0000000000636934
AUTHOR
Raymond L. Bernor
The mammalian geochronology and biogeography of Paşalar (Middle Miocene, Turkey)
Abstract The Pasalar fauna includes 56 mammalian species of European. Asian, African and North American origin. Evidence provided on the stage-of-evolution of the primates Sivapithecus darwini and cf. Kenyapithecus, the rodent Turkomys pasalarensis, insectivores, carnivores, rhinos, suids and ruminants suggests that Pasalar is correlative with the Late Langhian marine stage and European Mammal Neogene Zone 6., circa 15 Ma (million years ago). A review of the Pasalar fauna's biogeographic history suggests that it was aggregated by a succession of pulsed intercontinental geographic extensions tied to global sea-level lowering events during the earlier half of the Miocene.
Patterns of Old World Hipparionine Evolutionary Diversification and Biogeographic Extension
Hipparionine horses have long been united evolutionarily by the presence of three toes per digit, having high crowned cheek teeth with cement, and isolated proto-cones on upper cheek teeth (Christol, 1832). Geochronologically they have further been recognized as the preeminent large mammal “index” fossils for late Neogene Old World deposits. Their abundance in later Neogene mammal faunas has prompted the production of a staggering body of systematic and interpretive literature during the last 150 years. In the last 40 years there has been an increasing number of attempts to reorganize parts of Old World hipparionine systematics by regional studies of variable scope including Europe in gener…