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... The number of distinct deinotheriine genera is still a matter of debate. Some recent authors (Böhme et al. 2012;Pickford and Pourabrishami 2013) still distinguish a single genus (Deinotherium Kaup, 1829), but most other authors (e.g., Harris 1973Harris , 1978Gasparik 1993Gasparik , 2001Göhlich 1999;Huttunen 2002aHuttunen ,b, 2004Huttunen and Göhlich 2002;Duranthon et al. 2007;Markov 2008;Rasmussen and Gutierrez 2009;Sanders et al. 2010;Aiglstorfer et al. 2014;Konidaris et al. 2017;Alba et al. 2020) distinguish the smaller Prodeinotherium Éhik, 1930 (late Oligocene to early middle Miocene; but see Qiu et al. 2007 for a report of Prodeinotherium from the late Miocene of China) from the larger Deinotherium s.s. (late middle to late Miocene). ...
... Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine to what extent morphological changes (other than size) occurred in parallel until the alpha-taxonomy of Prodeinotherium is further clarified. As in Europe, the differences in dental size and shape noted by Harris (1978) for P. hobleyi might justify the distinction of additional African species, and the same holds for Asia, where some authors (Tiwari et al. 2006;Qiu et al. 2007) distinguish several species-Prodeinotherium orlovii (Sahni and Tripathi, 1957) and Prodeinotherium sinense Qiu et al., 2007-in addition to P. pentapotamiae. The comparisons reported here for the European material of Prodeinotherium will hopefully contribute to clarify the taxonomy of this genus when an in-depth revision is undertaken in the future. ...
Deinotheres (Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae) are a clade of non-elephantiform proboscideans that originated in Africa and dispersed into Eurasia by the early Miocene. In Europe, deinotheres are first recorded in Greece during MN3, although they did not become a common faunal element throughout Europe until MN4. Early Miocene (MN3–MN4) deinothere remains from Europe are generally assigned to a different species (Prodeinotherium cuvieri) than those from the early middle Miocene (Prodeinotherium bavaricum; MN5–MN6). In the Vallès-Penedès Basin (NE Iberian Peninsula), Prodeinotherium remains are very scarce and largely remain unpublished. To clarify their taxonomic assignment, we describe the available material and compare it with that from elsewhere in Europe. Based on size and a few diagnostic occlusal details, we tentatively recognize both Prodeinotherium cf. P. cuvieri and Prodeinotherium cf. P. bavaricum in the basin. Although all the studied sites had previously been correlated to MN4, the recognition of P. cf. P. bavaricum at els Casots and les Escletxes is consistent with ongoing litho- and magnetostratigraphic studies suggesting a slightly younger age for these sites. The lack of Prodeinotherium remains in older (MN3) localities from the Vallès-Penedès Basin, where Gomphotherium is already recorded, further supports the view that deinotheres dispersed into Western Europe somewhat later than gomphotheres.
... With stunning discovery comes the darker side of market forces-the vast majority of the fossils have been acquired through private collectors, either directly from local fossil dealers or illicit markets. Commercial motives are behind the remarkable rate of discoveries, both in exquisitely preserved specimens and extremely rare finds that are not seen elsewhere in China (e.g., Qiu Z -X et al., 2014;Qiu Z -X et al., 2007). So many fossils were discovered in so short a time that an entire generation of Neogene mammalian vertebrate paleontologists, primarily from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), was trained either entirely or partly on the Linxia Basin fossils with several dissertations and monographs based on them (e.g., Qiu Z -X et al., 2004;Shi, 2012;Wang and Qiu, 2018). ...
... Located at the northeastern border of the Tibetan Plateau, the Linxia Basin ( Fig. 1) is one of the most fossiliferous late Cenozoic basins known in China, with rich discoveries from the Late Oligocene to the Early Pleistocene (Deng, 2004b;Deng et al., 2004b;Deng, 2009;Deng et al., 2013b). Hundreds of fossil species have been recognised in this basin, including many new species Deng and Qiu, 2007;Qiu et al., 2007;Wang and Deng, 2011;Deng et al., 2013b;Deng et al., 2013c;Deng et al., 2014a;Deng et al., 2014b;Hou and Deng, 2014;Qiu et al., 2014;Wang et al., 2015;Shi and Deng, 2021). The Linxia Basin also provides records of one of the most continuous mammalian evolutionary history, with four large faunas, i.e., Late Oligocene Paraceratherium fauna; Middle Miocene Platybelodon fauna, which can be further subdivided into three faunas, from Early/Middle Miocene, middle Middle Miocene, and late Middle Miocene, respectively; Late Miocene to Pliocene hipparion fauna, which can be further subdivided into six faunas, including four successive faunas from early Late Miocene to latest Late Miocene, one from Miocene/Pliocene boundary, and one from Late Pliocene; and Early Pleistocene Equus fauna (Deng et al., 2013b and this study). ...
The Linxia Basin has produced some of the most complete and fossiliferous fossil assemblages among the known
late Cenozoic basins including diverse carnivoran elements. In this work, we summarize the chronological
framework for its fossil Carnivora based on current knowledge. A total of 80 species of Carnivora, belonging to 55
genera and 10 families, are currently recorded in 10 assemblages. Three faunas with Carnivora of Middle
Miocene age, include amphicyonids, hemicyonids, and percrocutids. Five assemblages dating to the late Miocene
and the earliest Pliocene hipparion faunas, are represented by very abundant ictitherine hyaenids, the giant
hyaena Dinocrocuta, the large machairodont Amphimachairodus and diverse metailurine felids, and various
mustelids. The Late Pliocene records scant material, but the Early Pleistocene Equus fauna is well represented by
canids, hyaenids, a lynx, and Megantereon. A major Carnivoran guild turnover occurs at the boundary of the
Middle and Late Miocene. The Linxia Basin experienced earlier aridification in the Late Miocene than did Europe,
likely correlated with the rise of Tibet. The medial body size of Carnivora remains largely unchanged from the
Middle Miocene to the Early Pleistocene. Crown-group members (at the family level) increased dramatically in
proportion during the Late Miocene, and remained largely unchanged since the latest Miocene, suggesting that
the Late Miocene is the major period of emplacement of current Carnivora phylogenetic structure.
... Type Species Prodinotherium hungaricum Éhik, 1930. Other Included Taxa P. cuvieri (Kaup, 1832a); P. hobleyi (Andrews, 1911); P. pentapotamiae (Falconer, 1868); P. sinense Qiu et al., 2007. Distribution Early-early late Miocene of Africa, Europe and Asia. ...
Proboscideans (Mammalia: Proboscidea) originated during the Eocene (perhaps already during the Paleocene) in Africa. Their fossil record narrates an amazing evolutionary history, ranging from the Paleogene to the Quaternary. Proboscideans experienced in the past a great diversification and wide distribution in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. They persist until today with only two genera, Loxodonta and Elephas, geographically confined in regions of Africa and Asia, respectively. The review of the fossil record of the Neogene proboscideans (excluding the members of Elephantidae that are treated elsewhere) in Greece revealed the presence of deinotheres (Deinotheriidae), mammutids (Mammutidae), choerolophodonts (Choerolophodontidae), amebelodonts (Amebelodontidae), tetralophodont gomphotheres (Gomphotheriidae), and stegodonts (Stegodontidae) in more than fifty localities, ranging from the early Miocene to the Early Pleistocene. Fourteen taxa are here considered valid, three of them (Choerolophodon chioticus, C. pentelici, and Konobelodon atticus) erected from type localities in Greece. The most diverse localities are Pikermi and Samos, where at least four proboscidean species have been recorded. The peak in taxonomic diversity occurred during the Turolian (late Miocene). The Greek proboscidean fossil record contains several highlights. The earliest appearance of the family Deinotheriidae in Europe is documented in Gavathas of Lesvos Island, and it is the proboscidean family with the widest temporal distribution in Greece. A deinotheriid skull from Samos Island is so far the most complete juvenile one known from Eurasia and Africa. Choerolophodon presents the widest temporal distribution among the genera in Greece, and where present, it is the dominant genus in terms of abundance. The rich choerolophodont sample allows the distinction into evolutionary stages and renders the genus as biostatigraphically important for Southeastern Europe. The late Miocene Anancus from Chomateri represents the first appearance of the genus in Greece and one of the earliest occurences in Europe. The sample of the late Pliocene Mammut borsoni from Milia, Grevena, is the richest one of this species, including partial skeletons, the longest upper tusks ever recorded in the world and the most complete mandible in Europe. During the Pliocene–Early Pleistocene, the most frequent and widespread proboscidean is the last European gomphothere Anancus arvernensis. Finally, the Siatista Stegodon is the first evidence of the presence of stegodontids in Europe.
... Despite the small size of Antoletherium, Sahni and Tripathi (1957) used the presence of a buccal tubercle on the p4 (not seen in Lydekker's 1880 illustration) along with other tubercles on the m1 and m2 to synonymize it with Deinotherium indicum. However, because we do not regard tubercles on the p4 as a valid apomorphy, and the small P. sinense also has tubercles on m1-m3 (Qiu et al., 2007), the morphological criterion used by Sahni and Tripathi (1957) is too variable and cannot be used diagnostically for the large genus Deinotherium. The older stratigraphic context for Antoletherium provides additional evidence against its synonymy with Deinotherium indicum. ...
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 sub-continent. 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.
... Despite the small size of Antoletherium, Sahni and Tripathi (1957) used the presence of a buccal tubercle on the p4 (not seen in Lydekker's 1880 illustration) along with other tubercles on the m1 and m2 to synonymize it with Deinotherium indicum. However, because we do not regard tubercles on the p4 as a valid apomorphy, and the small P. sinense also has tubercles on m1-m3 (Qiu et al., 2007), the morphological criterion used by Sahni and Tripathi (1957) is too variable and cannot be used diagnostically for the large genus Deinotherium. The older stratigraphic context for Antoletherium provides additional evidence against its synonymy with Deinotherium indicum. ...
The Tappar beds from the Kutch basin, in western India are known for their rich mammalian and reptilian fossil assemblages. This section is thought to be from the Late Miocene age and consists of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone with intermittent conglomerate beds. During a recent field survey (2017-2018) of the Late Miocene deposits exposed around Tappar, an isolated right mandibular fourth premolar (P4) of Deinotherium indicum was recovered. South Asian deinotheres were first discovered on Perim (Piram) island in the Gulf of Cambay and described by Hugh Falconer in 1845. Since then, remains of deinotheres have been recovered from the Siwalik Group of India and Pakistan, the Dharmsala Group of India, the Manchars of Sind, the Gaj Series in the Bugti Hills of western Pakistan, Kutch in India, and in the Dang Valley in Nepal. The material under study is a large tooth with a tubercle on its outer border consistent with the morphology of D. indicum. The present specimen D. Indicum differs from Prodeinotherium pentapotamiae because the former is characterized by tubercles on the outer side of all the teeth of the lower series except the third premolar (P3), whereas no such tubercle can be traced in the latter species. We could not compare the present specimen with D. orlovii, since the hypodigm of the latter does not include a lower P4; only morphological characters of upper P3 and P4 are available. Deinotherium indicum is also known from Haritalyangar, where it occurs from 10-8 Ma. Given the presence of this species in the Tappar Beds helps refine the age estimates of the Tappar fauna to between 10 Ma and 8 Ma. Deinotherium indicum has sometimes been synonymized with Deinotherium sindiense. However, the holotype belongs to a small individual, and is metrically more similar to Prodeinotherium pentapotamiae than D. indicum. Indeed, the dimensions of the present specimen, and of other D. indicum specimens suggest that the two species are different.
... xiaolongtanensis occurred in the Tsaidam Basin of northern China and may have migrated directly from Yunnan (Fig. 5B). The unexpected occurrence of the only deinothere from the earliest late Miocene of the Linxia Basin of northern China (Qiu et al., 2007), Prodeinotherium sinense, may also have migrated this way, but this hypothesis should be investigated further. The second opening of this barrier may have occurred in MN13 of the latest Miocene, as discussed by Wang et al. (2016a). ...
Fossil elephantimorph proboscideans are very common in Miocene faunas of East Asia. However, their evolution and migration associated with ecological pressure have been studied little, especially in China. In the present article, analyses of the dynamics of the elephantimorph genera of northern and southern China were performed. The results indicate considerable depression of elephantimorph proboscidean diversity in northern China and continuous success of this group in the Yunnan region (southern China) during the late Miocene. Notably, all trilophodont elephantimorph proboscideans were extinct by the end of the middle Miocene in northern China and did not recover until the latest Miocene. However, trilophodont and tetralophodont elephantimorph proboscideans coexisted throughout the late Miocene in the Yunnan region. Therefore, we interpret the Yunnan region as a late Miocene refuge for proboscideans, especially trilophodonts, from severe aridity in northern China caused by uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and retreat of the Paratethys Sea. Further analysis of the dynamics of coexisting genera indicates that the components of elephantimorph proboscidean assemblages in northern China display patterns distinct from those of Yunnan/Southeast Asia and Siwalik. Therefore, ecological barriers between northern China and Siwalik and between northern China and Yunnan/Southeast Asia are hypothesized to have existed by as early as the middle Miocene. The latter barrier occasionally opened, e.g. at the boundary between the middle and late Miocene, and thus provided a pathway for the survival of trilophodont proboscideans escaping from ecological pressures in northern China.
... Unlike in the Middle Miocene, fossil records of proboscideans in the Upper Miocene of northern China are relatively sparse and dominated by tetralophodont rather than trilophodont proboscideans. Besides tetralophodont proboscideans, only Predeinotherium sinese (MN9, Linxia Basin; see Qiu et al. (2007)), Mammut sp. (MN11-MN12, Linxia Basin and Baode; see Hopwood (1935) and Wang et al. (2017)), and Sinomastodon praeintermedius (MN13, Yushe Basin; see Wang et al. (2016b)) have been discovered from the Upper Miocene of northern China. ...
Tetralophodont gomphotheres, i.e., Tetralophodon, Paratetralophodon, and Anancus, show significant morphological diversity and are of great importance for the biostratigraphy of the Upper Miocene. However, material of this group from the Upper Miocene of northern China is rare and easily to be confused with the similar taxa such as Konobelodon and Stegolophodon. The stratigraphy of this group is also unclear in China. Here we described the first mandible from northern China that can be definitely attributed to Tetralophodon, and erected a new species Tetralophodon euryrostris n. sp. Furthermore, we amended the previously reported tetralophodont gomphotheres from northern China. We attributed the type material of “Tetralophodon exoletus” to?Paratetralophodon exoletus, the material from Lantian region (“Tetralophodon exoletus”) to Paratetralophodon sp., and the material from the Qaidam Basin (Tetralophodon sp.) to Tetralophodon aff. xiaolongtanensis. We also discussed the stratigraphic ranges of the tetralophodont proboscideans from the Upper Miocene of China, that is, Tetralophodon aff. xiaolongtanensis from MN9, Tetralophodon cf. euryrostris from MN10, Konobelodon robustus from MN9–MN10, Paratetralophodon sp. from MN11,? Paratetralophodon exoletus from MN12, and Stegolophodon licenti from MN13. This work is important for the study of the taxonomy and biostratigraphy of tetralophodont gomphotheres from the Upper Miocene of northern China.
The remarkable uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in the Neogene had great impacts on the climate and environment of East Asia and even the world. Therefore, establishment of the Neogene stratigraphic framework of the Tibetan Plateau is of great significance to research in various fields of geosciences. Based on marine sediments, the international chronostratigraphic system of the Neogene is divided into six stages in the Miocene and two stages in the Pliocene. Since the beginning of the Cenozoic, the share of terrestrial strata on continents has increased rapidly. By the Neogene, it had far exceeded that of marine strata, and almost all deposits on the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas were terrestrial strata. In China, the Miocene includes five stages and the Pliocene includes two stages. Except for the Tunggurian of the Miocene, which has a lower boundary at 15 Ma, the other stages have the same paleomagnetic definitions and time intervals as the corresponding international marine stages. Mammalian fossils play a very important role in the division and correlation of Cenozoic terrestrial strata, and rodent, carnivore, proboscidean, perissodactyl and artiodactyl fossils are especially important in Neogene terrestrial biostratigraphy. There are many basins with well-exposed strata and abundant mammalian fossils in the Tibetan Plateau. The lower boundary stratotype sections of the Neogene Xiejian and Bahean stages are located respectively in the Xining and Linxia basins, and there are precise paleomagnetic dates in coordination with mammalian fossils. The lower boundary stratotypes of other stages can also be effectively determined in the Tibetan Plateau. Many first appearing mammalian genera in East Asia also appeared in the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas, especially in the Linxia Basin on the northeast margin and in the Siwaliks on the southwest margin. Among them, Prodeinotherium first appeared at the bottom of the Miocene in the Siwaliks, and the earliest Hipparion of the Old World first appeared at the bottom of the Bahean Stage in the Linxia Basin. Carbon and oxygen isotope analysis of enamel and paleosols of Cenozoic sediments and mammal fossils in the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding areas have been used to reconstruct the climate, environment and vegetation development characteristics, and revealed that these changes were not only related to global change, but also had regional features. Evidence of the Late Miocene C4 plant expansion event based on carbon isotope changes comes from the southern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, but in sharp contrast, δ13C indicates that there was still no clear or significant C4 plant signal on the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau until the end of the Neogene. The δ18O analysis shows that there were several major climate change events in the Cenozoic, especially in the Late Miocene at about 7 Ma, when positive drift of δ18O indicates that the northern and southern sides of the Tibetan Plateau were changing to drier environments. The strong uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in the Late Miocene strengthened the thermal contrast between sea and land, which strengthened monsoon circulation and led to the expansion of C4 vegetation in South Asia. However, the East Asian summer monsoon, which can bring atmospheric precipitation and a climate suitable for C4 plants to northern China, was not enough to affect the northern Tibetan Plateau. The Tibetan Plateau on the whole rose to an altitude of about 3000 m in the Miocene, becoming a barrier to mammalian migration; it reached its modern altitude of more than 4000 m in the Pliocene, thus forming a cryosphere environment, which led to the emergence of ancestral types of the Ice Age fauna.
In 2014, the National Commission on Stratigraphy of China formally suggested dividing the Chinese Upper Miocene Series into the Bahean Stage and Baodean Stage in the newly published " Chinese Stratigraphical Chart ". The name " Bahe " is derived from the lithostratigraphic unit Bahe Formation, and its typical section is located at Shuijiazui on the left bank of the Bahe River in Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. The Bahean Stage is correlated to the marine Tortonian Stage in the International Stratigraphical Chart, and they share the same definition of the lower boundary at the bottom of the paleomagnetic Chron C5r.2n, with an
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