from the wider palaeogeographic area, it adds important new information to our poor knowledge on Eocene non-marine ostracods in North Africa and southern Europe. The Méridja sections and area are promising regarding the discovery of more, better preserved material and further studies, and one main limitation to the correlation of the fauna is the hitherto insufficient taxonomic knowledge on many faunal elements of Eocene non-marine ostracods to which our section contributes considerably.     

Palynoflora of the Liushagang formation (Eocene-Early Oligocene) in the northern part of South China Sea

In the northern part of South China Sea, including Tonkin Gulf, Hainan lsland, Leizhon Peninsula and some basin of Guangdong Province, Paleogene deposits are composed of three formations: the Weizhon, the Liushagang and the Changliu formations arranged in descending order. The paper on the palynoflora of the Weizhon Formation (early and middle Oligocene) is in press^[2]. This paper deals only with the palynoflora of the Liushagang Formation, with may be divided into four main stages: The first stage is represented by Monocolpollenites tranquillus and Crassoretitriletes sp., assigned to early Eocene The second stage is characterized by Salixipollenites, Momipites triletipollenites and Operculumpollis. Its age is middle Eocene. The third stage is dominated by some species of Quercoidites and Ulmipollenites and also characterized by the presence of Platycaryapollenites and Prominangularia dogyingensis, This sporo-pollen assemblage suggests a late Eocene in age. The fouth stage is marked by profusion of some alga of brockish water, such as Rugasphera corrugia, Granodiscus gronulatus and some pollen types of Liquidambarpollenites minutus, Multiporopollenites puctatus and Tricolporopollenites minutus. The age of the last stage is assigned to early oliocene. In generaly, the palynoflora of the Liushagang Formation is quite different from that of the Weizhou Formation. The main types of spores and pollen are common with those found in Europe and North America of the same age, while the Weizhou Formation has many elements common both in this region and Borneo. During Eocene and early Oligocene this area was of continental phase with brackish basins. At the beginning the climate was rather moist and hot, but then itbecame moist and warmtemperate.     

河南潭头、卢氏和灵宝盆地上白垩统一下第三系的划分

在这篇短文中,根据脊椎动物化石的发现,进一步叙述和讨论了豫西潭头、灵宝和卢氏三个盆地的中、新生代地层的划分问题。在这三个盆地的中、新生代堆积物中,属于晚白垩世的有潭头盆地秋扒组和灵宝盆地的南朝组,后一个盆地还可能存在着时代更早的白垩纪地层。在潭头盆地的高峪沟组和大章组中分别找到中古新世的阶齿兽、中兽科和晚古新世的牧兽科、假古猬科化石;在潭头组中发现原恐角兽类和古脊齿兽类化石,时代为早始新世。在灵宝盆地的项城群中尚未找到哺乳类化石,可能包括古新世和始新世早中期的堆积。卢氏盆地的卢氏组和锄钩峪组以及灵宝盆地的川口组和浑水河组的时代为晚始新世。卢氏组下部和川口组或许可延至中始新世。