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New fossils of small and medium-sized bovids from the Early Site of Shanshenmiaozui in Nihewan Basin, North China
TONG Hao-Wen, ZHANG Bei, CHEN Xi, WANG Xiao-Min
Vertebrata Palasiatica    2022, 60 (2): 134-168.   DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.2096-9899.220413
Abstract   (563 HTML128 PDF(pc) (11536KB)(530)  

Shanshenmiaozui site in Nihewan Basin in North China is a recently discovered Early Pleistocene site which yields rich and diverse mammalian fossils. In the fauna, the small and medium-sized bovid fossils are well represented and can be referred to the following taxa: Spirocerus wongi, Gazella sinensis, Ovis shantungensis and Megalovis piveteaui respectively, among which G. sinensis is the dominate species. S. wongi and G. sinensis are mainly represented by horn-cores and partial skull bones as well as mandibles; in addition, metacarpal and/or metatarsal bones were also recognized for all of the four species. The horn-cores are easy to be identified to the species level, while the dentitions and the postcranial bones underwent a series of examinations and comparisons before getting properly determined and referred to the most approximate taxa. Among the postcranial bones, the metapodials, especially to the metacarpal bones special attentions were paid, which are crucial not only for taxonomic identification, but also for phylogenetic and paleoecological reconstructions; the previously misidentified metapodial specimens in Nihewan fauna were reconsidered in this paper. In the SSMZ fauna, the bovid guild is dominated by Gazella and Bison, which indicates steppe was the most important biome in Nihewan Basin during Early Pleistocene.


Fig. 9 Toothrow length and cranial size of extant gazelles in China
Raw data was employed from Jiang, 2004
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The toothrow length is rather stable than their cranial sizes among the extant gazelles in China (Fig. 9: raw data from Jiang, 2004); although the Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) is remarkably larger in body size and cranial length than others, its toothrow length has no prominent difference. Therefore, it seems impossible to distinguish the small gazelles only based on their toothrow lengths (Fig. 9); in addition, the blue sheep also has similar tooth-row length with the gazelles; while the wild goat has slightly larger tooth-row length and the sheep has obviously larger tooth-row length than others (Fig. 7P).
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