Boreskov

OP‐44COEVOLUTION OF MAMMALIAN FAUNAS AND LANDSCAPESLopatin A.V., Agadjanian A.K.Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, RussiaSeveral large stages are clearly discernible in the evolution of the land mammalcommunities. The Early Cenozoic stage of development of the Northern Hemispherezoochores has started since the total isolation in the Paleocene. The mammalian faunas ofNorth America, Europe and Asia were developed independently as three zoogeographicregions of the Holarctic Kingdom. The North African fauna was a part of the AfrotropicalKingdom. In this region the endemic placental mammal groups (hyraxes, aardwarks, tenrecs,golden moles, elephant shrews, proboscideans, sirenians) had evolved. The first Cenozoicgreat faunal interchange between north landmasses was occurred at the Paleocene–Eoceneboundary. As a result, some close representatives of several mammalian orders(artiodactyls, perissodactyls, condylarths, creodonts, carnivores, tillodonts, pantodonts, androdents) appeared in all parts of Holarctic. The faunal interchange between Europe andNorth America via North Atlantic land bridge occurred in Early and Middle Eocene. Thefaunal interrelationships between North America and Asia via the Bering land bridgecontinued until latest Eocene. The independence of the zoogeographic regions waspreserved due to the existence of marine barrier between Asian and European landmasses(Popov et al., 2009). North Alpine Strait was the main marine barrier, which preventedfaunal interchange between continental Palearctic and Western Europe archipelago. In theLate Eocene, the mammalian faunas of South Eastern Europe, Lesser Caucasus and AsiaMinor were closely related to Central Asian mammalian fauna, being included in the NorthAsian Subregion of the Asian Zoogeographic Region. The disappearance of the West SiberianBasin and Turgai Strait, and the consolidation of the major parts of European land at theEocene–Oligocene boundary resulted in a marked decrease in the faunal distinctionsbetween the European and Asian zoogeographic regions. The beginning of the Oligocene inEurope was associated with the so‐called Grande Coupure, the greatest rearrangement ofthe West European Fauna. At least 20 mammalian families migrated to Europe from Asia atthe Early Oligocene. Of 15 endemic European families of the Late Eocene mammals, only 2survived up to the end of the Early Oligocene. In the Late Oligocene the mammal fauna fromWestern Europe became even more similar to faunas from other Palearctic areas. More than30 families were in common with Asia. Some rodent and ruminant groups typical for theOligocene of Asia became widespread in Late Oligocene faunas of Europe.With the gradual contraction of the Eastern Tethys in the Early Miocene, the faunalcontacts between Africa and Eurasia were established. As a result, proboscideans had105