A nearly complete dentary with preserved i2, p3 and m1 of a relatively large soricomorph from the Dota locality, Kani Basin, Early Miocene (ca. 18.5 Ma), Nakamura Formation of the Mizunami Group in central Japan, is described as a new species of Plesiosorex. It represents the fi rst record of the genus in East Asia. Plesiosorex fejfari sp. nov. has a slender dentary, posteriorly elongated angul...

Balaenidae (right and bowhead whales) are a key group in understanding baleen whale evolution, because they are the oldest surviving lineage of crown Mysticeti, with a fossil record that dates back ∼20 million years. However, this record is mostly Pliocene and younger, with most of the Miocene history of the clade remaining practically unknown. The earliest recognized balaenid is the early Mioc...

Fourteen of the best sampled Oligo-Miocene local faunas from the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, north-western Queensland, Australia are analysed using classification and ordination techniques to identify potential mammalian palaeocommunities and palaeocommunity types. Abundance data for these faunas are used, for the first time, in conjunction with presence/absence data. An early Miocene Faun...

[1] We use paleomagnetic data from Tertiary volcanic rocks to address the rates and timing of vertical‐axis block rotations across the central Sierra Nevada‐Walker Lane transition in the Bodie Hills, California/Nevada. Samples from the Upper Miocene (∼9 Ma) Eureka Valley Tuff suggest clockwise vertical‐axis block rotations between NE‐striking left‐lateral faults in the Bridgeport and Mono Basin...

Ice-volume estimates for the early Miocene (23–16 Ma ATS) were determined by applying dO to sea-level calibrations to high-resolution dO records from ODP Sites 1090 and 1218. These calibrated records indicate that ice-volume ranged between 50% and 125% of the present day East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) during most of the early Miocene (23–17 Ma). Maximum icevolume occurred at each of the early ...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Fossilized seeds similar to Cissus (Vitaceae) have been recognized from the Miocene of Kenya, though some were previously assigned to the Menispermaceae. We undertook a comparative survey of extant African Cissus seeds to identify the fossils and consider their implications for the evolution and biogeography of Cissus and for African early Miocene paleoenvironments. METHO...

Nakali is an early Late Miocene fossil locality in north-central Kenya, where the Kenya– Japan Joint Expedition team has carried out fieldwork since 2002. Previously, a large hominoid Nakalipithecus nakayamai was reported from site NA39 of this locality. In addition to Nakalipithecus, the hominoid material collected from Nakali includes an isolated P3, which shows a considerably different morph...

Paleosols are an important tool in the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental interpretation of continental deposits and can provide a high-resolution proxy for paleoclimate. Results from geochemical climofunctions applied to Early Miocene strata exposed in the Ebro Basin, Spain, demonstrate that mean annual precipitation was the dominant control on paleosol type and indicate that the paleoclimat...

The Asian interior arid zone is the largest desert landform system in the Northern Hemisphere, and has high biodiversity. Little is currently known about the evolutionary history of its biota. In this study, we used Zygophyllum, an important and characteristic component of the Asian interior arid zone, to provide new insights into the evolution of this biota. By greatly enlarged taxon sampling,...

The status of Miocene ramamorphs has been the cause of continuous debate sine the early 19OOs. Both cladistic and molecular data has been applied to answer some of the questions that arise. However, both approaches present problems. A discussion of taxonomic nomenclature, cladistic and molecular data pertaining to middle to late Miocene ramamorphs, and six possible phyletic affinities are prese...