Abstract

The Early Miocene anthracotheres from the Austrian Paratethyan Eggenburgian deposits of the Eggenburg Marine Bay have proven to be of great interest for taxonomy and biostratigraphy. The discovery of specimens in the region of Eggenburg led to the erection of the genus Brachyodus in 1895, and their association with marine fossils in the subjacent deposits helped to establish their biostratigraphic position within the Eggenburgian stratigraphic interval, which has generally been correlated to the Burdigalian of France and elsewhere in Europe. Even though the quantity of material is limited, the fossils continue to throw light on the morphology and taxonomy of the group, this paper dealing with some undescribed cranial and mandibular fossils that provide evidence concerning the tusk-like teeth of these anthracotheres. The said teeth are incisors, and not canines. The upper tusk-like tooth is the central incisor, whereas the lower one is the second incisor, and it is inserted in the antero-lateral corner of the fully fused symphysis. Metric analysis of the teeth indicates the presence of three species of anthracothere in the Austrian deposits, two of which are attributed to Brachyodus and one to Masrimeryx. A general revision of all the Austrian dento-gnathic material of these large-bodied hydrophile mammals is provided.

Key words

Anthracothere, dentition, Paratethys, biostratigraphy, taxonomy, systematics, Early Miocene, Eggenburgian

Abstract

The Early Miocene fluvio-marine and terrestrial deposits at Moghara, Qattara Depression, northern Egypt, have previously yielded several fragmentary mandibles of cercopithecoids and a humerus of a medium-sized anthropoid. In 2010, while studying Moghara fossils at the Cairo Geological Museum, the first author noticed an unpublished edentulous mandible of a primate that was collected in 1994 (specimen M94-90). The jaw is slightly larger than the type specimen and other material of Prohylobates tandyi and initially it was thought to belong to this species, but close examination reveals that it differs in a number of morphological features from mandibles of the latter taxon. All the differences point towards the identification of M94-90 as a hominoid or more likely as a pliopithecoid, and they distance it from the Cercopithecoidea. Its dimensions indicate an animal approximately the size of small gibbons such as Hylobates. In addition, there is an isolated lower canine in the Cairo University collections that is compatible in size and morphology with the unpublished mandible. This tooth, that was collected in 2005, is similar to specimens of Micropithecus clarki Fleagle et Simons, 1978, from the Early Miocene of Napak, Uganda, but also shows some resemblance to canines of pliopithecoids from Europe.

Key words

Hominoidea, Pliopithecoidea, Anthropoidea, Early Miocene, Northern Egypt, Biogeography, mandible, canine

Abstract

Dental remains of the large anthracothere, Brachyodus, from the French Faluns (Touraine, Anjou) and the Sables de l’Orléanais, show a broad range of morphological variation, in particular in the degree of enamel wrinkling, the strength of enamel beading on crests and cingula, the form and volume of styles in the upper molars, and occasionally the addition of accessory cusps or cusplets, notably in the P4/. A third lower molar from La Fuye is highly unusual however, in possessing a greatly enlarged entoconid and posthypocristid which radically alter the appearance of the tooth. The specimen is described and compared with other third molars of Brachyodus. It possibly represents a case of teratogeny related to localised injury to, or alteration of, the odontoblast and ameloblast complexes. It is less likely to reflect inbreeding which is hypothesised to result in some cases of anomalous dental formation. Aspects of occlusion and life history of the individual from La Fuye are explored.

Key words

dental anomaly, teratogeny, molar, anthracothere, Artiodactyla, Early Miocene, France

Abstract

Psammornis rothschildi is an avian oospecies, the type material of which was collected from the desert surface in 1909 (i.e., without stratigraphic context), 20 miles east of Touggourt, Algeria. At 3.2–3.3 mm thick, the eggshell is considerably thicker than those of extant ostriches. Thin sections of the eggshell have been illustrated, and descriptions of the surface features are available, but these have not included images of the external and internal surfaces. This lack has caused uncertainty among authors who have dealt with other occurrences of the taxon, because it has rendered it difficult to compare specimens from other localities with the type material. In order to rectify the situation, images of the original specimens are provided, their curation history is summarised, and a lectotype is nominated so as to stabilise the nomenclature.

Key words

ootaxonomy, lectotype, Struthionidae, late Neogene, North Africa, Middle East

Abstract

Dento-gnathic remains of a fossil suine currently housed at the Université d’Alger are accompanied by a label similar to those associated with other fossils excavated by Arambourg in 1951 at Bou Hanifia from deposits that were, at the time, correlated to the upper Vindobonian or late Middle Miocene. The undescribed suine fossils are enigmatic, in that they do not correspond in geological age to other fossils with similar labels. Several questions are posed including the possibility of mis-labelling. The fossils described herein are attributed to the suine Kolpochoerus maroccanus and correspond closely in terms of morphology and dimensions to material of Kolpochoerus heseloni from the Early Pleistocene of Eastern Africa (Shungura Formation D-G, Ethiopia; Burgi level, Kenya).

Key words

Suidae, Northern Africa, biochronology, Early Pleistocene

Abstract

Studies during the 1970’s and 1980’s concluded that the continental Bou Hanifia Formation spanned the Vallesian and Turolian stages, the majority early opinion being that it was basal Vallesian and that it had yielded the oldest known remnants of the equid Hipparion from Africa. This opinion was taken to be backed-up by radio-isotopic age determinations of ca. 12.2 Ma obtained from volcanic tuffs that were originally mapped as being near the base of the formation. However, later suggestions in the literature indicated that some of the large mammals could be as young as late Turolian to Ventian (8–7 Ma). If so, then a major revision of North African biostratigraphy would be required. This paper focuses on the large mammals and avian eggshells recovered from the Bou Hanifia region, taking into account recent revisions of African faunas and a much augmented data base about their stratigraphic distribution, and it is concluded that the Bou Hanifia fossils have the closest relations to material from the late Turolian and Ventian Stages, and are thus likely to be of latest Miocene (Ventian) age (MN 13).

Key words

biostratigraphy, mammals, Northern Africa, Neogene, Miocene

Abstract

Fossil monkeys are rare in the British palaeontological record, a few specimens having been reported from the Pleistocene, and a single specimen from the Red Crag, possibly of Late Miocene or Pliocene age. An undescribed monkey tooth from the Red Crag at Waldringfield collected circa 1908 that has remained unidentified in the collections of the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, is described herein. The fossil was associated with dental remains of a suid, a tapir and a deer which, taken as an assemblage, are best correlated to the Early Pliocene, being similar to specimens from Perrier, France. Because of the high latitudinal position of Waldringfield (52°N) and indications for a tropical to sub-tropical palaeoenvironment during the Late Miocene – Early Pliocene, the monkey tooth from there is of great interest.

Key words

Mio-Pliocene, Cercopithecidae, Palaeoenvironment, Palaeoclimate, Taphonomy, East Anglia

Abstract

During field surveys between 2005 and 2011 in the Tugen Hills by the Franco-Kenyan Kenya Palaeontology Expedition, several hominid specimens were discovered in the Pliocene Mabaget Formation. One mandible fragment, three isolated teeth and a pedal phalanx collected from the Pelion Member (base of the formation aged 5.0–4.5 Ma) are compatible in dimensions with Orrorin tugenensis and Ardipithecus ramidus whilst a mandible from the Sinibo Member, a younger level in the formation (ca. 3.4–3.0 Ma) represents an appreciably larger species, as big as, or bigger than, Praeanthropus afarensis (ex-Australopithecus afarensis) from locality AL 333, Ethiopia. The small hominid mandible and an isolated p/3 were found in the type section of the Mabaget Formation at localities 2/211 and 2/210 respectively, in deposits aged ca. 5.0–4.5 Ma. An isolated upper milk molar, a lower third molar and a pedal phalanx are from Sagatia, near Rondinin, also aged between 5.0 and 4.5 Ma. The large mandible was collected at Sinibo, near Kipcherere, from sediments above the local occurrence of the Tulu Bor Tuff (= Sidi Hakoma Tuff) which is dated at 3.446 Ma. The aim of this paper is to describe and interpret these hominid fossils and to place them within their geological, stratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental contexts.

Key words

Pliocene, East Africa, Kenya, Hominidae, dento-gnathic, phalanx

Abstract

The discovery of fossil plants, marine molluscs and mammals in the Mazamba Formation, Cheringoma Plateau, Mozambique, opens a new chapter in the study of this part of the African Rift System. The evidence suggests that the Mazamba Formation is older than previously reported, probably late Eocene rather than Miocene. The fossil wood and stems indicate a frost-free tropical humid environment and a high water table soon after deposition, and the marine molluscs and mammals indicate proximity to the sea. There is also evidence for the occurrence of pans in the area during the late Eocene which also suggest a near-surface water table.
This paper discusses the history of interpretation of the geology of the Cheringoma Plateau and describes and interprets the fossil plants, molluscs and mammals collected in 2012 and 2013. It is concluded that the Mazamba Formation, which overlies the fully marine Lutetian-Bartonian Cheringoma Limestone, is a coastal facies (fluvio-deltaic, lagoonal and onshore deposits) that accumulated on top of the marine limestones as sea level dropped late in the Bartonian. Mammalian bones from the White Patch sites represent a heavily built species about the dimensions of a pygmy hippopotamus, probably belonging to the order Embrithopoda. If so, then the Mazamba Formation is likely to correlate to the latest Bartonian or early Priabonian rather than to the Miocene as previously assumed.

Key words

stratigraphy, biochronology, depositional environments, Cheringoma Plateau, East African Rift System, palaeontology

Abstract

Some undescribed suoid specimens from early and middle Miocene deposits at Moghara, Egypt, and Gebel Zelten, Libya, are of interest for biochronology. The fossils comprise maxillae and mandibles with incomplete dentitions, which are described and illustrated in detail. Three species of suids and one sanithere occur at Moghara. A huge edentulous suid mandible was collected at Gebel Zelten in 1997 during the Spanish-Libyan Palaeontology Expedition. In January, 2020, additional sanithere fossils were collected from Moghara by a team from Cairo University and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. A suid mandible with four teeth collected from Moghara in 1994, and now curated at the Cairo Geological Museum, confirms the presence of the species Libycochoerus massai at the site, previously represented by an isolated upper molar and two canines. A talus previously thought to be from Moghara is now known to have been collected at Wadi Natrun (late Miocene) and thus probably represents a tetraconodont rather than a kubanochoere. The age of the Moghara deposits is estimated to span the period ca. 19.5–16.5 Ma (late early Miocene, Faunal Sets PII–PIIIa) and the Zelten sequence is most likely to span the period ca. 17–14.5 Ma (late early Miocene to basal middle Miocene, Faunal Sets PIIIa–PIIIb).

Key words

Suoidea, early Miocene, middle Miocene, biochronology, North Africa

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.

Key words

Suidae, Turkey, early Miocene, Artiodactyla, Listriodontinae, Prolistriodon smyrnensis gen. et sp. nov., derived characters, folivory, omnivory

Abstract

The late middle Miocene (MN 8) sediments at Nebisuyu, in the southwestern extremity of the Gelibolu Peninsula, Turkey, yielded remains of a large individual of Listriodon splendens: a skull lacking the premaxillae but containing both cheek tooth rows, and a detached left maxilla fragment containing a canine. The material evidently represents a male individual on the basis of the large dimensions of the canine, an inference borne out by the presence of a horn-like protuberance on the thickened frontal bones. The dentition is typical of the large “subspecies” Listriodon splendens major Roman, 1907. The presence of an ossicone suggests that head-to-head combat was an aspect of the behaviour of Listriodon, just as it is in several extant suid taxa. The Nebisuyu discovery extends the geographic distribution of the subspecies well to the east of its previously known range.

Key words

Listriodontinae, biogeography, behaviour, sexual selection, ossicone