The Updated Late Miocene Large Mammal Fauna from Samburu Hills, Northern Kenya

Abstract

The Late Miocene Fauna from the Namurungule Formation, Samburu Hills, Northern Kenya was described by Nakaya (1994) and Nakaya et al. (1984, 1987) based on the 1982 and 1984 collections. Since then, numerous fossils were collected during the 1986, 1998 and 1999 field seasons. The additional large mammal fossil specimens which are described in this paper include Amphicyonidae or Ursidae gen. et sp. indet., Machairodontinae gen. et sp. indet., Felidae gen. et sp. indet., Choerolophodon sp., Deinotherium sp., Pliohyracidae gen. et sp. indet., Hipparion africanum, Paradiceros mukirii, Chilotheridium pattersoni, Nyanzachoerus sp. small (N. cf. devauxi), Nyanzachoerus sp. large, Kenyapotamus coryndoni, Palaeotragus cf. germaini, Boselaphini sp. large (Tragoportax sp.), Boselaphini sp. small (gen. et sp. nov.), Reduncini gen. et sp. indet., Gazella sp. and Bovidae gen. et sp. indet. Choerolophodon sp., Pliohyracidae gen. et sp. indet. and Reduncini gen. et sp. indet. were new discoveries in the Namurungule Formation. Nyanzachoerus sp. small (N. cf. devauxi), Palaeotragus cf. germaini and Boselaphini sp. large (Tragoportax sp.) were revised on the basis of well preserved new material. According to the updated faunal list, the Namurungule Fauna shows strong resemblance to faunas of East African localities of the same period, early Late Miocene (10.5 9.0 Ma), but shows strong difference from the faunas of East African localities of the Middle (older than 10.5 Ma) and late Late Miocene (7.0 5.5 Ma).