The first specimen ofDeinotherium indicum(Mammalia, Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae) from the late Miocene of Kutch, India

Abstract

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 record of Deinotheriidae from the Miocene of the Swiss Jura Mountains (Jura Canton, Switzerland)

“…Konidaris et al 2017). The occurrence of Deinotherium is also confirmed at the latter time into the Middle East with D. proavaum (most likely misidentified in D. giganteum by Mirzaie Ataabadi et al 2011) and in India with D. indicum (Sankhyan & Sharma 2014, Singh et al 2020).…”

“…10) except for the earliest occurrence in Lesvos Island (MN3; identified as P. bavaricum in Koufos et al 2003, but corrected as P. cuvieri following the concept of the five European species to be valid as Aiglstorfer et al 2014, Konidaris et al 2017and Göhlich 2020 which is likely a record of the immigration itself. Later P. bavaricum presents a more balanced distribution all over Europe ( (Sankhyan & Sharma 2014, Singh et al 2020.…”

“…Prodeinotherium bavaricum Éhik, 1930 (= P. hungaricum after Huttunen 2002a) is also recorded in the early Miocene in Hungary (Éhik 1930, Gasparik 1993, 2001). The last deinotheres are still present in Asia by the Late Miocene with Deinotherium giganteum Kaup, 1829, Deinotherium proavum (Eichwald, 1831) (= D. gigantissimum after Huttunen 2002a) and Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845 (Chaimanee et al 2004, Rai 2004; Singh et al 2020). In Africa, they persist with Deinotherium bozasi Arambourg, 1934 until the early Pleistocene (Harris 1983, Harris et al 1988).…”

The Miocene fossil lizards from Kutch (Gujarat), India: a rare window to the past diversity of this subcontinent

“…1). This conglomerate bed is richly fossiliferous and yields a variety of vertebrates, including the hominoid Sivapithecus, fragmented teeth of proboscideans (Deinotherium, Gomphotherium), rhinos, giraffids, equids, bovid, suids, rodents, turtles, crocodiles, teleosts, sharks, and batoids (Bhandari et al, 2010(Bhandari et al, , 2015(Bhandari et al, , 2021Singh et al, 2019Singh et al, , 2020Sharma et al, 2021). The Tapar section has been dated as basal late Miocene (ca.…”

“…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).…”