Miocene Of Pakistan Research Articles

New material of Bramatherium grande from the Siwaliks of Pakistan sheds light on dental intra-clade morphological variability of Late Miocene sivatheres

ABSTRACT Here, we report new dental remains of a large giraffid from the Late Miocene of Pakistan. The new material improves our knowledge of the dental morphology of this extinct sivatherine giraffid, as it sheds light on intra-clade morphological variability within Late Miocene sivatherine giraffids. Fossils were recovered from sediments within the Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations (Middle Siwaliks, Late Miocene) from the sites Nagri, Dhok Pathan, Kauliar and Padhri in Pakistan. Presence of these fossils in Late Miocene sediments in Pakistan demonstrates the stratigraphic range of Bramatherium grande, which was present in the Indo-Pakistani region and the Greco-Iranian region from 11.2 to ca. 3.4 Ma and 11.2 to 9.0 Ma, respectively. The new fossils provide additional data that help resolve the phylogenetic relationships of these large Late Miocene sivatheres. The new findings highlight the presence of Bramatherium grande in the Indo-Pakistani region during the Late Miocene and provide evidence for the synonymy of Bramatherium grande and Bramatherium magnum, with Bramatherium grande having priority.

An appraisal of Typilobus Stoliczka, 1871 (Crustacea, Brachyura, Leucosioidea), with description of a new family and genus.

Since its description, Typilobus Stoliczka, 1871, has become something like a catch-all taxon to accommodate fossil leucosioid crabs with uncertain affinities. As many as 17 species have been assigned to Typilobus, recorded from the Eocene to Miocene strata of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The re-examination of the type species, Typilobus granulosus Stoliczka, 1871, from the Miocene of Pakistan, has shown inconsistency in its description and published figures leading to the need of a revision of all species assigned to Typilobus. Typilobus boscoi Vía Boada, 1959, from the Middle Eocene of Spain, is revised and assigned to Folguerolesia n. gen. Characters present on ventral portions of male and female specimens differ from all known representatives of Leucosioidea, although the general morphology supports inclusion in this superfamily. A new family, Folguerolesiidae n. fam. is thus erected to accommodate Folguerolesia boscoi comb. nov., leading to recognition of three families of leucosioid crabs, including Iphiculidae and Leucosiidae.

Hedgehogs (Erinaceidae, Lipotyphla) from the Miocene of Pakistan, with description of a new species of Galerix

Hedgehogs (erinaceid insectivores) are a common element in Miocene small mammal faunas of Pakistan, but little material has been formally described. Here, we report on extensive collections from numerous localities across Pakistan, most from the Potwar Plateau, Punjab, and the Sehwan area in Sindh. The dominant erinaceid is Galerix, which is also known from Europe, Turkey, and East Africa. We document a new early species of Galerix, Galerix wesselsae, in sites from Sehwan, the Zinda Pir Dome, the Potwar Plateau, and Banda Daud Shah ranging in age from about 19 to 14 Ma. This species briefly co-occurs with and is then replaced by the smaller Galerix rutlandae, previously based on a few teeth from Daud Khel. G. rutlandae is a common element of Chinji Formation faunas through about 11.5 Ma. Scanty material of an apparently new species of Schizogalerix succeeds Galerix. After 10.2 Ma, no galericines occur in Pakistan, but rare erinaceines are later faunal components.

A partial hominoid innominate from the Miocene of Pakistan: Description and preliminary analyses

We describe a partial innominate, YGSP 41216, from a 12.3 Ma locality in the Siwalik Group of the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan, assigned to the Middle Miocene ape species Sivapithecus indicus. We investigate the implications of its morphology for reconstructing positional behavior of this ape. Postcranial anatomy of extant catarrhines falls into two distinct groups, particularly for torso shape. To an extent this reflects different although variable and overlapping positional repertoires: pronograde quadrupedalism for cercopithecoids and orthogrady for hominoids. The YGSP innominate (hipbone) is from a primate with a narrow torso, resembling most extant monkeys and differing from the broader torsos of extant apes. Other postcranial material of S. indicus and its younger and similar congener Sivapithecus sivalensis also supports reconstruction of a hominoid with a positional repertoire more similar to the pronograde quadrupedal patterns of most monkeys than to the orthograde patterns of apes. However, Sivapithecus postcranial morphology differs in many details from any extant species. We reconstruct a slow-moving, deliberate, arboreal animal, primarily traveling above supports but also frequently engaging in antipronograde behaviors. There are no obvious synapomorphic postcranial features shared exclusively with any extant crown hominid, including Pongo.

The westernmost tarsier: A new genus and species from the Miocene of Pakistan

As the closest living sister group of anthropoids, tarsiers (Family Tarsiidae) are an important group in primate evolution. However, their fossil record is poor: only four species have been described, two from the Eocene of China and two from the Miocene of Thailand. All are from outside the range of the living species, which occur only on islands off Southeast Asia. Here, we describe a new fossil tarsier from Pakistan, a significant range extension. This record consists of two lower molars, an upper molar, and a lower premolar found in the Miocene Manchar Formation (∼18–16 Ma [millions of years ago]) of Sindh Province, southern Pakistan. The Pakistani tarsier is morphologically distinct from all living and fossil tarsiers, but most similar to the middle Miocene Thai species Tarsius thailandicus. Though living tarsiers have traditionally been classified in a single genus, a recent revision proposed a division into three genera, which is strongly supported by molecular data. The Pakistani species is not referable to any of these genera, and we create for it and T. thailandicus a new tarsiid genus. This discovery broadens our understanding of the geographic range and morphological diversity of Miocene tarsiers and helps to put the living tarsiers into their evolutionary context.

A new fossil thryonomyid from the Late Miocene of the United Arab Emirates and the origin of African cane rats

Cane rats (Thryonomyidae) are represented today by two species inhabiting sub-Saharan Africa. Their fossil record is predominately African, but includes several Miocene species from Arabia and continental Asia that represent dispersal events from Africa. For example, Paraulacodus indicus, known from the Miocene of Pakistan, is closely related to living Thryonomys. Here we describe a new thryonomyid, Protohummus dango, gen. et sp. nov., from the late Miocene Baynunah Formation of the United Arab Emirates. The new thryonomyid is less derived than "Thryonomys" asakomae from the latest Miocene of Ethiopia and clarifies the origin of crown Thryonomys and the evolutionary transition from Paraulacodus. A phylogenetic analysis shows Protohummus dango to be morphologically intermediate between Paraulacodus spp. and extinct and living Thryonomys spp. The morphological grade and phylogenetic position of Protohummus dango further supports previous biochronological estimates of the age of the Baynunah Formation (ca. 6-8Ma).

A hominoid distal tibia from the Miocene of Pakistan

A distal tibia, YGSP 1656, from the early Late Miocene portion of the Chinji Formation in Pakistan is described. The fossil is 11.4 million years old and is one of only six postcranial elements now assigned to Sivapithecus indicus. Aspects of the articular surface are cercopithecoid-like, suggesting some pronograde locomotor activities. However, YGSP 1656 possesses an anteroposteriorly compressed metaphysis and a mediolaterally thick medial malleolus, ape-like features functionally related to orthograde body postures and vertical climbing. YGSP 1656 lacks specializations found in the ankle of terrestrial cercopithecoids and thus Sivapithecus may have been primarily arboreal. Nevertheless, the morphology of this tibia is unique, consistent with other interpretations of Sivapithecus postcranial functional morphology that suggest the locomotion of this ape lacks a modern analog. Based on the limited postcranial remains from S. indicus, we hypothesize that this taxon exhibited substantial body size dimorphism.

A new species of the genus Microbunodon (Anthracotheriidae, Artiodactyla) from the Miocene of Pakistan: genus revision, phylogenetic relationships and palaeobiogeography

Lihoreau, F., Blondel, C., Barry, J. & Brunet, M. (2004). A new species of the genus Microbunodon (Anthracotheriidae, Artiodactyla) from the Miocene of Pakistan: genus revision, phylogenetic relationships and palaeobiogeography. — Zoologica Scripta, 33, 97–115.New unpublished remains of small Anthracotheriinae are described. First, materials from the upper Oligocene (MP 30) locality of La Milloque, southwest France, permit a review of the species Microbunodon minimum. Thereafter, fossils from the middle and late Miocene of the Potwar Plateau, Pakistan are attributed to the European genus Microbunodon. Microbunodon milaensis sp. n. from the Nagri Formation (between 10.3 and 9.2 Ma), Pakistan, is described and the species M. silistrensis from the Lower Manchar Formation (between 16 and 15 Ma) and from the Chinji Formation (between 12.7 and 11.5 Ma), Pakistan, is reviewed. The new species represents the last occurrence of the subfamily Anthracotheriinae, around 9.3 Ma. Similar materials from the Bugti and Siwalik Hills were previously considered as a small Anthracotherium. Comparisons with M. minimum from the European late Oligocene lead to a complete revision of the genus and permit definition of a new set of characters, which separate Microbunodon from Anthracotherium. A cladistic analysis reconsiders phylogenetic relationships among Anthracotheriinae, separating an Anthracothema–Anthracotherium clade and an Anthracokeryx–Microbunodon clade. Microbunodon appears to stem from the Asian late Eocene–lower Oligocene genus Anthracokeryx. These results imply a new distribution of the genus Microbunodon showing exchanges between Europe and Asia during the late Oligocene and probably the lower Miocene.

The oldest bovid from the Siwaliks, Pakistan

ABSTRACT Two new small-sized bovid species are described from the Miocene of Pakistan (Kamlial and Vihowa formations, about 18 Ma), based on associated dentitions and horn cores. Eotragus noyei, sp. nov. is probably ancestral to all younger Eotragus and the modern Boselaphini. E. noyei has a horn core which does not have a pronounced anterior concavity and posterior convexity seen in younger Eotragus species and it has primitive teeth with inclined buccal walls. The indeterminate genus and species from the Vihowa Formation has compressed, keeled horn cores and more advanced teeth with vertical buccal walls. The morphology of the horn cores suggests that this taxon could represent the earliest known member of the keeled Boselaphini. If this hypothesis is correct, we are witnessing the presence in Pakistan of the first split within the Boselaphini (keeled Miocene species versus Eotragus and modern taxa).

Horn cores of Sivoreas (Bovidae) from the Miocene of Pakistan and utility of their torsion as a taxonomic tool

The torsion (T) of the horn cores of Sivoreas, which was measured in degrees per 10 cm, increased with time. T-values for Sivoreas from the lower Chinji equivalent strata range from 143 to 188. The same values for Sivoreas eremita from middle and upper Chinji equivalent strata reach the maximum of 240. One Sivoreas horn core from the still younger member D of the Ngorora Formation in Kenya has a T-value of 243. Sivoreas from the Lower Chinji Formation represents a new species, S. sondaari. The T-values of Protragocerus horn cores also increased with time (lower Chinji 40≤T≤95; middle and upper Chinji 97≤T≤119). Other early Boselaphini have little torsion. Therefore, it is likely that Sivoreas and Protragocerus evolved from a boselaphine with horn cores with little torsion. In the course of evolution, the torsion in the horn cores of both genera increased at different rates.

A muroid rodent of Asian affinity from the Miocene of Kenya

ABSTRACT A new genus and species, Nakalimys lavocati, is described from the Nakali locality, Kenya, of about 10 Ma. This muroid rodent is assigned to the Rhizomyidae and is most similar to Kanisamys indicus from the Miocene of Pakistan, with which it was originally considered congeneric. Nakalimys, with other rodents and vertebrates, points to interchange between eastern Africa and southern Asia earlier than 10 Ma, before a more recent period of strong faunal similarity at about the beginning of the Pliocene. Nakalimys possesses many primitive characters, but was not directly ancestral to fossil and extant Tachyoryctes of Africa.

New hominoid skull material from the Miocene of Pakistan.

Neogene hominoid cranial material is regrettably scarce, especially from the middle and late Miocene. Between the 18-Myr-old virtually complete early Miocene Proconsul africanus skull from Rusinga1 and the 3–4-Myr-old Hadar hominoid cranial material2, the only significant large (non-hylobatid) hominoid facial or cranial specimens are those from the late Miocene Salonika in Greece3, Yassioren in Turkey4, Lufeng in China5, the possibly middle Miocene site of Moroto in Uganda6 and the new facial-mandibular piece from late Miocene deposits in Pakistan reported here. The specimen is a Sivapithecus indicus7 adult, probably male, and consists of most of the left side of the face including a small portion of the frontal bone, the zygomatic arch and temporo-mandibular joint, the maxilla, a virtually entire mandible and the complete dentition. The fossil, catalogued as GSP 15000, is the property of the Government of Pakistan and is at present on loan for study at Harvard University.