Discovery of a fossil dwarf antelope outside of Africa and its implications for the late Miocene ecosystem in the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau

被引：2

作者：

Wang, Shi-Qi ^{[1
,2
]}

Sun, Jimin ^{[3
,4
]}

Li, Chunxiao ^{[1
,2
,4
]}

Li, Shi-Jie ^{[1
,2
,4
]}

Fu, Jiao ^{[1
,2
,4
]}

Jiangzuo, Qigao ^{[5
]}

Xing, Luda ^{[1
,2
,4
]}

Yang, Rong ^{[6
]}

机构：

[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Vertebrate Paleontol & Paleoanthropol, Key Lab Vertebrate Evolut & Human Origins, Beijing 100044, Peoples R China

[2] CAS Ctr Excellence Life & Paleoenvironm, Beijing 100101, Peoples R China

[3] Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Geol & Geophys, Beijing 100029, Peoples R China

[4] Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China

[5] Peking Univ, Sch Earth & Space Sci, Key Lab Orogen Belts & Crustal Evolut, Yiheyuan Rd, Beijing 100871, Peoples R China

[6] Hezheng Paleozool Museum, Hezheng 731200, Peoples R China

来源：

GONDWANA RESEARCH | 2023年 / 113卷

基金：

中国国家自然科学基金;

关键词：

Dwarf antelope; Morphometry; Microwear; Late Miocene; Paleoenvironment; RESOLUTION MAGNETO STRATIGRAPHY; FORELAND-BASIN EVOLUTION; TECTONIC UPLIFT; QAIDAM BASIN; QILIAN SHAN; BOVIDAE MAMMALIA; QINGHAI PROVINCE; LINXIA BASIN; U-PB; GROWTH;

D O I：

10.1016/j.gr.2022.10.012

中图分类号：

P [天文学、地球科学];

学科分类号：

07 ;

摘要：

As a typical dwarf antelope, the extant Nesotragus is confined to shrub areas of open woodlands and for-ests in Eastern and Central Africa. Molecular phylogenetic reconstructions reveal that Nesotragus, along with Aepyceros (impala), represents the earliest crown group of Antilopinae. However, to our knowledge, fossils in relation to Nesotragus have to date not been found. Here, we report the recent discovery of a fossil dwarf antelope, Linxiatragus dengi gen. et sp. nov., from the early Late Miocene (10-9 Ma) of the Linxia Basin, adjoining the NE Tibetan Plateau. This is the first report of a fossil dwarf antelope outside of Africa and prior to Pliocene. Phylogenetic reconstructions confirm that L. dengi belongs to the clade of extant Nesotragus. Morphometric studies further suggest that the cranial morphology of Linxiatragus is intermediate between the extant Nesotragus and Gazella. A microwear study indicates that unlike extant Nesotragus, L. dengi was possibly a grazer rather than a browser, revealing that extant Nesotragus are secondarily small, an adaptation to a concealing habitat. l. dengi, as well as some other taxa (e.g., Diceros gansuensis) occurring in the NE margin of the Tibetan Plateau in the early Late Miocene, sug-gests a relatively arid and open regional paleoenvironmental condition, which mimicked the African Savannah woodlands ecosystem. This ecological implication is consistent with the relatively open lands in the Linxia Basin prior to the tectonic uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau, as indicated by geological evi-dence. These findings might provide a new interpretation for the origin and migration of modern Sub-Saharan African Savannah mammalian assemblage through the land-bridge connecting Arabia and Asia after their hard-collision.(c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of International Association for Gondwana Research. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

引用

页码：102 / 115

页数：14