This volume focuses on small mammal fossils from extinct Asian faunas of about 1 to 7 million years ago in North China. These played a role in the emergence of vertebrate paleontology as a modern science in that country. This second volume of the sub-series Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals in the Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology book series deals with a rich microfauna fossil record; megafauna follow in subsequent volumes. This research on Yushe Basin fossils provides a view of changes in northeast Asian terrestrial faunas during the Late Neogene, and therefore is a key to the biochronology for a vast part of the continent. The faunas recovered by the multinational team working in this region represent changes in small mammal communities of the Yushe Basin, revealed on a finer time scale that has not been achieved previously. Detailed systematic studies on small mammal groups proceeded under the care of specialists are outlined in the chapters of this volume. Paleontologists, ecologists and evolutionary biologists will find this book appealing.

The Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China embodies the bulk of our knowledge on successions of terrestrial vertebrates in the northern part of East Asia. Everything we know about Asian mammals of the last 6 million years has a historical basis in the documentation of the geology of Yushe. This volume introduces the basin in its geological setting, describes the succession of fossiliferous strata, and shows how it is dated. It develops an unsurpassed level of precision for its age control. Geological maps and stratigraphic sections provide the backbone for individual studies to follow on varied fossil groups. The volume explores the history of exploration of the last century in Yushe Basin and places development of paleontology there into the context of the birth of the modern epoch of science in China.