Fossils remains of even-toed ungulates from the Middle Siwaliks, Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

The Dhok Pathan Formation of Middle Siwaliks is remarkably rich for the fossils of ungulates. The fauna consists of Cervidae, Giraffidae, Tragulidae and Suidae but the fossils of family bovidae are more abundant. The 23 collected and described specimens here belong to seven species which are Selenoportax vexillarius, Pachyportax latidens, Miotragocerus cf. gluten, Gazella lydekkeri, Dorcatherium majus, Propotamochoerus hysudricus and Tetraconodon cf. magnus. The described material consists of both upper and lower dentition. The fossil-bearing locality is located near Padhri village 55 km away from the tehsil Dina, district Jhelum. It is mainly composed of claystone, sand-stone and siltstone beds. The studied locality dated to Late Miocene. This Formation was deposited in subtropical condition. Bovids were predominant in Padhri, which indicate the highly moist conditions with small but numerous open standing water bodies.

KEYWORDS:

• Fossil
• ungulates
• Padhri
• Dhok Pathan Formation

Acknowledgments

The studied specimens were collected from the surroundings of Padhri during the field work conducted in 2017-2018. This research has been funded by grant made to corresponding author by Higher Education Commission, Pakistan under project 20-1620/R&D/103347. Authors are thankful to Sajid Shah for his help in the fieldwork and hospitality.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan [1620].