30
September 2004
Once upon a time in America
Vertebrate palaeontologists have long suspected that great portions of the fossil record in eastern North America were hidden from view. Strange lineages kept turning up, with little in common with the known fossils of the region. A new fossil site near Gray, in Tennessee, may help to solve some of these mysteries. Here a unique combination of Eurasian and North American species has been found, including the earliest and most primitive red panda in the world, and a highly derived Eurasian badger. These forms were unexpected and point to important dispersal events. The Gray site is also significant because it represents the only late Miocene mammal site in the enormous forested area of North America — known fossil records are biased towards the western half of the continent.
Two new carnivores from an unusual late Tertiary
forest biota in eastern North America
STEVEN C. WALLACE & XIAOMING WANG
Nature 431, 556–559 (2004); doi:10.1038/nature02819
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