Vietnam

Neogene vertebrate fauna and ecosystems of Southeast Asia

The continental ecosystems of Southern Asia are hot spots of terrestrial bio diversity. However almost nothing from Vietnam and Laos is known of fossil vertebrates and ecological systems.

In the years 2008 and 2009, rich and taxonomically diverse vertebrate faunas were discovered from two pull-apart basins of the Cao Bang-Tien Yen district.

The results of the examinations of the faunas will contribute to clarification of the biostratigraphic age of the basin filling which will also supply stratigraphic data for the tectonics along the Cao Bang-Tien Yen pull apart system. These results will provide important data to understand the extruding tectonics of Eastern Asia.

(A) Overview of the Na Duong coal mine (viewing direction NE; coordinates: N21°42.2, E106°58.6), (B) carbonized tree trunks from the main seam, (C) lignitic clays (bed #81) with abundant markasite and pyrite concretions (p) and crocodilian coprolites (c), and (D) skull of a longirostrine crocodile during excavation and the anterior part of the snout after preparation (scale-size 1 cm).

Part of an accumulation of turtle shells (Na Duong coal mine, bed #81) composed by at least six individuals (scale 1 m).

The earliest Miocene localities from Hang Mon (Sơn La Province, Yên Châu District, Northern Vietnam). a Location of the studied area. Respectively, Hang Mon 2 (above) and Hang Mon 1 (below) in 2011. b Parts of an aquatic turtle (Geoemydidae/Emydidae) plastron from Hang Mon 1. c Pleuroceros blanfordi (Hang Mon 2). Left M2 with in situ breakage (arrow)

Sampling with the Vietnamese partners in Hang Mon

Salvage of a skeleton of crocodile, Na Duong 2011

Publications

Massonne, T., Vasilyan, D., Rabi, M., Böhme, M. 2019: A new alligatoroid from the Eocene of Vietnam highlights an extinct Asian clade independent from extant Alligator sinensis. PeerJ 7:e7562, DOI 10.7717/peerj.7562

Garbin, R.C., Böhme, M., Joyce, W.G., 2019: A new testudinoid turtle from the middle to late Eocene of Vietnam. PeerJ 7:e6280, DOI 10.7717/peerj.6280

Raheem, D.C., Schneider, S., Böhme, M., Vasiliyan, D., Prieto, J. 2018: The oldest known cyclophoroidean land snails (Caenogastropoda) from Asia. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 16(15): 1301-1317

Prieto, J., Antoine, P.O., van der Made, J., Métais, G., Lac The Phuc, Quý Truong Quan, Schneider, S., Dang Ngoc Tran, Vasilyan, D., Luong The Viet, Böhme, M. (2017): Biochronological and palaeobiogeographical significance of the earliest Miocene mammal fauna from Northern Vietnam. - Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments doi: 10.1007/s12549-017-0295-y.

Böhme, M., Aiglstorfer, M., Antoine, P-O., Appel, E., Havlik, P., Métais, G., Laq The Phuc, Schneider, S., Setzer, F., Tappert, R., Dang Ngoc Tran, Uhl, D., Prieto, J. (2013): Na Duong (northern Vietnam) - an exceptional window into Eocene ecosystems from Southeast Asia. - Zitteliana A 53: 120-167.

Schneider, S., Böhme, M. & Prieto, J. (2012): Unionidae (Bivalvia; Palaeoheterodonta) from the Palaeogene of northern Vietnam: exploring the origins of the modern East Asian freshwater bivalve fauna.- Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, iFirst 2012, 1–21. DOI:10.1080/14772019.2012.665085

Neubauer, T. A., Schneider, S., Böhme, M. & Prieto, J. (2012, in press): First records of freshwater rissooidean gastropods from the Paleogene of Southeast Asia.- Journal of Molluscan Studies 78(3): 275-282.

Böhme, M., Prieto, J., Schneider, S., Hung, N.V., Quang, D.D., Tran, D.N. (2011): The Cenozoic on-shore basins of Northern Vietnam: Biostratigraphy, vertebrate and invertebrate faunas. - Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 40(2): 672-687.

Klaus, S., Böhme, M., Schneider, S., Prieto, J., Phetsomphou, B. (2011): Evidence of the earliest fossil freshwater decapod of Southeast Asia (Crustacea: Decapoda: Brachyura). - The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 59(1): 47-51.

Cooperation Partner

Nguyen Viet Hung, Geological Museum, Hanoi

Do Duc Quang, Geological Museum, Hanoi

Dang Ngoc Tran, Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam (DGMV), Hanoi