Listriodon dukkar sp. nov. (Suidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the late Miocene of Pasuda (Gujarat, India): the decline and extinction of the Listriodontinae

Abstract

The Listriodontinae were a common and widespread group of Suidae (pigs) that lived in an area extending from Portugal to China and to southern Africa. Here, we describe the new species Listriodon dukkar from Pasuda (Gujarat, India). It shares features with Li. pentapotamiae, evolved from it, and is the last representative of this lineage. The Listriodontinae flourished for about 10 million years, reached their maximum diversity and geographic extension during the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (about 17–13.6 Ma), and their last records are close in age and date to ~ 9.8 Ma in the Indian Subcontinent, 9.78 Ma in Europe, and ~ 10 Ma in Africa. We review the environments in which the last listriodont lineages lived and went extinct. Their extinctions occurred against a background of increasing seasonality, vegetation change, a rise in bovid diversity and abundance, and local events, such as the European Vallesian Crisis and a dramatic drop in tragulid abundance in the Siwaliks. However, changes in the atmospheric pCO2 may have contributed to their decline and extinction in all their geographic distribution. Decreasing pCO2 is expected to have decreased sugar content and increased protein content of leaves and fruit. Hindgut fermenting Suoidea have higher protein requirements, while foregut fermenting Suoidea are more efficient in digesting sugars. Listriodontinae were probably foregut fermenters and were less well adapted in a low pCO2 world.

Description of Propotamochoerus hysudricus Fossils from the Siwalik Beds of District Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan

“…From the nineteenth century and onwards, numerous scholars including [1][2][3][4][5][6] have excavated at diverse locations on the hills of the subcontinent, where they have found a large number of fossils. In this regard, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] are among the most well-known palaeontological researchers that have conducted studies in this region. A few millennia ago, the family Suidae was among the most ubiquitous families in the Siwalik Hills of the Indo-Pak region and represented by a significant number of genera.…”

New Suid remains of genus Listriodon from the Siwaliks of Pakistan

“…Beginning in the nineteenth century and continuing onward, numerous scholars, including Colbert (1935), Falconer (1868), Lydekker (1883), Pickford (1988), Pilgrim (1926), and Stehlin (1899), excavated diverse locations on the hills of the subcontinent, where they found a large number of fossils. Amongst many others, Ahmad (1995), Batool et al (2015), Ghaffar and Akhtar (2012), Made (1996Made ( , 1998, Made et al (2022), and Jasinki et al (2023) are among the most well-known Palaeontological researchers that have conducted studies in this region. Despite this, there have been a significant number of other paleontological experts who have carried out research in this region.…”

The first report of cf. Zygolophodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Mammutidae) from the Upper Miocene of Kutch, India

“…While fossils from the Siwalik Group in the northern part of the basin have been extensively studied (Flynn et al, 2013, 2016; Nanda, 2015), fossil deposits from the southern arm, which extends into the western Indian state of Gujarat and Sindh province of Pakistan, have received comparatively little attention despite being known since the 19th century (Falconer, 1845; Lydekker, 1876, 1885; Pilgrim, 1908; von Meyer, 1865). Recent explorations in Kutch, in Gujarat, India have yielded diverse terrestrial fossil assemblages that range in age from the Middle to the Upper Miocene (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015; Čerňanský et al, 2022; Kapur et al, 2021; Singh et al, 2021, 2022; van der Made et al, 2022).…”

“…15.9–13.8 Ma) sites of Palasava (Kapur et al, 2021) and Sambera (Samda) (Bhandari et al, 2015; Patnaik et al, 2014; Wynne, 1872), and the early Tortonian (ca. 11.0–10.0 Ma) localities of Tapar (Tappar) and Pasuda (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2018; Patnaik et al, 2022; Singh et al, 2020; van der Made et al, 2022). The fossil vertebrate assemblage from Tapar is diverse and includes fish (Singh et al, 2019), squamates (Čerňǎnský et al, 2022; Singh et al, 2021), and mammals (Bhandari et al, 2010, 2015, 2018; Patnaik et al, 2022; Singh et al, 2020).…”