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Paleontological Research
Abstract
Abstract.
New fossil material from the latest early Miocene Manchar Formation in the Ranikot area (Sindh, Pakistan) provides information about the poorly known listriodontine suid Listriodon guptai Pilgrim, 1926 . Recognition of this taxon, initially described on the basis of a fragmentary upper molar, allows biochronologic correlations for the base of the Manchar Formation with penecontemporaneous formations of Pakistan where this taxon also occurs (Sulaiman Range and Potwar Plateau). Listriodon guptai may be closely related to the bunolophodont species Listriodon affinis of doubtful stratigraphic provenance and age in the Bugti Hills, as well as to the fully lophodont Listriodon pentapotamiae which occurs throughout the Chinji Formation in the Potwar Plateau. The early occurrence of these taxa pleads for an early diversification of the listriodonts in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent during the late early Miocene.
We thank Parveen Usmani, Imdad A. Brohi, and Sarfraz H. Solangi, and all the colleagues from the University of Sindh for their enthusiasm, expertise, and logistic support. We are thankful to the former French Consuls Pierre Seillan and Christian Ramage, and to the French Alliance in Karachi for their support. The French Embassy in Islamabad, in particular the Counsellor for Cooperation and Cultural Affairs Martine Herlem-Hamidi, Campus-France, and the MNHN-Paris financially supported study stays of Rafiq A. Lashari at MNHN, Paris. We thank Philippe Loubry (UMR 7207) for assistance in the photographic work. The field work is funded by the program CNRS-INSU-Interrvie, and MAT-MNHN. We thank the reviewers for their pertinent remarks. This a contribution of the ‘Ranikot Project’ about the continental Cenozoic beds of Sindh (Pakistan).
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