This volume focuses on small mammal fossils from extinct Asian faunas of about 1 to 7 million years ago in North China.  These played a role in the emergence of vertebrate paleontology as a modern science in that country. This second volume of the sub-seriesLate Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals in theVertebrate Paleobiologyand Paleoanthropologybook series deals with a rich microfauna fossil record; megafauna follow in subsequent volumes.

 

This research on Yushe Basin fossils provides a view of changes in northeast Asian terrestrial faunas during the Late Neogene, and therefore is a key to the biochronology for a vast part of the continent. The faunas recovered by the multinational team working in this region represent changes in small mammal communities of the Yushe Basin, revealed on a finer time scale that has not been achieved previously. Detailed systematic studies on small mammal groups proceeded under the care of specialists are outlined in the chapters of this volume. Paleontologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists will find this book appealing.

Dr. Lawrence J. Flynn is Assistant Director of the American School of Prehistoric Research at the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Wen-Yu Wu is a researcher at the Laboratory of Paleomammalogy, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

1 Small Mammal Exploration in Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province   Lawrence J. Flynn and Wen-Yu Wu.- 2  The Lipotyphla of Yushe Basin   Lawrence J. Flynn and Wen-Yu Wu.- 3  The Bats of Yushe Basin   Lawrence J. Flynn.- 4  The Lagomorphs (Ochotonidae, Leporidae) of Yushe Basin   Wen-Yu Wu and Lawrence J. Flynn.- 5  Yushe Squirrels (Sciuridae, Rodentia)   Zhu-Ding Qiu.- 6  Yushe Beavers (Castoridae, Rodentia)   Xiaofeng Xu, Qiang Li, and Lawrence J. Flynn.- 7  Yushe Dipodoidea Zhu-Ding Qiu.- 8  A Dormouse (Gliridae, Rodentia) from Yushe Basin   Wen-Yu Wu.- 9  The Zokors of Yushe Basin   Shao-Hua Zheng.- 10  The Hamsters of Yushe Basin    Wen-Yu Wu and Lawrence J. Flynn.- 11  Yushe Basin Prometheomyini (Arvicolinae, Rodentia)    Wen-Yu Wu and Lawrence J. Flynn.- 12  Fossil Arvicolini of Yushe Basin: Facts and Problems of Arvicoline Biochronology of North China   Ying-Qi Zhang.- 13  The Shanxi Gerbils    Lawrence J. Flynn and Wen-Yu Wu.- 14  The Murine Rodents of Yushe Basin    Wen-Yu Wu, Lawrence J. Flynn and Zhu-Ding Qiu.- 15  The Bamboo Rats and Porcupines of Yushe Basin    <Lawrence J. Flynn and Wen-Yu Wu.- 16  Dynamic Small Mammal Assemblages of Yushe Basin    Lawrence J. Flynn and Wen-Yu Wu.- APPENDIX Log of Surface Collections and Initial Screening Results for Microvertebrate Localities of Yushe Basin.-