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. 1999 Dec 7;96(25):14664–14667. doi: 10.1073/pnas.96.25.14664

Figure 1.

Figure 1

The Eocene/Oligocene transition in Europe with the disappearance of primates and the appearance of cricetid rodents and diagnostic faunal components of post-“Grande Coupure” faunas. GC, “Grande Coupure;” ∗, localities with primates. Most paleontologists, apart from German paleontologists, agree to place the Eocene/Oligocene boundary for continental deposits at 34 million years ago (MP 20/21), thus coinciding with Stehlin’s “Grande Coupure” (1). The German definition of the Eocene/Oligocene boundary is guided by marine stratigraphy (2), where the beginning of the Oligocene is dated as MP 17/18 (Standard Levels Fons 4/La Débruge). Thus, German paleontologists situate the “Grande Coupure” at the Lower/Middle Oligocene boundary. In both conceptions, however, the “Grande Coupure” is placed between MP 20 and MP 21 (3), and in both conceptions, all European prosimians, apart from those of Santpedor and Fonollosa, are undoubtedly pre-“Grande Coupure.” In our paper, we use the most widely accepted definition with the Eocene/Oligocene boundary between MP 20 and MP 21.