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de Bonis L, Chaimanee Y, Grohé C, Chavasseau O, Mazurier A, Suraprasit K, Jaeger JJ. A new large pantherine and a sabre-toothed cat (Mammalia, Carnivora, Felidae) from the late Miocene hominoid-bearing Khorat sand pits, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand. THE SCIENCE OF NATURE - NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN 2023; 110:42. [PMID: 37584870 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-023-01867-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 07/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023]
Abstract
We describe two large predators from the hominoid-bearing Khorat sand pits, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, northeastern Thailand: a new genus of pantherine, Pachypanthera n. gen., represented by partial mandible and maxilla and an indeterminate sabre-toothed cat, represented by a fragment of upper canine. The morphological characters of Pachypanthera n. gen., notably the large and powerful canine, the great robustness of the mandibular body, the very deep fossa for the m. masseter, the zigzag HSB enamel pattern, indicate bone-cracking capacities. The genus is unique among Felidae as it has one of the most powerful and robust mandibles ever found. Moreover, it may be the oldest known pantherine, as other Asian pantherines are dated back to the early Pliocene. The taxa we report here are the only carnivorans known from the late Miocene of Thailand. Although the material is rather scarce, it brings new insights to the evolutionary history of Neogene mammals of Southeast Asia, in a geographic place which is partly "terra incognita."
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Affiliation(s)
- L de Bonis
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Evolution Paléoécosystemes Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS INEE), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France.
| | - Y Chaimanee
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Evolution Paléoécosystemes Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS INEE), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - C Grohé
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Evolution Paléoécosystemes Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS INEE), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - O Chavasseau
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Evolution Paléoécosystemes Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS INEE), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - A Mazurier
- Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers (IC2MP, UMR CNRS 7285), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 4 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France
| | - K Suraprasit
- Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - J J Jaeger
- Laboratoire Paléontologie Evolution Paléoécosystemes Paléoprimatologie (PALEVOPRIM, UMR 7262 CNRS INEE), Faculté Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquées, Université de Poitiers, 6 rue Michel Brunet, 86073, Poitiers, France
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2
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Bibi F, Cantalapiedra JL. Plio-Pleistocene African megaherbivore losses associated with community biomass restructuring. Science 2023; 380:1076-1080. [PMID: 37289876 DOI: 10.1126/science.add8366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Fossil abundance data can reveal ecological dynamics underpinning taxonomic declines. Using fossil dental metrics, we reconstructed body mass and mass-abundance distributions in Late Miocene to recent African large mammal communities. Despite collection biases, fossil and extant mass-abundance distributions are highly similar, with unimodal distributions likely reflecting savanna environments. Above 45 kilograms, abundance decreases exponentially with mass, with slopes close to -0.75, as predicted by metabolic scaling. Furthermore, communities before ~4 million years ago had considerably more large-sized individuals, with a greater proportion of total biomass allocated in larger size categories, than did later communities. Over time, individuals and biomass were redistributed into smaller size categories, reflecting a gradual loss of large-sized individuals from the fossil record paralleling the long-term decline of Plio-Pleistocene large mammal diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Faysal Bibi
- Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, 10115 Berlin, Germany
| | - Juan L Cantalapiedra
- GloCEE-Global Change Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Department of Life Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
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3
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Valenciano A, Morales J, Govender R. Eucyon khoikhoi sp. nov. (Carnivora: Canidae) from Langebaanweg ‘E’ Quarry (early Pliocene, South Africa): the most complete African canini from the Mio-Pliocene. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
A new medium-sized canid, Eucyon khoikhoi sp. nov., is described from the early Pliocene site of Langebaanweg ‘E’ Quarry (South Africa). It possesses a robust dentition with large upper- and lower-second molars, an m1 talonid without a transverse cristid between the entoconid and the hypoconid, and a well-developed hypoconulid shelf. Our cladistic analysis of the earliest better-known African canini, places E. khoikhoi as the most basal taxon of an African clade composed of E. wokari, ?Nyctereutes barryi, ?Schaeffia mohibi and Schaeffia adusta (living side-striped jackal). We suggest an alternative arrangement for the poorly known East African E. intrepidus from the Late Miocene and E. kuta from the Middle Pliocene. Eucyon intrepidus could belong to the same clade as E. khoikhoi, unlike E. kuta, whose dentition suggests a closer relation with the Lupulella group. Thus, these results support the paraphyly of Eucyon, demonstrating the need for an in-depth review of the genus. Eucyon khoikhoi has a body mass comparable to E. kuta and the European E. debonisi and E. monticinensis. We conclude that E. khoikhoi may have had a comparable role in the ecosystem to the extant hypocarnivorous S. adusta.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Valenciano
- Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Palaeobiological Research Group, Cape Town, South Africa
- Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra and Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Ciencias Ambientales de Aragón (IUCA), Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
| | - Jorge Morales
- Departamento de Paleobiología, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Romala Govender
- Research and Exhibitions Department, Iziko Museums of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Palaeobiological Research Group, Cape Town, South Africa
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Herries AIR, Martin JM, Leece AB, Adams JW, Boschian G, Joannes-Boyau R, Edwards TR, Mallett T, Massey J, Murszewski A, Neubauer S, Pickering R, Strait DS, Armstrong BJ, Baker S, Caruana MV, Denham T, Hellstrom J, Moggi-Cecchi J, Mokobane S, Penzo-Kajewski P, Rovinsky DS, Schwartz GT, Stammers RC, Wilson C, Woodhead J, Menter C. Contemporaneity of Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and early Homo erectus in South Africa. Science 2020; 368:368/6486/eaaw7293. [PMID: 32241925 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw7293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2019] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the extinction of Australopithecus and origins of Paranthropus and Homo in South Africa has been hampered by the perceived complex geological context of hominin fossils, poor chronological resolution, and a lack of well-preserved early Homo specimens. We describe, date, and contextualize the discovery of two hominin crania from Drimolen Main Quarry in South Africa. At ~2.04 million to 1.95 million years old, DNH 152 represents the earliest definitive occurrence of Paranthropus robustus, and DNH 134 represents the earliest occurrence of a cranium with clear affinities to Homo erectus These crania also show that Homo, Paranthropus, and Australopithecus were contemporaneous at ~2 million years ago. This high taxonomic diversity is also reflected in non-hominin species and provides evidence of endemic evolution and dispersal during a period of climatic variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy I R Herries
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia. .,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Jesse M Martin
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - A B Leece
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Justin W Adams
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, VIC, Australia.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Giovanni Boschian
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Renaud Joannes-Boyau
- Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group (GARG), Southern Cross University, Military Road, Lismore, 2480 NSW, Australia.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Tara R Edwards
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Tom Mallett
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Jason Massey
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, VIC, Australia.,Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Ashleigh Murszewski
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Simon Neubauer
- Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Robyn Pickering
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.,Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - David S Strait
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Brian J Armstrong
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Stephanie Baker
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Matthew V Caruana
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Tim Denham
- Geoarchaeology Research Group, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - John Hellstrom
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | | | - Simon Mokobane
- Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa
| | - Paul Penzo-Kajewski
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Douglass S Rovinsky
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, VIC, Australia
| | - Gary T Schwartz
- Institute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA
| | - Rhiannon C Stammers
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Coen Wilson
- Palaeoscience, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 VIC, Australia
| | - Jon Woodhead
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Colin Menter
- Department of Biology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
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Paijmans JLA, Barlow A, Förster DW, Henneberger K, Meyer M, Nickel B, Nagel D, Worsøe Havmøller R, Baryshnikov GF, Joger U, Rosendahl W, Hofreiter M. Historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) and its extinct Eurasian populations. BMC Evol Biol 2018; 18:156. [PMID: 30348080 PMCID: PMC6198532 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-018-1268-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2018] [Accepted: 09/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Resolving the historical biogeography of the leopard (Panthera pardus) is a complex issue, because patterns inferred from fossils and from molecular data lack congruence. Fossil evidence supports an African origin, and suggests that leopards were already present in Eurasia during the Early Pleistocene. Analysis of DNA sequences however, suggests a more recent, Middle Pleistocene shared ancestry of Asian and African leopards. These contrasting patterns led researchers to propose a two-stage hypothesis of leopard dispersal out of Africa: an initial Early Pleistocene colonisation of Asia and a subsequent replacement by a second colonisation wave during the Middle Pleistocene. The status of Late Pleistocene European leopards within this scenario is unclear: were these populations remnants of the first dispersal, or do the last surviving European leopards share more recent ancestry with their African counterparts? Results In this study, we generate and analyse mitogenome sequences from historical samples that span the entire modern leopard distribution, as well as from Late Pleistocene remains. We find a deep bifurcation between African and Eurasian mitochondrial lineages (~ 710 Ka), with the European ancient samples as sister to all Asian lineages (~ 483 Ka). The modern and historical mainland Asian lineages share a relatively recent common ancestor (~ 122 Ka), and we find one Javan sample nested within these. Conclusions The phylogenetic placement of the ancient European leopard as sister group to Asian leopards suggests that these populations originate from the same out-of-Africa dispersal which founded the Asian lineages. The coalescence time found for the mitochondrial lineages aligns well with the earliest undisputed fossils in Eurasia, and thus encourages a re-evaluation of the identification of the much older putative leopard fossils from the region. The relatively recent ancestry of all mainland Asian leopard lineages suggests that these populations underwent a severe population bottleneck during the Pleistocene. Finally, although only based on a single sample, the unexpected phylogenetic placement of the Javan leopard could be interpreted as evidence for exchange of mitochondrial lineages between Java and mainland Asia, calling for further investigation into the evolutionary history of this subspecies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-018-1268-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johanna L A Paijmans
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Axel Barlow
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Daniel W Förster
- Leibniz Institute for Zoo- and Wildlife Research, Alfred-Kowalke-Strasse 17, 10315, Berlin, Germany
| | - Kirstin Henneberger
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Matthias Meyer
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Birgit Nickel
- Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Doris Nagel
- Institute for Paleontology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna, A-1090, Austria
| | - Rasmus Worsøe Havmøller
- Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 5-7, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Gennady F Baryshnikov
- Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya Naberezhnaya 1, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia
| | - Ulrich Joger
- State Natural History Museum, Pockelsstr. 10, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Wilfried Rosendahl
- Reiss-Engelhorn Museen and Curt-Engelhorn-Centre for Archaeometry, C4 8, 68159, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Michael Hofreiter
- Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
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Detry C, Cardoso JL, Heras Mora J, Bustamante-Álvarez M, Silva AM, Pimenta J, Fernandes I, Fernandes C. Did the Romans introduce the Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) into the Iberian Peninsula? Naturwissenschaften 2018; 105:63. [PMID: 30311012 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-018-1586-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Revised: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 09/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
New finds of bones of the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), one from Portugal and one from Spain, were directly 14C dated to the first century AD. While the Portuguese specimen was found without connection to the Chalcolithic occupation of the Pedra Furada cave where it was recovered, the Spanish find, collected in the city of Mérida, comes from a ritual pit that also contained three human and 40 dog burials. The finds reported here show that the Egyptian mongoose, contrary to the traditional and predominant view, did not first arrive in the Iberian Peninsula during the Muslim occupation of Iberia. Instead, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the species was first introduced by the Romans, or at least sometime during the Roman occupation of Hispania. Therefore, radiocarbon dating of new archaeological finds of bones of the Egyptian Mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon) in the Iberian Peninsula push back the confirmed presence of the species in the region by approximately eight centuries, as the previously oldest dated record is from the ninth century. With these new dates, there are now a total of four 14C dated specimens of Egyptian mongooses from the Iberian Peninsula, and all of these dates fall within the last 2000 years. This offers support for the hypothesis that the presence of the species in Iberia is due to historical introductions and is at odds with a scenario of natural sweepstake dispersal across the Straits of Gibraltar in the Late Pleistocene (126,000-11,700 years ago), recently proposed based on genetic data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cleia Detry
- UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
| | - João Luís Cardoso
- UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.,Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal.,ICArEHB, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas e Sociais, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | | | - Macarena Bustamante-Álvarez
- Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Ana Maria Silva
- UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.,Laboratório de Préhistória, CIAS-Centro de Investigação em Antropologia e Saúde, Departamento Ciências da Vida, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - João Pimenta
- UNIARQ-Centro de Arqueologia da Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.,Município de Vila Franca de Xira, Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
| | | | - Carlos Fernandes
- CE3C-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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Geraads D, Peigné S. Re-Appraisal of ‘Felis’ pamiri Ozansoy, 1959 (Carnivora, Felidae) from the Upper Miocene of Turkey: the Earliest Pantherin Cat? J MAMM EVOL 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-016-9349-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Adams JW, Rovinsky DS, Herries AIR, Menter CG. Macromammalian faunas, biochronology and palaeoecology of the early Pleistocene Main Quarry hominin-bearing deposits of the Drimolen Palaeocave System, South Africa. PeerJ 2016; 4:e1941. [PMID: 27114884 PMCID: PMC4841245 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2016] [Accepted: 03/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Drimolen Palaeocave System Main Quarry deposits (DMQ) are some of the most prolific hominin and primate-bearing deposits in the Fossil Hominids of South Africa UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovered in the 1990s, excavations into the DMQ have yielded a demographically diverse sample of Paranthropus robustus (including DNH 7, the most complete cranium of the species recovered to date), early Homo, Papio hamadryas robinsoni and Cercopithecoides williamsi. Alongside the hominin and primate sample is a diverse macromammalian assemblage, but prior publications have only provided a provisional species list and an analysis of the carnivores recovered prior to 2008. Here we present the first description and analysis of the non-primate macromammalian faunas from the DMQ, including all 826 taxonomically identifiable specimens catalogued from over two decades of excavation. We also provide a biochronological interpretation of the DMQ deposits and an initial discussion of local palaeoecology based on taxon representation.The current DMQ assemblage consists of the remains of minimally 147 individuals from 9 Orders and 14 Families of mammals. The carnivore assemblage described here is even more diverse than established in prior publications, including the identification of Megantereon whitei, Lycyaenops silberbergi, and first evidence for the occurrence of Dinofelis cf. barlowi and Dinofelis aff. piveteaui within a single South African site deposit. The cetartiodactyl assemblage is dominated by bovids, with the specimen composition unique in the high recovery of horn cores and dominance of Antidorcas recki remains. Other cetartiodactyl and perissodactyl taxa are represented by few specimens, as are Hystrix and Procavia; the latter somewhat surprisingly so given their common occurrence at penecontemporaneous deposits in the region. Equally unusual (particularly given the size of the sample) is the identification of single specimens of giraffoid, elephantid and aardvark (Orycteropus cf. afer) that are rarely recovered from regional site deposits. Despite the diversity within the DMQ macromammalian faunas, there are few habitat- or biochronologically-sensitive species that provide specific ecologic or age boundaries for the deposits. Recovered species can only support the non-specific, mixed open-to-closed palaeohabitats around Drimolen that have been reconstructed for the other penecontemporaneous South African palaeokarst deposits. The identified Equus quagga ssp. specimens recovered from the floor of the current excavation (∾−4.5–5 m below datum) suggests that most, if not all the DMQ specimens, were deposited after 2.33 Ma. Simultaneously, the carnivore specimens (D. cf. barlowi, L. silberbergi) suggest earlier Pleistocene (pre- 2.0–1.8 Ma) to maximally 1.6 Ma deposition (D. aff. piveteaui) for most of the DMQ fossil assemblage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin W Adams
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Douglass S Rovinsky
- Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andy I R Herries
- The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia.,Centre for Anthropological Research, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Colin G Menter
- Centre for Anthropological Research, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
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