A piece of a carpometacarpus supposedly from Oligocene rocks near Lusk, Wyoming was described as Gaviella pusilla, but this handbone also shows some similarities to the plotopterids which were flightless wing-propelled divers and if these are apomorphic would make an unconvincing member of the Gaviidae ( though it still could be a small-winged gaviiform in an – as of yet undescribed – family " Gaviellidae "): while the carpometacarpus in Gavia is somewhat convergent to that of wing-propelled divers, enabling the wings to be used as rudders for quick underwater turns, Colymboides still had an unspecialized plesiomorphic hand.

Finds included an early Miocene loon Colymboides minutus, various ducks, a crested tern closely resembling the modern Royal Tern Sterna maxima, and a member of the crow genus, one of the few fossil passerine birds from that period.

But the Colymboides material is generally quite distinct from modern loons, and may actually belong in a now-extinct family of primitive gaviiforms.

A leg of an undescribed small diver was found in the Late Oligocene deposits at Enspel ( Germany ); it too may or may not belong to Colymboides.

The oldest unequivocal Sandhill Crane fossil is " just " 2. 5 million years old, over one and a half times older than the earliest remains of most living species of birds, which are primarily found from after the Pliocene / Pleistocene boundary some 1. 8 million years ago.

The oldest unequivocal examples of prehistoric art date to this period, the Aurignacian and the Gravettian periods of prehistoric Europe, such as the Venus figurines and cave painting ( Chauvet Cave ) and the earliest musical instruments ( the bone pipe of Geissenklösterle, Germany, dated to about 36, 000 years ago ).

As reported in the journal Science, testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA by Warren Johnson and Stephen O ' Brien of the U. S. National Cancer Institute demonstrated that ancient cats evolved into eight main lineages that diverged in the course of at least 10 migrations ( in both directions ) from continent to continent via the Bering land bridge and Isthmus of Panama, with the Panthera genus being the oldest and the Felis genus being the youngest.

In 1991 a hominin jawbone was discovered near Uraha village that was between 2. 3 and 2. 5 million years old, the oldest evidence of the genus Homo ever discovered.

Odontochelys is the oldest known turtle genus

The Hippopotamidae are believed to have evolved in Africa ; the oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus which lived in Africa from 16 to.

A small primitive bear called Ursus abstrusus is the oldest known North American fossil member of the genus Ursus, dated to 4. 95 mya.

The oldest known hippopotamid is the genus Kenyapotamus, which lived in Africa from.

The genus is known from the Early Miocene onwards, and the oldest members them are rather small ( some are smaller than the Red-throated Diver ).

The genus Neophron is considered to represent the oldest branch within the evolutionary tree of vultures.

Historically, the description of a bacterium lacking a cell wall was sufficient to classify it to the genus Mycoplasma and as such it is the oldest and largest genus of the class with about half of the class ' species ( 107 validly described ), each usually limited to a specific host and with many hosts harboring more than one species, some pathogenic and some commensal.

The earliest known species in the genus Aramus, Aramus paludigrus is dated to the middle Miocene, while the oldest supposed members of the family, Aminornis and Loncornis, have been found in early Oligocene deposits in Argentina, although it is not certain that these are indeed related.

In Opinion 1368 the ICZN Commission decided in 1985 that Blumenbach's view should be followed, and that his Simia troglodytes as published by Blumenbach in 1779 shall be the type species of the genus Pan and, since it was the oldest available name for the Common Chimpanzee, be used for this species.

This genus was once placed within the family Araceae ( aroids ), but more recent classifications place it in its own family Acoraceae and order Acorales, of which it is the sole genus of the oldest surviving line of monocots.

The oldest fossils are from the Early Oligocene, more than 30 mya ( million years ago ), but the genus probably persisted at least until the mid-Miocene, some 15 mya.

This makes Orchestina the oldest extant spider genus along with the Archaeidae.

The early and middle Eocene genus Eogliravus represents the earliest and most primitive glirid taxon ; the oldest species, Eogliravus wildi, is known from isolated teeth from the early Eocene of France and a complete specimen of the early middle Eocene of the Messel pit in Germany.

Halosaurs have a spotty fossil record, the oldest known genus being Echidnocephalus from the Late Cretaceous strata of Westphalia, Germany, and the second oldest known genus, Laytonia, from Miocene strata of California and Oregon.

Fossil specimens of Acropyga genus ants have been recovered from the Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying the extinct mealybug genus Electromyrmococcus .< ref name =" johnsonetal1995 "> These fossils represent the oldest recorded record of the symbiosis between mealybugs and Acropyga species ants.

Although the fossils of several older proto-frogs with primitive characteristics are known, the oldest " true frog " is Prosalirus bitis, from the Early Jurassic Kayenta Formation of Arizona.

The oldest known caecilian is Eocaecilia micropodia, also from Arizona, while the earliest salamander is Beiyanerpeton jianpingensis from the Late Jurassic of northeastern China.

The oldest known mention of " Atlantic " is in The Histories of Herodotus around 450 BC ( Hdt.

The oldest known name for Anatolia, " Land of the Hatti " was found for the first time on Mesopotamic cuneiform tablets from the period of the Akkadian dynasty ( 2350 – 2150 BC ).

Neolithic sites such as Çatalhöyük, Çayönü, Nevali Cori and Hacilar represent the world's oldest known agricultural towns.

Gervase and Protase — and is one of the oldest extant bodies of historical personages known outside Egypt.

The oldest known document using the German word Alphorn is a page from a 1527 account book from the former Cistercian abbey St. Urban near Pfaffnau mentioning the payment of two Batzen for an itinerant alphorn player from the Valais.

After this, he was especially known for acting as a mediator between conflicting parties ( In Cologne he is not only known for being the founder of Germany's oldest university there, but also for " the big verdict " ( der Große Schied ) of 1258, which brought an end to the conflict between the citizens of Cologne and the archbishop.

* 1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.

The oldest bows known so far come from the Holmegård swamp in Denmark.

There is scattered evidence to suggest that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made during this period.

The oldest known adhesive, dated to approximately 200, 000 BC, is from spear stone flakes glued to a wood with birch-bark-tar, which was found in central Italy.

The Rensselyrics of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( formerly known as the RPI Glee Club ), established in 1873 is perhaps the oldest known collegiate a cappella group.

The oldest known physical representations identified as symbols for abstract concepts are abstract engravings found on two pieces of ochre in Blombos Cave, South Africa, in 2001.

The oldest building was long known simply as The Admiralty, and is now referred to popularly as the Old Admiralty and officially as the Ripley Building.

The oldest known mention of Anubis is in the Old Kingdom pyramid texts, where he is associated with the burial of the pharaoh.

Alameda is also known for its Fourth of July parade, which is advertised as the second oldest and second longest Fourth of July parade in the United States.

Senet is among the oldest known board games.

Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed, and was pictured in a fresco found in Merknera's tomb ( 3300 – 2700 BC ).

Today known as the Chicago Cubs, they are the oldest team in American organized sports.

The oldest known bubble tea consisted of a mixture of hot Taiwanese black tea, small tapioca pearls ( 粉圓 ), condensed milk, and syrup ( 糖漿 ) or honey.

Descriptions of various beer recipes can be found in Sumerian writings, some of the oldest known writing of any sort.

* Scientists identify the oldest known bee, a 100 million-year-old specimen preserved in amber