Dissertation Research: Mammalian Paleontology at an Old World Monkey Locality, Wadi Moghara, Egypt

9408310塔布·拉斯穆森/埃伦·米勒在中新世早期，非洲-阿拉伯板块和土耳其板块发生碰撞，在非洲和欧亚大陆之间架起了一座大陆桥。在整个新生代，动物第一次可以在这两个大陆之间迁徙。在此之前，在非洲，孤立的动物物种主要是灵长类动物、大象、鬣狗和角齿动物。在这一新时期，新的灵长类、食肉动物和有蹄动物首次出现，现在的许多动物都可以追溯到那个时期，包括东半球猴子的起源和早期进化。许多重要的中新世早期动物作为化石保存在Wadi Moghara的岩石中，尽管这一时期的大多数非洲遗址都位于东非裂谷系统。莫哈拉化石的分类多样性，再加上该遗址与其他大多数早中新世遗址的距离很远，因此进一步研究和发掘莫哈拉具有重要意义。该项目由一名研究生完成，将收集更多来自这一重要遗址的哺乳动物化石，检查所有莫哈拉博物馆的标本和重要的比较收藏，修订莫哈拉哺乳动物的系统学，并调查这些哺乳动物与其他中新世早期动物群之间的关系。它将对古生物学做出重要贡献，并帮助培训一名新的科学家。

9408310 Tab Rasmussen/Ellen Miller During the lower Miocene, the African-Arabian and Turkish tectonic plates collide, resulting in a land bridge between Africa and Eurasia. For the first time in the entire Cenozoic, animal could move between those two continents. Before then in Africa, the isolated animal species were mostly primates, elephants, hyraxes, and cerodonts. In this new period, new primates, carnivores, and hooved animals appeared for the first time, and much of the present day fauna can be traced to that period, including the origin and early evolution of the Old World monkeys. Many of these important early Miocene animals are preserved as fossils in the rocks at Wadi Moghara, although most of the African sites of this period are in the East African Rift Valley system. The taxonomic diversity of the fossils at Moghara, coupled with the site's great distance from most other early Miocene localities, makes the further study and excavation at Moghara important. This project, by a graduate student, will result in the collection of more fossil mammals from this important site, an examination of all Moghara museum specimens and important comparative collections, a revision of the systematics of the Moghara mammals, and an investigation of the relationships between these mammals and other early Miocene faunas. It will make important paleontological contributions as well as aiding in the training of a new scientist.