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The even-toed ungulates are ungulates – hoofed animals – which bear weight equally on two of the five toes: their third and fourth toes. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing posteriorly. By contrast, odd-toed ungulates bear weight on one of the five toes: the third toe. Another difference between the two is that even-toed ungulates digest plant cellulose in one or more stomach chambers rather than in their intestine as the odd-toed ungulates do.
Hippopotamuses are stout, naked-skinned, and amphibious artiodactyl mammals, possessing three-chambered stomachs and walking on four toes on each foot. While they resemble pigs physiologically, their closest living relatives are the cetaceans. Hippopotamuses are the only living members of the family Hippopotamidae.
Chevrotains, also known as mouse-deer, are small ungulates that make up the family Tragulidae, the only extant members of the infraorder Tragulina. The 10 extant species are placed in three genera, but several species also are known only from fossils. The extant species are found in forests in South and Southeast Asia, with a single species in the rainforests of Central and West Africa. They are solitary or live in pairs, and feed almost exclusively on plant material. Chevrotains are the smallest hoofed mammals in the world. The Asian species weigh between 0.7 and 8.0 kg, while the African chevrotain is considerably larger at 7–16 kg (15–35 lb).
Suidae is a family of artiodactyl mammals which are commonly called pigs, hogs or boars. In addition to numerous fossil species, 18 extant species are currently recognized, classified into between four and eight genera. The family includes the domestic pig, Sus scrofa domesticus or Sus domesticus, in addition to numerous species of wild pig, such as babirusas and warthogs. All suids, or swine, are native to the Old World, ranging from Asia to Europe and Africa.
Anthracotheriidae is a family of extinct, hippopotamus-like artiodactyl ungulates related to hippopotamuses and whales. The oldest genus, Elomeryx, first appeared during the middle Eocene in Asia. They thrived in Africa and Eurasia, with a few species ultimately entering North America during the Oligocene. They died out in Europe and Africa during the Miocene, possibly due to a combination of climatic changes and competition with other artiodactyls, including pigs and true hippopotamuses. The youngest genus, Merycopotamus, died out in Asia during the late Pliocene. The family is named after the first genus discovered, Anthracotherium, which means "coal beast", as the first fossils of it were found in Paleogene-aged coal beds in France. Fossil remains of the anthracothere genus were discovered by the Harvard University and Geological Survey of Pakistan joint research project (Y-GSP) in the well-dated middle and late Miocene deposits of the Pothohar Plateau in northern Pakistan.
Prosantorhinus is an extinct genus of rhinoceros from the lower and middle Miocene. The small teleoceratine rhinocerotid was found in western Europe and Asia, and resembled a hippopotamus in form.
Protoceratidae is an extinct family of herbivorous North American artiodactyls that lived during the Eocene through Pliocene at around 46.2—4.9 Mya, existing for about 41 million years.
In paleontology, biochronology is the correlation in time of biological events using fossils. In its strict sense, it refers to the use of assemblages of fossils that are not tied to stratigraphic sections. Collections of land mammal ages have been defined for every continent except Antarctica, and most are correlated with each other indirectly through known evolutionary lineages. A combination of argon–argon dating and magnetic stratigraphy allows a direct temporal comparison of terrestrial events with climate change and mass extinctions.
The Palaeomerycidae are an extinct family of ruminants in the order Artiodactyla, probably ancestral to deer and musk deer. Palaeomerycids lived in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America from 33 to 4.9 million years ago, existing for about 28 million years.
The European Land Mammal Mega Zones are zones in rock layers that have a specific assemblage of fossils (biozones) based on occurrences of fossil assemblages of European land mammals. These biozones cover most of the Neogene and Paleogene systems. In cases when fossils of mammals are abundant, stratigraphers and paleontologists can use these biozones as a more practical regional alternative to the stages of the official ICS geologic timescale. European Land Mammal Mega Zones are often also confusingly referred to as ages, stages, or intervals.
The Vallesian age is a period of geologic time within the Miocene used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Turolian age and follows the Astaracian age. The so-called Vallesian Crisis resulted in the extinction of several mammalian taxa characteristic of the Middle Miocene.
The Orleanian age is a period of geologic time, within the Miocene and used more specifically with European Land Mammal Ages. It precedes the Astaracian age and follows the Agenian age.
Miniopterus zapfei is a fossil bat in the genus Miniopterus from the middle Miocene of France. First described in 2002, it is known only from the site of La Grive M, where it occurs with another fossil Miniopterus species, the smaller and more common Miniopterus fossilis. M. zapfei is known from five mandibles and an isolated fourth upper premolar (P4). The fourth lower premolar is more slender than in M. fossilis and the cingulum shelf surrounding the P4 is less well-developed than in living Miniopterus. The length of the first lower molar is 1.57 to 1.60 mm.
Veratalpa lugdunensiana is a fossil mammal from the Miocene of France. Known from a single astragalus, the species was assigned to its own genus, Veratalpa, by Florentino Ameghino in 1905. He placed it in Talpidae, the family of the moles, but in 1974, John Howard Hutchison argued that the astragalus was not talpid and more likely came from a rodent. The astragalus is about 4.5 mm long, broad for a talpid, and has the head oriented farther from the axis of the foot than in talpids.
In biostratigraphy, MN 4 is one of the MN zones used to characterize the fossil mammal faunas of the Neogene of Europe. It is preceded by MN 3 and followed by MN 5; together, these three zones form the Orleanian age of the middle Miocene. This zone starts within magnetostratigraphic chron C5Dr, at 18 million years ago, and ends within chron C5Cr, at 17.0 million years ago, although some different correlations have been proposed.
Lagrivea is a fossil genus of squirrel from the Middle Miocene of France. The single species, L. vireti, is known from three mandibles and two isolated teeth. All come from the fissure filling of La Grive L5, part of the La Grive-Saint-Alban complex in Saint-Alban-de-Roche, southeastern France. Lagrivea was a large tree squirrel with flat lower incisors and a large, triangular fourth lower premolar (p4). Each of the four cheekteeth bears a deep basin in the middle of the crown. The m3 is about rectangular in shape, but rounded at the back. Although m1 and m2 have two roots, m3 has three.
? Nycticebus linglom is a fossil strepsirrhine primate from the Miocene of Thailand. Known only from a single tooth, an upper third molar, it is thought to be related to the living slow lorises, but the material is not sufficient to assign the species to Nycticebus with certainty, and the species name therefore uses open nomenclature. With a width of 1.82 mm, this tooth is very small for a primate. It is triangular in shape, supported by a single root, and shows three main cusps, in addition to various crests. The absence of a fourth cusp, the hypocone, distinguishes it from various other prosimian primates.
The Mae Long Formation in the Li Basin is a fossil site in Lamphun Province, Thailand. The fossils found are thought to date to the late Early Miocene, about 18 million years ago, corresponding to the European zone MN 4.
Tupaia miocenica is a fossil treeshrew from the Miocene of Thailand. Known only from a single tooth, an upper first or second molar, it is among the few known fossil treeshrews. With a length of 3.57 mm, the tooth is large for a treeshrew. At the back lingual corner, the tooth shows a small cusp, the hypocone, that is separated from the protocone in front of it by a narrow valley. The condition of the hypocone distinguishes this species from various other treeshrews. In addition, the presence of a well-developed but simple mesostyle is distinctive.
Prolagus oeningensis is an extinct lagomorph and the type species of its genus, Prolagus. It lived from 15.97 to 7.75 Ma, existing for about 8 million years.