Drivers of the artiodactyl turnover in insular western Europe at the Eocene-Oligocene Transition.

Simultaneously investigating the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on diversity dynamics is essential to understand the evolutionary history of clades. The Grande Coupure corresponds to a major faunal turnover at the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) (~34.1 to 33.

A 50-million-year-old, three-dimensionally preserved bat skull supports an early origin for modern echolocation.

Bats are among the most recognizable, numerous, and widespread of all mammals. But much of their fossil record is missing, and bat origins remain poorly understood, as do the relationships of early to modern bats. Here, we describe a new early Eocene bat that helps bridge the gap between archaic stem bats and the hyperdiverse modern bat radiation of more than 1,460 living species.

Anatomical correlates and nomenclature of the chiropteran endocranial cast.

Bats form a diverse group of mammals that are highly specialized in active flight and ultrasound echolocation. These specializations rely on adaptations that reflect on their morphoanatomy and have been tentatively linked to brain morphology and volumetry. Despite their small size and fragility, bat crania and natural braincase casts ("endocasts") have been preserved in the fossil record, which allows for investigating brain evolution and inferring paleobiology.

The ossicular chain of Cainotheriidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla).

This work describes an unparalleled sample of isolated fossil auditory ossicles of cainotheriid artiodactyls from the Paleogene karstic infillings of Dams (Tarn-et-Garonne, Quercy, France). This collection comprises a total of 18 mallei, 28 incudes and three stapedes. It allows the documentation of both intra- and interspecific variability of ossicular morphology within Cainotheriidae.