The first cyprinid fish and small mammal fossils from the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

Although vertebrate paleontology has lagged behind invertebrate paleontology in Korea, an increase in the rate of discovery of Cretaceous vertebrate fossils in recent years resulted in documentation of 38 localities from the fluvio-lacustrine Gyeongsang Supergroup (Hauterivian to Cenomanian) and recovery of fish, turtle, crocodilian, pterosaur, and dinosaur bones, and dinosaur eggs in nests, as well as dinosaur, bird, and pterosaur footprints (Lee et al., 2001). With respect to Tertiary mammals, Korea has generally been regarded as barren even though fossil mammals were reported from two localities in North Korea by Tokunaga (1933), Takai (1939), and Shikama (1943). They reported six perissodactyls and a carnivore from the Osu Formation (Eocene or Oligocene), Pongsan, Hwanghae Province, and cetacean, proboscidean, and rhinoceros specimens from the Phyonryuk Formation (Miocene), Kilju-Myongcheon, North Hamgyeong Province. These specimens are housed at the University of Tokyo Museum. There have been no subsequent published reports of fossil mammals from either North or South Korea.