A Review of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Mammals of Mongolia
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Review of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Mammals of Mongolia A. V. Lopatina, b, * a
Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117647 Russia b Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Received October 1, 2019; revised October 7, 2019; accepted October 10, 2019
Abstract—In Mongolia, fossil mammals are known from the Upper Jurassic, Lower and Upper Cretaceous, all series of the Paleogene and Neogene, as well as the Pleistocene. Over 335 new species and more than 185 new genera of fossil mammals (not including synonyms) were described from Mongolia up to the end of 2019. The most important results in the last hundred years of research, that most strongly influenced the development of mammal paleontology, have been: (1) the discoveries of extremely rich Paleogene and Neogene localities containing numerous fossils of various mammals by the Central Asian Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History (CAE AMNH) in 1922–1930, and subsequent expeditions; (2) the discovery and further study of the Late Cretaceous mammalian fauna by the CAE AMNH and the Mongolian Paleontological Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946–1949), the Polish-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition (1963–1971) and the Joint Soviet-Mongolian (Russian-Mongolian) Paleontological Expedition (JSMPE, JRMPE); (3) the discovery by the JSMPE in the late 1960s–early 1970s of the Early Cretaceous Höövör mammalian fauna, at the time of its discovery the most diverse and richest in Asia; (4) the obtaining by the JSMPE of a large amount of data on the early Paleogene, the most important stage in the evolution of mammals; (5) detailed biostratigraphic study of the Oligocene and the Lower Miocene mammal fossils of the Valley of Lakes, as part of the Austrian-Mongolian project (1995–2018). Keywords: Mammals, Late Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Late Cretaceous, Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Mongolia DOI: 10.1134/S0031030120070084
INTRODUCTION In the history of paleontology in Mongolia, fossil mammals were among the first fossils to attract the attention of researchers. This was probably a result of the research preferences and priorities of the scientific community at the beginning of the 20th century with respect to the systematics and evolutionary biology of fossil organisms, as well as the absolutely new, seemingly immense opportunities that the Asian fossil mammal fauna opened up to its first researchers. Over the next hundred years, mammals, especially Paleogene mammals, remained (along with dinosaurs) some of the most popular study objects among the vertebrates of Mongolia. The discovery of numerous localities, and subsequent research, has yielded vast information on the diversity of mammals, and the morphology and paleobiology of members of various groups. The rich fossil material collected provided a basis for research into the evolution of mammals in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. This article gives an historical overview of paleontological mamma
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