Revision de los mamíferos bunodontos de tipo nutria del Mio-Plioceno del Subcontinente Indio

M. Pickford

doi:10.3989/egeol.07631192

Authors

M. Pickford Collège de France, UMR 5143 du CNRS, Case postale 38, 8 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.07631192

Keywords:

Mio-Pliocene, otter-like mammals, Indian Subcontinent, biochronology, taxonomy, phylogeny, diet, Enhydriodontini

Abstract

A revision of the Enhydriodontini of the Indian Subcontinent is undertaken on the basis of previously described and recently collected bunodont otter-like fossils from the sub-Himalayan Siwalik Group. It is confirmed that, with the passage of geological time spanning the period 13 – 3 Ma, there occurred a progressive increase in body size, a reduction of the anterior part of the premolar row and an increase in degree of cheek tooth bunodonty and cusp mastoidization. Functional analysis of a snout with a partly preserved incisor battery of Enhydriodon sivalensis, reveals that it was probably a molluscivore, preying principally on bivalves, while other species of enhydriodonts were more likely to have been piscivores and cancrivores. One new species of Sivaonyx is described from the base of the Late Miocene of Pakistan. Bunodont otter-like mammals from Eurasia, Africa and North America are briefly discussed in light of the revision of the Indo-Pakistan ones. The origins and phylogenetic relationships of these mammals remains obscure. The major differences in dental anatomy indicate that these Old World otter-like mammals should not be classified in Enhydrini, but in a tribe of their own Enhydriodontini new tribe.

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