Seven new rodent faunas are described from the Pčinja and Babušnica-Koritnica basins of south-east Serbia. The geology of the Tertiary deposits in the Pčinja and Koritnica-Babušnica basins of south-east Serbia is briefly reviewed. The fossil content of the new vertebrate localities is listed, and an inventory of the rodent associations is presented. The rodent associations are late Eocene-early Oligocene in age, interpreted on biostratigraphical grounds. These are the first rodent faunas of that age from the Balkan area, an important palaeogeographic location between Europe and Asia. The Muridae, with the subfamilies Pseudocricetodontinae, Paracricetodontinae, Pappocricetodontinae, Melissiodontinae and ?Spalacinae, are dominant with eight genera, four of which are new. The diversity of the Melissiodontinae and Paracricetodontinae in the faunas suggests that these subfamilies originated in this region. The bi-lophodont cheek teeth occurring in the Oligocene assemblages are identified as the first record of the Diatomyidae outside of Asia. In light of the large amount of new data, the palaeogeographic setting and faunal turnover of the Eocene-Oligocene is discussed.
Fossil remains of Tertiary small mammals were found on four open-pit coal mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Three of them are the Oligocene/Oligo-Miocene in age "Bogutovo Selo" and "Luke Mezgraja"-Ugljevik Basin and "Turija"-Banovići Basin), while one belongs to the Middle Miocene, "Gračanica"-Bugojno Basin.
Small-mammal remains are found in three outcrops in the open pit lignite mine near Bugojno (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Despite the low amount of specimens, two Democricetodon species, which differ in size, are identified. The co-occurrence of two Democricetodon species is common in many late early and middle Miocene European small-mammal assemblages. The presence of both D. mutilus and D. gracilis allows a correlation to MN4-MN6.
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