Dramatic warming and upheaval of the carbon system at the end of the Paleocene Epoch have been linked to massive dissociation of sedimentary methane hydrate. However, testing the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum hydrate dissociation hypothesis has been hindered by the inability of available proxy records to resolve the initial sequence of events. The cause of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximu...

The evolutionary history and classification of epiphyllous cryptogams are still poorly known. Leptolejeunea is a largely epiphyllous pantropical liverwort genus with about 25 species characterized by deeply bilobed underleaves, elliptic to narrowly obovate leaf lobes, the presence of ocelli, and vegetative reproduction by cladia. Sequences of three chloroplast regions (rbcL, trnL-F, psbA) and t...

Cambay amber originates from the warmest period of the Eocene, which is also well known for the appearance of early angiosperm-dominated megathermal forests. The humid climate of these forests may have triggered the evolution of epiphytic lineages of bryophytes; however, early Eocene fossils of bryophytes are rare. Here, we present evidence for lejeuneoid liverworts and pleurocarpous mosses in ...

Early Eocene land bridges allowed numerous plant and animal species to cross between Europe and North America via the Arctic. While many species suited to prevailing cool Arctic climates would have been able to cross throughout much of this period, others would have found dispersal opportunities only during limited intervals when their requirements for higher temperatures were met. Here, we pre...

Nannoplankton studies of the Transylvanian Turnu Roșu section, based on presence Reticulofenestra umbilicus, R. bisecta, lockeri, Helicosphaera compacta and Sphenolithus spiniger refer to Bartonian (middle Eocene) age. Th e brachiopod assemblage contains four species. is dominated by Gryphus kickxii, one most common species European Eocene. other three taxa are very rare (1–1 specimen). Terebra...

In this paper a new species of fossil ground-beetle, Calathus elpis n. sp. (Coleoptera, Carabidae) preserved in a piece of Baltic amber (Eocene) is described. A comparison with extant fauna is made, and paleobiology of the species is studied.

The Fayum Depression of Egypt has yielded fossils of hystricognathous rodents from multiple Eocene and Oligocene horizons that range in age from ∼37 to ∼30 Ma and document several phases in the early evolution of crown Hystricognathi and one of its major subclades, Phiomorpha. Here we describe two new genera and species of basal phiomorphs, Birkamys korai and Mubhammys vadumensis, based on rost...

The first diagnostic fossils of an oilbird (Steatornithidae : Caprimulgiformes), two nearly complete skeletons, are described as a new genus and species from the early Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming. The fossil form is smaller than the living Oilbird (Steatomis caripensis) but had the characteristically shortened tarsometatarsus and distinctive mandibular morphology. The sternum and pe...

UNLABELLED • PREMISE OF THE STUDY Globally, the origins of xeromorphic traits in modern angiosperm lineages are obscure but are thought to be linked to the early Neogene onset of seasonally arid climates. Stomatal encryption is a xeromorphic trait that is prominent in Banksia, an archetypal genus centered in one of the world's most diverse ecosystems, the ancient infertile landscape of Medite...

For nearly 100 million years, the India subcontinent drifted from Gondwana until its collision with Asia some 50 Ma, during which time the landmass presumably evolved a highly endemic biota. Recent excavations of rich outcrops of 50-52-million-year-old amber with diverse inclusions from the Cambay Shale of Gujarat, western India address this issue. Cambay amber occurs in lignitic and muddy sedi...