Small early Miocene listriodont suid (Artiodactyla: Mammalia) from Sabuncubeli (Manisa, SW Anatolia), Turkey
Abstract
Turkey is known for the wealth of fossil suids found in deposits of middle Miocene, late Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene levels but material of this family from early Miocene and Palaeogene deposits is rare in the country, one of the few published occurrences being from Şemsettin (Kumartaş Formation, MN 4, Çankiri-Çorum Basin). For this reason, it is interesting to record the presence of small suid remains in the Soma Formation at Sabuncubeli (Manisa, SW Anatolia) in deposits correlated to MN 3 (early Miocene) and thus the earliest known Turkish members of the family. The upper and lower teeth are herein attributed to a new genus and species (Prolistriodon smyrnensis) of Listriodontinae because, in a nascent way, they show a suite of derived morphological features such as upper central incisors with apical sulci, and upper molars with lingual precrista, found in listriodonts but not in Kubanochoerinae, Palaeochoerinae, Tetracondontinae, Hyotheriinae, Namachoerinae, Cainochoerinae or Suinae.