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    20 January 2021, Volume 59 Issue 1
    Additional tsaganomyid, cylindrodontid and ctenodactyloid rodent materials from the Erden Obo section, Erlian Basin (Nei Mongol, China)
    LI Qian
    2021, 59(1):  1-18.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.200710
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    To improve the Paleogene biochronological framework of the Erlian Basin, Nei Mongol and clarify the diversity of fossil rodents in this region, new tsaganomyids (Cyclomylus lohensis, Coelodontomys asiaticus) from the “Upper White” beds, cylindrodontids (Gobiocylindrodon sp., Proardynomys sp., and Cylindrodontidae gen. et sp. indet.) from the “Middle Red” and “Lower Red” beds, and ctenodactyloids (Yuomys sp.) from the “Lower White” beds of the Erden Obo section are reported. The appearance of C. lohensis and Co. asiaticus from the Erden Obo section confirms that the age of the “Upper White” beds is Early Oligocene. The “Upper White” beds of the Erden Obo section and the top bed of the Nom Khong Obo are confirmed to belong to the same formation by both lithofacies and mammalian fossils. The different kinds of cylindrodontids found from the different horizons of the Erden Obo section show that the cylindrodontids had a high diversity and a relative continuous evolution in Eocene Asia.

    Late Miocene mammalian fauna of Halajin Hushu in Nei Mongol, China
    QIU Zhu-Ding, WANG Xiao-Ming, LI Qiang, LI Lu, WANG Hong-Jiang, CHEN Hai-Feng
    2021, 59(1):  19-26.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.201126
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    Discoveries during the past 40 years of continental Neogene fossil sites in central Nei Mongol, through the adoption of screen washing techniques, have rapidly filled previous gaps in our knowledge of late Cenozoic faunal evolution and biochronology. Small mammals have become the backbone of our efforts in serializing individual fossil assemblages and in establishing a detailed framework of faunal sequence. We present another Late Miocene fauna from a new Halajin Hushu locality that, once again, shows the “embarrassing riches” of the Mongolian Plateau. The new locality is the northern-most fossil site in this region and is capped by a sheet of basalt. The new fossil assemblage is represented by 62 taxa of small mammals and one large mammal based on more than 7000 specimens. Our collections thus captured a remarkably complete small mammal fauna, possibly including 6 reworked species. Despite this mixture of reworked taxa from strata of older age, the Halajin hushu Fauna closely represents a coherent Late Miocene small mammal assemblage and its environments. Our preliminary analysis suggests a Bahean Chinese Land Mammal age in the early Late Miocene for the Halajin Hushu Fauna, probably slightly younger than Amuwusu Fauna but older than Shala Fauna.

    Late Miocene micromammalian assemblage of Tuchengzi and its biochronological position in Neogene faunal sequence in central Nei Mongol, China
    ZHANG Li-Min, DONG Wei, NI Xi-Jun, LI Qiang
    2021, 59(1):  45-63.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.200821
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    Neogene strata rich in fossil mammals are well exposed in central Nei Mongol, China. Over a dozen mammalian faunas in chronological succession from Early Miocene to Early Pliocene were discerned in this region, and they built a fundamental part of the Neogene land mammal biochronological system in northern China. Tuchengzi was first recognized for producing abundant mammalian fossils during the Sino-Soviet Paleontological Expedition (SSPE) initiated in 1959. However, all unearthed fossils from the SSPE were either large- or middle-sized mammals, and small mammal fossils in the Tuchengzi Fauna were deficient for a long time. The composition and biochronological position of the Tuchengzi Fauna in the Neogene mammalian biochronological system in northern China was not particularly clear. The new fossils here reported are represented by 6 taxa of small mammals. Based on the co-occurrence of Lophocricetus grabaui, Sinocricetus zdanskyi, Prosiphneus licenti, Hansdebruijnia pusilla, and Moschus grandaevus, the age of the Tuchengzi Fauna is constrained to late Late Miocene or Baodean Chinese Land Mammal Age, slighter younger than the Baogeda Ula Fauna and older than the Ertemte Fauna. Judging from the fossil composition, the Tuchengzi Fauna possibly inhabited a forest-steppe mixed habitat during the late Late Miocene.

    New fossils of Late Pleistocene Sus scrofa from Yangjiawan Cave 2, Jiangxi, China
    SUN Ji-Jia, ZHANG Bei, CHEN Xi, DENG Li, WEN Jun, TONG Hao-Wen
    2021, 59(1):  64-80.  DOI: 10.19615/j.cnki.1000-3118.200819
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    The YJW (Yangjiawan) Cave 2 of Pingxiang in Jiangxi Province is a karst cave that developed in the Permian limestone of the Changxing Formation, which is filled with clay and grit of Late Pleistocene age. Six excavations have been conducted at the site since 2015. More than ten thousand mammalian fossils have been unearthed, and the wild boar fossils account for approximately 49%, which represents the richest wild boar fossil tooth collection of Pleistocene age in southern China. This study focuses on the studies of the canine teeth and the third molars, and mainly compares fossils of Sus peii and S. xiaozhu in South China and the data of extant S. scrofa respectively in dental morphology and odontometric data analyses which includes scatter plot analysis, regression analysis, coefficient of variation analysis and linear discriminant analysis. The typical scrofic type of the male’s lower canine teeth confirmed the identification of the suid fossils from YJW Cave 2 as S. scrofa. Although the male’s lower canines, the M2s and m3s, are among the most variable teeth in sizes, they stay in the ranges of S. scrofa; furthermore, the scatterplots of both the upper and lower third molars form two distinct clusters respectively, which can probably be attributed to sexual dimorphism rather than resulting from a mixture of different suid species. The post-Early Pleistocene suid fauna in southern China is almost only composed of S. scrofa, which is quite different from the adjacent Southeast Asia where the suid fauna is quite taxonomically diversified and dominated by the verrucosic type.