2024/03/03 by Advait M. Jukar, G. M. Bhat, Simon A. Parfitt +7 · 1 voice
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Social Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Bat Biology and Ecology Studies #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
paper · doi:10.1080/02724634.2024.2396821
openalex publication_date 2024/03/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In this study, we describe a remarkably well-preserved cranium and stylohyoids of a large elephant from the Middle Pleistocene Pampore Member in the Karewas of Kashmir that was found associated with 87 stone tools. Based on the cranio-dental morphology, we assign the skull to the genus Palaeoloxodon, a lineage of massive elephants that evolved in Africa in the Early Pleistocene, and later dispersed across Eurasia. The skull possesses a combination of plesiomorphic and derived features of Palaeoloxodon, most notably, a broad, expanded frons and a nasal aperture with rounded margins that is characteristic of derived Eurasian Palaeoloxodon; but with an extremely underdeveloped parieto-occipital crest that is reminiscent of the basally branching African species, Palaeoloxodon recki. It is most similar in morphology to the type skull of Palaeoloxodon turkmenicus from Central Asia. The morphology of the stylohyoids is also different from those referred to Palaeoloxodon antiquus from Europe and Palaeoloxodon naumanni from Japan. While the validity of P. turkmenicus has been questioned in the past, this new specimen from Kashmir provides a strong case for a Middle Pleistocene species of Palaeoloxodon in Central and South Asia with intermediate morphologies between basally branching African species, and more derived Eurasian species.