Evolution of an Eocene Island Ecosystem

Map of the “lost continent” of Balkanatolia, and five fossil teeth found there.

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Beard Lab is collaborating with colleagues in Turkey and France on a project that investigates patterns and processes of island biogeography during “Deep Time.” We are uncovering a unique mammalian fauna from the Eocene of Anatolia, dating to an interval when the “lost continent” of Balkanatolia was isolated in the Tethys Sea, with Europe to the northwest, Asia to the northeast, and the island continent of Africa/Arabia far to the south. Our research focuses on the processes (dispersal, vicariance, and in situ diversification) contributing to faunal assembly on Balkanatolia and whether predictions from the theory of island biogeography are upheld across macroevolutionary timescales.

Collecting Eocene mammal fossils at the Turkish Saddle locality in the Orhaniye Basin, central Anatolia.

Collecting Eocene mammal fossils at the Turkish Saddle locality in the Orhaniye Basin, central Anatolia.

Type locality for the omomyid primate Nesomomys bunodens in the Orhaniye Basin, central Anatolia.

Type locality for the omomyid primate Nesomomys bunodens in the Orhaniye Basin, central Anatolia.

Recent Publications

Beard, K.C., Coster, P.M.C., Ocakoğlu, F., Licht, A., and Métais, G. 2023. Dental anatomy, phylogenetic relationships and paleoecology of Orhaniyeia nauta (Metatheria, Anatoliadelphyidae), a Gondwanan component of the insular Eocene mammal fauna of Balkanatolia (north-central Turkey). Journal of Mammalian Evolution30: 859-872. doi:10.1007/s10914-023-09680-6

Métais, G., Coster, P.M.C., Licht, A., Ocakoğlu, F., and Beard, K.C. 2023. Additions to the late Eocene Süngülü mammal fauna in easternmost Anatolia and the Eocene-Oligocene transition at the periphery of Balkanatolia. Comptes Rendus Palevol22: 711-727. doi:10.5852/cr-palevol2023v22a35

Licht, A., Métais, G., Coster, P., Ibilioğlu, D., Ocakoğlu, F., Westerweel, J., Mueller, M., Campbell, C., Mattingly, S., Wood, M.C., and Beard, K.C. 2022. Balkanatolia: The insular mammalian biogeographic province that partly paved the way to the Grande Coupure. Earth-Science Reviews 226: 103929. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103929

Beard, K.C., Métais, G., Ocakoğlu, F., and Licht, A. 2021. An omomyid primate from the Pontide microcontinent of north-central Anatolia: Implications for sweepstakes dispersal of terrestrial mammals during the Eocene. Geobios66-67: 143-152. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2020.06.008

Jones, M.F., Coster, P.M.C., Licht, A., Métais, G., Ocakoğlu, 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 palaeobiology of early bats. Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments99: 261-269. doi:10.1007/s12549-018-0338-z

Métais, G., Coster, P.M., Kappelman, J.R., Licht, A., Ocakoğlu, F., Taylor, M.H., and Beard, K.C. 2018. Eocene metatherians from Anatolia illuminate the assembly of an island fauna during Deep Time. PLoS ONE13: e0206181. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206181

Licht, A., Coster, P., Ocakoğlu, F., Campbell, C., Métais, G., Mulch, A., Taylor, M., Kappelman, J., and Beard, K.C. 2017. Tectono-stratigraphy of the Orhaniye Basin, Turkey: implications for collision chronology and Paleogene biogeography of central Anatolia. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences143: 45-58. doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2017.03.033