An overview of the current state of knowledge of Neogene birds of Mongolia and adjacent areas is presented. During the last years, new data on the middle Miocene and late Pliocene birds became available. In particular, the study of fossil birds from Sharga locality in Mongolia revealed the presence of taxonomically rich middle Miocene avian community, the only known representative avian community of this stratigraphic interval from Asia. A new representative fauna of Passeriformes is known from the late Pliocene of Northern Mongolia and Transbaikalia. The rich communities of birds from the Hyargas-Nuur 2 and Chono Harayh 1 and 2 localities in Western Mongolia represent the latest Miocene and early Pliocene stages in evolution of avian fauna of the region. Birds from the early Miocene and the early late Miocene stay poorly studied. A detailed review of all taxonomic finds from each stratigraphic interval (Lower Miocene to Upper Pliocene) is presented. It is noted that the middle Miocene avian community from Sharga shows little or no resemblance to the contemporary or temporarily close avian faunas of Europe and North America. To the contrary, the late Miocene and early Pliocene faunas of the Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North America include many common genera (many of them are extant). This observation supports the late Miocene origin for the modern-type waterbird communities. The late Pliocene avian fauna of Northern Mongolia and Transbaikalia generally includes inhabitants of arid landscapes, and is thus more similar to the Pleistocene and Modern Mongolian avian faunas.
Н.В. Мартынович (отв. ред.) Аркадию Яковлевичу Тугаринову посвящается... Сборник научных статей. Красноярск: Красноярский краевой краеведческий музей. С. 44-70.