The emergence of modern zoogeographic regions in Asia examined through climate–dental trait association patterns

Study area and time intervals

Similarly to our previous study on the present-day ecoregions of China and Southern Asia²², the area studied in this work is focused on China, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, which have a distinct climate system, unlike any other region in the world.

We extend our study area from 40°N to 50°N to cover most of Northern China, a region that was excluded from our previous research but comprises rich Neogene fossils localities. We obtain the fossil data for countries in this area, namely China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos,…