Mesowear and Paleodiet Analysis of Middle Miocene Artiodactyls from Kanhatti, Punjab, Pakistan
Abstract
Abstract Views: 0
Background. Mesowear is a broadly used tooth wear method that is indicative of herbivore diet. This study evaluates the paleodiet of Middle Miocene artiodactyls from the subtropical Siwaliks of South Asia.
Methodology. New specimens of artiodactyls were recovered from the Kanhatti outcrops, Khushab, Pakistan. These specimens were tested by recording the sharpness and height of tooth cusps, both with unaided eye and lens.
Results. The results depicted that suids and tragulids were browsers, bovids were mixed feeders which spent some time in browsing, and anthracotheriids were mixed feeders, pre-dominantly grazers.
Conclusion. The findings support the presence of a mixed palaeoenvironment from moist, humid, and closed forests to grassland during the Middle Miocene period in Kanhatti, Punjab, Pakistan.
Downloads
References
Fortelius M, Solounias N. Functional characterization of ungulate molars using the abrasion-attrition wear gradient: a new method for reconstructing paleodiets. Amer Mus Novit. 2000;3301:1–36. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2000)301<0001:FCOUMU>2.0.CO;2
Kaiser TM, Solounias N, Fortelius M, Bernor RL, Schrenk F. Tooth mesowear analysis on Hippotherium primigenium from the Vallesian Dinotheriensande (Germany). a blind test study, Carolinea. Beit Natur Forsch Süd. 2000;58:103–114. https://doi.org/10.57962/regionalia-19466
Kaiser TM, Solounias N. Extending the tooth mesowear method to extinct and extant equids. Geodiversit. 2003;25:321–345.
Franz-Odendaal TA, Kaiser TM. Differential mesowear in the maxillary and mandibular cheek dentition of some ruminants (Artiodactyla). Ann Zool Fenn Finnish Zool Bot Publ Board. 2003;395–410.
Solounias N, Rivals F, Semprebon G. Dietary interpretation and paleoecology of herbivores from Pikermi and Samos (Late Miocene of Greece). Paleobiol. 2010;36(1):113–136. https://doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373-36.1.113
Solounias N, Semprebon G, Mihlbachler MC, Rivals F. Paleodietary comparisons of ungulates between the late Miocene of China, Pikermi and Samos in Greece. In: Wang X, Flynn LL, Fortelius M, eds. Neogene Terrestrial Mammalian Biogeography And Chronology Of Asia. New York: Coloumbia University Press. 2012; 676–692.
Nawaz MK, Aftab K, Khan MA, et al. Mesowear and paleodiets of middle miocene mammals from Chabbar Syedan, Punjab, Pakistan. J Ani Pl Sci. 2022;32(1):60–68. https://doi.org/10.36899/JAPS.2022.1.0402
Croft DA, Weinstein D. The first application of the mesowear method to endemic South American ungulates (Notoungulata). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol. 2008;269(1–2):103–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.08.007
Green JL, Croft DA. Using dental mesowear and microwear for dietary inference: a review of current techniques and applications. In: Croft DA, Su DF, Simpson SW, eds. Methods in Paleoecology: Reconstructing Cenozoic Terrestrial Environments and Ecological Communities. Cham: Springer International Publishing. 2018; 53–73.
Frazer D, Theodor JM. Ungulate diets reveal patterns of grassland evolution in North America. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol. 2013;369:409–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.11.006
Ackermans NL, Winkler DE, Schulz-Kornas E, et al. Controlled feeding experiments with diets of different abrasiveness reveal slow development of mesowear signal in goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). J Exp Biol. 2018;221(21):jeb186411. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.186411
Ackermans NL, Clauss M, Winkler DE, et al. Root growth compensates for molar wear in adult goats (Capra aegagrus hircus). J Exp Zool. 2019;331(2):139–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/jez.2248
Hall AS, Cote S. Ruminant mesowear reveals consistently browse-dominated diets throughout the early and middle Miocene of eastern Africa. Palaeogeog Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol. 2021;567:e110253. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110253
Kaiser TM, Fortelius M. Differential mesowear in occluding upper and lower molars: opening mesowear analysis for lower molars and premolars in hypsodont horses. J Morphol. 2003;258(1):67–83. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.10125
Frazer D, Theodor T. The use of gross dental wear in dietary studies of extinct lagomorphs. J Paleontol. 2010;84(4):720–729. https://doi.org/10.1666/09-066.1
Ulbricht A, Maul LC, Schulz E. Can mesowear analysis be applied to small mammals? a pilot-study on leporines and murines. Mammal Biol. 2015;80(1):14–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2014.06.004
Kropacheva YE, Sibiryakov PA, Smirnov NG, Zykov SV. Variants of tooth mesowear in Microtus voles as indicators of food hardness and abrasiveness. Russian J Eco. 2017;48(1):73–80. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1067413616060096
Belmaker M, Nelson S, Morgan ME, Barry J, Badgley C. Mesowear analysis of ungulates in the Middle to Late Miocene of the Siwaliks, Pakistan: dietary and paleoenvironmental implications. J Vertebr Paleontol. 2007;27:46–46.
Tariq M. Paleoenvironmental Study of Pakistan Siwaliks [dissertation]. Lahore: GC Univ.; 2010.
Tariq M, Jahan N. Dietary evaluations and paleoecology of an extinct giraffid (Giraffokeryx punjabiensis) from Siwaliks of Pakistan. J Anim Plant Sci. 2014;24(5):1355–1365.
Heissig K. Palaontologische und geologische untersuchungenim tertiarvo Pakistan, 5. Rhinocerotidae (Mamm.) aus den unteren und mittleren Siwalik-Schichten. Bayer Akad Wissensch. Math-Naturwissensch. 1972;152:1–112.
Kappelman J, Kelley J, Pilbeam D, et al. The earliest occurrence of Sivapithecus from the Middle Miocene Chinji Formation of Pakistan. J Hum Evol. 1991;21:61–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2484(91)90036-U
Jasinski SE, Abbas SG, Mahmood K, Babar MA, Khan MA. New carnivoran (Mammalia: Carnivora) specimens from the Siwaliks of Pakistan and India and their faunal and evolutionary implications, Hist Biol. 2023;35(11):2217–2252. https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2022.2138376
Agusti J, Oms O, Pares JM. Calibration of the Early–Middle Pleistocene transition in the continental beds of the Guadix-Baza Basin (SE Spain). Quat Sci Rev. 1999;18:1409–1417. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(98)00116-4
Leinders JJM. Some aspects of the ankle joint Artiodactyls with special reference to Listriodon (Suina). Proc Kon Nad Akad Weten. 1976;79(1):45–54.
Van der Made J. Listriodontinae (Suidae, Mammalia), their evolution, systematics and distribution in time and space. Contr Tert Quartr Geol. 1996;33(1/4):3–254.
Pickford M, Morales J. New listriodontinae (Mammalia, Suidae) from Europe and a review of listriodont evolution, biostratigraphy and biogeography. Geodiversitas. 2003;25(2):347–404.
Bernor RL, Coillet T, Wolf D. Phylogenetic signatures in the juvenile skull and dentition of olduvai Eurygnathohippus cornelianus (Mammalia; Equidae). Riv Itali Paleontol Strati. 2014;120(2):243–252.
Thomas H. Un nouveau Bovide dans les couches a Hominoidae du Nagri (Siwaliks moyens, Miocene superieur), Plateau du Potwar, Pakistan; Elachistoceras khauristanensis gen. et sp. nov. (Bovidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia). Bull Soc Geol Fr. 1977;19:375–383. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XIX.2.375
Thomas H. Un nouveau bovide dans les couches a Hominoidea du Nagri (Siwaliks moyens, Miocene superieur), Plateau du Potwar, Pakistan: Elachistoceras khauristanensis, gen. nov. sp. nov. (Bovidae, Artiodactyla, Mammalia). Bull Soc Geol Fr. 1984;19:375–383. https://doi.org/10.2113/gssgfbull.S7-XIX.2.375
Barry JC, Cote S, Maclatchy L, Lindsay EH, Kityo R, Rajpar AR. Oligocene and early miocene ruminants (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Pakistan and Uganda. Palaeont Electron. 2005;8:1–29.
Bibi F. Origin, Paleoecology and paleobiogeography of early Bovini. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimat Palaeoecol. 2007;248(1-2):60–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.11.009
Khan MA, Kostopoulos DS, Akhtar M, Nazir M. Bison remains from the Upper Siwaliks of Pakistan. Neu Jahrb Geol Paläontol. 2010;258:121–128.
Khan MA, Akhtar M, Iliopoulos G, Hina. Tragulids (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia, Tragulidae) from the Middle Siwaliks of Hasnot (late Miocene), Pakistan. Riv Ital Paleontol Stratigr. 2012;118:325–341.
Khan MA, Akhtar M. Tragulidae (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia) from the middle Miocene Chinji Formation of Pakistan. Turk J Earth Sci. 2013;22:e339354. https://doi.org/10.3906/yer-1106-6
Bouvrain G. Les gisements de Mammifères du Miocène supérieur de Kemiklitepe, Turquie: Bovidae. Bull Mus Nat Hist Nat. Paris. 1994;16(1):175–209.
Khan MA, Iliopoulos G, Akhtar M. Boselaphines (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia, Bovidae) from the Middle Siwaliks of Hasnot, Pakistan. Geobios. 2009;42:739–753. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geobios.2009.04.003
Dubost G. Un aperçu sur l’écologie du Chevrotain africain Hyemoschus aquaticus Olgilby, Artiodactyle Tragulidé. Mammalia. 1978;42:1–62. https://doi.org/10.1515/mamm.1978.42.1.1
Batool A, Khan MA, Akhtar M, Qureshi NA. New remains of tragulids (Mammalia, Tragulidae) from the Dhok Pathan formation of Hasnot (late Miocene), Pakistan. Pak J Zool. 2014;46(5):1323–1336.
Badgley C, Nelson S, Barry J, Behrensmeyer AK, Cerling T. Testing models of faunal turnover with Neogene mammals from Pakistan. In: Lieberman D, Smith RW, Kelley J, eds. Interpreting the Past. Brill. 2005; 29–46.
Badgley C, Will D, Lawrence F. Taphonmy of small-mammal fossil assemblages from the middle Miocene Chinji Formation, Siwalik Group, Pakistan. Nat Sci Mus Monogr. 2008;14:145–166.
Scott RS, Kappelman J, Kelley J. The paleoenvironment of Sivapithecus parvada. J Hum Evol. 1999;36(3):245–274. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.1998.0269
Bibi F, Gulec ES. Bovidae (Mammalia: Artiodactyla) from the Late Miocene of Sivas, Turkey. J Verteb Paleontol. 2008;28:501–519. https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[501:BMAFTL]2.0.CO;2
Cantalapiedra JL, FitzJohn RG, Kuhn TS, et al. Dietary innovations spurred the diversification of ruminants during the Cenozoic. Proc Royal Soc. 2014;281:2013–2746. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2746
Barry JC, Morgan ME, Flynn LJ, et al. Faunal and environmental change in the late Miocene Siwaliks of northern Pakistan. Paleobiol. 2002;28(S2):1–72. https://doi.org/10.1666/0094-8373(2002)28[1:FAECIT]2.0.CO;2
Ghaus A. New Mammalian Fossils from Chinji Formation (Siwalik Group) of Kanhatti, Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan [dissertation]. Lahore: Univ. Punjab; 2023.
Ayudhya JIA, Merceron G, Wannaprasert T, et al. Dental mesowear and microwear for the dietary reconstruction of Quaternary Southeast Asian serows and gorals. Front Ecol Evol. 2022;10:e1000168. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.1000168
Copyright (c) 2024 Asra Ghaus, Khalid Mahmood, Muhammad Akbar Khan, Muhammad Asim, Muhammad Shadab, Muhammad Adeeb Babar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
BSR follows an open-access publishing policy and full text of all published articles is available free, immediately upon publication of an issue. The journal’s contents are published and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0) license. Thus, the work submitted to the journal implies that it is original, unpublished work of the authors (neither published previously nor accepted/under consideration for publication elsewhere). On acceptance of a manuscript for publication, a corresponding author on the behalf of all co-authors of the manuscript will sign and submit a completed the Copyright and Author Consent Form.
