Upper Cenozoic bio-magnetic stratigraphy of Central Asian mammalian localities

Systematical and biochronological review of Plio-Pleistocene Alceini (Cervidae; Mammalia) from Eurasia

“…Although the fauna is said to come from two levels, it seems to represent a homogeneous Middle Villafranchian assemblage. Equus major, small Equus, Megalovis and Canis are, indeed, usually found in Middle Villafranchian faunas, such as Erpfingen 2, in Germany (Sotnikova, 1989;Forsten, 1998), Varshets and Slivnitsa, in Bulgaria (Spassov and Cre´gut-Bonnoure, 1999), Cornillet, in France (Biquand et al, 1990), Costa San Giacomo, in Italy (Palombo et al, 2000(Palombo et al, -2002 Kuruksay, in Tadzhikstan (Sotnikova et al, 1997;Forsten and Sharapov, 2000), Liventsovka m.l., in Russia (Forsten, 1998;Sotnikova et al, 2002). Moreover, Boeuf (1997) notes that the clayey recurrence in the slope deposits is not sufficient evidence for chronological gap of some importance between the two fossiliferous levels.…”

The Origin of Grass-Dominated Ecosystems

“…The great strength of the Siwalik record is its chronological control, made possible through magnetic polarity stratigraphy, allowing patterns of faunal change to be discerned in detail (Barry et al, 1982(Barry et al, , 1985(Barry et al, , 1990(Barry et al, , 1991(Barry et al, , 1995Flynn & Jacobs, 1982;Jacobs et al, 1989Jacobs et al, , 1990Barry & Flynn, 1989;Flynn et al, 1990;Flynn et al, 1995a;Jacobs & Downs, 1994; most recently reviewed by Barry, 1995). With few exceptions (e.g., Flynn et al, 1991;Flynn et al, 1995b;Sotnikova et al, 1997), other Asian faunas lack such precise age control.…”

<i>Mitilanotherium inexpectatum</i> (Giraffidae, Mammalia) de Huélago (Pleistoceno Inferior; Cuenca de Guadix-Baza, Granada, España) – observaciones acerca de una pauta biogegráfica peculiar

“…Apart from Mitilanotherium, the latest Palaeotraginae belong to the genus Palaeotragus and are from the Early and Middle Pliocene of Asia (Godina, 1979;Sotnikova et al, 1997;Vislobokova, 2008; Figure 5) and from the latest Miocene of Africa (Harris et al, 2010). Palaeotraginae became rare in the Pliocene, though there is a poor but continuous record in Asia, while in Africa there is a hyatus of a duration of 2 Ma or more ( Figure 5).…”

“…The ages of the North African localities were extensively discussed by Sahnouni & Van der Made (2009). The position of Esekartan is placed on paleomagnetism (Sotnikova et al 1997) and of Beregovaya on biostratigraphy (Vislobokova, 2008 to be browsers and save for the Sivatheriinae, they have relatively long legs, which give them access to food at heights that are not accessible to other ungulates. In arid environments, where drinking water and food are sparsely distributed, giraffids have an advantage over smaller ruminants.…”