A revision of Late Oligocene associations of small mammals from the Aral Formation (Kazakhstan) in the National Museum of Georgia, Tbilissi

Abstract

The taxonomy and age of the small mammals from the type area of the Aral Formation have been disputed ever since the first specimens from Akespe were published by Argyropulo in 1939. The material from Altyn Schokysu, Sayaken, Akespe and Akotau dicussed below was collected by the first author (OGB) during the second half of the twentieth century and published in Russian in 1993. The revision of the fauna from the Aral Formation suggests a biostratigraphical correlation with the radiometrically calibrated Oligocene zone C/C` in Mongolia defined by Daxner-Höck. Hence the original assignment of the Aral fauna to the Late Oligocene (Tabenbulukian) is considered to be correct.