The first specimen of Deinotherium indicum (Mammalia, Proboscidea, Deinotheriidae) from the late Miocene of Kutch, India

Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845 are a family of browsing proboscideans which was widespread in the Old World during the Neogene. From Miocene deposits in the Indian Subcontinent, deinotheres are known largely from dental remains. Both large and small species have been described from the region. Previously, only small deinothere species have been identified from Kutch in western India. In the fossiliferous Tapar beds in Kutch, dental remains have been referred to the small species, Deinotherium sindiense Lydekker, 1880, but the specimens are too fragmentary to be systematically diagnostic. Here, we describe a large p4 of a deinothere from the Tapar beds, and demonstrate that it is morphologically most similar to Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845, a large species of deinothere, thereby confirming the identity of deinotheres at Tapar. D. indicum from Tapar is larger than other deinotheres identified from Kutch, and is the first occurrence of the species in the region. This new specimen he...

恐象科（Deinotheriidae Bonaparte, 1845）是一类植食性长鼻目（Proboscidea）类群，在新近纪（Neogene）时期广泛分布于旧大陆。针对印度次大陆的中新世（Miocene）地层，学界对其中产出的恐象类化石的认知大多基于牙齿化石，该区域已被报道过大型与小型两类恐象物种。此前，仅在印度西部的库奇（Kutch）地区发现过小型恐象物种。在库奇地区富含化石的塔帕尔层（Tapar beds）中，此前发现的牙齿化石曾被归入小型物种辛德恐象（Deinotherium sindiense Lydekker, 1880），但该类标本过于破碎，无法作为系统分类鉴定的依据。本文描述了一件产自塔帕尔层的大型恐象第四前臼齿（p4）标本，并通过形态学分析证实，其与大型恐象物种印度恐象（Deinotherium indicum Falconer, 1845）形态最为相似，由此确认了塔帕尔层中恐象类的分类归属。产自塔帕尔层的印度恐象体型大于库奇地区此前发现的其他恐象类群，同时也是该物种在该区域的首次发现记录。该新标本……