Abstract
Newly discovered fossil material of the enigmatic cetartiodactyl Bugtitherium grandincisivum from the upper Oligocene of the Bugti Member of the Chitarwata Formation in the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan) is reported. These new specimens consist of two fragmentary muzzles (one preserving the first incisors and belonging to a juvenile) and a fragmentary right mandible with m3. The morphologies of the anterior dentition and m3 provided by these new specimens confirm the validity of the genus Bugtitherium and advocate probable anthracotheriid affinity for the genus rather than entelodontid or suoid affinities, but do not definitively close the debate about Bugtitherium’s familial affinities within Cetartiodactyla. Although still poorly documented, this large-sized anthracotheriid-like cetartiodactyl is a possible key form for understanding the early evolution of hippos, and, in turn, the ancestry of whales, because of both its morphological similarities with hippos and primitive Paleogene whales and its Tethysian distribution.
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful to Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan Bugti, Lord of the Bugti Tribes, Zulficar and Bramdan Khan Bugti, and Shahid Hassan Bugti for their invitations and support. We thank Nayyer Iqbal, Ghazala Roohi (Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad) for their efficient support. We are thankful to Kamal Madjidulah (Karachi) for his tireless assistance and enthusiasm. Many thanks to Marc de Grossouvre (French Embassy, Islamabad) for his help and his interest in our French/Pakistani collaborative program. G. Métais particularly thanks R.J. Emry, J.J. Hooker, and M. Brunet for access to collections, and Mary Dawson and Chris Beard for fruitful discussions. The paper benefited from comments by E. T. Tsubamoto and two anonymous reviewers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the French Embassy in Islamabad; the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Eclipse-Program); the Leakey, Fyssen, and Singer-Polignac Foundations; and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History have financially supported this project. This is the publication no 31 of the Mission Paleontologique Francaise au Balouchistan.
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Métais, G., Antoine, PO., Baqri, S.R.H. et al. New remains of the enigmatic cetartiodactyl Bugtitherium grandincisivum Pilgrim, 1908, from the upper Oligocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan). Naturwissenschaften 93, 348–355 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0112-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-006-0112-3