Antelopes (Mammalia) from Pabbi Hills of Sardhok, Pakistan

A supplementary report of the Pleistocene bovids from the Pabbi Hills of Pakistan

“…The Pabbi Hills of Kharian are the geomorphological unit in the Siwalik Group that contain Pleistocene sediments preserving mammalian remains (Dennell, Coard, & Turner, 2006; Dennell, Turner, Coard, Beech, & Anwar, 2005; Johnson, Raynolds, & Burbank, 1986; Pilgrim, 1913; Sarwar, 1981; Siddiq et al, 2017, 2020; Siddiq, Khan, & Akhtar, 2014, 2016; Siddiq, Khan, Babar, Mahmood, & Akhtar, 2016; Wynne, 1875). Overall, the Pabbi Hills remained under study in terms of general exploration including detailed geological and palaeomagnetic research throughout the history of the Siwaliks, as compared to other areas like Sarai Alamgir and Jhelum, which were no longer investigated geologically and palaeomagnetically after the 20th Century (Jenkinson, Rendell, Dennell, Jah, & Sutherland, 1989; Keller et al, 1977; Opdyke et al, 1979; Raynolds & Johnson, 1985).…”

“…The Pleistocene bovids show a trend of increasing body size (Brown & Lee, 1969; Huang et al, 2017). The Siwalik bovids of this age include Boselaphus , Bos , Bubalus , Proamphibos , Sivacobus , Kobus , Damalops , and Gazella (Dennell et al, 2006; Khan & Akhtar, 2011; Khan, Iqbal, & Akhtar, 2009; Nanda, 2013; Siddiq et al, 2017, 2020). These are considered as the ancestors of the present‐day bovids or closely related to the modern‐day bovids (Bibi, 2007; Bibi & Métais, 2016).…”

“…Panjan Sher Shahana yielded scattered mammalian remains and among these, the bovid remains were predominant. Another fossil locality where such studies were performed, Sar‐Dhok, is located nearby Sarai Alamgir town, and is relatively well known and explored recently (Ghaffar et al, 2017; Siddiq et al, 2014, 2017, 2020; Siddiq, Khan, & Akhtar, 2016; Siddiq, Khan, Babar, et al, 2016). A comprehensive account of the geology, age, and palaeoecology of the area was described by Abbas et al (2019): the deposits of Sar‐Dhok are equivalent to the Pinjor Faunal Zone of Pilgrim (1913), Pinjor Formation of Lewis (1937) in India, Samwal‐Kakra Formation of Arif (1985) and Hussain, Van Den Bergh, Steensma, De Visser, and De Vos (1992) in Mirpur area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and to the Pinjor Zone of Soan Formation proposed by Kravtchenko (1964).…”