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The contents of this memoir consist of five parts:
1) A summary of the continental Lower Tertiary of the Nanxiong basin,
N. Guangdong;
2) Sstratigraphical considerations of the Paleocene mammalian localities
and fossiliferous horizons;
3)Notes on the age and characteristies of the Shanghu mammalian fauna;
4)Systematic descriptions of the mammalian taxa known from the Shanghu
Member of Paleocene Lofochai Formation; and
5) Osteology of the pantodont genus Bemalambda. The Lower Tertiary of
the Nanxiong Basin includes and upper part, the Danya Formation, of probable
Eocene age, and a lower part, the Lofochai formation, of Formation, of
provable Eocene age, and a lower part, the Lofochai formation, of Paleocene
age, The latter is further divisible into an Upper or Nonshan Member and
a Lower or Shanghu Member. Lithologically the Paleocene strata are quite
similar to and hardly distinguishable from Nanxion Formation of late Cretaceous
age. Both consist dominantly of dark purplish red beds of marly sandstones,
sandy marls and marls. The mammalian fossils described in this paper were
all from the Shanghu Member of the Paleocene Lofochai formation in which
four fossiliferous beds or "zones"are present. With the exception
of the uppermost "zone", the fossils from the lower three beds
are considered to represent a single local fauna, namely the Shanghu Fauua.
It is tentatively assigned to the Middle Paleocene, with Torrejonian of
the North American as the nearest correlative.
In all 13 mammalian species representing 7 families and
4 orders are described. Diagnoses of most of the new genera and species
had been given as a preliminary note published in 1973 (Vet. Palasiatica,
vol. 11, no 1; pp. 31-35). Most of the mammals described are new forms.
Those of the Anagalidae, Mesonychidae, Esthonychidae and Bemalambdidae
are among the earliest known representatives of the respective groups,
and those of the Hyopsodontidae, and Periptychidae(?), are known for the
first time in Asia.
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