BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Shallow-marine sediment records have the strong potential to display sensitive environmental changes in sedimentary geometries and skeletal content. However, the time resolution of most neritic carbonate records is not high enough to be compared with climatic events as recorded in the deep-sea sediment archives. In order to resolve the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic changes during the Oligocene-Miocene transition in the Mediterranean shallow water carbonate systems with the best possible time resolution, we re-evaluated the Decontra section on the Maiella Platform (central Apennines, Italy), which acts as a reference for the correlation of Oligocene-Miocene shallow water deposits in the Mediterranean region. The 120-m-thick late Oligocene-late Miocene carbonate succession is composed of larger foraminiferal, bryozoan and corallinacean limestones interlayered with distinct planktonic foraminiferal carbonates representing a mostly outer neritic setting. Integrated multi-proxy and facies analyses indicate that CaCO3 and total organic carbon contents as well as gamma-ray display only local to regional processes on the carbonate platform and are not suited for stratigraphic correlation on a wider scale. In contrast, new biostratigraphic data correlate the Decontra stable carbon isotope record to the global deep-sea carbon isotope record. This links relative sea level fluctuations, which are reflected by facies and magnetic susceptibility changes, to third-order eustatic cycles. The new integrated bio-, chemo-, and sequence stratigraphic framework enables a more precise timing of environmental changes within the studied time interval and identifies Decontra as an important locality for correlating not only shallow and deep water sediments of the Mediterranean region but also on a global scale.

背景与目标： ：浅海沉积物记录具有显示沉积几何形状和骨骼含量敏感的环境变化的强大潜力。但是，大多数含碳酸盐岩碳酸盐记录的时间分辨率不够高，无法与深海沉积物档案中记录的气候事件进行比较。为了解决地中海浅水碳酸盐系统渐新世-中新世过渡期的古海洋学和古气候变化，并尽可能以最佳的时间分辨率，我们重新评估了Maiella平台（意大利亚平宁山脉中部）的Decontra断面地中海地区渐新世-中新世浅水沉积物的相关性的参考。渐新世晚期中新世晚期碳酸盐岩层序为120米，由较大的有孔虫，苔藓虫和珊瑚虫灰岩夹杂，中间夹杂着明显的浮游有孔虫碳酸盐，这些碳酸盐岩主要代表外部胶体环境。综合的多代理和相分析表明，碳酸钙平台上的碳酸钙和总有机碳含量以及伽马射线仅显示局部或局部过程，不适用于更广泛的地层对比。相反，新的生物地层学数据将Decontra稳定碳同位素记录与全球深海碳同位素记录相关联。这将相对的海平面波动（由相和磁化率的变化反映出来）与三阶优旋周期联系起来。新的生物，化学和层序综合地层学框架能够在研究的时间间隔内更精确地确定环境变化的时间，并将Decontra视为重要的地区，不仅可以关联地中海地区的浅水和深水沉积物，而且还可以关联海底沉积物。世界规模。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Living baleen whales, or Mysticeti, lack teeth and instead feed using keratinous baleen plates to sieve prey-laden water. This feeding strategy is profoundly different from that of their toothed ancestors, which processed prey using the differentiated dentition characteristic of mammals. The fossil record of mysticetes reveals stem members that include extinct taxa with dentition, illuminating the morphological states that preceded the loss of teeth and the subsequent origin of baleen. The relationships among stem mysticetes, including putative clades such as Mammalodontidae and Aetiocetidae, remain debatable. Aetiocetids are among the more species-rich clade of stem mysticetes, and known only from fossil localities along the North Pacific coastline. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Salishicetus meadi gen. et sp. nov, from the late Oligocene of Washington State, USA. Salishicetus preserves a near-complete lower dentition with extensive occlusal wear, indicating that it processed prey using shearing cheek teeth in the same way as its stem cetacean ancestors. Using a matrix with all known species of aetiocetids, we recover a monophyletic Aetiocetidae, crownward of a basal clade of Mammalodontidae. The description of Salishicetus resolves phylogenetic relationships among aetiocetids, which provides a basis for reconstructing ancestral feeding morphology along the stem leading to crown Mysticeti.

背景与目标： ：活的须鲸或Mysticeti缺少牙齿，而是使用角蛋白须片筛分富含猎物的水来喂养。这种喂养策略与有齿祖先的饮食策略有很大不同，后者是利用哺乳动物的不同牙列特征来加工猎物的。神秘菌的化石记录揭示了包括已灭绝的具有牙列的分类单元的茎成员，阐明了牙齿脱落和随后的baleen起源之前的形态状态。菌丝体之间的关系仍然存在争议，包括推定的进化枝，如哺乳动物齿科（Ammalondondidae）和拟齿科（Aetiocetidae）。棘皮类动物是茎类密闭植物中物种较为丰富的进化枝之一，仅在北太平洋海岸线沿线的化石地方才知道。在这里，我们报告了一种新的食盐，Salishicetus meadi gen。等nov，来自美国华盛顿州晚渐新世。 Salishicetus保留了几乎完整的下牙列，并且咬合磨损严重，表明Salishicetus用与其鲸尾鲸的祖先相同的方式使用脸颊剪齿来处理猎物。使用具有所有已知的拟杆菌科的基质，我们回收了单系的拟杆菌科，该科位于哺乳动物基部进化枝的冠状位置。 Salishicetus的描述解决了棘皮动物之间的系统发育关系，这为沿着导致冠Mysticeti的茎重构祖先进食形态提供了基础。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: PREMISE:The Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT; 34-33 Ma) was marked by global cooling and increased seasonality and aridity, leading to a shift in North American floras from subtropical forests to deciduous hardwood forests similar to today. This shift is well documented taxonomically and biogeographically, but its ecological nature is less known. METHODS:Using the relationship between petiole cross-sectional area and leaf mass, we estimated leaf dry mass per area (LMA), a functional trait tied to plant resource investment and expenditure, at 22 western North American sites spanning the EOT to determine how the broad restructuring of vegetation during this time was reflected in leaf economics. RESULTS:There was no overall shift in LMA between pre-EOT and post-EOT floras; instead, changes in LMA across sites were mostly driven by a negative correlation with dry-season precipitation and a positive correlation with paleoelevation. These patterns held for both whole sites and subsets of sites containing taxa with similar biogeographical histories (taxa that persisted in the highlands across the EOT or that migrated to the lowlands) and are consistent with most observations in extant floras. CONCLUSIONS:Our data provide a geological context for understanding environmentally paced changes in leaf-economic strategies, particularly linking leaf economic strategies to dry-season precipitation and paleoelevation.

背景与目标： 前提：始新世-渐新世过渡期（EOT； 34-33 Ma）以全球降温以及季节性和干旱增加为特征，导致北美植物区系从亚热带森林向落叶硬木森林转变。这种转变在分类学和生物地理学方面都有据可查，但其生态性质鲜为人知。
方法：利用叶柄截面积与叶片质量之间的关系，我们估算了横跨EOT的北美西部22个站点的单位面积叶片干重（LMA），这是与植物资源投资和支出相关的功能性状，以确定这段时期内，植被的广泛重组反映在叶片经济学上。
结果：在EOT之前和EOT之后的菌群之间，LMA没有整体变化。相反，各地点的LMA变化主要是由与旱季降水的负相关和与古海拔的正相关引起的。这些模式适用于包含具有相似生物地理历史的分类单元的整个站点和站点子集（在整个EOT上在高地上持续存在或迁移到低地的分类单元），并且与现存菌群中的大多数观测结果一致。
结论：我们的数据为了解叶经济战略中环境步调的变化提供了地质背景，特别是将叶经济战略与旱季降水和古海拔联系起来。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: BACKGROUND:Our aim is to understand the evolution of species-rich plant groups that shifted from tropical into cold/temperate biomes. It is well known that climate affects evolutionary processes, such as how fast species diversify, species range shifts, and species distributions. Many plant lineages may have gone extinct in the Northern Hemisphere due to Late Eocene climate cooling, while some tropical lineages may have adapted to temperate conditions and radiated; the hyper-diverse and geographically widespread genus Hypericum is one of these. RESULTS:To investigate the effect of macroecological niche shifts on evolutionary success we combine historical biogeography with analyses of diversification dynamics and climatic niche shifts in a phylogenetic framework. Hypericum evolved cold tolerance c. 30 million years ago, and successfully colonized all ice-free continents, where today ~500 species exist. The other members of Hypericaceae stayed in their tropical habitats and evolved into ~120 species. We identified a 15-20 million year lag between the initial change in temperature preference in Hypericum and subsequent diversification rate shifts in the Miocene. CONCLUSIONS:Contrary to the dramatic niche shift early in the evolution of Hypericum most extant species occur in temperate climates including high elevations in the tropics. These cold/temperate niches are a distinctive characteristic of Hypericum. We conclude that the initial release from an evolutionary constraint (from tropical to temperate climates) is an important novelty in Hypericum. However, the initial shift in the adaptive landscape into colder climates appears to be a precondition, and may not be directly related to increased diversification rates. Instead, subsequent events of mountain formation and further climate cooling may better explain distribution patterns and species-richness in Hypericum. These findings exemplify important macroevolutionary patterns of plant diversification during large-scale global climate change.

背景与目标： 背景：我们的目的是了解从热带向寒冷/温带生物群落转变的物种丰富的植物群的进化。众所周知，气候会影响进化过程，例如物种快速扩散，物种范围变化和物种分布。由于晚始新世气候变冷，许多植物谱系可能在北半球灭绝了，而一些热带谱系可能已经适应了温带条件并辐射了辐射。超多样性和地理分布广泛的金丝桃属植物就是其中之一。
结果：为研究宏观生态位改变对进化成功的影响，我们将历史生物地理学与系统进化框架中的多样性动态和气候位改变分析相结合。金丝桃属植物进化了耐寒性c。 3000万年前，它已成功地在所有无冰的大陆上进行了殖民，如今已存在约500种。金丝桃科的其他成员留在其热带栖息地，并进化成约120种。我们确定了金丝桃属植物的温度偏好最初变化与中新世随后的多样化速率变化之间存在15-20百万年的滞后。
结论：与金丝桃属植物进化初期的生态位变化相反，大多数现存物种发生在温带气候下，包括热带地区的高海拔地区。这些冷/温ni是金丝桃属植物的独特特征。我们得出的结论是，从进化限制（从热带到温带气候）的初始释放是金丝桃属植物中的重要新奇事物。但是，适应性景观向寒冷气候的最初转变似乎是一个先决条件，并且可能与多样化率的提高没有直接关系。相反，随后形成的山体事件和进一步的气候降温可以更好地解释金丝桃属植物的分布方式和物种丰富度。这些发现例证了大规模全球气候变化期间植物多样性的重要宏观进化模式。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :The accretion of the Indian subcontinent to Eurasia triggered a massive faunal and floral exchange, with Gondwanan taxa entering into Asia and vice versa. The traditional view on the Indian-Asian collision assumes contact of the continental plates during the Early Eocene. Many biogeographic studies rely on this assumption. However, the exact mode and timing of this geological event is still under debate. Here we address, based on an extensive phylogenetic analysis of rhacophorid tree frogs, if there was already a Paleogene biogeographic link between Southeast Asia and India; in which direction faunal exchange occurred between India and Eurasia within the Rhacophoridae; and if the timing of the faunal exchange correlates with one of the recently suggested geological models. Rhacophorid tree frogs showed an early dispersal from India to Asia between 46 and 57 Ma, as reconstructed from the fossil record. During the Middle Eocene, however, faunal exchange ceased, followed by increase of rhacophorid dispersal events between Asia and the Indian subcontinent during the Oligocene that continued until the Middle Miocene. This corroborates recent geological models that argue for a much later final collision between the continental plates. We predict that the Oligocene faunal exchange between the Indian subcontinent and Asia, as shown here for rhacophorid frogs, also applies for other nonvolant organisms with an Indian-Asian distribution, and suggest that previous studies that deal with this faunal interchange should be carefully reinvestigated.

背景与目标： ：印度次大陆向欧亚大陆的积聚引发了大规模的动植物交流，冈瓦南分类群进入了亚洲，反之亦然。关于印度与亚洲碰撞的传统观点认为，始新世初期大陆板块是相互接触的。许多生物地理学研究都依赖于这种假设。然而，这一地质事件的确切模式和时机仍在争论中。在这里，我们基于对横纹蛙的广泛系统发育分析，来解决东南亚和印度之间是否存在古基因生物地理联系的问题。 Rhacophoridae内印度和欧亚大陆之间的动物交流方向是什么？动物群交换的时间是否与最近建议的地质模型之一相关。根据化石记录重建的结果，纹树蛙显示出从印度到亚洲的早期传播，传播时间为46至57 Ma。然而，在始新世中期，动物群交换停止了，随后在渐新世直到亚洲中新世为止，亚洲和印度次大陆之间的横纹肌发散事件增加了。这证实了最近的地质模型，这些模型认为大陆板块之间的最终碰撞要晚得多。我们预测，印度次大陆与亚洲之间的渐新世动物群交换（如此处所示的横纹蛙）也适用于其他具有印度-亚洲分布的非挥发性生物，并建议应对先前有关这种动物群交换的研究进行仔细的研究。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :The Eocene history of cetacean evolution is now represented by the expansive fossil record of archaeocetes elucidating major morphofunctional shifts relating to the land to sea transition, but the change from archaeocetes to modern cetaceans is poorly established. New fossil material of the recently recognized family Eomysticetidae from the upper Oligocene Otekaike Limestone includes a new genus and species, Waharoa ruwhenua, represented by skulls and partial skeletons of an adult, juvenile, and a smaller juvenile. Ontogenetic status is confirmed by osteohistology of ribs. Waharoa ruwhenua is characterized by an elongate and narrow rostrum which retains vestigial alveoli and alveolar grooves. Palatal foramina and sulci are present only on the posterior half of the palate. The nasals are elongate, and the bony nares are positioned far anteriorly. Enormous temporal fossae are present adjacent to an elongate and narrow intertemporal region with a sharp sagittal crest. The earbones are characterized by retaining inner and outer posterior pedicles, lacking fused posterior processes, and retaining a separate accessory ossicle. Phylogenetic analysis supports inclusion of Waharoa ruwhenua within a monophyletic Eomysticetidae as the earliest diverging clade of toothless mysticetes. This eomysticetid clade also included Eomysticetus whitmorei, Micromysticetus rothauseni, Tohoraata raekohao, Tokarahia kauaeroa, Tokarahia lophocephalus, and Yamatocetus canaliculatus. Detailed study of ontogenetic change demonstrates postnatal elaboration of the sagittal and nuchal crests, elongation of the intertemporal region, inflation of the zygomatic processes, and an extreme proportional increase in rostral length. Tympanic bullae are nearly full sized during early postnatal ontogeny indicating precocial development of auditory structures, but do increase slightly in size. Positive allometry of the rostrum suggests an ontogenetic change in feeding ecology, from neonatal suckling to a more specialized adult feeding behaviour. Possible absence of baleen anteriorly, a delicate temporomandibular joint with probable synovial capsule, non-laterally deflected coronoid process, and anteroposteriorly expanded palate suggests skim feeding as likely mode of adult feeding for zooplankton. Isotopic data in concert with preservation of young juveniles suggests the continental shelf of Zealandia was an important calving ground for latitudinally migrating Oligocene baleen whales.

背景与目标： ：始新世的始新世历史现在由古细菌的广泛化石记录所阐明，阐明了与陆地向海洋过渡有关的主要形态功能变化，但从古细菌到现代鲸类的变化尚不充分。来自上渐新世Otekaike石灰岩的最近被认识的Eomysticetidae科的新化石材料包括一个新属和种Waharoa ruwhenua，以成年，幼年和较小幼年的头骨和部分骨骼为代表。肋骨的骨组织学证实了个体发育状态。 Waharoa ruwhenua的特征是细长而狭窄的讲台，保留了残留的肺泡和肺泡槽。孔和龈沟仅出现在the的后半部。鼻是细长的，而骨质鼻孔位于很远的前面。巨大的颞窝位于细长的颞间区域附近，具有尖锐的矢状峰。耳骨的特点是保留了内部和外部的后椎弓根，缺乏融合的后突，并保留了一个单独的副小骨。系统发育分析支持将Waharoa ruwhenua包含在单种的Eomysticetidae中，作为最早的无齿神秘菌分支。该线虫类进化枝还包括Eomysticetus whitmorei，Micromysticetus rothauseni，Tohoraata raekohao，Tokarahia kauaeroa，Tokarahia lophocephalus和Yamatocetus canaliculatus。对个体发育变化的详细研究表明，产后矢状和颈uch的隆起，颞间区域的伸长，突的膨胀以及鼻尖长度的成比例增加。鼓膜大疱在产后早期的个体发育过程中几乎全部大小，表明听觉结构的前期发育，但大小确实有所增加。讲台的正向异形体表明，从新生儿哺乳到更专门的成年喂养行为，喂养生态学发生了显着变化。前部可能没有龟头，颞下颌关节细小，可能有滑膜囊，冠状突无侧偏，前pa后膨大，表明脱脂喂养是浮游动物成年喂养的可能方式。同位素数据与未成年幼鱼的保存表明，西兰西亚的大陆架是渐新世渐新世baleen鲸的重要产卵地。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :As the world's second largest sand sea and one of the most important dust sources to the global aerosol system, the formation of the Taklimakan Desert marks a major environmental event in central Asia during the Cenozoic. Determining when and how the desert formed holds the key to better understanding the tectonic-climatic linkage in this critical region. However, the age of the Taklimakan remains controversial, with the dominant view being from ∼ 3.4 Ma to ∼ 7 Ma based on magnetostratigraphy of sedimentary sequences within and along the margins of the desert. In this study, we applied radioisotopic methods to precisely date a volcanic tuff preserved in the stratigraphy. We constrained the initial desertification to be late Oligocene to early Miocene, between ∼ 26.7 Ma and 22.6 Ma. We suggest that the Taklimakan Desert was formed as a response to a combination of widespread regional aridification and increased erosion in the surrounding mountain fronts, both of which are closely linked to the tectonic uplift of the Tibetan-Pamir Plateau and Tian Shan, which had reached a climatically sensitive threshold at this time.

背景与目标： ：塔克拉玛干沙漠是世界第二大沙海，也是全球气溶胶系统最重要的尘埃来源之一，标志着新生代中亚地区的一次重大环境事件。确定沙漠形成的时间和方式是更好地了解这一关键地区构造与气候联系的关键。但是，塔克拉玛干火山的年龄仍存在争议，根据沙漠边缘内和沿边缘的沉积层序的地层学，主要观点是从约3.4 Ma到约7 Ma。在这项研究中，我们应用了放射性同位素方法精确地记录了地层中保存的火山凝灰岩。我们将最初的荒漠化限制在渐新世晚期至中新世早期，介于〜26.7 Ma和22.6 Ma之间。我们建议，塔克拉玛干沙漠的形成是对广泛的区域干旱化和周围山区前沿侵蚀加剧的反应，两者均与已经达到的青藏高原和天山的构造隆升密切相关此时的气候敏感阈值。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Understanding the Tibetan Plateau's palaeogeography and palaeoenvironment is critical for reconstructing Asia's climatic history; however, aspects of the plateau's uplift history remain unclear. Here, we report a fossil biota that sheds new light on these issues. It comprises a fossil climbing perch (Anabantidae) and a diverse subtropical fossil flora from the Chattian (late Oligocene) of central Tibet. The fish, Eoanabas thibetana gen. et sp. nov., is inferred to be closely related to extant climbing perches from tropical lowlands in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. It has osteological correlates of a labyrinth organ, which in extant climbing perches gives them the ability to breathe air to survive warm, oxygen-poor stagnant waters or overland excursion under moist condition. This indicates that Eoanabas likewise lived in a warm and humid environment as suggested by the co-existing plant assemblage including palms and golden rain trees among others. As a palaeoaltimeter, this fossil biota suggests an elevation of ca. 1,000 m. These inferences conflict with conclusions of a high and dry Tibet claimed by some recent and influential palaeoaltimetry studies. Our discovery prompts critical re-evaluation of prevailing uplift models of the plateau and their temporal relationships with the Cenozoic climatic changes.

背景与目标： ：了解青藏高原的古地理和古环境对于重建亚洲的气候历史至关重要；然而，高原隆升历史的各个方面仍不清楚。在这里，我们报告了一个化石生物群，为这些问题提供了新的思路。它包括一个化石攀登栖息处（Anabantidae）和一个来自西藏中部查特（晚渐新世）的亚热带化石植物群。鱼，Eoanabas thibetana gen。等据推测，11月与南亚和撒哈拉以南非洲热带低地现存的攀爬栖息地密切相关。它具有迷宫器官的骨学相关性，在现存的攀爬栖息处，它们具有呼吸空气的能力，能够在潮湿的条件下在温暖，缺氧的死水或陆上运动中生存。这表明Eoanabas同样生活在温暖和潮湿的环境中，这是由并存的植物组合（包括棕榈树和金色雨树）所暗示的。作为古海拔高度计，该化石生物群暗示着海拔大约为。 1,000 m这些推论与最近和有影响力的古时空研究所声称的高度干旱的西藏的结论相矛盾。我们的发现促使人们对现有的高原隆升模型及其与新生代气候变化的时间关系进行重新评估。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Extant squirrels exhibit extensive variation in brain size and shape, but published endocranial data for living squirrels are limited, and no study has ever examined brain evolution in Sciuridae from the perspective of the fossil record to understand how this diversity emerged. We describe the first virtual endocast for a fossil sciurid, Cedromus wilsoni, which is known from a complete cranium from Wyoming (Orellan, Oligocene), and make comparisons to a diverse sample of virtual endocasts for living sciurids (N = 20). The virtual endocasts were obtained from high-resolution X-ray micro-computed tomography data. Comparisons were also made with endocasts of extinct ischyromyid rodents, the most primitive rodents known from an endocranial record, which provide the opportunity to study the neuroanatomical changes occurring near the base of Sciuridae. The encephalization quotient of C. wilsoni is higher than that of Ischyromys typus from the same epoch, and falls within the range of modern terrestrial squirrel variation, but below the range of extant scansorial, arboreal and gliding sciurids when using cheek-tooth area for the estimation of body mass. In a principal components analysis, the shape of the endocast of C. wilsoni is found to be intermediate between that of primitive fossil taxa and the modern sample. Cedromus wilsoni has a more expanded neocortical surface area, especially the caudal region of the cerebrum, compared with ischyromyid rodents. Furthermore, C. wilsoni had proportionally larger paraflocculi and a more complex cerebellar morphology compared with ischyromyid rodents. These neurological differences may be associated with improvements in vision, although it is worth noting that the size of the parts of the brain most directly involved with vision [the rostral (superior) colliculi and the primary visual cortex] cannot be directly assessed on endocasts. The changes observed could also relate to balance and limb coordination. Ultimately, the available evidence suggests that early squirrels were more agile and visually oriented animals compared with more primitive rodents, which may relate to the process of becoming arboreal. Extant sciurids have an even more expanded neocortical surface area, while exhibiting proportionally smaller paraflocculi, compared with C. wilsoni. This suggests that the neocortex may continue increasing in size in more recent sciurid rodents in relation to other factors than arboreality. Despite the fact that both Primates and Rodentia exhibit neocortical expansion through time, since the adoption of arboreality preceded major increases in the neocortex in Primates, those neurological changes may be related to different ecological factors, underlining the complexity of the inter-relationship between time and ecology in shaping the brain in even closely related clades.

背景与目标： ：现存的松鼠在大脑的大小和形状上表现出很大的差异，但是公开的活体松鼠的颅内数据有限，并且从未有研究从化石记录的角度检查松鼠科的大脑进化以了解这种多样性是如何产生的。我们描述了化石孢子虫的第一个虚拟内铸物，Cedromus wilsoni，这是从怀俄明州的一个完整的头盖骨（奥雷兰，渐新世）中获知的，并与活孢子虫的各种虚拟内cast样品进行了比较（N = 20）。虚拟内窥镜是从高分辨率X射线微计算机断层扫描数据中获得的。还比较了灭绝的等轴啮齿类啮齿动物的内cast，这是从颅内记录中得知的最原始的啮齿动物，这为研究鞘翅目基部附近发生的神经解剖学变化提供了机会。在同一时期，威尔逊梭菌的脑化商要高于斑马线虫，并落在现代陆地松鼠变异范围之内，但在使用颊齿区域作为现存的颅骨，树栖和滑行鞘状虫的范围之内。估计体重。在主成分分析中，发现C.wilsoni内铸物的形状介于原始化石类群和现代样品之间。与异类啮齿类啮齿动物相比，维氏头孢菌具有更大的新皮层表面积，尤其是大脑的尾部区域。此外，与异类啮齿类啮齿动物相比，C。wilsoni具有成比例更大的副絮凝体和更复杂的小脑形态。这些神经方面的差异可能与视力的改善有关，尽管值得注意的是，无法直接在内窥镜检查上评估与视力最直接相关的大脑部分的大小（有眉毛（上丘）和初级视皮层）。观察到的变化也可能与平衡和肢体协调有关。最终，现有证据表明，与更原始的啮齿动物相比，早期的松鼠是更加敏捷和视觉导向的动物，这可能与变成树栖动物的过程有关。与威尔逊梭菌相比，现存的孢子虫具有更大的新皮层表面积，同时表现出成比例地更小的副絮凝体。这表明，与乔木性以外的其他因素相比，新近生的啮齿类啮齿动物的新皮层大小可能会继续增加。尽管事实上灵长类动物和啮齿类动物均表现出随着时间的变化而发生新皮层扩张，但由于在灵长类动物中新皮层的大量增加之前采用了植物学，这些神经系统的变化可能与不同的生态因素有关，这突显了时间与时间之间相互关系的复杂性。甚至在紧密相关的进化枝中塑造大脑的生态学。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :We report on the oldest European songbird (Passeriformes), from the early Oligocene (30-34 million years ago) of Frauenweiler in Germany. The specimen represents the earliest associated remains of an early Tertiary passerine described so far. It ties the first appearance of Passeriformes in Europe to a minimum age of 30 million years. Passeriform birds are absent in Eocene deposits that yielded abundant remains of small land birds and apparently dispersed into Europe around the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (about 34 million years ago), not at the Oligocene/Miocene boundary (about 24 mya) as hitherto thought. This possibly relates the appearance of songbirds in Europe to a well-known major faunistic break at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, called the " grande coupure". The Frauenweiler songbird most notably differs from extant Passeriformes in having a larger processus procoracoideus on the coracoid and appears to be outside Eupasseres, the taxon which includes Oscines (all modern European and most Old World songbirds) and Suboscines (most South and Central American songbirds). It shows that there were earlier dispersal events of non-oscine songbirds into Europe before the arrival of Oscines from the Australian continental plate towards the late Oligocene.

背景与目标： ：我们报道了德国Frauenweiler最早的渐新世（30-34百万年前）的欧洲最古老的鸣禽（Passeriformes）。该标本代表了迄今描述的最早的第三级pass鱼的相关遗骸。它把Passeriformes在欧洲的首次出现与至少3000万年的年龄联系在一起。始新世沉积中没有Passeriform鸟类，这些鸟类产生了大量的小陆鸟遗骸，显然在始新世/渐新世边界（约3400万年前）周围分布在欧洲，而不是迄今所认为的渐新世/中新世边界（约24 mya）。这可能将欧洲鸣禽的出现与始新世/渐新世边界上的一个著名的重大断裂（称为“巨大政变”）联系起来。 Frauenweiler鸣禽与现存的Passeriformes的最大不同之处在于，其喙突上有较大的过程，并且似乎在Eupasseres之外，该群包括Oscines（所有现代欧洲和大多数旧世界鸣禽）和Suboscines（大多数南美和中美洲鸣禽） 。它表明，在从澳大利亚大陆板块到渐新世晚期的Oscines到达欧洲之前，有非Oscine鸣鸟进入欧洲的传播事件较早。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :A recent fieldwork in the Kağızman-Tuzluca Basin in northeastern Turkey led us to the discovery of three vertebrate localities which yielded some limb bones of the giant rhino Paraceratherium, a crocodile tooth, and some small mammals, respectively. These discoveries allowed, for the first time to date some parts of the sedimentary units of this basin. This study also shows that the dispersal area of Paraceratherium is wider than it was known before. Eastern Turkey has several Cenozoic sedimentary basins formed during the collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates. They are poorly documented for vertebrate paleontology. Consequently, the timing of tectonic activities, which led to the formation of the East Anatolian accretionary complex, is not constrained enough with a solid chronological framework. This study provides the first biostratigraphic evidences for the infill under the control of the compressive tectonic regime, which built the East Anatolian Plateau.

背景与目标： ：最近在土耳其东北部Kağızman-Tuzluca盆地进行的野外工作使我们发现了三个脊椎动物，分别产生了巨型犀牛Paraceratherium的四肢骨头，鳄鱼齿和一些小型哺乳动物。这些发现迄今首次使该盆地的沉积单元的某些部分成为可能。这项研究还表明，Paraceratherium的散布面积比以前已知的要宽。土耳其东部在阿拉伯板块与欧亚板块碰撞期间形成了几个新生代沉积盆地。他们很少有脊椎动物古生物学的文献记载。因此，构造活动的时机导致了东安纳托利亚增生复合体的形成，但没有足够的时间顺序框架来加以约束。这项研究为在构造构造体制控制下的填充物提供了第一个生物地层学证据，从而建立了东安纳托利亚高原。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Asteliaceae (4 genera, 36 species) are found on both continents and island archipelagos in the southern hemisphere and across the Pacific. The circumscription of Asteliaceae and intrageneric relationships are poorly understood. We generated a phylogeny including all genera and 99% of the species using DNA sequence data from chloroplast (trnL, psbA-trnH, rps16, and petL-psbE) and nuclear (NIA-i3) regions. Relaxed clock methods were applied to infer the age of the family and the timing of cladogenic events. Generic delimitations change as a result of this study. Collospermum is nested within Astelia and is recognized here only at the subgeneric level. Further, Astelia subgenera Astelia, Asteliopsis, and Tricella are paraphyletic and to achieve monophyly their recircumscriptions are proposed. Despite the presence of Asteliaceae taxa on multiple Gondwanan landmasses and proposed Cretaceous origins for the family, radiation of genera was during the Tertiary. The largest and oldest genus, Astelia s.l. (including Collospermum), radiated around the Eocene/Oligocene boundary (ca. 34.2 million years ago (Ma)). Astelia s.l. subgenera diverged from the Oligocene/Miocene boundary onwards (<24.0 Ma). These dates suggest that current distributions are most likely to be the result of long-distance dispersal. Alpine taxa in New Zealand and Australia radiated during the Late Miocene/Pliocene. These results are congruent with Astelia micro- and macro-fossil data and suggest that Astelia s.l. either persisted in New Zealand during the proposed Oligocene marine transgression or dispersed from Australia after the subsequent expansion of terrestrial habitat.

背景与目标： ：A科（4属36种）在南半球和整个太平洋的大陆和岛屿群岛中均发现。对天蛾科的界限和属内关系的了解甚少。我们使用叶绿体（trnL，psbA-trnH，rps16和petL-psbE）和核（NIA-i3）区域的DNA序列数据生成了包括所有属和该物种99％的种系。宽松的时钟方法被用来推断家庭的年龄和成年事件的发生时间。这项研究的结果是，通用定界发生了变化。 Collospermum嵌套在Astelia中，并且仅在亚属级别被识别。此外，阿斯特利亚亚属（Astelia subgenera），天蝎属（Asteliopsis）和特里切拉（Tricella）是共生的，并且为了实现单方面的目的，提出了它们的重新限定。尽管在多个冈瓦纳大陆上存在天蛾科类群，并提出了该家族的白垩纪起源，但属的辐射仍在第三纪期间。最大和最古老的属Astelia s.l. （包括Collospermum）在始新世/渐新世边界（约3420万年前（马））周围辐射。阿斯特利亚有限公司亚属从渐新世/中新世边界开始分叉（<24.0 Ma）。这些日期表明，当前的分布很可能是长距离分散的结果。在中新世/上新世晚期，新西兰和澳大利亚的高山生物群得以辐射。这些结果与Astelia的微化石和宏观化石数据是一致的，并表明Astelia s.l.。在提议的渐新世海侵期间要么在新西兰持续存在，要么在随后的陆地栖息地扩展后从澳大利亚散居。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Tertiary marsupial records are very scarce in Asia. A new peradectine marsupial, Junggaroperadectes burqinensis gen. et sp. nov., is reported from the Early Oligocene Keziletuogayi Formation in the Burqin region, Xinjiang, China. This new species is based on a single right upper M2. The tooth possesses a straight centrocrista, a characteristic of peradectines. Its main cusps lean buccally, with the paracone being smaller and lower than the metacone. The conules and stylar cusps are weakly developed. These characters distinguish J. burqinensis from Euro-American Tertiary peradectines, but they also imply a close phylogenetic relationship to Siamoperadectes and Sinoperadectes, two Asian Early Miocene peradectines.

背景与目标： ：在亚洲，第三纪有袋动物的记录非常稀少。一种新的过孔培有袋有袋动物，布尔津根草属。等据中国新疆布尔津地区早渐新世的克孜勒托嘎嘎伊组报道。这个新物种基于单个右上M2。牙齿具有直百生皮，这是peradectines的特征。它的主要尖端在颊侧倾斜，对圆锥形比下圆锥形更小和更低。视锥和硬毛尖较弱。这些特征使布尔津棉与欧洲第三级过孔培菌素区别开来，但它们也暗示着与亚洲两个中新世的过孔培菌素暹罗佩达佩克人和中华过孔佩达克有密切的亲缘关系。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :The Eocene and Oligocene epochs (approximately 55 to 23 million years ago) comprise a critical phase in Earth history. An array of geological records supported by climate modelling indicates a profound shift in global climate during this interval, from a state that was largely free of polar ice caps to one in which ice sheets on Antarctica approached their modern size. However, the early glaciation history of the Northern Hemisphere is a subject of controversy. Here we report stratigraphically extensive ice-rafted debris, including macroscopic dropstones, in late Eocene to early Oligocene sediments from the Norwegian-Greenland Sea that were deposited between about 38 and 30 million years ago. Our data indicate sediment rafting by glacial ice, rather than sea ice, and point to East Greenland as the likely source. Records of this type from one site alone cannot be used to determine the extent of ice involved. However, our data suggest the existence of (at least) isolated glaciers on Greenland about 20 million years earlier than previously documented, at a time when temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were substantially higher.

背景与目标： ：始新世和渐新世时代（大约55至2300万年前）是地球历史上的关键阶段。气候模型支持的一系列地质记录表明，在这段时间段内，全球气候发生了深刻变化，从基本上没有极地冰盖的州到南极洲冰盖接近其现代尺寸的州。但是，北半球的早期冰川期历史是一个有争议的话题。在这里，我们报告了始于始新世晚期至挪威-格陵兰海的渐新世早期沉积物的地层上广泛的冰筏碎屑，包括宏观的下落石，这些沉积物大约沉积于38至3000万年前。我们的数据表明，沉积物是通过冰川冰而不是海冰漂流的，并指向东格陵兰岛作为可能的来源。仅来自一个地点的这种类型的记录就不能用来确定所涉及的冰的范围。然而，我们的数据表明，在格陵兰岛（至少）早于先前记录的大约2000万年前，就存在着孤立的冰川，而此时温度和大气中的二氧化碳浓度要高得多。

BACKGROUND & AIMS: :Archaic toothed mysticetes represent the evolutionary transition from raptorial to bulk filter feeding in baleen whales. Aetiocetids, in particular, preserve an intermediate morphological stage in which teeth functioned alongside a precursor of baleen, the hallmark of all modern mysticetes. To date, however, aetiocetids are almost exclusively Late Oligocene and coeval with both other toothed mysticetes and fully fledged filter feeders. By contrast, reports of cetaceans from the Early Oligocene remain rare, leaving the origins of aetiocetids, and thus of baleen, largely in the dark. Here, we report a new aetiocetid, Fucaia buelli, from the earliest Oligocene (ca 33-31 Ma) of western North America. The new material narrows the temporal gap between aetiocetids and the oldest known mysticete, Llanocetus (ca 34 Ma). The specimen preserves abundant morphological detail relating to the phylogenetically informative ear bones (otherwise poorly documented in this family), the hyoid apparatus and much of the (heterodont) dentition. Fucaia comprises some of the smallest known mysticetes, comparable in size with the smallest odontocetes. Based on their phylogenetic relationships and dental and mandibular morphology, including tooth wear patterns, we propose that aetiocetids were suction-assisted raptorial feeders and interpret this strategy as a crucial, intermediary step, enabling the transition from raptorial to filter feeding. Following this line of argument, a combination of raptorial and suction feeding would have been ancestral to all toothed mysticetes, and possibly even baleen whales as a whole.

背景与目标： ：齿状的神秘者代表了鲸鱼从猛禽到大头过滤器的进化过渡。特别是，食醋动物保留了一个中间的形态学阶段，在这个阶段中，牙齿与Baleen的前体一起起作用，而Baleen是所有现代神秘主义者的标志。然而，迄今为止，成鲸类几乎完全是晚渐新世，并且与其他带齿的神秘菌和完全成熟的滤嘴一起进入同卵期。相比之下，来自渐新世的鲸类鲸类的报道仍然很少，留下了鲸蜡类鲸鱼的起源，因此，巴利翁的起源很大程度上是在黑暗中。在这里，我们报道了一种来自北美西部最早的渐新世（ca-33-31 aMa）的新的始祖物种Fucaia buelli。新材料缩小了突触类动物和最古老的神秘者Llanocetus（ca 34 Ma）之间的时间间隔。该标本保留了丰富的形态学细节，涉及系统发育信息丰富的耳骨（否则在该家族中文献不足），舌骨样仪和大部分（异齿）牙列。福卡亚（Fucaia）包括一些最小的已知神秘菌，其大小可与最小的齿突科动物相媲美。基于它们的系统发育关系以及牙齿和下颌的形态（包括牙齿磨损模式），我们建议将突触鲸类作为吸食辅助的食器，并将这一策略解释为至关重要的中间步骤，从而实现了从食到滤食的过渡。按照这一论点，猛禽和吸食的结合对于所有带齿的神秘主义者乃至整个鲸鱼都是祖先。