Mammals from the Middle Jurassic Balabansai Formation of the Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan

ABSTRACT

At least 10 (or more) mammal taxa have been identified from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Balabansai Formation in northern Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan, on the basis of mostly isolated and fragmentary teeth: docodontans cf. Simpsonodon spp., Paritatodon sp. [Paritatodon, gen. nov., is established for ‘Shuotherium kermacki’ Sigogneau-Russell, 1998, from the Bathonian of England], Tashkumyrodon desideratus, Tegotheriidae indet.; and Docodonta indet.; eutriconodontans Amphilestidae indet.; Ferganodon narynensis, cf. Ferganodon sp., and Triconodontidae indet.; ‘symmetrodontan’ Tinodontidae indet.; and cladotherians Paurodontidae indet. and Amphitheriidae indet. The occurrences of Triconodontidae, Tinodontidae, and Paurodontidae in the Balabansai Formation represent the oldest-known records of these groups. The Balabansai mammal assemblage is basically similar to the Bathonian mammals of the Forest Marble in England and the Itat mammal assemblage in Siberia respectively, revealing at present knowledge a marked uniformity of the Middle Jurassic mammal fauna across Laurasia.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Prof. Apas A. Bakirov, former director of the M. M. Adyshev Institute of Geology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic, for support of our field work. Aizek Bakirov (M. M. Adyshev Institute of Geology), Anton Rezvyi, Pavel Skutchas, and Alexander Bobal’ (all St. Petersburg) helped in the field. Eva-Marie Behrens, Sebastian Egberts, Rainer Erhard, Regina Fechner, Kristina Hippe, Simone Hoffmann, Kai Jäger, Christian Joachim, Roland Kersting, Franziska Kiebach, Sijo Mampillil, Petra Möscheid, Benjamin Pfeffer, Patrick Pineker, and Kristian Remes picked the concentrate. Georg Oleschinski assisted at the SEM and Dorothea Kranz (both Universität Bonn) provided the artwork. The paper was greatly improved by review comments of Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, Zhe-Xi Luo, and an anonymous reviewer. The project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG MA 1643/8–1-3). The work of A.A. was supported by the Russian Fund of Basic Researches grant 07-04-00393 and the Russian Science Support Foundation.

Notes

*Apparently more than one species.

**Possibly referable to Tashkumyrodon or/and Paritatodon.

***Possibly referable to Ferganodon.