The largest terrestrial mammal and the best preserved primate fossil

On the occasion of 80th birthday of Professor Oldřich Fejfar, one of the most important persons in European paleontology of the second half of the 20 century, the international paleontologic conference took place in 16-19th May, 2011 in the Institute of Geology AS CR, v. v. i. A number of very important contributions were firstly presented in the conference. For example, Professor S. Sen (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris) reported on the largest terrestrial mammal (the rhino-related genus Paraceratherium) found in the Early Tertiary of Turkey. The lecture by Professor J. Franzen (Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut, Frankfurt) dealt with the new knowledge on best preserved primate fossil. In this finding, scientifically called as Darwinius masillae, even stomach contents and fur were preserved. From the Asiatic region, a new data on the Miocene beavers-like mammals of Japan or new views on paleoecology of Indonesia in the early Quaternary were presented. A number of other contributions dealt with the Miocene to Pleistocene small mammals (rodents, insectivores and bats) of Europe (e.g., lectures by Professor D. Nagel, Vienna; Professor L. Rekovets, Wrocław; Professor A. Tesakov, Moscow). The current achievements and perspectives in the topics of Professor Fejfar's main research interest, the biostratigraphic, paleoecologic and paleobiogeographic meaning of the Late Cenozoic Rodents (Arvicolidae particularly), were also discussed. The last day of the conference was devoted to a field trip to North Bohemian tertiary localities (personally led by Professor Fejfar).