A relatively complete conodont record from Famennian to the Mississippian/Pennsylvanian boundary was investigated in the Anarak section, Central Iran. The studied interval belongs to the Bahram, Shishtu, Ghaleh and Absheni formations. The Famennian part of the section (Bahram Formation) ranges from the Palmatolepis triangularis Zone into the Bispathodus ultimus Zone. Not all conodont zones could be

Winged seeds were recovered from two sites of the late early Miocene (Karpatian) flora of Magyaregregy, Mecsek Mts, W Hungary. The seeds are assigned to the fossil-genus and species, Mecsekispermum gordonioides Hably and Erdei gen. nov. et sp. nov., and are tentatively related to the family Theaceae. Based on the overall character of the winged seeds and the isodiametric surface pattern of the seed

The early Cenomanian crippsi Event comprises a 1–3-m-thick interval characterised by mass occurrences of the early Cenomanian inoceramid Gnesioceramus crippsi, identified in the uppermost Sharpeiceras schlueteri Subzone (lower lower Cenomanian Mantelliceras mantelli Zone), below an interregional sequence boundary (SB Ce 1). At Lüneburg, the event is characterised by densely packed, very large, disc-like

Trees are the fundamental element of forest ecosystems, made possible by their mechanical qualities and their highly sophisticated conductive tissues. The evolution of trees, and thereby the evolution of forests, were ecologically transformative and affected climate and biogeochemical cycles fundamentally. Trees also offer a substantial amount of ecological niches for other organisms, such as epiphytes

Marked by the expansion of ice sheets in the high latitudes, the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation across the Plio/Pleistocene transition at ~ 2.7 Ma represents a critical interval of late Neogene climate evolution. To date, the characteristics of climate change in North America during that time and its imprint on vegetation has remained poorly constrained because of the lack of continuous

High-resolution pollen analyses were performed on two cores from the western Black Sea and one core from the Marmara Sea, covering the Late Glacial-Holocene transition using 14C chronology. Particular effort was invested in the botanical identification of pollen grains thereby significantly improving our knowledge of regional flora. When interpreted with respect to modern vegetation, pollen records

This paper reviews the foraminiferal biostratigraphy of the Devonian–Carboniferous (D–C) boundary beds in Russia and Western Kazakhstan. The regional records of the zonal successions of Russia are summarised from sections and boreholes of the Volga-Urals Subregion of the East European Platform (Syzran no. 401 Borehole, Melekesskaya no.1 Borehole); Timan-Pechora Province of the East European Platform

The specimens (two pairs of part and counterpart) of coniferalean branched leafy shoots were collected from the Jiulongshan Formation (Middle Jurassic) at the village of Daohugou, Ningcheng, Inner Mongolia, China. The fossil material displays helical phyllotaxy, dorsiventrally flattened linear, sessile leaves with decurrent base and prominent and single mid-vein. The foliate shoots are assigned to

The Tibetan Plateau was built through a succession of Gondwanan terranes colliding with Asia during the Mesozoic. These accretions produced a complex Paleogene topography of several predominantly east–west trending mountain ranges separated by deep valleys. Despite this piecemeal assembly and resultant complex relief, Tibet has traditionally been thought of as a coherent entity rising as one unit.

A multidisciplinary study of the Devonian–Carboniferous boundary interval in pelagic successions of the Holy Cross Mountains and Sudetes and the ramp successions in the Western Pomerania region (Poland) is presented herein. The analysis applies the results of new palaeontological and biostratigraphic studies based mainly on conodonts, ammonoids and palynomorphs, biostratigraphic results interpreted

The Paleocene Fossil-Lagerstätte Menat in France is well known for its wealth of outstandingly well preserved fossil insects and plants. Despite being known for more than a century, the palaeoflora, which is regarded as typical for the late Thanetian by some authors, has largely been neglected since the 1940s. New excavations and surveys yielded exceptionally well-preserved plant material, including

The Devonian–Carboniferous boundary is associated with a major extinction event of the Phanerozoic. It was also a time marked by a rapid but short-lasting change in deposition called Hangenberg Event. In the Namur–Dinant Basin the uppermost Devonian (‘Strunian’) deposits recorded a third-order transgression that produced a progressive switch from coastal siliciclastic to proximal mixed deposits with

A Late Devonian to (?)Early Mississippian section at Hushoot Shiveetiin gol in the Baruunhuurai Terrane of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) exposes large parts of cyclic Famennian shallow-water siliciclastic shelf deposits composed of siltstones, sandstones, shales, volcaniclastics, and intercalated autochthonous carbonates. The youngest part of the section, possibly Early Mississippian, is represented

An Upper Devonian to (?)Lower Mississippian section at Hushoot Shiveetiin gol in the Baruunhuurai Terrane of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) was investigated. A generally well-preserved and diverse ostracod fauna was collected from the Late Devonian (Famennian) Samnuuruul Formation in western Mongolia. It is the first rich assemblage described from this area. The ostracod fauna consists of 19

Thick successions of latest Devonian and early Carboniferous siliciclastic rocks of fluviatile and shallow marine origin are well exposed in numerous coastal sections in the south of Ireland. Correlations based on palynostratigraphy demonstrate that an overall northward transgression, in detail consisting of several fluctuations of relative sea level, resulted in the replacement of fluvial coastal

Terrestrial Devonian-Carboniferous boundary sections are present in the East Greenland Devonian Basin. The boundary section on Stensiö Bjerg developed in deep, distal lake sediments with a pair of lakes representing the boundary. A diverse spore assemblage developed as the lake flooded the basin. Previously abundant spores, notably Retispora lepidophyta, Diducites spp., Rugospora radiata and all forms

Herein we report on the most abundant and diverse fauna of Palaeozoic crinoids and blastoids collected from Mongolia to date. The fauna is from the Late Devonian (Famennian) Samnuuruul Formation in western Mongolia. The fauna consists of two genera of blastoids and twelve genera of crinoids—four genera of camerates, three genera of flexibles, one disparid genus, and four genera of cladids. The crinoids

The conodont Color Alteration Index (CAI) has been widely used to determine the maximum temperature in carbonate rocks, despite recognition that conodont colour can be affected by other factors, such as diagenesis. Measurements of trace element characteristics in conodonts of varying CAI (1.5–6.0) from the Canadian Cordillera show that those specimens with the most anomalous CAI with respect to independent

Many sections are known from Iran which exhibit sediments across the Devonian-Carboniferous (D-C) boundary. In contrast to the majority of published D-C sections worldwide from pelagic/hemipelagic environments, successions in Iran are mainly composed of shallow-water sediments. Correlation with hemipelagic or pelagic palaeoenvironments remains difficult due to biostratigraphic uncertainties in most

Wildfires occurred more or less regularly in many Pennsylvanian ecosystems, not only in seasonally dry regions but also in the ever wet tropics. One of the reasons for this was probably the relatively high atmospheric oxygen conditions prevailing during this period. The present study reports evidence for the occurrence of wildfires during deposition of the Upper Pennsylvanian Heusweiler Formation (“Stephanian

Surname and first name of the first author have been swapped in the original article, the correct name is Marc Louis Augé.

The early Famennian phacopid trilobites Feistops mongoliensis gen. nov. sp. nov., Feistops khovdensis gen. nov. sp. nov., ?Feistops sp. A, and ?Houseops olonbulagensis sp. nov. are recorded and illustrated from the western Mongolia Hushoot Shiveetiin gol section from the Baruunhuurai Terrane of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). In this section, exposing large parts of cyclic Famennian shallow-water

Kemiklitepe is a well-known locality with four recognised fossiliferous horizons, KTA to KTD, which have yielded a plethora of mammalian remains. Previous taxonomic studies indicate the presence of three giraffid taxa: Samotherium major and Palaeotragus rouenii from the uppermost three horizons, KTA, KTB and KTC, as well as Palaeotragus rouenii and Samotherium? sp. from the lowermost KTD horizon. In

Anthracotheres were an environmentally sensitive group that were thought to have become extinct from the middle-high latitudes of the northern hemisphere by the early Miocene. Hereby, the present author reports previously unpublished fossil bothriodonts, a group of anthracotheres, from the northern Junggar Basin, in China’s far northwest. An M3 of a small bothriodont Elomeryx sp., from the lower part

In this study comprehensive palaeofloristic data of lower Miocene deposits from the Soma Basin, western Anatolia is presented considering the stratigraphical concept. The sediments of the basin, derived from outcrop sections, were deposited in the terrestrial environment. The basin includes three different successions: lower and middle lignite successions of the Soma Formation and upper lignite succession

New placodont remains from the Triassic of Hungary are described here. They come from two different tectonic units: the Transdanubian Range Unit representing Alpine type sedimentary basins and the Villány-Bihar Unit that was part of the southern passive margin of the European Plate during the Triassic. The fossils came from four stratigraphic levels with the oldest specimen, a maxilla fragment found

The Late Viséan ammonoid genus Goniatites had a near-global distribution within the tropical seas but was rarely reported from Central Asia. New investigations of the Early Carboniferous sedimentary succession in the Greater Karatau of Kazakhstan revealed a species-poor new assemblage with Goniatites and assists in the biostratigraphic subdivision of the section. The new species Goniatites zhankurganensis

Three cylindrodontids, Pseudocylindrodon yihesubuensis sp. nov., Ardynomys olseni, and Ardynomys sp. from the locality Yihesubu, and the “Middle White” and “Upper Red” beds of the Erden Obo section in the Erlian Basin, Nei Mongol, China, are described. Pseudocylindrodon yihesubuensis sp. nov. is the earliest known species of Pseudocylindrodon in Asia, and more advanced than Uintan Pseudocylindrodon

To reconstruct the palaeoenvironment and changes within the vegetation, 68 core samples were analysed palynologically from the lacustrine filling of the Eocene maar lake of Offenthal (Hesse, SW Germany). The lacustrine succession includes 16 m of clastic sediments overlain by 13 m of finely laminated bituminous shale. Based on a revised 40Ar/39Ar age of ~ 47.8 ± 0.3 Ma, the lacustrine filling at Offenthal

The Dapingian to Darriwilian Kanosh Formation is one of the most fossiliferous units of the Pogonip Group (Great Basin, western US). It records a critical phase of the so-called Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) during which many marine clades diversified on lower systematic levels. However, a comprehensive palaeoecological analysis has not been presented for this unit so far. Based

Excavations conducted in 2006 inside San Teodoro Cave (north-eastern Sicily) retrieved remains of Hippopotamus pentlandi; of a medium-sized, dwarf Palaeoloxodon; and of Ursus cf. arctos. The specimens were found under a blackish phosphatic crust, dated to about 120 ky. This stratigraphic position sets an important constraint on the arrival time of the ancestors of both H. pentlandi and Palaeoloxodon

New species of the subfamily Myrmicinae are described from the fossil volcanogenic Lake Enspel, Westerwald, Germany. This Fossil-Lagerstätte comprises lake sediments, which essentially consist of intercalated “oilshales” and volcaniclastics. The sediments were dated to be of late Oligocene age. Out of the 287 fossil ants from Enspel examined, 96.5% (n = 277) belong to the formicoid clade (Formicinae

Bioconstructions (five biostromes, one patch reef, and one large reef) of the colonial coral Fomichevella are well exposed, if infrequent, in the Upper Pennsylvanian-lower Permian of the Houchang area (southern Guizhou, China). Though they are primarily built by the same species, different growth morphologies and internal constructions are evident, which indicate different factors controlling their

The Devonian-Carboniferous boundary is documented in marine strata from the Appalachian Basin, Michigan Basin, Illinois Basin, Forest City Basin, Williston Basin, Tobosa Basin, southern continental margin, western platform, and several sub-basins of the Antler Foreland in the USA based on conodonts, brachiopods, miospores, carbon isotope data, and magnetic susceptibility data. The boundary is narrowly

During the early and middle Miocene, the Dinarides Lake System (DLS) was a major hotspot of freshwater mollusk diversity in southeastern Europe. The numerous intramontane lake basins, originating by combined effects of tectonic subsidence and humid climate, accumulated thick lacustrine successions. Diagenetic overprint and leaching of these carbonate-rich deposits have facilitated insights to faunal

Drynarioid ferns comprise a large group in the Polypodiaceae family and are characterised by anastomosing venation and line of abscission between the pinna and the costa. In this paper, after morphological comparison with other ferns, we report and describe a new species, Drynaria diplosticha Y. Yu and S. P. Xie, sp. nov. from the upper Miocene sediments of the Bangmai Formation in Lincang City, Yunnan

Presented here is a middle Miocene proboscidean fauna—deinotheres and gomphotheres—from lignites of the coal mine in Gračanica (Bugojno Basin) in Bosnia–Herzegovina. The material, which exclusively comprises teeth (n = 42), is described and systematically discussed. The majority of the studied fossils represent Prodeinotherium bavaricum, but gomphotheres are also a common faunal element and are identified

Recent excavations at the Gračanica coal mine (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina) have unearthed numerous skeletal parts of fossil vertebrates, including a noteworthy collection of mammalian remains. Previous palaeoecological investigations of the Dinarides Lake System were established using stratigraphical, palaeofloral, and malacological data. However, large mammal remains have so far not been used

The early middle Miocene (European Land Mammal Zone MN5-earliest MN6) locality Gračanica (Bugojno Basin, Bosnia-Herzegovina) has yielded numerous well-preserved dental remains of two Anchitheriinae species: Anchitherium hippoides and Anchitherium ezquerrae. This anchithere assemblage is typical of the Orleanian European Land Mammal Age and is recorded for the first time in Southeastern Europe.

Microconchids are a little-known group of vermiform invertebrates whose fossil record is limited to the preservation of their calcareous tubes. In the past, they were erroneously classified as polychaetes, specifically of the genus Spirorbis. Nonetheless, currently it is known that serpulid polychaetes appeared in the late Permian and earliest true Spirorbis appeared in the Miocene. Microconchids are

The Suoidea from Gračanica in the Bugojno Basin (Bosnia and Herzegovina) are assigned to Choeromorus lemuroides (previously Taucanamo sansaniense) (Taucanaminae, Palaeochoeridae), Bunolistriodon latidens (Listriodontinae, Suidae), and Conohyus simorrensis (Tetraconodontinae, Suidae). These belong to three anagenetic lineages, known from Western Europe to Anatolia. The fossils from Gračanica and these

Zygolophodon turicensis (Schinz, 1824) is a widely distributed species across Europe from the early to late Miocene; however, it is poorly documented in Turkey. A Zygolophodon turicensis mandible fragment, preserving the m1 and the m2, is described from the middle Miocene (MN6) Avdan locality, which is a carbonous level (southwestern Turkey). The Avdan Zygolophodon turicensis contributes to the understanding

A bryozoan fauna from the Upper Devonian (lower Famennian) of the Bahram Formation of the Baqer-abad section in central Iran contains four species: three trepostomes and one rhabdomesine cryptostome. Two trepostome species and one genus are new: Anomalotoechus parvus sp. nov. and Zefrehopora asynithis gen. nov. et sp. nov. The trepostome Coeloclemis zefrehensis Ernst et al., 2017 and the rhabdomesine

Due to typesetting error, the scale bars for Figs. 2, 3 and 6 were missing in the online article.

The rich small-mammal record from the Guadix-Baza Basin (Granada, southern Spain) provides a rather continuous biostratigraphic sequence from the late Miocene to the middle Pleistocene. However, the earliest Pliocene is not so well represented due to the scarcity of levels from this time. In this paper, a complete taxonomic study of the rodent fauna from Botardo-D is presented, providing a more complete

Several teiid specimens (frontal, vertebra, maxillae) are described from the late Eocene of Europe (MP17, Phosphorites du Quercy). The results of phylogenetic analyses confirm that these European Eocene fossils belong to teiid lizards and more specifically to the subfamily Tupinambinae. So far, the Paleogene record of teiids is limited to South America and no occurrence of crown teiids is known in

The continuous and well-accessible Devonian-Carboniferous boundary successions of the Czech Republic are part of the Brunovistulian Unit, which belongs to the Variscan Rhenohercynian Zone of the Bohemian Massif. The well-studied sections, with almost continuous carbonate sedimentation, crop out in the Moravian Karst area and are characterised by carbonate turbidites (Lesní lom) and hemipelagic successions

The middle Miocene was a key period in Earth’s history as climate changed from one of the warmest phases of the Cenozoic Era, the Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO), to colder conditions with the establishment of permanent ice sheets on Antarctica. This climate change had a profound impact on terrestrial ecosystems affecting vegetation worldwide. However, the scarceness of detailed pollen data at short-scale

The Kačák Event is one of the several prominent Devonian climatic and biotic perturbations with a supra-regional to global extent. Its record can be traced in the litho- and biostratigraphy of uppermost Eifelian-lowermost Givetian strata and with multiple geochemical and geophysical proxies. In southwest Iberia, within southwestern Ossa-Morena Zone domains, there are rare, scattered Early-Middle Devonian

Fossil records of nearshore, shallow marine fish communities are rare. Here, we present the rich and diverse fish fauna of a coastal setting in the eastern part of the Mediterranean during the early Pliocene, which comprises 54 taxa, 77% of which are extant and currently occupy the same shores. We analyse these assemblages to estimate the palaeodepth, the substratum and the climatic and oceanographic

In the present study, the Middle Jurassic exhumed carbonate concretions (the so-called hiatus concretions) from the Polish Jura (southern Poland) were studied ichnologically (precursor burrows and their tiering and bioerosion patterns) in order to decipher the palaeoenvironmental conditions leading to their formation and exhumation. The ichnological approach to the concretionary bodies used in this

The middle Eocene (Lutetian) fossil plant assemblage from Tatabánya (N Hungary) comprises plant remains preserved mostly as impressions. Remains of angiosperms are represented by Lauraceae (Laurophyllum div. sp., Daphnogene Unger), Rhamnaceae (Ziziphus Miller), Malvaceae s.l. (Byttneriopsis Z.Kvaček et Wilde), Leguminosae, and Palmae, and the occurrence of other families, i.e., Dioscoreaceae, Myrtaceae

In the present study, the taxonomical and palaeoecological interpretations of non-marine ostracod assemblages from the Gračanica opencast coal mine are summarised. The results revealed three different ostracod assemblages within a 40-m succession. The oldest ostracod assemblage from the lower part of the section consisted primarily of pioneer species Fabaeformiscandona cf. pokornyi, Vestalenula cylindrica

The new early Sarmatian microvertebrate localities Kozárd (Hungary, Nógrád County) and Vârciorog (Romania, Bihor County) are of first importance for the understanding of faunal evolution, as well as the palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate changes during the late middle Miocene in the Central Paratethys. Both localities are rich in Foraminifera and Mollusca. This allows to correlate both continental

In this paper, we describe ectothermic vertebrate assemblages from the Kargı 1, Kargı 2, Kargı 3, Harami1, Harami 3, Hancılı, Keseköy, Çandır and Bağiçi localities in Turkey. The ages of these localities range from the latest Oligocene to the middle Miocene. The preserved non-mammalian fauna of the studied localities includes fishes (Luciobarbus sp., Barbus sp., Luciobarbus vel Barbus sp., aff. Capoeta

Fig. 10 LM overview (a, d, g, j, m), SEM overview (b, e, h, k, n) and SEM detail (c, f, i, l, o, p) micrographs of Amaranthaceae, Droseraceae, Polygonaceae, Sapotaceae and Oleaceae pollen. a–c Drosera sp. (S153636). d–f Persicaria sp./ Persicarioipollenites pliocenicus (S153634). g–i Amaranthaceae gen. Indet. 3 (S153636)

The Pliocene flora of Frankfurt am Main described by Karl Mädler during the first half of the twentieth century is a key flora for the European Pliocene. In the present study, we revised the leaf fossil taxa described by Mädler and investigated plant material collected after Mädler’s publication. The revised and augmented floral list comprises seven new species and some new combinations of taxa described

Unlike the rodents of the local zone C (MN 2) fauna of Gökler, the faunal list of the insectivores shows little surprises. The fauna is dominated by the gymnure Galerix saratji and the enigmatic talpid Suleimania ruemkae, both present in such numbers that for the first time the anterior dentition could be reconstructed. In the case of Galerix, these new data show that the older species had a relatively

During the late Miocene, the Andean–Amazonian region experienced drastic climatic and environmental changes, notably due to a major phase in the Andean uplift. The fossil record is virtually undocumented for this period in the Subandean Zone, where very few palaeoenvironmental and palaeontological investigations have been undertaken. Here, we describe plant remains (pollen, spores, and leaves), microfossils

Isolated cheek teeth of the Asian dipodid Heosminthus primiveris from four early Oligocene localities in the Koritnica-Babušnica basin, south-east Serbia, are described. The record of the Paleogene Dipodidae of Central Asia and Europe is briefly discussed. The current view of the migration pattern of the Paleogene Dipodidae between central Asia and Europe is revised: the migration of Plesiosminthus