Biostratigraphical and paleontological studies on Late Cenozoic vertebrate fauna in Kyushu and its adjacent areas.

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In this study, the palaeovertebrate faunas of the late Neogene and the Pleistocene in Kyushu and the continental shelves of Yellow Sea and East China Sea are investigated in detail with special reference to the biostratigraphy and the palaeogeography of the Japanese Islands and the Asiatic Continents.1. From the Sasebo and the Nojima Groups in the northwestern Kyushu, many vertebrate fossils showing the faunal resemblance to those from the middle Miocene Mizunami Group in Central Japan are found. 2. For the purpose of biostratigraphic zoning, the Plio-Pleistocene formations in Kyushu can be divided into following seven units. These subdivisions are based on the geologic range of vertebrate remains yielded, especially of proboscidean fossils: 1) Stegodon bombifrons Zone,2) Stegodon insignis Zone, 3) Stegodon akashiensis Zone, 4) Mammuthus armeniacus proximus Zone, 5) Stegodon aurorae Zone, 6) Stegodon orientalis Zone and 7) Palaeoloxodon naumanni Zone, in ascending order. These mammalian zones in Kyushu are correlated to the zones known in the Plio-Pleistocene formations in Honshu.3. Recently, numerous specimens of vertebrate fossils were collected from many submarine locations of the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and the Taiwan strait. The vertebrate faunas are characterized by predominance of herbivorous mammals of the grassland, forests and swamp habitants and it may be said as the Palaeoloxodon haihouensis-Elaphurus mayai Complex. These faunas, furthermore, are considered to be represent the Middle Pleistocene Zhoukoutien Fauna in North China and the Palaeoloxodon-Nipponicervus Complex in the Seto Inland Sea of West Japan.