ABSTRACT
Isolated teeth of a lesser short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus brachyotis (Müller, 1838), a fulvous fruit bat Rousettus leschenaultii (Desmarest, 1820), and a dawn bat Eonycteris spelaea (Dobson, 1871) are described from the Middle Pleistocene Tham Hai cave locality in northern Vietnam (Lang Son Province). These are the first fossil findings of the Old World fruit bats in Vietnam. The Middle Pleistocene association of Pteropodidae from the Tham Hai locality may largely reflect the composition of species that roosted in local caves.
ABSTRACT
The extinct mountain long-eared bat Plecotus macrobullaris sarmaticus subsp. nov. is described on the base of jaw remains from the Lower Pleistocene of the Taurida cave in central Crimea. This is the first record of the genus Plecotus in the Lower Pleistocene of Russia and the first fossil find of P. macrobullaris Kuzyakin, 1965, documenting the early stage of the evolutionary history of the species.
Subject(s)
Chiroptera , Fossils , Animals , Chiroptera/anatomy & histology , Chiroptera/classification , Fossils/anatomy & histology , Russia , Biological EvolutionABSTRACT
The holotype of Hapalodectes dux Lopatin, 2001 from the Upper Paleocene of Mongolia (Tsagan-Khushu locality, Naran Bulak Formation, Zhigden Member) is a lower jaw with complete dentition, showing healed alveoli in place of the right P3. Examination of the holotype using X-ray microtomography revealed a rare dental anomaly previously unknown in fossil mammals, namely the presence of the inverted (positioned upside down and rotated lingual side labially) impacted premolar inside the dentary. The cause of this anomaly may be an aberration of a tooth bud location or an injury.
Subject(s)
Jaw , Tooth, Impacted , Animals , Humans , Mongolia , Mandible , Mammals , Tooth, Impacted/etiologyABSTRACT
The mandibles of two individuals of Mustela palerminea (Petenyi, 1864) are described from the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave in Crimea (Late Villafranchian, 1.8-1.5 Ma). This extinct mustelid species was a typical representative of the Villafranchian faunas of Europe. It is the first record of M. palerminea in Russia.
Subject(s)
Carnivora , Mustelidae , Humans , Animals , Fossils , Mandible , EuropeABSTRACT
The dentary of Mustela strandi Kormos, 1934 is described from the Lower Pleistocene deposits (Late Villafranchian, 1.8-1.5 Ma) of the Taurida cave in Crimea. It is the first finding of M. strandi in Russia. This extinct mustelid species is rarely found in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene of Central Europe.
Subject(s)
Carnivora , Mustelidae , Animals , Russia , Europe , FossilsABSTRACT
Hapalodectes paradux sp. nov. (Hapalodectidae, Mesonychia) is described on the base of the dentary fragment with M2-M3 from the Tsagan-Khushu locality in Mongolia (Upper Paleocene, Naran Bulak Formation, Zhigden Member). The M2 and M3 are approximately the same size, with a high protoconid, anteriorly displaced reduced metaconid, anterolingually directed protocristid, very deep posterior notch, narrow talonid, and distinct hypoconid, entoconid and hypoconulid. Based on dental characters, the new species is presumably related to the base of the lineage of Hapalodectes that dispersed to North America at the beginning of the Eocene. Tsagan-Khushu is the only known locality where two species of Hapalodectes co-occur (larger H. dux Lopatin, 2001 and smaller H. paradux sp. nov.).
Subject(s)
Fossils , Tooth , Phylogeny , MongoliaABSTRACT
A new northern serotine bat Eptesicus nilssonii varangus subsp. nov. is described on the base of an incomplete skull and a mandibular fragment from the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave in the central Crimea. This is the earliest record of the species. The presence of E. nilssonii (Keyserling et Blasius, 1839) in the Early Pleistocene bat assemblage of the Taurida cave indicates that this species lived in the south of Eastern Europe before its spreading into Central and Southeastern Europe.
Subject(s)
Chiroptera , Animals , Europe , Skull , Europe, Eastern , MandibleABSTRACT
A new extinct subspecies of the Mehely's horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus mehelyi scythotauricus subsp. nov., is described on the base of an incomplete skull from the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave in the central Crimea. It is the largest member of the R. euryale group. In terms of the evolutionary level, it is intermediate between Plio-Pleistocene R. mehelyi birzebbugensis Storch, 1974 and recent members of the species, but its large size and relatively narrow upper molars may indicate belonging to a separate phylogenetic lineage within R. mehelyi Matschie, 1901. R. mehelyi scythotauricus subsp. nov. is the first fossil record of the species in the Crimea; it is also one of the northernmost finds of R. mehelyi.
Subject(s)
Chiroptera , Animals , Phylogeny , Skull , Molar , Biological EvolutionABSTRACT
The Oriental vole Eothenomys eleusis (Thomas, 1911) is identified from the Middle Pleistocene Tham Hai cave locality in northern Vietnam (Lang Son Province) based on isolated teeth. This is the first record of the Pleistocene Arvicolinae in Vietnam and the first fossil find of Eothenomys outside of China.
Subject(s)
Arvicolinae , Rodentia , Animals , Phylogeny , Vietnam , ChinaABSTRACT
The cranial and mandibular remains of a large serotine bat Eptesicus praeglacialis Kormos, 1930 are described from the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave in the central Crimea. This is the first finding of the skull material of E. praeglacialis and the first record of the species in Crimea. Judging by the tooth wear stages, the remains of both young and adult specimens are present in the taphocenosis. The small mammal tooth marks on the bones (caused by eating the remnants of soft tissues) in the absence of signs of digestion, characterizing materials from the predatory bird pellets, indicate that the taphocenosis includes the remains of E. praeglacialis individuals that used the cave as a shelter and died there. This corresponds to the idea of appearance of hibernation in caves as a climatically determined ecological adaptation in some European forest-dwelling bats (including Eptesicus) at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition.
Subject(s)
Chiroptera , Humans , Animals , Skull , MandibleABSTRACT
Numerous remains (incomplete skull, cranial and mandibular fragments, and isolated teeth) of a large horseshoe bat of the Rhinolophus ferrumequinum group are described from the Lower Pleistocene depo-sits of the Taurida cave in the central Crimea. They are assigned to Rhinolophus macrorhinus cimmerius subsp. nov. In dental characters the new subspecies is less specialized than R. m. anomalidens Topál, 1979 from the Late Villafranchian of Central Europe, which implies the origin of the former from an earlier form morphologically close to R. m. macrorhinus Topál, 1963. The perfect preservation of the cranial structures made it possible to observe the remnants of the palatal ridges and the morphology of the nasal turbinals of R. macro-rhinus cimmerius subsp. nov.
Subject(s)
Chiroptera , Tooth , Animals , Tooth/anatomy & histology , Skull , EuropeABSTRACT
The maxillary fragment of eutriconodontan Gobiconodon borissiaki Trofimov, 1978 (Gobiconodontidae) is described from the Early Cretaceous Zuun-Höövör locality in Mongolia (Övörkhangai aimag, Guchin-Us sum). It demonstrates erupting Ð2RR (second molariform tooth of the third generation) along with the presence of the almost unworn M4R and alveoli of M3R and M5. This is the first direct evidence of the molariform tooth replacement in Gobiconodon from the Early Cretaceous of Mongolia. The CT study of the specimen revealed the absence of mineralized germs of other teeth.
Subject(s)
Mammals , Tooth , Animals , Maxilla , MongoliaABSTRACT
The dental remains of Gigantopithecus blacki von Koenigswald, 1935 (a complete right m2 with roots and distal fragment of left m2 crown) from the Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Lang Trang cave in northern Vietnam (Thanh Hoa Province) are described. It is the first record of Gigantopithecus in the Upper Pleistocene of Vietnam and, apparently, the second one in the Upper Pleistocene in general (considering material from Shuangtan cave in southern China). Probably, the extinction of G. blacki was confined to the Middle-Late Pleistocene transition, and the specimens from the Lang Trang cave belong to one of the latest relict populations of Gigantopithecus.
Subject(s)
Hominidae , Tooth , Animals , China , Fossils , VietnamABSTRACT
The first finds of the fossil remains of the members of the genus Chodsigoa outside China are described from the Pleistocene of northern Vietnam. They are assigned to C. caovansunga Lunde, Musser et Son, 2003 (a maxillary fragment with A3-M3, an isolated M1, and a dentary with I1 and P4-M2) from the Middle Pleistocene of the Tham Hai cave (Lang Son Province) and C. hoffmanni Chen et al., 2017 (a maxillary fragment with P4-M2) from the Upper Pleistocene of the Lang Trang cave (Thanh Hoa Province). The described specimens are the first fossil finds of these species. They indicate that representatives of the genus Chodsigoa in Vietnam spread to the south much further in the Pleistocene than today.
Subject(s)
Fossils , Shrews , Animals , China , VietnamABSTRACT
A maxillary fragment of the extinct hyena Chasmaporthetes lunensis (Del Campana, 1914) is described from the Early Pleistocene locality of the Taurida cave (Crimea, Late Villafranchian, 1.8-1.5 Ma). The species was a typical representative of the Villafranchian faunas of Eurasia. This is the first record of the genus Chasmaporthetes in the Pleistocene of Crimea.
Subject(s)
Carnivora , Hyaenidae , Animals , Fossils , Caves , MaxillaABSTRACT
The remains of the white-toothed shrew Crocidura kornfeldi Kormos, 1934 (one skull fragment with almost complete dentition, the fragmental rostral part of a skull with the left upper incisor, a maxillary fragment, five mandibular fragments and an isolated upper incisor) from the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Taurida cave in the central Crimea (Belogorsk district, Zuya village) are described. This earliest European species of the genus Crocidura was quite common in the Early Pleistocene of Central Europe and the Mediterranean; for the first time, it is described from Crimea and the entire Eastern Europe.
Subject(s)
Fossils , Shrews , Animals , Europe , Maxilla/anatomy & histology , SkullABSTRACT
A pygmy dormouse Typhlomys stegodontis sp. nov. is described on the base of the maxillary fragment and isolated teeth from the Middle Pleistocene Tham Hai cave locality in northern Vietnam (Lang Son Province). This first finding of the fossil Platacanthomyidae in Vietnam fills the Middle Pleistocene gap in the paleontological record of the family.
Subject(s)
Caves , Fossils , Animals , Muridae , Paleontology , VietnamABSTRACT
The cranial and mandibular remains of two adult individuals of Lynx issiodorensis (Croizet et Jobert, 1828) are described from the Early Pleistocene locality of the Taurida cave (Crimea, Late Villafranchian, 1.8-1.5 Ma). This lynx species was a typical representative of the Villafranchian fauna of the Eastern Mediterranean. A high craniological variability of L. issiodorensis is noted.
