Abstract
The late Middle Miocene Ngorora Formation has yielded several interesting carnivore fossils. Among these are a huge creodont, Megistotherium osteothlastes, at 12 Ma, possibly the youngest record of the species, an amphicyonid, two species of mustelids (an otter and a honey badger), two kinds of viverrids (one about the size of a civet, one the size of a genet) and an extremely small herpestid the size of a dwarf mongoose. It has also yielded remains of a moderate sized percrocutid. Perhaps the most interesting carnivore is a new genus and species of bundont viverrid that is intermediate in size and morphology between Early Miocene Orangictis on the one hand and Plio-Pleistocene Pseudocivetta on the other. This lineage of bundont viverrids appears to have been restricted to Africa.
Highlights
The Ngorora Formation crops out widely in the Tugen Hills, Baringo District, Kenya (Fig. 1)
The size and morphology of the Bartule molar correspond closely with material attributed to Megistotherium osteothlastes by Rasmussen et al, (1989) from Wadi Moghara, Egypt
The more procumbent canine roots, the different outline of the antorbital fossa and the more pointed incisor battery and the morphology of P4/ and M1/ differentiates the fossil from extant Mellivora
Summary
The Ngorora Formation crops out widely in the Tugen Hills, Baringo District, Kenya (Fig. 1). It has been subdivided into five units (Bishop & Pickford, 1975) of which Members A-D are Middle Miocene (no signs of the equid Hipparion: strata equivalent to MN 7/8 in Europe) and Member E is basal Late Miocene (with Hipparion: strata equivalent to MN 9 in Europe) (Pickford, 2001). Humerus: An isolated distal left humerus was found at locality 2/10, Kabarsero, Ngorora Formation (Fig. 2b). It has been slightly eroded and polished, but is otherwise well preserved. This record extends the range of the species upwards to Member D of the Ngorora Formation, ca 12 Ma
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