The geographic origin of bats is still unknown, and fossils of earliest bats are rare and poorly diversified, with, maybe, the exception of Europe. The earliest bats are recorded from the Early Eocene of North America, Europe, North Africa and Australia where they seem to appear suddenly and simultaneously. Until now, the oldest record in Asia was from the Middle Eocene. In this paper, we report the discovery of the oldest bat fauna of Asia dating from the Early Eocene of the Cambay Formation at Vastan Lignite Mine in Western India. The fossil taxa are described on the basis of well-preserved fragments of dentaries and lower teeth. The fauna is highly diversified and is represented by seven species belonging to seven genera and at least four families. Two genera and five species are new. Three species exhibit very primitive dental characters, whereas four others indicate more advanced states. Unexpectedly, this fauna presents strong affinities with the European faunas from the French Paris Basin and the German Messel locality. This could result from the limited fossil record of bats in Asia, but could also suggest new palaeobiogeographic scenarios involving the relative position of India during the Early Eocene.
Shrews are among the most speciose of mammalian clades, but their evolutionary history is poorly understood. Their fossil record is fragmentary and even the anatomy of living groups is not well documented. Here, we incorporate the oldest, most complete fossil shrew yet known into the first phylogenetic analysis of the group to include molecular, morphological and temporal data.
Introduction Raoellidae are small artiodactyls retrieved from the middle Eocene of Asia (ca - 47 Ma) and closely related to stem Cetacea. Morphological observations of their endocranial structures allow for outlining some of the early steps of the evolutionary history of the cetacean brain. The external features of the brain and associated sinuses of Raoellidae are so far only documented by the virtual reconstruction of the endocast based on specimens of the species Indohyus indirae.
Pseudonotherobius kohlsi and Megalomus? coloradensis are newly identified species of lacewings from the early Eocene era, found in Colorado’s Green River Formation.
Pseudonotherobius is characterized by a specific crossvein in its forewings and a uniquely dilated hind wing, which sets it apart within its family.
The genus is tentatively placed within the Carobiinae subfamily, hinting at its similarity to a modern Australian lacewing species.
- A new beetle species, Rhantus villumi sp. nov., has been identified from a single specimen found in the Fur Formation of Denmark, dating back about 55.4 million years to the early Eocene, making it the oldest known member of its genus.
- The discovery aligns with phylogenetic studies and suggests that the presence of this temperate beetle in a typically warm environment indicates potential short-term cooling trends during that period.
- The newly identified species might have fed on mosquito larvae, which have also been found in the same fossil site; however, another Dytiscidae species was noted but remains unidentified due to preservation issues.
Furochrysa alisae gen et sp. nov. is described, and Stephenbrooksia multifurcata Willmann, 1993 and Danochrysa madseni Willmann, 1993 are re-described based on their holotypes and additional specimens from the early Eocene Fur Formation of Denmark.
