Biodiversity of Small Mammals and Paleoenvironment of Transbaikalia and North Mongolia in the Late Pliocene

This paper reports the results of analysis on small mammal faunas dwelling during the Late Pliocene the Transbaikal and Northern Mongolia regions. They were found to share many common species, even though some differences linked with local and regional specifics of the environment are the case. High diversity of small mammal taxa, species richness and their prominent quantity specify the localities of Udunga, Beregovaya and Tologoi in Transbaikal region and in Shamar of Northern Mongolia. The compositions of all faunas point to the existence of the savanna-like landscapes and warm semiarid climate in that period

Biodiversity and Evolutionary Development of Oligocene-Pliocene Lagomorphs (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) of Mongolia

Lagomorphs (pikas and hares) are an ancient group of small mammals originated in Asia in the Paleocene-Eocene. The earliest evidence of their presence in Mongolia is dated to the Early Oligocene. The taxa flourished during the Late Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene; at the Late Pliocene they were reduced both in their diversity and in abundance. No data on lagomorph are known from the Pleistocene and Holocene, though there are 7 taxa of lagomorphs present in the modern fauna. Altogether, more than 50 lagomorph species, extinct at present, are known to have existed in Mongolia since the Oligocene through the Late Pliocene

The history of small mammal fauna of Western Transbaikalia: a brief review

Abstract The history of the Western Transbaikalia terrestrial fauna of small mammals from the Neogene to the Holocene was traced based on fossil-bearing localities. The main factors influencing the development of the Transbaikalia biota and the environment were the gradually increasing climate cooling and aridization for the last four million years in the region.</jats:p