Report on Mammalian Fossils of Chinji Formation, Dhulian, Pakistan

Abstract

Twenty mammalian fossil specimens of varying preservational state are described from the Chinji Formation of Dhulian, Pakistan. The remains described in this study are all teeth and represent the Proboscidea, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla. All the dental specimens are new variants recorded here for the first time. Pliotriplopus dhulianensis is new to science having small size and absence of crista than Pliotriplopus chinjiensis. These findings extend the geographic distribution of this dentally highly derived Triplopinae, which was previously restricted to a single species, Pliotriplopus chinjiensis. Additional fossils of the three mammalian orders are necessary to shed new light on the phylogenetic relationships within the first representatives of the orders in Eurasia. A very important, deciduous tooth of the species Stegolophodon cautleyi hitherto unknown is described in this report.