A stage (5.33–3.6 Ma ago) in the Early Pliocene, preceded by the Messinian (Miocene) and followed by the Piacenzian (Late Pliocene). It is roughly contemporaneous with part of the Delmontian (N. America), upper Kapitean and Opoitian (New Zealand), and the upper Mitchellian, Cheltenhamian, and lower Kalimnan (Australia).