Lyra sherkhana gen. et sp. nov., a new genus and species of giraffid from the Miocene of the Siwaliks (Pakistan)

ABSTRACT

The Siwalik Giraffidae fauna is diverse and includes species placed in Sivatheriinae, Giraffinae, and Giraffokeryx. We describe a new genus and species of giraffid, from the Middle Miocene of the Chinji Formation and Nagri Formation in Pakistan. Lyra sherkana gen. et sp. nov. et is unique among the Giraffidae due to the features of its cranial appendages. This taxon possesses a pair of ossicones that are positioned above and slightly medial to the orbits. The ossicones have a unique curvature resembling an ancient Greek harp or lyre, extending outwards and then curving forwards distally with a final backwards twist at the tip. The ossicones have a multi-layered surface. This new species also has large supraorbital sinuses, creating a large boss above the orbit. This last feature is only shared with the later and larger Bramatherium, which is the only giraffid known to also have an enlarged supraorbital boss. This suggests a possible relationship between these two taxa, both present in the Siwaliks, with Bramatherium appearing later than Lyra, during the Late Miocene. The presence of this new taxon increases the diversity not only of the Siwaliks fauna but of the Giraffidae family in general and helps shed light on the poorly known Middle Miocene giraffid faunas.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Tanya Sherkhan was a young student when she discovered this skull in the Chinji Formation. We thank her for this remarkable discovery. We thank J. C. Barry for his substantial work on the Siwalik collections and thorough curation of the giraffid specimens. We also thank D. Pilbeam, L. Flynn, and M. Morgan for their work with the Siwalik specimens. We thank J. Geisler and the Anatomy Department at NYIT-COM for continued support. We thank the Mammalogy and Paleontology Departments at AMNH. MR thanks the Stimulus of Scientific Employment, Individual Support—2018 Call grant by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal, CEECIND/02199/2018) and GeoBioTec.

AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

NS designed the project, NS and MR drafted the manuscript, gathered the data, analyzed the data, and edited the manuscript.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

All relevant data are included in the supplementary materials. Additional data are available upon request.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

SUPPLEMENTARY FILES

Supplementary File 1. Detailed measurements in mm of the ossicones and skull of Lyra sherkana nov. gen. nov. sp. (.xlsx) following the giraffid cranial measurements established by Rios et al. 2017.

Supplementary File 2. 3D image of the top of the skull of Lyra sherkana nov. gen. nov. sp. (.mtl, .obj, .psx)