Central Paratethys Research Articles

Unveiling the paleosalinity constraints on southern peri-Pannonian Lower Miocene lacustrine systems in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: Lopare (Dinaride Lake System) versus Toplica basin (Serbian Lake System)

Early Neogene saline lakes were widely developed across Central Paratethys, particularly across its „Dinaride-Anatolide“ landbridge (area of Dinarides, Balkans). The constraints on Lopare (western part of Jadar block; eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Toplica (Jastrebac Mt., central Serbia) Neogene paleolakes provide a better understanding of deep-time climate evolution. The study focused on early Neogene paleolacustrine configuration, paleogeography, and the factors affecting a considerable paleosalinity increase. The study integrated available records on the predominantly Lower Miocene sedimentary sequence by analyzing and interpreting several paleosalinity markers (inorganic geochemical proxies, mineralogical data). The constraints on paleosalinity markers are afterward coupled with rather complex tectonic inferences. The two wellbores drilled in the Lopare and Toplica basins expose Neogene sections from which the critical paleosalinity markers are extracted (drillhole depths up to 350 and 1000 m, respectively). The mineral searlesite (NaBSi2O5(OH)2), and high B/Ga, markers of alkaline and arid paleoenvironmental lacustrine conditions, suggested intense evaporation (frequent drought periods). The evaporation was associated with paleoclimatic conditions during the Miocene Climatic Optimum. The Early Neogene arid climate and frequent evaporation episodes resulted in significant salinization of the Lower Miocene Lopare lacustrine sequence. The salinity in the Lopare sequence changed its character between brackish and saline, as evidenced by S/TOC and Ca/(Ca + Fe) ratios (TOC—Total Organic Carbon). At the same time, the salinity in the early Toplica basin was significantly lower and characterized by freshwater and brackish environments. The salinity variations between Toplica and Lopare were further exposed by Fe/(Ca + Mg), (Al + Fe)/(Ca + Mg), and C-value, yielding the change in the (paleo)water column. These markers further indicated the influence of warm climate conditions, consistent with the Miocene paleoclimatic record. Regarding paleogeography and Early Neogene tectonics, the results showed that before the Middle Miocene Badenian transgression, the Paratethyan Sea had no interference with the investigated intramontane lacustrine basins.

A preliminary key for the genera of sinistral Triphoridae

A preliminary key for the discrimination of sinistral Triphoridae genera, limited to those represented by living species, is presented. Some images are provided to display the characters used in the key. A series of notes highlights doubts and uncertainties, which would require more in-depth studies than those available today.

Reliability of the Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy approach in marginal seas: Insights from the Miocene Paratethys

The robustness of the Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy (SIS) as a chemostratigraphic tool was tested in the Miocene epicontinental Central Paratethys using new 87Sr/86Sr results obtained for 129 foraminiferal tests and various marine invertebrate shells that were converted to numerical ages using the global 87Sr/86Sr curve for Phanerozoic open oceans. These ages were compared with those expected from either magnetostratigraphic, radiometric or biostratigraphic studies applied to selected sections from different Central Paratethys basins. The results from different basins showed variations in 87Sr/86Sr values for specific time intervals; therefore, it is not possible to construct a unique 87Sr/86Sr curve for the Central Paratethys region that can be used for chemostratigraphic purposes. The 87Sr/86Sr signal in semi-enclosed basins tends to reflect the lithology of the source areas. a: For example, marine basins surrounded by areas of Mesozoic carbonate rock cover are associated with a reduced 87Sr/86Sr signal compared to the global 87Sr/86Sr signal primarily due to the drainage of these Mesozoic carbonate rocks and transfer of their specific Sr signal. By contrast, areas affected by continental runoff from crystalline terrains in combination with limited connection to surrounding marine domains were found to show an elevated 87Sr/86Sr signal compared to the global one. Additionally, it was demonstrated that infaunal, eutrophic and hypoxic species (foraminiferal genus Uvigerina and molluscs) show a shift towards a relatively higher 87Sr/86Sr signal. Therefore, our data show that variable 87Sr/86Sr patterns occur in semi-enclosed domains, primarily reflecting local settings and thus hampering reliable SIS ages. In particular, the best SIS results in the studied Paratethys area occur during periods of maximum marine connectivity, when other (biostratigraphic) methods can be applied, and then become unreliable as connectivity diminishes.

The first lacertid and partly articulated snake from the Middle Miocene of the Devínska Kobyla Hill in Slovakia, from the type locality of the earliest known seal

I here describe lacertid and snake remains from the classic Middle Miocene (MN 6) locality Bonanza of the Devínska Kobyla Hill near Bratislava (Slovakia). The locality is famous for being a type locality of an early seal Devinophoca Koretsky & Holec, 2002. During the Middle Miocene, the area of Devínska Nová Ves was part of an archipelago in the western part of the Central Paratethys in the northern part of the Vienna basin. The fossils described here comprise an incomplete left maxilla of a lacertid lizard and an articulated portion of a vertebral column of a small colubrid snake with several ribs still attached. The maxilla is tentativelly allocated here to Lacerta Linnaeus, 1758 and is a rare instance of the occurrence of the clade Lacertidae Oppel, 1811 in this environment during the Middle Miocene. Moreover, it represents the oldest known occurence of this clade in Slovakia. Articulated snake specimens from the Cenozoic are rare and although only party articulated, the specimen from Bonanza is therefore exceptional. On the basis of vertebrae alone, determination of fossil colubrids is very difficult. The morphology of the Bonanza specimen is most similar to the extant Dolichophis Gistel, 1868, as also to other small fossil snakes assigned to ‘Coluber’ Linnaeus, 1758 when that genus was a catch-all grade taxon recognised from both Europe and North America, notably ‘Coluber’ dolnicensis Szyndlar, 1987 and ‘Coluber’ pouchetii (Rochebrune, 1880). Because the potentially closest living relative of the European Miocene ‘Coluber’ is Dolichophis, I assigned tentatively the material from Bonanza to cf. Dolichophis, rather than to the wastebasket taxon ‘Coluber’.

The Central Paratethys Sea – Part of the tropical eastern Atlantic rather than gate into the Indian Ocean

The Miocene Paratethys Sea is frequently depicted as junction between the Proto-Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. Herein, we elucidate the biogeographic character of this large epicontinental Miocene sea based on its speciose gastropod fauna. We debunk the persistent myth that there was a connection between these marine realms during Langhian times via the Tethys Seaway. Throughout most of the Early and Middle Miocene the connectivity of the Central Paratethys was via the Rhône Strait and the Slovenian Strait as supported by up to ~22 % of species shared with the Proto-Mediterranean Sea. The faunistic similarity decreased successively at higher latitudes towards the northeastern Atlantic and dropped to low values towards the North Sea. Therefore, a connection with the North Sea can be excluded throughout the Early and Middle Miocene. Faunistic relations of the Central Paratethys Sea with the Eastern Paratethys Sea were surprisingly low until the late Middle Miocene, when endemic species from the Eastern Paratethys ‘flooded’ the Central Paratethys. Therefore, the effectiveness in species transfer or presence of the Carasu and Barlad straits, hypothetically connecting both seas, must be questioned for most of the Middle Miocene.The present-day gastropod faunas of the tropical eastern Atlantic (TEA) and the Indo-West Pacific Region (IWP) can be distinguished clearly by their differing faunal structure (different relative abundance of certain families). The faunas of the Paratethyan and the Proto-Mediterranean Sea follow more closely the type nowadays represented in the tropical eastern Atlantic, suggesting a common origin. The faunistic connectivity with the Indian Ocean, via the Tethys Seaway ceased very early during the Early Miocene, predating the formation of the Gomphotherium land bridge by several million years. Consequently, we reject a re-activation of the Tethys Seaway during the Langhian as providing an effective oceanographic gateway. This is an important observation for climate models, linking the closure of the Tethys Seaway to Miocene climate change.

The latest shallow-sea isocrinids from the Miocene of Paratethys and implications to the Mesozoic marine revolution

The predation-driven Mesozoic marine revolution (MMR) is believed to have induced a dramatic change in the bathymetric distribution of many shallow marine invertebrates since the late Mesozoic. For instance, stalked crinoids – isocrinids (Isocrinida) have undergone a striking decline in shallow-sea environments and today they are restricted to deep-sea settings (below 100 m depth). However, the timing and synchronicity of this shift are a matter of debate. A delayed onset of MMR and/or shifts to a retrograde, low-predation community structure during the Paleogene in the Southern Ocean were invoked. In particular, recent data from the Southern Hemisphere suggest that the environmental restriction of isocrinids to the deep-sea settings may have occurred at the end of the Eocene around Antarctica and Australia, and later in the early Miocene in New Zealand. Here, we report the anomalous occurrence of the isocrinids in shallow nearshore marine facies from the middle Miocene of Poland (Northern Hemisphere, Central Paratethys). Thus, globally, this is the youngest record of shallow-sea stalked crinoids. This finding suggests that some relict stalked crinoids may have been able to live in the shallow-water environments by the middle Miocene, and further confirms that the depth restriction of isocrinids to offshore environments was not synchronous on a global scale.

Sources and composition of organic matter as a tool for understanding the complex variation in paleoenvironments and the connectivity of an epicontinental basin: The Miocene in the northern Pannonian Basin

Epicontinental basins are extremely prone to major paleogeographic changes, and this will directly affect any organic matter (OM) preserved in the depositional record. In this study the Middle–Late Miocene successions in the northern Pannonian Basin System were investigated via sedimentological, petrographic, and geochemical analyses of cores from the Danube Basin to reveal the interplay of factors driving the character of the OM. In the late Middle Miocene (~12.3 Ma), the Central Paratethys Sea maintained normal marine salinity, with dysoxic bottom waters in a distal basin floor environment rich in aquatic OM. The last rifting phase followed during the Late Miocene and led to formation of the deep Lake Pannon. Like seawater, the brackish lake water still also contained sulfate. These open lacustrine deposits (~11.6–10.0 Ma) reveal OM sourced from submerged/floating macrophytes and algae, and humid conditions are indicated by the preponderance of deciduous trees and shrubs on shores. The study identifies hybrid event beds (HEBs) on Lake Pannon's floor (~10.0–9.3 Ma), with currents redepositing mud and OM, resulting in similarities between the Middle Miocene and Late Miocene successions. Turbidite deposition (~9.3–9.0 Ma) from the paleo-Danube induced a shift in OM, replacing algae with terrestrial input. Complete isolation from the main water masses of Lake Pannon (~9.0–8.9 Ma) altered its sources of OM, transitioning from algae to macrophytes, and caused a drop in salinity, likely associated with a humidity peak. The subsequent deltaic dominance (~8.9–8.6 Ma) features well-developed topset lakes, swamps, and floodplain forests, reflecting warm temperate to subtropical climates. The Middle–Upper Miocene deposits studied here are source rocks with fair to very good richness and poor to fair generative potential, and contain kerogen types III and IV, while type II is rare. The rapid paleoenvironmental changes observed over the order of ~100 kyr caused the complete switching of OM type and delivery, giving an indication of the complexity of epicontinental basins.

The Central Paratethys Sea—rise and demise of a Miocene European marine biodiversity hotspot

The Miocene Climate Optimum (MCO, ~ 17–14 Ma) was a time of extraordinary marine biodiversity in the Circum-Mediterranean Region. This boom is best recorded in the deposits of the vanished Central Paratethys Sea, which covered large parts of central to southeastern Europe. This sea harbored an extraordinary tropical to subtropical biotic diversity. Here, we present a georeferenced dataset of 859 gastropod species and discuss geodynamics and climate as the main drivers to explain the changes in diversity. The tectonic reorganization around the Early/Middle Miocene boundary resulted in the formation of an archipelago-like landscape and favorable conditions of the MCO allowed the establishment of coral reefs. Both factors increased habitat heterogeneity, which boosted species richness. The subsequent cooling during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (~ 14–13 Ma) caused a drastic decline in biodiversity of about 67%. Among the most severely hit groups were corallivorous gastropods, reflecting the loss of coral reefs. Deep-water faunas experienced a loss by 57% of the species due to changing patterns in circulation. The low sea level led to a biogeographic fragmentation reflected in higher turnover rates. The largest turnover occurred with the onset of the Sarmatian when bottom water dysoxia eradicated the deep-water fauna whilst surface waters-dwelling planktotrophic species underwent a crisis.

Silicoflagellates and other siliceous micro- and nannofossils from Rupelian diatomites, southeastern Poland

The Eocene-Oligocene Transition is one of the major stages of the Cenozoic reshaping of the world oceans with associated changes in climate, of ocean coastlines and circulation patterns. This altogether created challenging environments for fossilization and preservation of native biota. Consequently, well preserved Oligocene fossils are infrequent worldwide and just as rare in the Central Paratethys. The well-preserved Rupelian (Early Oligocene) diatomites from the Skole Nappe, the external unit of the Outer Carpathians in southeastern Poland were deposited in the Central Paratethys. In some samples, in addition to diatoms, sediments also contain a great diversity of other silicified micro- and nannofossils. Here we report our findings of silicoflagellates (fifteen taxa from five genera), two rotosphaeridians, and several morphotypes of fossil scales, some of uncertain taxonomic affinity. Among silicoflagellates, the most common are species from genera Corbisema (C. triacantha, C. hastata, and C. apiculata) and Dictyocha (D. clinata and D. fibula). We also recovered scales of rotosphaeridians (Pinaciophora and possibly Rabdiophrys) and remains of organisms of uncertain affinity (Clathropyxidella and Macrora) often reported together with silicoflagellates. All of these taxa are the first reports for the Central Paratethys. Silicoflagellate species composition is consistent with the datums derived from other fossils. Silicoflagellates, marine diatoms and archaeomonads suggest a neritic depositional environment.

Timing and facies analysis of the Middle Miocene Badenian flood deposits in southern Central Paratethys—insights from KC-4 borehole, western Serbia

Timing and facies analysis of the Middle Miocene Badenian flood deposits in southern Central Paratethys—insights from KC-4 borehole, western Serbia

Environmental perturbations around the Badenian/Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) boundary in the Central Paratethys: Micropalaeontological and organic geochemical records

The boundary between the two regional Middle Miocene stages (the Badenian and Sarmatian) of the Central Paratethys is associated with the largest faunal turnover event in the Paratethys realm. A recent study performed in the northern Polish Carpathian Foredeep revealed that the Badenian/Sarmatian boundary is coeval with a major change in benthic and planktonic foraminiferal assemblages that occurs a few metres below the beginning of the Anomalinoides dividens Interval Zone in our section. The lowermost Sarmatian biozone is the Elphidium angulatum Partial Range Zone, and its lower boundary corresponds to the disappearance of almost all Badenian foraminiferal species. Detailed analysis of a fully cored borehole in southern Poland using micropalaeontological tools (foraminifera and palynology) and a range of (inorganic and organic) geochemical methods indicated that during the late Badenian and almost the entire profile of Anomalinoides dividens Zone, oxic or suboxic sedimentary conditions prevailed. In the Elphidium angulatum Zone and the lowest part of the subsequent Anomalinoides dividens Zone, suboxic and anoxic conditions dominated the sea bottom. This research indicated that the sudden disappearance of marine Badenian species in the Polish Carpathian Foredeep was caused by a rapid change in basin chemistry although not necessarily it implies open marine conditions changing to brackish water environments.

Mammal-bearing Pleistocene deposits, Vranić, southwestern Pannonian Basin System

Vranić site is a sand quarry that is located on the southern foothills of Papuk Mountain. From bottom to top of the succession, three sedimentary units have been recognized as: Unit 1 containing massive sand with scattered gravel-sized clasts, marl cobbles and boulders, and abundant marine mammal and fish fossils; Unit 2 consisting of sand intercalated with silt, clay and gravel, which may be horizontally bedded; and Unit 3, which is an erosionally-based lenticular matrix to clast-supported structureless gravel. The basal part of Unit 1 shows numerous reworked skeletal remains of Miocene marine mammals. Cosmogenic radionuclides constrain the age of burial of Unit 1 to 895 ± 211 ka, while the source area of Unit 1 had a quick denudation.The massive sands deposited on the slopes of Papuk Mountain were vulnerable to erosion due to the absence of clay. Heavy rainfall or water from snow melting created flash floods that infiltrated the sands, thereby causing slope destabilization and deformation. This process led to slumps that were transformed into a sandy debris flow. This sediment was probably deposited during the interglacial marine isotope age (MIS) 21 period when the scarce vegetation and a warmer climate favored the melting of permafrost ice and consequently triggered slope movements during MIS 22. The reworked skeletal material sampled at the Vranić site comprises fossilized fish along with mammal bones and teeth. Thus, the Vranić site represents an important site for cetacean fossil remains and serves as an important data source for marine life in the Central Paratethys.

Foraminiferal and Palynological Records of an Abrupt Environmental Change at the Badenian/Sarmatian Boundary (Middle Miocene): A Case Study in Northeastern Central Paratethys

The Badenian/Sarmatian boundary in the Central Paratethyan basins is characterised by a change from open marine conditions during the late Badenian to the assumed brackish conditions during the early Sarmatian. The foraminiferal and palynological results of the Badenian/Sarmatian boundary interval in the Babczyn 2 borehole (in SE Poland) showed that the studied interval accumulated under variable, unstable sedimentary conditions. The Badenian/Sarmatian boundary, as correlated with a sudden extinction of stenohaline foraminifera, is interpreted as being due to the shallowing of the basin. The lack of foraminifera and marine palynomorphs just above the Badenian/Sarmatian boundary can reflect short-term anoxia. The composition of the euryhaline assemblages, characteristic for the lower Sarmatian part of the studied succession, indicates from marine to hypersaline conditions.

The Colubrariidae, Eosiphonidae, Melongenidae, Pisaniidae, Prodotiidae and Tudiclidae (Gastropoda, Buccinoidea) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea

We describe 46 species in six families of Buccinoidea from the Miocene of the Central Paratethys Sea (4 Colubrariidae, 5 Eosiphonidae, 1 Melongenidae, 14 Pisaniidae, 4 Prodotiidae, 18 Tudiclidae). For the first time species of the family Prodotiidae are documented from the European Neogene. Tethyspollia nov. gen. (Prodotiidae) and Gailleagrassor nov. gen. (Eosiphonidae) are introduced as new genera. Metula kovacsi nov. sp., Metula aliceae nov. sp. (Colubrariidae), Gailleagrassor paratethyca nov. sp., Calagrassor viciani nov. sp. (Eosiphonidae), Prodotia? wesselyi nov. sp. (Prodotiidae), Aplus hofae nov. sp., Janiopsis vindobonensis nov. sp. (Pisaniidae), Euthria brunettii nov. sp., Euthria walaszczyki nov. sp., Euthria dellabellai nov. sp., Euthria frausseni nov. sp., Euthria obelixi nov. sp., Euthria odiosa nov. sp. and Euthria zachosi nov. sp. (Tudiclidae) are introduced as new species. In addition, Aplus anatolicus nov. sp. and Euthria yesimae nov. sp. are described as new species from the Serravallian (Middle Miocene) of the Karaman Basin (Turkey). We provide a critical survey of Paratethyan species erroneously placed in Tudiclidae. The fauna is highly endemic. The diversity reached a maximum during the Langhian Miocene Climate Optimum and declined distinctly with the onset of the Serravallian.

The Badenian/Sarmatian (Middle Miocene) boundary in the Central Paratethys (Kreminna, western Ukraine): Foraminiferal and palynological evidence

The Badenian/Sarmatian boundary in the Paratethys basin, that marks the transition from normal marine to restricted semi-marine conditions due to isolation of the basin from the world ocean at the onset of Sarmatian time, is still far from being fully understood. The Kreminna section is located at the northeastern margin of the Carpathian Foreland Basin (Central Paratethys) in the Medobory Hills region. The Miocene deposits that overlie here the Upper Cretaceous substratum comprise the >1 m thick upper Badenian marls and clays passing upwards into ~4 m thick Sarmatian marly limestones with intercalations of marls, clays and limestones, and >2 m thick limestones in the uppermost part of the exposure. Fifty-three species of benthic foraminifera and four species of planktonic foraminifera have been recorded. Six benthic foraminiferal assemblages are composed almost exclusively of calcareous forms; agglutinated taxa are practically lacking. Elphidium spp., miliolids, Lobatula lobatula and Ammonia spp. are the most common calcareous benthic foraminifera in the material studied. Planktonic foraminifera are represented only by species of Globigerina and occur rarely in the lowermost part of the section. A characteristic feature of palynofacies is the very low proportion of land-derived elements – sporomorphs and cuticles, which suggests a sedimentary setting without terrestrial influx, and taxonomical impoverishment of dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, which are either monospecific or consist mainly of two to three species: in a majority of samples, assemblages with Polysphaeridium zoharyi and P. subtile occur. Most δ18O values range from –1.5 to ~+0.5‰ VPDB and most δ13C values are between 0 and +2‰ VPDB. In general, the δ13C curve mirrors the δ18O changes in the section. The Badenian/Sarmatian boundary is placed at the level where the Cibicidoides ungerianus Assemblage is replaced by the Elphidium fichtelianum Assemblage. At the boundary, planktonic foraminifers and most abundant stenohaline benthic foraminifera disappeared. Bottom waters were well-oxygenated both in the latest Badenian and earliest Sarmatian in the Kreminna location.

Nubecularia-coralline algal-serpulid-microbial bioherms of the Paratethys Sea-Distribution and paleoecological significance (upper Serravallian, upper Sarmatian, Middle Miocene).

Nubecularia bioherms represent unique bioconstructions that are restricted to the upper Serravallian of the Paratethys and have been reported since the 19th century. They occur in the Central Paratethys in the late Sarmatian and the Eastern Paratethys in the Bessarabian both regional stages of the respective Paratethyan areas. In this study, several locations in the Vienna and Styrian basins of the Central Paratethys were studied out of which four localities were documented in detail (Wolfsthal, Maustrenk, St. Margarethen-Zollhaus, Vienna-Ruzickagasse) to reconstruct their sedimentary setting, their internal composition, and their indications of environmental parameters. The detailed studies included logging of outcrop sections, petrographic, facies and biotic analyses of polished slabs and thin sections and also cathodoluminescence analyses. These concluded that these bioconstructions are not only composed of the foraminifer Nubecularia but represent a complex mixture and interrelationships of Nubecularia, serpulids and microbial carbonate. Four boundstone types can be differentiated: Nubecularia boundstone, Nubecularia-coralline algal boundstone, stromatolitic/thrombolitic boundstone and serpulid-nubeculariid-microbial boundstone. The first 3 types are characteristic of specific localities; the fourth type occurs in all studied locations and represents the terminal association on top of the three other types. The three basal boundstones are predominantly of columnar growth form irrespective of dominance of Nubecularia, coralline algae or microbial carbonate, and the terminal boundstone is widely irregularly organized. The general depositional environment is characterized by cross-bedded oolitic grainstones with abundant quartz grains, miliolid foraminifers and mollusks. Intercalated are microbial carbonates mostly stromatolites but also thrombolites. This indicates a general high water energy environment interrupted by more calm periods when the microbial carbonate was built. The 3 basal types of bioconstructions are interpreted to reflect decreasing food supply and/or oxygenation from Nubecularia over Nubecularia-coralline algal to stromatolitic/thrombolitic boundstone. The serpulid-nubeculariid-microbial boundstone reflects an internal succession with a decrease of the same parameters. Water depth is considered very shallow ranging from 0 to a few meters, and salinity was normal marine to hypersaline. The reconstructed paleoenvironment with dominating oolite shoals and seagrass meadows was not restricted to the Central Paratethys but extended over the entire Paratethys and represented the largest oolite facies area of the entire Cenozoic!

Middle Miocene (Late Badenian) microvertebrates from Hidas, SW Hungary

Up to the present, no terrestrial vertebrate fauna has been published from the pre-Pannonian Miocene of SW Hungary. In 2022 a microvertebrate assemblage was unearthed from a lime mud bed of the Middle Miocene Hidas Formation, in an abandoned coal mining field close to Hidas in the Mecsek Mts. The herpetofauna and the rodent material are described here. Fossil findings point to the Late Badenian MN 7+8 Zone, which, together with the earlier results based on the marine mollusc fauna, narrows the age of the unit to ~13.5–13.3 Ma. The amphibians and reptiles are aquatic, semiaquatic or periaquatic forms. Sedimentary features and the accompanying freshwater gastropod fauna are indicative of a shallow pond or a paludal depositional environment. Crocodylian finds reported earlier from the Hidas Formation indicate a subtropical climate, just before the end of the Miocene warm period in Central Europe. Among the rodents, glirids and flying squirrels as well as Democricetodon and Megacricetodon indicate the presence of humid arboreal vegetation around the site. The rodent taxa are well known from the Middle Miocene faunas of northern Hungary, western Romania and from the Upper Freshwater Molasse of southern Germany and Switzerland. The rodent material does not show characteristics of an insular fauna, e.g. gigantism or endemism. Consequently, although the coeval palaeogeography of the region has been described as an archipelago in the Central Paratethys, with the Mecsek Mts. being one of the islands, the area must have had ecological connections towards the northern and eastern parts of the Pannonian Basin, and the marine areas within the archipelago did not form a barrier against the distribution of microvertebrates. The corridor could have been located towards the NE from the Mecsek Mts., across the elevated basement blocks of central Hungary.

On the status of Pecten burdigalensis Lamarck var. polonica Pusch, 1837 (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)

The well-known Pleuronectia badensis Fontannes, 1882 (currently classified as Cristatopecten cristatus badense) is declared as a n omen protectum against the older synonym Pecten burdigalensis var. polonica Pusch, 1837 considered a nomen oblitum. It ranges from the early to the late Miocene (Burdigalian–Messinian) of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean. In the Central Paratethys it appeared in the early Miocene (Karpatian, correlating with the latest Burdigalian) and became extinct in the middle Miocene (Late Badenian, correlating with the early Serravallian). In Poland – the northernmost part of Central Paratethys – the occurrence of this taxon is limited to the late Early Badenian (late Langhian).

A new clupeoid genus from the Oligocene of Central Paratethys (Menilite Formation, Poland)

The Suborder Clupeoidei Bleeker, 1859 comprises mostly marine fishes, which form large schools feeding on plankton. The fossil record of the suborder in the Late Paleogene reveals that clupeoids were abundant in the Western, Central, as well as Eastern Paratethys. Clupeoid descriptions from the Polish Outer Carpathians (SE Poland, Central Paratethys) remain incomplete due to usage of ‘collective species’, taxonomical inaccuracies, and lack of clear links between extinct and extant representatives. In this paper we present a new clupeoid, † Beksinskiella gen. nov., from the Oligocene of the Outer Carpathians, Poland. The new genus encompasses the nominal species † Maicopiella longimana (Heckel, 1850). † Beksinskiella gen. nov. has a unique combination of characters (skull roof with frontoparietal striae; smooth opercle; 6–7 branchiostegal rays; 42–48 vertebrae; dorsal and anal fins with 21–23 rays; the last two rays of the anal fin being elongated, and the presence of a complete series of abdominal scutes with the postpelvic ones poorly developed), supporting recognition of a new genus of the Suborder Clupeoidei. Similarities and differences between fossil and extant genera of Cluepoidei are discussed to shed light on their relationship.

On the status of Pecten burdigalensis Lamarck var. polonica Pusch, 1837 (Bivalvia: Pectinidae)

The well-known Pleuronectia badensis Fontannes, 1882 (currently classified as Cristatopecten cristatus badense) is declared as a n omen protectum against the older synonym Pecten burdigalensis var. polonica Pusch, 1837 considered a nomen oblitum. It ranges from the early to the late Miocene (Burdigalian–Messinian) of the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean. In the Central Paratethys it appeared in the early Miocene (Karpatian, correlating with the latest Burdigalian) and became extinct in the middle Miocene (Late Badenian, correlating with the early Serravallian). In Poland – the northernmost part of Central Paratethys – the occurrence of this taxon is limited to the late Early Badenian (late Langhian).