Mammalian Biogeography
in the Paleogene
During the early Cenozoic, the northern continents of Asia, Europe, and North America were connected to each other via high-latitude land bridges like Beringia and Greenland, while South America, Africa, and Australia were isolated island-continents. We study the complex interaction of factors like climate, geology, vicariance, and dispersal and the roles they played on the radiation of mammals during this time period. Most of our research involves understanding how these various abiotic and biotic factors influenced mammal evolution in the northern continents, and the impact they had on the mammalian superorders Laurasiatheria and Euarchontoglires (together forming the group Boreoeutheria).
Recent Publications
Anemone, R.L., Jones, M.F., Van Regenmorter, J., and Beard, K.C., 2024. A latest Paleocene mammal fauna from the Great Divide Basin in southern Wyoming and a revised biozonation of the Clarkforkian land mammal age. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, e2424139-2.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2024.2424139
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Jones, M.F., and Beard, K.C., 2023. Nyctitheriidae (Mammalia, ?Eulipotyphla) from the late Paleocene of Big Multi Quarry, southern Wyoming, and a revision of the subfamily Placentidentinae. Annals of Carnegie Museum 88:115-159. https://doi.org/10.2992/007.088.0202
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Schauf, A.J., Jones, M.F., and Oh, P., 2023. Simulating the dynamics of dispersal and dispersal ability in fragmented populations with mate-finding Allee effects. Ecology and Evolution 13:e10021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10021
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Jones, M.F., Li, Q., Ni, X., and Beard, K.C., 2021. The earliest Asian bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) address major gaps in bat evolution. Biology Letters 17:20210185. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0185
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Beard, K.C., Jones, M.F., Thurber, N.A., and Sanisidro, O., 2020. Systematics and paleobiology of Chiromyoides (Mammalia, Plesiadapidae) from the upper Paleocene of western North America and western Europe. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 39:e1730389-2.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2019.1730389
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Jones, M.F., Coster, P.M.C., Licht, A., Métais, G., OcakoÄŸlu, F., Taylor, M.H., and Beard, K.C., 2019. A stem bat (Chiroptera: Palaeochiropterygidae) from the late middle Eocene of northern Anatolia: implications for the dispersal and paleobiology of early bats. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments 99:261-269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-018-0338-z