1�� Zoological Institute of the ��ussian Academy of Sciences��Saint Petersburg 199034����ussia; 2�� Laboratory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Continental Ecosystems��Tomsk State University��Tomsk 634050����ussia; 3�� Steinmann-Institut für Geologie��Mineralogie und Pal�|ontologie��Universit�|t Bonn��Bonn 3115��Germany; 4�� Vertebrate Zoology Department��Saint Petersburg State University��Saint Petersburg 199034����ussia; 5�� Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy��University of Chicago��Chicago��IL 60637��USA; 6�� Borissiak Paleontological Institute of the ��ussian Academy of Sciences��Moscow 117997����ussia; 7�� Sharypovo ��egional Museum��Sharypovo��Krasnoyarsk Territory 662311����ussia

The Berezovsk coal mine in western Siberia has yielded the most diverse Middle Jurassic limnic and terrestrial vertebrate assemblage of Asia�� The vertebrate remains were recovered by screen washing from flood- plain deposits on top of a thick coal seam of the Bathonian Itat Formation�� A total of 29 vertebrate taxa has been recorded so far��including hybodontiform sharks��acipenseriforms��palaeonisciforms��amiiforms��dipnoans��anu- rans��caudates��turtles��squamates��choristoderans��crocodyliforms��pterosaurs��dinosaurs��tritylodontids��and a diverse mammaliaform and mammalian assemblage ( eleutherodontids��docodontans��? amphilestids��dryo- lestids��and zatherians)�� The caudates are among the oldest in the fossil record and the anurans represent the oldest Asian record of this group�� Among the mammals��Anthracolestes is the oldest and most basal known mem- ber of Dryolestidae and so far the only record from Asia�� The vertebrate assemblage from the Berezovsk coal mine is very similar to that from the British Forest Marble Formation (Bathonian) and suggests a limited provin- cialism in the Middle Jurassic Laurasian landmass��