Early Evidences of family Cervidae from the Siwaliks of

Pakisatn

PRESENTED BY,Dr. ABDUL GHAFFAR, Meteorology Department CIIT, Islamabad

Abstract

The early history of family Cervidae is obscure

and very little known. Although they have been

described from Asia, mainly from the Upper

Siwaliks but their record is fragmentary and

scanty especially during the Early/Middle Pliocene

of Siwalik continental deposits of Indo-Pakistan.

The present paper is an effort to describe this rare

fauna from the Early/Middle Pliocene and to

evaluate the Cervinae material collected from the

Siwalik continental deposits hitherto.Key Words: Early history, Cervinae, Pliocene, Upper Siwaliks, Asia

Family Cervidae

Family Cervidae is poorly known and even contradicted in the fossil forms or extinct forms with bovid and giraffid fauna

In extant forms it is represented by seventeen genera and 44 species These are characterized by the presence of antlers and prominent lachrymal depressions anterior to the eyes From the Siwaliks only 6-8 species have been described so far

These are mainly described from the Upper Siwaliks From the different parts of the World, fossil record of cervoid is known from Oligocene - Recent

Historical Review

Earlier studies of the Siwalik cervids based on dentition and antlers have recognized 6-8 species. There are 6-8 species in South Asia (Indo-Pak subcontinent). These cervids also show the similar diversity in the fossil record.

These fossils are known from the Siwaliks of Kohat-Potwar basin and the adjoining basins of Jammu-Kashmir and the Indian Punjab.

Cervids appeared in Oligocene with small size and without antlers

Eumeryx and Iberomeryx appeared in the Middle Oligocene sediments of Central Asia from where they dispersed to Europe and North America, most probably, in the early Miocene (Savage and Russel, 1983).

Siwalik cervids have been studied by Lydekker (1876, 1880, 1884); Pilgrim, 1910; Brown (1926); Matthew, 1929; Colbert 1935; Azzaroli (1954); Arif, Shah and Vos 1991; Arif et al., (1991); Akhtar, (1998); Akhtar et al., (1999); Ghaffar, 2005 and Ghaffar et al., 2004, 2010, 2011.

Family Cervidae

Family Cervidae is poorly known and even disputed in the fossil forms or extinct forms because of lack of fossilized skulls with antlers as the earlier studies were based on isolated teeth only and the taxic work based on isolated dentitions is not 100% reliable.

They appeared in the Siwalik sequence of Indo - Pakistan during Plio - Pleistocene times The number of species, taxonomy as well as the stratigraphic range of these species from the Siwaliks have been considered as exaggerated

The main focus of this paper is to describe the new fossil remains from Early Pliocene (Middle Siwaliks) as the earlier studies are restricted to Upper Pliocene - Pleistocene (Upper Siwaliks) The fossils described here present the older stratigraphic range (5.3-1.8Ma) contrary to previous workers (3.5-1.8Ma)

Systematic Paleontology

Order Artiodactyla Owen, 1848

Family Cervidae Goldfuss, 1820

Subfamily Cervinae Goldfuss, 1820

Tribe Cervini Webber, 1928

Genera

Rucervus Hodgson, 1838

Cervus Linnaeus, 1758

Axis Smith and Pedgeon, 1827

Species

Rucervus simplicidens (Lydekker, 1876)

Cervus triplidens Lydekker, 1876

Cervus sivalensis Lydekker, 1880

Cervus rewati Arif, Shah & Vos, 1991

Axis Punjabiensis (Brown 1926)

Diagnostic Features

Cervid taxa are differentiated from bovids and giraffids as

Folded enamel in the upper molars Less developed styles

Less developed median ribs

Less rugosity

All the above observation are applied if there are the isolated teeth or only the teeth are available but if there are the skulls with antlers than the taxonomic details are much more easier

The available fossil record from the Siwaliks consists of only fragments of maxillae, mandibles, isolated teeth and fragments of antlers not the skulls so far

Diagnostic Features

Different cervid species are differentiated from each otherIn R. simplicidens molar crowns are square, entostyle is weak and the teeth are brachydont while in C. triplidens and C. sivalensis teeth are hypsodont. Moreover the basal cingulum is absent , the median valley is deep and the enamel is slightly rugose in R. simplicidens. C. triplidens is characterized by hypsodont teeth with slight traces of cingulum, strong internal column while in C. sivalensis basal cingulum is well developed. C. rewati is characterized by brachydont teeth and small size as compare to C. sivalensis. While the presence of strong ectostylid and pronounced anterior folds differentiate C. reawti from A. punjabiensis. Similarly in C. sivalensis basal cingulum is well developed and the median valley is deep with strong ectostylid. The major diagnostic features of A. punjabiensis is that it has no entostyle and the median valley is not much deep as is the case with other different Cervus species.

Materials studied

PUPC no. and

Dental position

Place of collection Assigned to

83/104, rm1-2 Hasnot R. sipmlicidens

84/115, lM2-3 Dhok Pathan R . sipmlicidens

85/97, lm2-3 Hasnot R . sipmlicidens

69/146, lm1-3 Dhok Gaal C. triplidens

2003/34,(l&r M1-3) Dhok Pathan C. triplidens

83/286, lm2-3 Dhok Pathan C. sivalensis

84/119, lm2-3 Dhok Pathan C. sivalensis

2002/6, lp2-4 Dhok Pathan A. punjabiensis

83/105,rm2-3 Hasnot C. rewati

85/96,rp4-m1 Hasnot C. rewati

Not Enough?

Discussion

References

Akhtar, M., 1998. Cervus triplidens Lydekker from type locality Dhok Pathan, Chakwal district, Punjab, Pakistan. Punjab Univ. J. Zool., 13: 27-31.Akhtar, M., Ghaffar, A. and Qureshi, M.A., 1999. On Cervus punjabiensis Brown from the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Punjab Univ. J. Zool., 14: 93-96. Arif, M., Shah, S. M. I., and Vos, J. D. 1991b. Cervus triplidens (Mammalia, Cervidae) from the Upper Siwaliks of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan Memoirs, 17, pt.11.Arif, M., Shah, S.M.I. and De, Vos, J., 1991. Cervus rewati sp. Nov. (Mammalia, Cervidae) from the Upper Siwaliks of Pakistan. Geological Survey of Pakistan memoirs, 17: pt. 11. Azzaroli, A., 1954. Critical observations upon Siwalik deer. Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of London, 165, 75-87.Brown, B. 1926. A new deer from the Siwalik. American Mus. Novitates, 242: 6p.

Cont.

Colbert, E.H., 1935. Siwalik Mammals in the American Museum of Natural History. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 26, 1-401.Ghaffar, A., 2005. Studies on equids, cervids and Carnivora from the Siwalik Hills of Pakistan. PhD thesis (unpublished), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan, pp.1-379. Ghaffar, A., Akhtar, M., Khan, M.A., and Nazir, M., 2004. Report on Cervus sivalensis from the Upper Siwaliks of Pakistan. Punjab Univ. J. Zool., 19: 83-88.Ghaffar, A., Akhtar, M. and Khan, M. A. 2010. Early Pliocene cervids (Artiodactyla- Mammalia) from the Siwaliks of Pakistan. Journal of Earth sciences, Turkey, Yerbilimleri, 31(3): 217-231.Ghaffar, A., Akhtar, M., Khan, M.A., Samiullah, K. and Khan, A. M.; Cervus rewati (Cervidae) from Dhok Pathan Formation (Middle Siwaliks), Pakistan. Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences, 104/1(In press).

Cont.

Lydekker, R., 1876. Molar teeth and other remains of Mammalia from the Indian Tertiaries. Paleontologica Indica, 16 (1), 2-19.Lydekker, R., 1880. “Preface” to volume 1 of Paleontologica Indica. Paleontologica Indica (X), 1, pp. vii-xix.Lydekker, R., 1884. Rodents and New Ruminants from the Siwalik and synopsis of Mammalia. Paleontologica Indica, 10 (3), 1-5. Matthew, W.D., 1929. Critical observations upon Siwalik Mammals. Bulletin American Museum of Natural History, 56, 437-560.Pilgrim, G. E., 1910. Notices of new Mammalian genera and species from the Tertieries of India-Calcutta. Records of Geological Survey of India, 40, 63-71 Savage, D. E. and Russell, D.E., 1983. Mammalian paleofaunas of the World, London: Addison-Wesley. 432pp.

Thanks