TY - JOUR
T1 - A remarkable Palaeoloxodon (Mammalia, Proboscidea) skull from the intermontane Kashmir Valley, India
AU - Jukar, Advait
AU - Bhat, Ghulam
AU - Parfitt, Simon A.
AU - Dickinson, Marc
AU - Ashton, Nick
AU - Zhang, Hanwen
AU - Thusu, Bindra
AU - Craig, Jonathan
PY - 2024/10/11
Y1 - 2024/10/11
N2 - In this study, we describe a remarkably well-preserved cranium and stylohyoids of a large elephant from the Middle Pleistocene Pampore Member in the Karewas of Kashmir that was found associated with 87 stone tools. Based on the cranio-dental morphology, we assign the skull to the genus Palaeoloxodon, a lineage of massive elephants that evolved in Africa in the Early Pleistocene, and later dispersed across Eurasia. The skull possesses a combination of plesiomorphic and derived features of Palaeoloxodon, most notably, a broad, expanded frons and a nasal aperture with rounded margins that is characteristic of derived Eurasian Palaeoloxodon; but with an extremely underdeveloped parieto-occipital crest that is reminiscent of the basally branching African species, Palaeoloxodon recki. It is most similar in morphology to the type skull of Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus from Central Asia. The morphology of the stylohyoids is also different from those referred to Palaeoloxodon antiquus from Europe and Palaeoloxodon naumanni from Japan. While the validity of P. turkmenicus has been questioned in the past, this new specimen from Kashmir provides a strong case for a Middle Pleistocene species of Palaeoloxodon in Central and South Asia with intermediate morphologies between basally branching African species, and more derived Eurasian species.
AB - In this study, we describe a remarkably well-preserved cranium and stylohyoids of a large elephant from the Middle Pleistocene Pampore Member in the Karewas of Kashmir that was found associated with 87 stone tools. Based on the cranio-dental morphology, we assign the skull to the genus Palaeoloxodon, a lineage of massive elephants that evolved in Africa in the Early Pleistocene, and later dispersed across Eurasia. The skull possesses a combination of plesiomorphic and derived features of Palaeoloxodon, most notably, a broad, expanded frons and a nasal aperture with rounded margins that is characteristic of derived Eurasian Palaeoloxodon; but with an extremely underdeveloped parieto-occipital crest that is reminiscent of the basally branching African species, Palaeoloxodon recki. It is most similar in morphology to the type skull of Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus from Central Asia. The morphology of the stylohyoids is also different from those referred to Palaeoloxodon antiquus from Europe and Palaeoloxodon naumanni from Japan. While the validity of P. turkmenicus has been questioned in the past, this new specimen from Kashmir provides a strong case for a Middle Pleistocene species of Palaeoloxodon in Central and South Asia with intermediate morphologies between basally branching African species, and more derived Eurasian species.
U2 - 10.1080/02724634.2024.2396821
DO - 10.1080/02724634.2024.2396821
M3 - Article
SN - 0272-4634
JO - Journal of vertebrate paleontology
JF - Journal of vertebrate paleontology
M1 - e2396821
ER -