New small mammals from the Hasnot–Tatrot area of the Potwar Plateau, northern Pakistan

Muhammad Akbar Khan,Lawrence J Flynn

doi:10.1007/s12542-017-0375-3

Muhammad Akbar Khan, Lawrence J Flynn

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-017-0375-3

Copy DOI

Abstract

New rodent and lagomorph fossils from the Hasnot–Tatrot area of northern Pakistan are presented here to complement knowledge of stratigraphic ranges and morphology of key late Neogene Siwalik taxa. Most of the material is from two sites near the village of Bhandar in strata of the late Miocene age Dhok Pathan Formation; one specimen comes from the Pliocene Tatrot beds. We apply previously established magnetostratigraphy to date the fossils, the Bhandar sites dating to 6.6–6.7 Ma. In describing the fossils, we emphasize new morphological information represented by the material. As surface finds, these fossils represent relatively large body size species: three bamboo rat relatives, a porcupine, and a rabbit. The bamboo rats (Rhizomyinae) are an endemic group, and both the porcupine (Hystrix) and the rabbit (Alilepus) represent late Miocene immigrants into the Indian subcontinent.

Highlights

One of the classical areas in the Siwalik Group deposits to produce late Miocene and Pliocene vertebrate fossils over many years is the Hasnot-Tatrot area of northern Pakistan, the terrestrial deposits near the village of Bhandar
We report on small mammal fossils from the area, which are significant from two aspects
One other specimen comes from the well-known Pliocene Tatrot horizon, a fossil-rich surface developed on a sandstone dip slope that crops out prominently at Tatrot Village, 10 km. to the northeast

Summary

Introduction

One of the classical areas in the Siwalik Group deposits to produce late Miocene and Pliocene vertebrate fossils over many years is the Hasnot-Tatrot area of northern Pakistan, the terrestrial deposits near the village of Bhandar. Field teams from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, have continued work in the area, collecting important new fossils and documenting locality provenance. We report on small mammal fossils from the area, which are significant from two aspects. They increase the number of biostratigraphic records with good provenance for taxa that were poorly documented previously, and they provide new morphological data for incompletely known species. The new fossils come, primarily, from two localities very near the village of Bhandar (Fig. 1). One other specimen comes from the well-known Pliocene Tatrot horizon, a fossil-rich surface developed on a sandstone dip slope that crops out prominently at Tatrot Village, 10 km. One other specimen comes from the well-known Pliocene Tatrot horizon, a fossil-rich surface developed on a sandstone dip slope that crops out prominently at Tatrot Village, 10 km. to the northeast

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion