A new discovery of a Giraffokeryx skull and associated fossil assemblage of Ruminants from the Middle Miocene deposits of the Siwaliks

Abstract

A detailed taxonomic study of fossil ruminants from three localities of the Chinji Formation, Lower Siwaliks of the Siwalik Group, Pakistan has been carried out. These fossil sites; Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon, Chinji type locality, and Lava have produced an important quantity of fossil fauna of the Middle Miocene age. Many new Ruminant samples have been collected including three different families Tragulidae, Giraffidae, and Bovidae. The 41 collected and described specimens belong to five species. Quantitatively, bovids and girafids provide evidence of small to medium size ruminants. The skull of Giraffokeryx punjabiensis has been reported for the first time from the locality Dhook Bun Ameer Khatoon. Giraffokeryx is the medium-sized member of the Giraffidae famed for its two pairs of horn cores. The litho-stratigraphic paleoenvironmental data of Chinji Formation (14.2–11.2 Mya) indicate that the Miocene climate of Pakistan was likely to be monsoonal and humid having extensive forest components and grasslands. Biogeographically, the Miocene fauna of Lower Siwaliks shows similarities with Eurasian and African Miocene sites. The composition of the fauna suggests a Middle Miocene age.