Abstract:Hominoid remains from Miocene deposits in India and Pakistan have played a pivotal role in understanding the evolution of great apes and humans since they were first described in the 19th Century. We describe here a hominoid maxillary fragment preserving the canine and cheek teeth collected in 2011 from the Kutch (= Kachchh) basin in the Kutch district, Gujarat state, western India. A basal Late Miocene age is proposed based on the associated faunal assemblage that includes Hipparion and other age-diagnostic m… Show more
“…The pseudoconglomerate consists of mud clasts and soil concretions derived from paleosol horizons and lacks the typical pebbles and cobbles of a true conglomerate. This pseudoconglomerate is equivalent to the fossiliferous conglomerate described by Bhandari et al (2018). Figure 1.Geographic distribution of Deinotherium indicum in the Indian subcontinent: ( 1 ) locator map showing the three major localities where D. indicum was found; ( 2 ) geological map of Kutch; ( 3 ) stratigraphic column of the Tapar locality.…”
Section: Geological Settingmentioning
confidence: 82%
“…Gazella sp. of de Blainville, 1816 (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015, 2018). This fauna is similar to that found at Haritalyangar and other similarly aged faunas from the Dhok Pathan Formation on the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan (Barry et al, 1982; Pillans et al, 2005), further indicating a late Miocene (Tortonian) age for Tapar.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Tapar beds of the Kutch Basin in western India, known for their rich vertebrate fauna, consist of medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones with intermittent conglomerate beds (Fig. 1.3) and have been considered to form part of the Khari Nadi Formation in the past (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015, 2018; Patnaik et al, 2014). However, this is problematic because the Tapar beds are lithologically different from the Khari Nadi Formation.…”
Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845 is a family of browsing proboscideans that were widespread in the Old World during the Neogene. From Miocene deposits in the Indian subcontinent, deinotheres are known largely from dental remains. Both large and small species have been described from the region. Previously, only small deinothere species have been identified from Kutch in western India. In the fossiliferous Tapar beds in Kutch, dental remains have been referred to the small species Deinotherium sindiense Lydekker, 1880, but the specimens are too fragmentary to be systematically diagnostic. Here, we describe a large p4 of a deinothere from the Tapar beds and demonstrate that it is morphologically most similar to Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845, a large species of deinothere, thereby confirming the identity of deinotheres at Tapar. Deinotherium indicum from Tapar is larger than other deinotheres identified from Kutch and is the first occurrence of the species in the region. This new specimen helps constrain the age of the Tapar beds to the Tortonian and increases the biogeographic range of this species—hitherto only known from two localities on the subcontinent. This specimen also highlights the morphological diversity of South Asian deinothere p4s and allows us to reassess dental apomorphies used to delimit Indian deinothere species. Lastly, we argue that by the late Miocene, small deinotheres in Kutch were replaced by the large Deinotherium indicum.
“…The pseudoconglomerate consists of mud clasts and soil concretions derived from paleosol horizons and lacks the typical pebbles and cobbles of a true conglomerate. This pseudoconglomerate is equivalent to the fossiliferous conglomerate described by Bhandari et al (2018). Figure 1.Geographic distribution of Deinotherium indicum in the Indian subcontinent: ( 1 ) locator map showing the three major localities where D. indicum was found; ( 2 ) geological map of Kutch; ( 3 ) stratigraphic column of the Tapar locality.…”
Section: Geological Settingmentioning
confidence: 82%
“…Gazella sp. of de Blainville, 1816 (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015, 2018). This fauna is similar to that found at Haritalyangar and other similarly aged faunas from the Dhok Pathan Formation on the Potwar Plateau in Pakistan (Barry et al, 1982; Pillans et al, 2005), further indicating a late Miocene (Tortonian) age for Tapar.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The Tapar beds of the Kutch Basin in western India, known for their rich vertebrate fauna, consist of medium- to coarse-grained sandstones, siltstones, and mudstones with intermittent conglomerate beds (Fig. 1.3) and have been considered to form part of the Khari Nadi Formation in the past (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015, 2018; Patnaik et al, 2014). However, this is problematic because the Tapar beds are lithologically different from the Khari Nadi Formation.…”
Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845 is a family of browsing proboscideans that were widespread in the Old World during the Neogene. From Miocene deposits in the Indian subcontinent, deinotheres are known largely from dental remains. Both large and small species have been described from the region. Previously, only small deinothere species have been identified from Kutch in western India. In the fossiliferous Tapar beds in Kutch, dental remains have been referred to the small species Deinotherium sindiense Lydekker, 1880, but the specimens are too fragmentary to be systematically diagnostic. Here, we describe a large p4 of a deinothere from the Tapar beds and demonstrate that it is morphologically most similar to Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845, a large species of deinothere, thereby confirming the identity of deinotheres at Tapar. Deinotherium indicum from Tapar is larger than other deinotheres identified from Kutch and is the first occurrence of the species in the region. This new specimen helps constrain the age of the Tapar beds to the Tortonian and increases the biogeographic range of this species—hitherto only known from two localities on the subcontinent. This specimen also highlights the morphological diversity of South Asian deinothere p4s and allows us to reassess dental apomorphies used to delimit Indian deinothere species. Lastly, we argue that by the late Miocene, small deinotheres in Kutch were replaced by the large Deinotherium indicum.
“…In addition to the observations and brief summaries provided above, additional key paleoanthropological discoveries in recent years include the first-ever recovery of Sivapithecus fossils outside the Siwalik Hills [85], extraction of DNA from ostrich eggshells and protohistoric human bones [86,87] and the report of tool-use and object manipulation by the macaque populations of Andaman and Nicobar Islands [88,89]. The Sivapithecus find comes from the western region of Gujarat and clearly demonstrates how little we know about past faunal distributions at the pan-Indian level.…”
The Indian Subcontinent was an important geographic region for faunal and hominin evolution in Asia. While the Oldowan as the earliest technocomplex continues to be elusive, the oldest Acheulean is dated to ~1.5 Ma and the early Middle Paleolithic is ~385 ka (from the same site). New Late Pleistocene dates have been reported for the Middle Paleolithic which continues up to 38 Ka in southern India. The Upper Paleolithic remains ambiguous and requires critically multidisciplinary investigations. The microlithic evidence appears to spread rapidly across the subcontinent soon after its emergence at ~48 Ka (though its origin is debated) and continues into the Iron Age. The timeline of the initial arrival of Homo sapiens continues to be debated based on the archaeology (advanced Middle Paleolithic vs. microlithic) and genetic studies on indigenous groups. Other issues that need consideration are: interactions between archaics and arriving moderns, the marginal occurrence of symbolic behavior, the absolute dating of rock art and the potential role of hominins in specific animal extinctions and ecological marginalization. The region does not appear to have been a corridor for dispersals towards Southeast Asia (although gene flow may have occurred). Instead, once various prehistoric technologies appeared in the Subcontinent, they possibly followed complex trajectories within relative isolation.
“…We here describe lizard assemblages, which recently have been collected from the middle Miocene Palasava and the late Miocene Tapar localities of Kutch, Gujarat. Although this region is well known for its fossil mammals and other vertebrate fauna (Wynne, 1872;Lydekker, 1876Lydekker, , 1880Prasad, 1962Prasad, , 1964Prasad, , 1967Sahni and Mishra, 1975;Thewissen and Bajpai, 2009;Bajpai et al, 2010;Bhandari et al, 2010Bhandari et al, , 2015Bhandari et al, , 2018Patnaik et al, 2014;Singh et al, 2019Singh et al, , 2020Kapur et al, 2021;Sharma et al, 2021), very little is known about the fossil squamates of the region-only several fossil snakes have been reported previously (Head et al, 2007;Rage et al, 2008;Kapur et al, 2021). However, India has an immense diversity of herpetofauna today, with 801 reptile species contributing to its recognition as a mega-diverse country and one of the global biodiversity hotspots (e.g., Myers et al, 2000;Palot, 2015;Uetz et al, 2021).…”
The Miocene beds of Kutch in India are well known for their mammalian assemblages, including the extinct ape Sivapithecus, but far less is known about the fossil squamates from this area. Although India with its over 800 reptile species is recognized as one of the global biodiversity hotspots, knowledge of past diversity and paleobiogeography of squamates on this subcontinent is very limited. We here report on new lizard finds, which have been recovered from two stratigraphic levels: the older Palasava locality (dated to the middle Miocene, ca. 14 Ma) and the younger Tapar site (late Miocene, ca. 11–10 Ma). Although fragmentarily preserved, the material described here sheds important light on the composition and paleobiogeography of squamates during the Miocene in South Asia. The older Palasava locality contains cf. Uromastyx s.l. and Varanus sp., the latter representing the oldest record of this taxon in the region of India south of the Himalayas and its occurrence here suggests a mean annual temperature not less than 15°C. The material from the younger Tapar locality consists of an unidentified acrodontan lizard, here questionably placed in agamids, and a skink. The latter shows a resemblance to mabuyines, however, the fragmentary nature of the material does not allow a precise allocation without doubts. The cosmopolitan mabuyines have been suggested to have their origin in Asia, so the potential presence of mabuyines in the Tapar locality might represent the first, but putative, Asian evidence of the occurrence of this group in the Miocene.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
