TAXONOMIC STUDIES OF FOSSIL EVEN AND ODD- TOED MAMMALS FROM THE MIOCENE ROCKS OF DHOK BUN AMEER KHATOON, DISTRICT CHAKWAL, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Fossil site Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon (32o 47' 26.4" N, 72° 55' 35.7" E) yielded a significant amount of mammalian assemblage including four families of even-toed fossil mammal (Suidae, Tragulidae, Giraffidae, and Bovidae) and one family of odd-toed (Rhinocerotidae) of the Late Miocene. This newly discovered site has well exposed Chinji and Nagri formation and has dated approximately 14.2 Ma-9.5 Ma. This age agrees with the divergence of different mammalian genera and is important Palaeoecologically, Palaeogeographically and Palaeoclimatologically. Sedimentological evidence of the site supports that this is deposited in locustrine or fluvial environment, as Chinji formation is composed primarily of mud-stone while the Nagri formation is sand dominated. Palaeoenvironmental data indicates that Miocene climate of Pakistan was probably be monsoonal as there is now a days. Mostly the genera recovered from this site resemble with the overlying younger Dhok Pathan formation of the Siwaliks while the size variation in dentition is taxonomically important for vertebrate evolutionary point of view and this is the main reason to conduct this study at this specific site to add additional information in the field of Palaeontology. A detailed study of fossils even and odd-toed mammals found in Miocene rocks exposed at Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon was carried out. Over all one hundred and twenty specimens were collected during field trips from which forty two specimens are well preserved and identified and are described in this thesis. Two specimens belonging to Gaindatherium browni, five specimens belonging to Listriodon pentapotamiae, four specimens belonging to Dorcatherium majus, one specimen belonging to Dorcatherium cf minus, two specimens belonging to Giraffa priscilla, twenty one specimens belonging to Giraffokeryx punjabiensis, three specimens belonging to Gazella sp. and three specimens belonging to Eotragus sp. Dhok Bun Ameer Khatoon is the new locality which is discovered in detail first time in Pakistan by the present author. The collection comprises isolated upper and lower teeth and fragments of maxillae and mandibular ramii.