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The article presents a description of a new species of the genus Praesinomegaceros from the Early Pleistocene of Pabbi Hills (Upper Siwaliks) in Pakistan. This is a first record of Praesinomegaceros in the geological past of the Indian Subcontinent. Unlike Praesinomegaceros from the Late Miocene of Central Asia, the Siwalik form is characterized by the loss of basal tine palmation and diminished number of crown ramifications. However, the new Siwalik cervid maintains the characteristic of Praesinomegaceros general antler bauplan. The antler shape of the new species from Pakistan reveals important evolutionary changes in ecology and ethology. Antlers of Praesinomegaceros from Siwaliks have lost their function of social display and “returned” to the effective weapon antler type. The multivariate cluster analysis of antler characters supports the close evolutionary relationship of the new cervid species from the Siwaliks with Praesinomegaceros and Sinomegaceros from the Pleistocene of Asia.

We visited several late Miocene to early Pliocene localities of the Dhok Pathan and Naragghi villages in the Chakwal district of Punjab, Pakistan and recovered a comprehensive collection of hippari...

Newly discovered Miocene hyaenid specimens, recently collected from the Siwalik Group, are described and discussed. A careful comparison with the known material reveals that these specimens belong to the early hyaenid species Thalassictis cf. T. proava, Ictitherine indet. and Lepthyaena sivalensis. The stratigraphic range of T. proava extended up to the Dhok Pathan Formation (Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene). The stratigraphic range of T. proava comprises the Middle to Late Miocene, with the youngest record in Hasnot, Potwar Plateau in the Siwalik Group. The material is of great interest because Siwalik carnivoran material is rare.

A new Pleistocene site in the Pabbi Hills of Pakistan, and deposits to the east near Bhimbar provide important additions to the Upper Siwalik fauna of South Asia. The mammalian fauna of 10 species from Panjan Sher Shahana at the southwestern tip of the Pabbi Hills is a rich mammalian assemblage dating to the early to Middle Pleistocene of the Upper Siwalik Subgroup. The Panjan Sher Shahana assemblage shows strong resemblance to other Pleistocene faunas of the Siwalik Group from the Indian subcontinent. The new site is dominated by Bovidae and Equus. Among megafauna, two species of Elephas, commonly found in the Upper Siwaliks, are associated with the uncommon Stegodon in Pabbi Hills. These and other elements of the Panjan Sher Shahana fauna are treated briefly here. The Late Neogene deposits of Bhimbar, 30 km east of Jhelum, appear to represent a similar succession equivalent to the Pleistocene (“Pinjor”) fauna and produce important new elements, including a rare record of the bamboo rat Anepsirhizomys opdykei.

Siwalik Group or Siwaliks is famous as a stratigraphic unit containing numerous fossiliferous pockets for vertebrate faunas of Neogene ages. The Middle Siwalik Subgroup (Late Miocene–early Pliocene of Neogene) comprises Nagri and Dhok Pathan formations. Tetraconodon magnus and Sivachoerus prior remains are extremely rare in the Siwaliks, and these tetraconodonts are ascribed in this article from Middle Siwalik deposits of the Late Miocene age. Tetraconodon is considered to have occurred in the Nagri Formation of the Siwalik Group. However, the specimens described here, recovered from the Dhok Pathan Formation (8.2 Ma), are important in relieving the long-held notion of the previous researchers that these are found only from the Nagri Formation (11.5–9 Ma). Similarly, Sivachoerus prior appeared earlier (~ 6.6 Ma) than it was thought previously (5–3 Ma). So, the present studies extended the geological ranges of these Siwalik tetraconodonts.

Author(s): Abbas, Sayyed Ghyour; Babar, Muhammad Adeeb; Khan, Muhammad Akbar; Nisa, Badar Un; Nawaz, Muhammad Khalil; Akhtar, Muhammad | Abstract: Over the years a diverse assemblage of proboscidean remains has been recovered from the Lower to Upper Siwalik Subgroups of Pakistan and India. This article reports newly discovered dental material of tri- and tetralophodont proboscideans that includes cf. Paratetralophodon hasnotensis and Choerolophodon sp., and a Gomphothere gen. et sp. indet., recently collected from late middle to late Miocene localities of the Pakistani Siwalik Group, with a brief history of these species. The partial premolar of cf. Pa. hasnotensis is described for the first time from the Siwalik Group, recovered from the Dhok Pathan Formation, and the specimens reported herein are the latest to be described after a 38-year gap from previously described material for this species. A preliminary survey of the literature and previously described material of Siwalik species suggests a revision of Siwalik Group proboscideans is much needed.

New remains of Gazella from the Chinji Formation of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Pakistan are described here. The studied material was recovered from Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon, Bhilomar and Jand, district Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan. The material comprises 26 specimens including maxillary and mandibular fragments, as well as upper and lower isolated teeth. The metric and morphological features like narrow styles and external folds, absence of entostyle in the upper molars, the lower molars with goat folds and a small ectostylid support their attribution to Gazella sp. This study also adds comments on the dental morphology of the Middle Miocene Gazella sp. from Pakistan. A busy paleoenvironment is inferred in the Middle Miocene of the Lower Siwalik Subgroup of Pakistan.

Here, we report new dental remains of a large giraffid from the Late Miocene of Pakistan. The new material improves our knowledge of the dental morphology of this extinct sivatherine giraffid, as i...

New rodent and lagomorph fossils from the Hasnot–Tatrot area of northern Pakistan are presented here to complement knowledge of stratigraphic ranges and morphology of key late Neogene Siwalik taxa. Most of the material is from two sites near the village of Bhandar in strata of the late Miocene age Dhok Pathan Formation; one specimen comes from the Pliocene Tatrot beds. We apply previously established magnetostratigraphy to date the fossils, the Bhandar sites dating to 6.6–6.7 Ma. In describing the fossils, we emphasize new morphological information represented by the material. As surface finds, these fossils represent relatively large body size species: three bamboo rat relatives, a porcupine, and a rabbit. The bamboo rats (Rhizomyinae) are an endemic group, and both the porcupine (Hystrix) and the rabbit (Alilepus) represent late Miocene immigrants into the Indian subcontinent.

New antler remains from the Pinjor Formation of Sardhok (32°49′39”N, 73°43′51”E), Gujarat district, Punjab Province, Pakistan, are described. In this paper, new fossil data from a new fossil locality with its taxonomic relationships and geological aspects is discussed. A thorough comparison of studied specimens with all known cervid species from Europe and South Asia of this time span supports the assignment of these antlers to Axis cf. A. punjabiensis. Limited data are available on Siwalik antlers and any new fossil will definitely add to our understanding of this group of mammals.

This article focuses on some new material of currently called Miotragocerus/Tragoportax complex of species, collected from Nagri type locality, early Late Miocene (10.039 to 9.969 Ma) of the Siwalik Group of Pakistan. Along with the material description, the issues regarding the taxonomic status of Tragoportax, Miotragocerus, Sivaceros and Helicoportax are briefly discussed on the basis of preliminary results of ongoing thorough research on the Siwalik bovids. Furthermore, the priority of Graecoryx over Miotragocerus, the synonymy of Sivaceros with Graecoryx, the distinction between Tragoportax and Graecoryx, and some hypotheses have been laid down for future work, based on the morphological study.

The Siwalik Late Miocene bovids from the Hasnot deposits of Northern Pakistan are described here. The bovids are represented predominantly by boselaphines. The Hasnot outcrops range 7–5 Ma and correspond to the fauna of the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene of Eurasia and Africa. The associated fauna of Hasnot is suggestive a vast open land environment depicting sporadic dry and flood seasons, forcing a mosaic of ecotonal habitats with countless number of niches.

Low-resolution Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) maps surrounding the region of interest show oolitic and fossiliferous limestone occurrences correspondingly in Samanasuk, Lockhart, and Margalla hill formations in the Hazara division, Pakistan. Machine-learning algorithms (MLAs) have been rarely applied to multispectral remote sensing data for differentiating between limestone formations formed due to different depositional environments, such as oolitic or fossiliferous. Unlike the previous studies that mostly report lithological classification of rock types having different chemical compositions by the MLAs, this paper aimed to investigate MLAs’ potential for mapping subclasses within the same lithology, i.e., limestone. Additionally, selecting appropriate data labels, training algorithms, hyperparameters, and remote sensing data sources were also investigated while applying these MLAs. In this paper, first, oolitic (Samanasuk), fossiliferous (Lockhart and Margalla) limestone-bearing formations along with the adjoining Hazara formation were mapped using random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), classification and regression tree (CART), and naïve Bayes (NB) MLAs. The RF algorithm reported the best accuracy of 83.28% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.78. To further improve the targeted allochemical limestone formation map, annotation labels were generated by the fusion of maps obtained from principal component analysis (PCA), decorrelation stretching (DS), X-means clustering applied to ASTER-L1T, Landsat-8, and Sentinel-2 datasets. These labels were used to train and validate SVM, CART, NB, and RF MLAs to obtain a binary classification map of limestone occurrences in the Hazara division, Pakistan using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The classification of Landsat-8 data by CART reported 99.63% accuracy, with a Kappa coefficient of 0.99, and was in good agreement with the field validation. This binary limestone map was further classified into oolitic (Samanasuk) and fossiliferous (Lockhart and Margalla) formations by all the four MLAs, in this case, RF surpassed all the other algorithms with an improved accuracy of 96.36%. This improvement can be attributed to better annotation, resulting in a binary limestone classification map, which formed a mask for improved classification of oolitic and fossiliferous limestone in the area.

The specimens discussed in this paper were collected from the Tatrot Formation of the Upper Siwaliks of Pakistan. The sample comprises isolated upper premolar, molars and a complete mandible. Based upon the comparative morphological affinities with the previously reported fossil material of Hippopotamidae from the Siwalik region, the newly recovered specimens are recognized as belonging to Hexaprotodon sivalensis. These samples showed differences both in morphology and size when compared to living Hippopotamus amphibius and Hexaprotodon liberiensis.

Giraffokeryx punjabiensis are ascribed from Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon (DBAK), district Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan. The newly recovered material includes two maxillary fragments: three mandibular rami and seven isolated teeth. The preserved specimens enhance the knowledge about G. punjabiensis. It can be used as a reference material in the future. Some specimens show a clear sign of the enamel hypoplasia as a nutritional and ecological stress indicator for the middle Miocene giraffids of Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon. The existence of G. punjabiensis along with Dorcatherium and suid suggests the presence of wet meadows, floodplain and open woodland at the time of the middle Miocene deposition in Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon, Lower Siwalik Subgroup.

New dentary material of Percrocuta carnifex (Pilgrim, 1913) from the Nagri Formation ofHasnot, Pakistan, is described. Specimens of this species from the Siwalik continental deposits described by previous authors are discussed in detail. In addition to the taxonomic description of the new material, the occurrence and stratigraphic position of this species within the Siwalik Hills are re-evaluated. Except for the holotype, the specimens assigned to this species are very fragmentary. The newly discovered material, a right mandibular ramus containing teeth, is the best preserved specimen found to date. The comparative analysis, based on tooth morphology and dimensions of previously reported specimens and of the specimen studied here, suggests that this species is restricted to the Chinji and Nagri formations. Finally, the dental morphological features of the studied specimen and those of other species of Percrocuta are compared, and then the phylogenetic relationship between these species is discussed. The described specimen is thus important for the taxonomic, stratigraphic and phylogenetic knowledge of P. carnifex from the Siwaliks.

Aftab, K., Khan, M.A., Ahmad, Z. & Akhtar, M., February 2016. Progiraffa (Artiodactyla: Ruminantia: Giraffidae) from the Lower Siwalik Subgroup (Miocene) of Pakistan. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518Previously, Progiraffa exigua has been reported only from the Kamlial Formation (ca 18.3–14.2 Ma) of the Siwalik Group. We record Progiraffa exigua from the Lower Siwalik Subgroup at five localities: Jaba, Chinji Rest House, Rakh Wasnal, Dhok Bun Amir Khatoon and Ghungrila, Pakistan, thus extending the range of P. exigua to the Chinji Formation of the Siwalik Group (ca 14.2–11.2 Ma).Kiran Aftab [kiranaftab2012@gmail.com], Zaheer Ahmad [dr.zaheerahmed11@yahoo.com], Zoology Department, GC University, Lahore, Pakistan; Muhammad Akbar Khan [akbaar111@yahoo.ca], Muhammad Akhtar [drakhtarfdrc@hotmail.com], Dr Abu Bakr Fossil Display & Research Centre, Zoology Department, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

Khan, M.A., Babar, M.A., Akhtar, M., Iliopoulos, G., Rakha, A. & Noor, T., November 2015. Gazella (Bovidae, Ruminantia) remains from the Siwalik Group of Pakistan. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.New gazelle fossils are described from the Siwalik Group of Pakistan. The material includes horncores, maxilla and mandible fragments, and isolated teeth. The available samples are assigned to three Gazella species: Gazella sp. in the Lower Siwalik Subgroup (ca 14.2–11.2 Ma), and G. lydekkeri and G. superba in the Middle Siwalik Subgroup (ca 10.2–3.4 Ma). Based on a review of the Siwalik Group gazelles, G. padriensis is synonymized with G. lydekkeri. Gazella superba Pilgrim, 1939 sensu stricto is a large form and is a valid species of the genus in the Siwalik Group.Muhammad Akbar Khan [akbaar111@yahoo.ca], Muhammad Adeeb Babar [babar_fcc2005@yahoo.com], Muhammad Akhtar [drakhtarfdrc@hotmail.com], Allah Rakha [babar.441@googlemail.com], Tuba Noor [akbar.zool@pu.edu.pk], Abu Bakr Fossil Display & Research Ce...

Five mandibular fragments from the Early Pliocene of Dhok Pathan and Hasnot (Middle Siwaliks) are described and discussed. Detailed comparison of the studied material with already known and described species of family Cervidae from the Siwaliks allow us to refer this material to genus Rucervus and species Rucervus cf. simplicidens. The material described here also extends the stratigraphic range of this genus from Upper Siwaliks to Middle Siwaliks. The fossil material described from the Early Pliocene, is thus important to indicate the older stratigraphic range as described earlier from the Siwalik continental deposits.

The late Miocene-early Pliocene fossil deposits of Hasnot in northern Pakistan have yielded a very rich vertebrate fauna. In this paper we describe the remains of Cervidae from six of these localities. By dental remains, at least four species of cervids are documented. These remains significantly widen the time distribution of the cervids and draw back the first appearance of cervids in the Dhok Pathan Formation of the Siwaliks. The data indicate a diverse set of coexisting ungulates in the area, subsisting within a mosaic of habitats.

The Siwalik sequence saw the appearance and spread of the family Elephantidae in the Indian subcontinent during the Plio-Pleistocene epochs. Elephas flourished and underwent species turnover during the Plio-Pleistocene of the Siwalik Group. The newly discovered specimens include serially arranged M2-3 and partial maxillary fragment with M2 of Elephas planifrons, and M3 and partial dp4 of Elephas hysudricus from the Pinjor Formation (Pleistocene) of the Siwaliks. A tusk from the Tatrot Formation (Pliocene) of the Siwaliks, has been assigned to Elephantoidea indet. Based on the comparison with the stratigraphically well-dated mammalian fauna from the various Siwalik localities of the Indian subcontinent, the age of Sardhok, Panjan Sher Shahana and Kurla Sharif range is suggested to be from the Late Pliocene (Piacenzian) to Late Early Pleistocene (Calabrian), and a savannah like environment is suggested for these localities.

We describe here new remains of the giraffid Bramatherium, from the late Miocene-early Pliocene of Hasnot, northern Pakistan. The fossil giraffid material from Hasnot represents 2 taxa of Bramatherium, B. megacephalum and B. grande. The Hasnot locality is characterised by high proportions of ruminants, namely Boselaphini, Antilopini, Sivatheriinae, Cervini, Dorcatherium, and Dorcabune. The Hasnot fossil ruminant assemblage is fairly typical for the Siwalik province and comparisons with the Greco-Iranian-Afghan and African palaeobiological provinces indicate a late Miocene-early Pliocene age. It is suggested that local Hasnot palaeoenvironments comprised wetlands to woodland biomes, perhaps devoid of expansive dense forests.

New isolated teeth with maxillary and mandibular fragments from the Chinji Formation of the Lower Siwaliks are described and determined as Gaindatherium browni and Gaindatherium vidali. This material comes from the Middle Miocene of Lava and Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon localities, northern Pakistan, and significantly increases the number of remains previously known for this rhinocerotid genus. Specimens from the Lava site determined as G. vidali present morphological differences with respect to those of G. browni, being similar to those of G. vidali from the Nagri Formation, showing a greater size. Previously, G. vidali was reported only from the Nagri Formation of the Middle Siwaliks and the new material thus significantly widens the chronological distribution of this species in the continental deposits of the Siwaliks. This record implies that both species are not successive but rather coeval during the late Middle Miocene. Fil: Khan, Abdul Majid. University of the Punjab; Pakistán Fil: Cerdeño Serrano, Maria Esperanza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Akhtar, Muhammad. University of the Punjab; Pakistán Fil: Akbar Khan, Muhammad. University of the Punjab; Pakistán Fil: Iqbal, Ayesha. University of the Punjab; Pakistán Fil: Mubashir, Muhammad. Government College University Faisalabad; Pakistán

Unpublished rhinocerotid remains from the Lower and Middle Siwaliks of Pakistan are described in this paper and recognized as two species of Alicornops. Alicornops complanatum (Heissig) is identified in the Dhok Pathan Formation of the Middle Siwaliks and Alicornops laogouense Deng in the Kamlial Formation of the Lower Siwaliks. The Dhok Pathan Formation levels with A. complanatum are roughly correlated with the late Miocene-Pliocene European mammal zones MN10-15. In turn, levels with A. laogouenseof the Kamlial Formation would correlate with the middle–late Aragonian (middle Miocene) European MN5. The recognition of the Chinese species A. laogouense in the Potwar Plateau represents the first discovery of this taxon in Pakistan and increases the geographical and stratigraphic distributions of this species, and adds to the rhinocerotid association from the Siwaliks. In turn, the presence of A. complanatum in the Siwaliks of Potwar Plateau also enlarges its geographic distribution in Pakistan, as it was previously known from the Bugti Hills of Balouchistan. The absence of Alicornops from the Siwaliks in the Chinji and Nagri formations (between late MN5 and MN9 zones) might be due to an inadequate fossil record, as other rhinocerotid species are known from Kamlial to Dhok Pathan formations. However, the two recorded species of Alicornops could also reveal two independent migration waves as supported by the appearance of other taxa in different formations. A summary of fossil Cenozoic rhinocerotids from different areas of Pakistan is also presented. Dans la présente contribution sont décrits et analysés des restes inédits de rhinocérotidés provenant des Siwaliks Inférieur et Moyen du Pakistan. Deux espèces sont reconnues à savoir Alicornops complanatum (Heissig) de la Formation Dhok Pathan des Siwalik Moyen et Alicornops laogouense Deng de la Formation Kamlial des Siwalik Inférieur. Les niveaux de la Formation Dhok Pathan avec A. complanatum permettent sa corrélation avec les unités mammaliennes européennes MN 10-15 du Miocène supérieur au Pliocène. Au même temps, les niveaux avec A. laogouense de la Formation Kamlial correspondent à peu près à l’unité MN5 (Aragonien moyen à supérieur, Miocène moyen) en Europe. La reconnaissance de l’espèce chinoise A. laogouense dans le Plateau de Potwar représente la première découverte de ce taxon au Pakistan, augmente les distributions géographique et stratigraphique de cette espèce et ajoute un nouveau registre aux Rhinocerotidae des Siwalik. D’autre part, la présence d’A. complanatum dans cette région augmente aussi sa distribution au Pakistan, donc elle était connue à Bugti Hills, Balouchistan. L’absence d’Alicornops dans les Siwaliks aux Formations Chinji et Nagri (équivalent aux zones MN 5 à MN 9) pourrait être due à certain biais dans les fouilles, donc autres espèces de rhinocéros sont connues depuis la Formation Kamlial jusqu’à la Formation Dhok Pathan. Cependant, les deux espèces d’Alicornops pourraient rendre évident deux migrations indépendantes tel qu’il est supporté par d’autres taxons dans des formations différentes. Un résumé des rhinocérotidés cénozoïques des différentes régions du Pakistan est aussi présenté. Fil: Khan, Abdul Majid. University of the Punjab. Department of Zoology; Pakistán Fil: Cerdeño Serrano, Maria Esperanza. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentina Fil: Khan, Muhammad Akbar. University of the Punjab. Department of Zoology; Pakistán Fil: Akhtar, Muhammad. University of the Punjab. Department of Zoology; Pakistán

Partially complete right antler from the Pinjor Formation (Pleistocene) of the Upper Siwalik Subgroup is identified, described and its phylogenetic relationship is discussed. The fossil antler is compared with other known fossil records of family Cervidae as well as with the extant species, on the basis of which it can be attributed to Axis punjabiensis. This species has not been reported previously from this fossil site.

Fossil remains ascribed to Bison cf. sivalensis are described in this paper. The material, discovered by the team of Palaeontology of the Punjab University, Lahore, Pakistan during the past few years comes from the Early – Middle Pliocene continental deposits of the Upper Siwaliks (Tatrot Formation, northern Pakistan) dated approximately from 3.3 to 2.6 Ma, and allows interesting comparisons with forms related to the origin of bisons. The new data significantly widens the timedistribution of the species and draws back the first appearance of Bison lineage in the Indian subcontinent.