The Paşalar fauna is found to include four suoid species including two listriodont pigs, Listriodon ef. splendens and Listriodon sp. nov., a tetraconodont, Conohyus simorrensis (sensu lato) and a peccary, Taucanamo inonuensis. This assemblage of folivores and "omnivores" presumably veflects the presence of relatively lush vegetation in the area. The cooccurrence of a derived sublophodont listriodont, Listriodon sp. nov., of roughly similar evolutionary grade to the late early Miocene European species Listriodon lockharti (from MN 4b and 5 localities of Europe) with the lophodont form Listriodon ef. splendens (MN 6-MN 9 localities of Europe suggests that the Paşalar fauna is referrable to MN 6, ea. 15 Ma, or possibly somewhat younger. While the Paşalar suoid assemblage shows broad Eurasian affinities, Listriodon sp. nov. and Taucanamo inonuensis provide evidence for a certain degree of endemism. We hypothesize here that this endemism developed after the late Burdigalian marine regression (ca. 17 Ma, and taken here as being chronologically equivalent to MN4b and lower MN 5), which promoted active Eurasian and African faunal exchanges.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-13765 |
| Date | 01 January 1990 |
| Creators | Fortelius, Mikael, Bernor, Raymond L. |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | ETSU Faculty Works |
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