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This chapter analyzes the existing stages/ages in the Chinese Neogene in relation to the current widely adopted approaches in terrestrial stratigraphy (Neogene Mammal unit [MN] and North American Land Mammal Age [NALMA]) and from the point of view of the International Stratigraphic Guides. More specifically, it discusses the principles, methods, and working procedures used for the establishment of Chinese stages/ages in the past. It also examines some issues in Neogene land mammal stratigraphy, with particular emphasis on the use of terrestrial mammal fossils vs. marine microfossils as tools of stratigraphic subdivision, and the zoogeographic division of Chinese Neogene land mammals. The chapter proposes a new Neogene chronostratigraphic framework that it deems to be more consistent with the reality of the state of research and conditions in China, to be used as a foundation for the establishment of a formal Chinese Regional Land Mammal Stage/Age system.

This chapter reviews works surrounding the Chinese land mammal age (CLMA), with particular focus on the stratigraphic data from the Xiejia locality and Junggar Basin. It considers the possibilities that the Xiejia fauna may represent a subunit of the Late Oligocene Tabenbulukian and that a new biochronologic unit, the Suosuoquanian, may be used to replace the Xiejian. Based on the assumption that the Xiejian remains as a valid and improvable land mammal age of China, the chapter proposes a single-point base definition for it, following the general format for defining a Global Stratotype Section and Point. It shows that detailed stratigraphic data are useful for rigorously constructing, defining, and characterizing a land mammal age as indicator of a chronostratigraphic unit in the standard of the International Stratigraphic Guides. A robust CLMA system better reflects the regional evolutionary history of land mammals and provides a well-defined and more accurate biochronology for studies of geohistory in the terrestrial record of the region.

This book presents a mammalian biostratigraphic framework that provides a global picture of mammalian evolution in Asia in a refined chronological context. Using cutting-edge biostratigraphic and geochemical dating methods, it traces the emergence of Asian land mammals across the late Cenozoic (Neogene) period. The book is based on the “Neogene terrestrial mammalian biostratigraphy and chronology in Asia—a workshop and symposium toward the establishment of a continent-wide stratigraphic and chronologic framework,” convened at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology on June 8–10, 2009, in Beijing and a follow-up workshop the following year in Los Angeles. Drawing on evidence from the spatial distribution of mammal fossils, the book describes the geologic conditions that profoundly influenced the evolution of Asian mammals and their migration into Europe, Africa, and North America. By bringing together state-of-the-art Asian biostratigraphy and geochronology with the widest representation possible, it elucidates the histories and movements of extinct and extant mammals from various major groups and all northern continents, while providing geologists with a richer understanding of a variety of Asian terrains.

This chapter proposes a methodology for the establishment of the North China mammalian record as the nucleus of a regional Chinese Neogene biochronology, supported by local examples having stratigraphic successions of proven or potential utility in this regard. The Neogene record of fossil land mammals in China is both temporally extensive and representative as well as geographically diverse. Based on this fact, the chapter argues that Neogene chronologic analysis in China will be best served when an endemic standard is developed that is independent of other biochronologic systems. Focusing on the fossil record in North China, a region coextensive with the past and present distribution of myospalacine and certain microtine rodents, it introduces a revised Chinese Neogene mammal biochronology. A well-developed late Neogene Chinese chronostratigraphy will provide a stable chronologic framework from which to illustrate faunal interrelationships with other areas and enhance our understanding of paleozoogeographic and evolutionary patterns across Holarctica in the Neogene.

This chapter discusses the structure and function of the auditory system in aquatic mammals. It also examines the evolutionary changes of the ear and presents a comparative analysis of hearing in several species of mammals. It begins with a description of the basic features of the auditory system of land mammals, and moves on to the mechanisms of airborne sound transmission and bone conduction. It then describes Fleischer's classification of ears found in land mammals. Finally, it discusses mammalian aquatic ear types and the mechanisms of underwater hearing.

This chapter characterizes the Miocene land mammals and stratigraphy of Japan. It compiles all the Miocene terrestrial mammals in Japan biostratigraphically and biochronologically with correlations to European and Chinese land mammal zonations. It first describes terrestrial mammals from and geologic age of Mizunami Group, Gifu Prefecture, including rhinocerotids, tapirids, and equids from the Kani Basin; tapirids from the Mizunami Basin; Gomphotherium and cervoids from the Mizunami Group; and small mammals from the Kani and Mizunami Basins. It also looks at small mammals from the Nojima Group, Nagasaki Prefecture and proboscideans from the Sendai Area, Miyagi Prefecture. Correlations with marine microfossil biostratigraphy (planktonic foraminifera, radiolarians, calcareous nannoplankton, diatoms, etc.), several fission-track and K-Ar dates as well as paleomagnetic studies support fairly precise correlations with absolute age, and hence European and Chinese mammal ages. Among those poor records, the fauna of the Mizunami Group is fairly diversified.

This chapter investigates the Neogene faunal succession and biochronology of central Nei Mongol in Inner Mongolia. Neogene land mammals in the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region (or Chinese Inner Mongolia) are among the earliest in Asia described by pioneering explorers in the beginning of the twentieth century. Not surprisingly, vertebrate paleontology in Nei Mongol played some of the key roles in the establishment of a continental biochronological record in Asia. In addition to reviewing the main framework of Neogene mammal faunal succession in central Nei Mongol based on current studies, this chapter updates the biochronologic definition and characterization of faunas in the region through the analysis of assemblages. It also integrates the faunal evidence with isotopic ages and magnetostratigraphy.

This chapter investigates the biostratigraphy and chronology of the Neogene land mammals of Greece. One of the first discovered Greek Neogene mammal localities is Pikermi (Attica, near Athens) found in 1835; its fauna is very rich and includes several new taxa, found subsequently in Eurasia and Africa. During the end of the nineteenth century, the mammal localities of Samos found by Forsyth Major yielded a great amount of fossils housed in various museums and institutes. The latest Pliocene mammal localities found in northern Greece also provided rich collections of fossils. This chapter begins with an overview of the early, middle, and late Miocene mammal localities of Greece before proceeding with a discussion of the end of the Miocene in the country. It then describes Pliocene fauna in Greece including micromammals, along with the faunal composition of the Greek Neogene mammal localities. It also analyzes the stratigraphic distribution of the Greek Neogene mammal taxa.

This chapter analyzes the faunas found in early Miocene Xiejiahe and Sihong fossil localities in eastern China. Most of the fossil mammals from the Shanwang Basin and Sihong region appear in the early and middle Miocene of Europe, suggesting widespread mammalian dispersals between Europe and Asia during the early Neogene and providing a foundation for correlation between faunas of these two continents. After a brief overview of the localities, the chapter proposes a new name, Xiejiahe Fauna, for Shanwang Fauna in order to avoid confusion with the nomenclature of ages (stages) and to allow room for naming new faunas in surrounding regions. It also describes the biochronology of the Xiejiahe Fauna and Sihong Fauna. Within these two faunas, most of the families of small land mammals originated before the Miocene, but most of the genera appear only in the Miocene.

This chapter reviews studies of the lithography, biostratigraphy, and chronostratigraphy in the Nihewan Basin, Hebei, China since the 1920s when vertebrate fossils first were found. Cenozoic sediments in the area constitute four general groups: early Pliocene red beds (Shixia Formation); late Pliocene reddish and dark-colored fluviolacustrine and palustrine sandy clay (Daodi Formation); Pleistocene gray-greenish or gray-yellowish fluviolacustrine sand, gravel, and clay (Nihewan Formation); and overlying loess. A section at Danangou serves as the stratotype of the Nihewan Formation for its well-developed Pleistocene strata with abundant fossil mammals. Based mainly on the small land mammals from the Danangou, Pulu, Donggou, and Laowogou sections, five assemblage zones from oldest to youngest can be recognized.

This chapter analyzes the mammalian biochronology of the late Miocene Bahe Formation in China. It first describes the lithostratigraphy and depositional environments in the Lantian region, followed by a discussion of fossil localities in the Bahe and Lantian formations. It then considers the lithologic profile of the Bahe Formation, plots old localities and new fossil localities in it, updates the faunal list, and calibrates the age of the main localities by paleomagnetic dating. It also discusses the concept of the Bahean age and tentatively proposes its resurrection. It shows that the late Neogene record of mammalian fossils unearthed from the sedimentary sequence in Lantian is among the most complete in China. On the basis of sedimentological observations and isotope composition, the chapter finds moderately stable and dry conditions for the Bahe Formation, in accord with land mammals adapted to relatively open and arid conditions. Fossil mammals reveal little evidence of faunal change in the Bahe Formation.

This chapter describes the Neogene mammalian biostratigraphy and geochronology of the Tibetan Plateau. The interior Tibetan Plateau features a unique assemblage of living land mammals, roughly fifty percent of which are endemic. The Himalaya Range and its lateral extensions form the most impenetrable zoogeographic barrier within a continent, as well as mark sharp climatic, environmental, and vegetational boundaries. Important questions arise concerning the timing and extent of mammalian evolution in response to the formation of the proto–Tibetan Plateau. In addition, there is a keen sense of urgency for a better understanding of faunal divergences between successive mammal faunas from the Siwaliks of Pakistan and north of the Himalaya. This chapter begins with a brief overview of Neogene vertebrate faunas and their chronology within and around the margins of the Tibetan Plateau before analyzing the faunal succession and magnetostratigraphy of the region.

This chapter examines the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Pliocene land mammals in Japan, along with their faunal and evolutionary implications. Pliocene land mammal fossils from Japan are rather poor in number and taxonomic diversity in comparison with those from China, but most of them occur in marine and fluvio-lacustrine sediments that are well studied stratigraphically and well dated by marine microfossils, magnetostratigraphy, and fission-track and tephrochronological methods. The chapter begins with an overview of fossil localities and chronology of Japan before turning to a discussion of the taxonomy of land mammal fossils from forty-one localities representing six orders: Primates, Lagomorpha, Carnivora, Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla.

This chapter presents new results for the biostratigraphy of Miocene land mammals of Central Mongolia (Valley of Lakes). The Valley of Lakes is well known for its basalt layers interfingered with Paleogene and Neogene sediments. It is among the best places in Mongolia where fossiliferous terrestrial sediments are associated with basalts. The Taatsiin Gol and Taatsiin Tsagaan Nur area comprises a sequence of terrestrial sediments that can be divided into the Gol and Loh formations. All Miocene small mammal fossils (biozones D to E) derive from sediments of the Loh Formation. The chapter begins with a description of the integrated Oligocene/Miocene stratigraphy from the Taatsiin Gol and Taatsiin Tsagaan Nuur area. It then analyzes Miocene deposits in the area, along with emended biostratigraphy and biochronology of informal biozones D to E.

This chapter describes the Late Miocene mammal localities of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, with particular emphasis on the biochronology of land mammals based on paleomagnetic data. Numerous localities of the “fauna of Hipparion” are known in the Northern Black Sea region (Ukraine, Moldova, Russia) and in the Transcaucasus (Georgia). They are associated with shallow marine deposits of the eastern Paratethys spanning the middle Sarmatian through Pontian regional stages, and with synchronous terrestrial formations. This chapter provides a synthesis of magnetostratigraphy-based correlations of large mammal localities from southern east Europe and the Transcaucasus with Neogene Mammal (MN) zones of central and western Europe, resulting in a correlation model of the studied mammal faunas of eastern Paratethys to MN zones of Western Europe and the characterization of Vallesian and Turolian faunas of Eastern Europe.

This chapter describes the stratigraphy and paleoecology of the classical “dragon bone” localities of Baode County, Shanxi Province, China. It begins with an overview of the geological setting of the Baode area, along with its vertebrate paleontology and land mammals, sedimentary characteristics and lithostratigraphy, and magnetostratigraphy. It then synthesizes information on lithostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy, and barometric measurements to relocate the old localities and to build a framework for resolving the time-space conflict in the understanding of the Baodean faunas. As a result, the stratigraphic position of the fossils from Baode area has been resolved. The apparent conflict between spatial and temporal explanations of the paleoecology of Late Miocene faunas of North China is resolved by uniting them in a spatiotemporal scenario.

This chapter describes the Late Cenozoic biostratigraphy of the Linxia Basin in northwestern China. The Linxia Basin harbors a variety of Late Cenozoic fossils of different plants and animals as well as land mammals. Reptiles are represented mainly by a great number of specimens of Testudo from the late Miocene red clay deposits, which is an important member of the Hipparion fauna. After sketching the geological setting, magnetostratigraphy, and biochronology of the Linxia Basin, the chapter analyzes the abundant mammalian fossils from the Linxia Basin, with particular emphasis on their exact localities and horizons. By doing so, it is able to update the faunal lists from specific localities, establish lithological and biostratigraphic criteria for correlation, and conduct paleomagnetic studies of key sections of the area.

This chapter focuses on the mammalian Neogene biostratigraphy of the Sulaiman Province in Pakistan. The Sulaiman Range, a north–south-trending band of rugged mountains rising 1000–3400 meters above sea level, bears Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks that are primarily marine and accumulated in the Tethys Sea in what is now the Indus Basin. The east side of the Sulaiman Range is of particular interest since a relatively thick, well-exposed mid-Cenozoic sequence registers the transition from marine shelf to terrestrial deposition episodes related to the uplift and erosion of the orogenic Himalayan highlands and the related closure of the Tethys Sea. This chapter describes the stratigraphic and historical context of the Sulaiman Province and the land mammals from the Upper Member of the Chitarwata Formation (earliest Miocene), Vihowa Formation (late early to middle Miocene), and Litra Formation (late Miocene). It also examines Neogene faunal succession in the Sulaiman Province and biostratigraphical correlation between the Bugti and Zinda Pir areas.

This chapter describes the Late Cenozoic mammal faunas of the Baikalian region, located in the middle of the continental interior of Asia. The Baikalian region includes two areas: Prebaikalia to the west and Transbaikalia to the east of Lake Baikal. Comparative analysis of the assemblages from Transbaikalia and Prebaikalia (including Olkhon Island) reveals that the faunas included a number of taxa in common with central Asia and Europe, suggesting significant interchange of European and Asian elements during the Miocene and continuing through the Early Pliocene, when the paleoenvironmental conditions of northern Eurasia were favorable to the wide distribution of land mammals. The species composition of small mammals in western Prebaikalia and eastern Transbaikalia remained mostly similar during the Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. Tectonic movements and intensive orogenic processes led to the development of the Lake Baikal Depression, which separated Prebaikalia and Transbaikalia.