One of the earliest basal carnivoraforms, Miacis latouri, previously known by only two teeth from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium, is here described based on about 280 new specimens from Dormaal, allowing illustration of almost the entire deciduous and permanent dentition and thus giving information on the dentition of an early basal carnivoraform species and its variability. Based on the dental features, we refer the species to a new genus, Dormaalocyon. We identify possible sexual dimorphism in D. latouri that is less pronounced than in Uintacyon rudis. We also describe for the first time the tarsal bones (calcaneum and astragalus) of D. latouri; these indicate arboreal capabilities for this species. In order to ascertain the position of Dormaalocyon among basal carnivoraforms, we performed a phylogenetic analysis of the carnivoramorphans. Among basal carnivoraforms, three groups are recovered: the Uintacyon group, Oodectes group, and the Vulpavus group. Dormalocyon is one of the most primitive carnivoraforms and is closely related to North American Vulpavus and Miacis species. We propose that the two latter genera are North American with an ancestry that involves the European Dormaalocyon; this implies a dispersal of carnivoraforms from Europe to North America near the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Finally, the topology of the phylogenetic tree supports a Paleocene radiation of the carnivoraforms, which is presently unknown.

The shark Bandringa (Elasmobranchii, Chondrichthyes), from the Pennsylvanian (Moscovian) Lagerstätte of Mazon Creek, Illinois, is notable for an elongated snout constituting up to half of total body length. This genus formerly contained two distinct species (B. rayi and B. herdinae). However, reexamination of all cataloged material from Mazon Creek and similarly aged North American coal measure localities shows that characteristics previously considered diagnostic at the species level can be attributed to differential taphonomy in adjacent marine and non-marine deposits. We find no evidence of morphologically distinct populations. A monospecific Bandringa exhibiting complementary data sets from localities with different modes of preservation provides a more complete picture of hard- and soft-tissue anatomy than resident taxa from a single deposit. Our new reconstruction of Bandringa incorporates several previously unreported features, including ventrally directed jaws, stellate squamation, a branched lateral line, and fin spines bearing smooth costae. Bandringa occupies an unresolved position within total-group Elasmobranchii, but displays similarities with sphenacanthids, hybodontiforms, and other member clades of the stem group. Bandringa is most simply interpreted as a freshwater, benthic, suction-feeding shark, and as a plausible analogue of modern sawfish (Pristidae). Juveniles of the Carboniferous Bandringa appear to have inhabited one of the earliest known shark nurseries at the brackish and marine Mazon Creek before migrating to freshwaters elsewhere.

Four new species of acanthomorph fishes are described, and three are named, from the Agoult locality of Morocco, which samples early Late Cretaceous marine deposits of the Akrabou Formation. Of the three new named species, two represent members of the subfamily Aipichthyoidea, based on possession of a caudal fin skeleton with a short, broad, neural spine on the second preural centrum, 19 principal caudal fin rays, and three supraneurals positioned close together in front of the first neural spine. The third named species is placed in the Polymixiiformes based on having a caudal fin with a long, full neural spine on the second preural centrum, and 18 principal caudal fin rays. The fourth species is too poorly preserved to name, but we describe the few details that are visible, and it remains incertae sedis within Acanthomorpha. These new taxa add to the diversity of morphologies seen in both the aipichthyoids and the polymixiiforms during the Cenomanian and Turonian throughout the Tethys Sea.

The Lumbrera Formation is an Eocene unit cropping out in northwestern Argentina from which three cichlid species were recently described and represent the oldest Neotropical cichlid records: Proterocara argentina, Gymnogeophagus eocenicus, and Plesioheros chauliodus. The fossils come from a level interpreted as a perennial, low-energy, freshwater lake surrounded by low relief and sporadically flooded vegetated areas. Sedimentological, paleontological, and absolute U/Pb zircon dating studies suggest a lower Eocene age (∼48.6 Ma). Phylogenetic analyses place these cichlids as nested in the modern Geophagini and Heroini clades and attest to early differentiation from the basal cichlid lineages and a morphological conservatism since at least the early Eocene (∼48.6 Ma). Molecular phylogenies calibrated with the Lumbrera Formation fossils suggest that the age of cichlids may be considerably older than the minimum age provided by currently known fossils. In combination with well-established family-level phylogenetic relationships compatible with Gondwanan fragmentation, the origin of the Cichlidae likely dates back to the Cretaceous. The occurrence of Eocene cichlid fossils in the same geographical area as that of related modern lineages suggests that patterns of distribution and endemism of the Neotropical Cichlidae have an ancient history. Here we describe additional cichlid specimens from the Lumbrera assemblage and evaluate their implications for cichlid phylogeny and paleobiogeography.

Rhinesuchids are a basal group of stereospondyls, one of the most successful groups of early amphibians. They are also the only group of stereospondyl amphibians present prior to the Permian—Triassic boundary. Here, Rhinesuchus postcranial material is sampled for paleohistological analysis for the first time and gives us a model for growth in basal stereospondyls. Bone microstructure confirms an aquatic lifestyle for Rhinesuchus, and indicates that it was a long-lived taxon (>30 years), growing seasonally like other amphibians. The shaft of the iliac dorsal process preserves the largest number of rest lines, suggesting it as a preferred element to estimate minimum age in basal stereospondyls. Femoral diaphyseal sections are readily comparable to distal rib sections for skeletochronological purposes, but preserve fewer rest lines than the ilium. Narrowly banded annuli and rest lines in the inner cortex of Late Permian elements indicate a taxon that was able to weather successive seasons of harsh conditions, and perhaps indicates a reason for the success of Stereopsondyli through the Permo-Triassic mass extinction.

Fragmentary anuran remains (an ilium and radioulna) from the middle Miocene of Moratilla 2 (Teruel Province, Spain) are identified, using qualitative characters and geometric morphometrics, as belonging to a new unnamed species of midwife toad, of the extant anuran genus Alytes (Alytidae). The Moratilla 2 fossils of Alytes are dated to ca. 16–17 Ma, prior to the early splits that resulted in the current Alytes diversification. Our biometric study of the fossil radioulnar fragment, an element usually considered uninformative, has revealed convergent adaptive trends in forearm locomotor performance within the genus. This finding would have remained hidden otherwise, because neither molecular approaches nor the comparative osteology of living forms would have detected it. A model for the evolutionary history of midwife toads is proposed, as a case example of how molecular phylogeographic results can be combined with morphological and paleontological studies at the genus level. Historical models of morphological adaptation at low taxonomic and anatomical levels now seem feasible using quantitative reconstructions of fossil fragments. In the future, these models can be compared with independently derived data based on environmental history.

In the Oligocene Ashley and Chandler Bridge formations near Charleston, South Carolina, remains of three species of pancheloniid sea turtle are common. In their relative order of abundance, they are Carolinochelys wilsoni, Ashleychelys palmeri, gen. et sp. nov., and Procolpochelys charlestonensis, sp. nov. Unlike the other two Oligocene South Carolina genera, Procolpochelys persisted into the middle Miocene. An isolated skull, referable to the Miocene species Procolpochelys grandaeva, is described here to supplement description of the poorly known skull of the Oligocene species P. charlestonensis. These turtles, all referable to Pancheloniidae, represent an endemic, moderately advanced sea turtle assemblage that occupied the Oligocene coastal waters of the southeastern United States. This tendency toward endemism also is seen in some parts of the co-occurring cetacean assemblage, which included at least two endemic families. Regionally restricted endemic assemblages appear to have been the norm among pre-Miocene pancheloniid sea turtles. It is not until the Miocene that crown cheloniids appear and begin to achieve very widespread to global distributions.

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This paper describes a new species of elasmosaurid plesiosaur, Aristonectes quiriquinensis, sp. nov., based on a partial skeleton recovered from upper Maastrichtian beds of the Quiriquina Formation of central Chile. The material described here consists of two skeletons, one collected near the village of Cocholgue, and a second juvenile specimen from Quiriquina Island. Prior to these finds, Aristonectes was viewed as a monospecific genus, including only the enigmatic Aristonectes parvidens, the holotype of which consists of an incomplete skull and incomplete postcranium. Other material referred to the genus includes an incomplete juvenile skull and other postcranial material from the upper Maastrichtian of Antarctica, as well as a partial skull from the Quiriquina Formation of central Chile. The relationships of Aristonectes have been controversial, with competing theories assigning the genus to Cryptoclididae, Elasmosauridae, and Aristonectidae; however, there is a developing consensus that Aristonectes is a derived elasmosaurid, and this paper gives strong evidence for this view. Comparison of the specimen here studied with the holotype of A. parvidens demonstrates that A. quiriquinensis is a distinct species. The completeness of the adult skeleton allows the first confident size estimates for adult Aristonectes. It is a large plesiosaurian with a relatively large skull with numerous homodont teeth, a moderately long and laterally compressed neck, and relatively narrow trunk, with slender and elongate forelimbs. The two specimens are restricted to the upper Maastrichtian of central Chile, posing questions concerning the austral circumpolar distribution of different elasmosaurids towards the end of the Cretaceous.

Based on one of the first cranial pterosaur specimens unearthed from the Romualdo Formation (Araripe Basin), Cearadactylus atrox has caused disagreement among paleontologists regarding its relationships. Ranging from an ornithocheirid, an indeterminated pterodactyloid, to a ctenochasmatid, some authors even regarded this species as representing a distinct suprageneric clade. Further preparation of the holotype that was transferred to the collections of the Museu Nacional/UFRJ (MN 7019-V) revealed several new features allowing a redescription and reevaluation of the phylogenetic position of this species. Among the new observations, it is clear that the rostral end of this specimen had been glued to the skull, rendering previous anatomical interpretations incorrect. There is no rostral gap, and the expanded rostral end of the premaxillae is larger than the dentary, rather than smaller. Cearadactylus atrox is here considered a valid taxon that can be diagnosed by a dentary groove that bifurcates at the rostral end, orbit and naris in a high position relative to the nasoantorbital fenestra, and a comparatively small number of teeth (32–36 maxillary, 22–26 mandibular), decreasing in size towards the posterior end. Phylogeneticaly, it is placed as the sister group of the Anhangueridae, forming a large clade of Brazilian forms (Tropeognathus and Anhanguera), which has a European taxon (‘Ornithocheirus’ compressirostris) as its sister group.

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A new Late Cretaceous avian taxon, Parvavis chuxiongensis, gen. et sp. nov., is reported here based on an incomplete skeleton from Upper Cretaceous lake deposits in Yunnan Province, southern China. A phylogenetic analysis of 32 taxa and 242 morphological characters resulted in three most parsimonious trees, the strict consensus tree of which places Parvavis chuxiongensis within Enantiornithes. Histological study shows that the bones of Parvavis were composed of parallelfibered bone tissue without lines of arrested growth, and indicated that growth rate had slowed but had not stopped at any stage prior to death. The bones also lack the rough surface texture seen in juvenile birds. Therefore, the new bird was probably close to adult body size at the time of death. However, the specimen is surprisingly small, highlighting the wide range of body sizes in Upper Cretaceous enantiornithines. The new specimen also represents both the first known bird from the Upper Cretaceous of China and the first Mesozoic bird from the south of China, and thus extends the temporal and geographic range of Mesozoic birds in China.

The relationships and ecology of Deccanolestes, a eutherian mammal from the Late Cretaceous of India that is known only from isolated dental, mandibular, and postcranial elements, have been a topic of considerable interest and debate. A recent comprehensive phylogenetic analysis has placed this taxon within Adapisoriculidae, a clade of otherwise Paleocene arboreal mammals, but unexpectedly resolved this expanded Adapisoriculidae near the base of the eutherian tree. Deccanolestes has been described as having an arboreal or scansorial lifestyle based on its ankle morphology. Here, we present a geometric morphometric study of the astragalus to test hypotheses pertaining to the ecomorphological affinities of Deccanolestes. Shape analyses were performed on extant eutherians and marsupials displaying a range of different lifestyles, but predominantly sampling arboreal forms, as well as relevant Cretaceous to Eocene taxa. In addition, we constructed a neighbor-joining tree based on the shape variables to identify similarities among taxa in astragalar morphology. Our results show that Cretaceous and Paleocene taxa, including Deccanolestes, cluster most closely and form a separate group distinct from extant mammal clades, including extinct Primates. Strong phylogenetic signal in astragalar morphology among extant taxa, as well as apparent phylogenetic clustering of extant and extinct taxa, complicates a straightforward interpretation of the locomotor ecology of Deccanolestes, but our results suggest that the astragalar morphology of Deccanolestes has no analogue among the sampled living species. However, this morphology appears prevalent among Cretaceous and Paleocene eutherian mammals.

The Greater Antilles was once home to a diverse array of endemic groups of caviomorph rodents. Many of these became extinct, together with endemic insectivores, sloths, and primates, in what is widely considered an archtypical example of Quaternary extinction on oceanic islands. When and how the ancestors of these land mammals arrived on these islands is debated. Here we report on the discovery, for the first time, of undoubted rodent incisors in Oligocene contexts in Puerto Rico. The enamel microstructure of the Puerto Rican fossils is consistent with caviomorph affinities, particularly with extinct Pleistocene species from Puerto Rico and Anguilla (Lesser Antilles). These fossils represent the oldest rodents now known from the West Indies, as well as the oldest record of caviomorphs north of the Equator. Their presence in the Greater Antilles by the early Oligocene suggests that caviomorph rodents must have begun to disperse throughout South America, and beyond, very soon after their initial radiation (currently pegged to middle or late Eocene). This, together with other lines of evidence, is consistent with the landspan hypothesis for the origin of the Greater Antillean land mammal fauna, although other mechanisms, including overwater transport, cannot be ruled out.

A new hipparion species, Hipparion phlegrae, sp. nov., is described on the basis of both morphological characters and metrical data as a member of Hipparion s.s. It is compared with H. dietrichi, H. prostylum, and similar forms of the Greco-Iranian province. The age of the Kryopigi fauna is discussed as Turolian on the basis of the hipparion assemblage, whereas the coexistence of a small Cremohipparion referred here as C. matthewi/nikosi indicates that H. phlegrae, sp. nov., is probably a derived species in respect to H. prostylum. The decreased size of the H. phlegrae and the short and wide muzzle are discussed for Hipparion s.s. during the Turolian period. Phylogenetic relationships of the new species and related taxa are reconstructed and also considered.

The primitive deer (subfamily Lagomerycinae) Lagomeryx and Stephanocemas are characterized primarily by their palmate antlers. Two lagomerycines, Lagomeryx manai, sp. nov., and Stephanocemas rucha, are described for the first time from Q and K coal layers of the late middle Miocene (13.4–13.2 Ma) Mae Moh Basin in northern Thailand. A species-level phylogeny of the Ligeromeryx-Lagomeryx clade, based on cranial appendages, reconstructs Lagomeryx manai, n. sp., as a derived species of Lagomeryx, sister group of Lagomeryx complicidens. This study suggests that the large species of Lagomeryxare restricted geographically to Asia and dispersed to Southeast Asia at the latest during late middle Miocene, where they are represented by Lagomeryx manai, n. sp. The paleoenvironmental studies of five Mae Moh mammalian taxa, a cervid (Lagomeryx manai, n. sp.), an indeterminate bovid, a suid (Conohyus thailandicus), a rhinoceros (Gaindatherium sp.), and a proboscidean (Stegolophodon sp.), investigated with stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of tooth enamel, indicate that the Mae Moh mammals inhabited a wide range of habitats from woodlands to grasslands in a C3-plant-dominated environment. The new species of Lagomeryx seems to have been living in an open environment, contrary to its European relatives. The serial isotopic samples also support that Mae Moh herbivores probably lived in a low-seasonal climate during the late middle Miocene of northern Thailand.

The early Miocene is one of the least understood intervals in cetacean evolution. A new early Miocene dolphin described here, Papahu taitapu, gen. et sp. nov. (family incertae sedis, Cetacea, Odontoceti), is from the Kaipuke Formation (21.7–18.7 Ma) of North West Nelson, New Zealand. The holotype of Papahu taitapu includes a skull with an open mesorostral canal, a broad-based rostrum (broken anteriorly), two pairs of premaxillary foramina, a slight bilateral asymmetry at the antorbital notches, a slight intertemporal constriction exposing the temporal fossa and the lateral wall of the braincase in dorsal view, and single-rooted (and probably homodont) teeth. The periotic has an inflated, spherical pars cochlearis and an anterior process with the anterointernal sulcus and a recurved lateral sulcus well developed. The skull size indicates a body length of about 2 m. Papahu taitapu plots cladistically in a cluster of archaic dolphins variously referred to as Platanistoidea or as stem Odontoceti. It matches no family described so far, but cladistic relationships for comparable odontocetes are not yet resolved enough to justify family placement.

The family Protocetidae was first delimited to include Protocetus and Eocetus, the only protocetid genera known at that time. Both are from the middle Eocene of Gebel Mokattam, Egypt. Only three genera were added to the family prior to the 1990s, but since then 16 genera from Indo-Pakistan, North and West Africa, and North America have been added, greatly expanding our knowledge of their diversity, anatomy, behavior, and biogeography. Protocetids are as yet unknown from Europe, Oceania, the North Pacific, or Antarctica. Here, several protocetid teeth are described from New Jersey and South Carolina. The New Jersey specimens represent the northern-most discovery of protocetids in the world. Several were collected by avocational paleontologists, while others were identified in museum collections, where they were previously misidentified. Currently, there are four protocetid species from North America, each in its own genus: Carolinacetus gingerichi, Crenatocetus rayi, Georgiacetus vogtlensis, and Natchitochia jonesi.