TY - JOUR
T1 - New fossils from Tadkeshwar Mine (Gujarat, India) increase primate diversity from the early Eocene Cambay Shale
AU - Rose, Kenneth D.
AU - Dunn, Rachel H.
AU - Kumar, Kishor
AU - Perry, Jonathan M.G.
AU - Prufrock, Kristen A.
AU - Rana, Rajendra S.
AU - Smith, Thierry
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to the other members of our Tadkeshwar field team, without whose efforts this research would not have been possible: Annelise Folie, Satish Gajwan, Ross D.E. MacPhee, Waqas Mirza, Corentin Noiret, Raman Patel, Abhishek Pratap Singh, and Thomas Steeman. Field work and research were supported by The Leakey Foundation , The Belgian Science Policy Office (research project BR/121/A3/PalEurAfrica and networking project BL/36/fwi05), and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology . Previous fieldwork at Vastan Mine was supported by the National Geographic Society . The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation facilitated excavations at Tadkeshwar. We thank the personnel of the Duke University SMIF for undertaking the micro-CT scans of the new fossils. Figures 7D–G and 11 B–F were made possible by NSF grant BCS 1440742 (to D. M. Boyer, G. F. Gunnell, and J. I. Bloch), NSF DDIG 0925793 and a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (to L. Lucas and L. Copes), MorphoSource , and MorphoMuseuM . In addition we thank D. Boyer and the NMNH for permission to use images of USNM V21815 and V21864. Finally, we are grateful to three anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments led to improvements in the manuscript.
Funding Information:
We are grateful to the other members of our Tadkeshwar field team, without whose efforts this research would not have been possible: Annelise Folie, Satish Gajwan, Ross D.E. MacPhee, Waqas Mirza, Corentin Noiret, Raman Patel, Abhishek Pratap Singh, and Thomas Steeman. Field work and research were supported by The Leakey Foundation, The Belgian Science Policy Office (research project BR/121/A3/PalEurAfrica and networking project BL/36/fwi05), and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology. Previous fieldwork at Vastan Mine was supported by the National Geographic Society. The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation facilitated excavations at Tadkeshwar. We thank the personnel of the Duke University SMIF for undertaking the micro-CT scans of the new fossils. Figures 7D–G and 11B–F were made possible by NSF grant BCS 1440742 (to D. M. Boyer, G. F. Gunnell, and J. I. Bloch), NSF DDIG 0925793 and a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (to L. Lucas and L. Copes), MorphoSource, and MorphoMuseuM. In addition we thank D. Boyer and the NMNH for permission to use images of USNM V21815 and V21864. Finally, we are grateful to three anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments led to improvements in the manuscript.
Funding Information:
We are grateful to the other members of our Tadkeshwar field team, without whose efforts this research would not have been possible: Annelise Folie, Satish Gajwan, Ross D.E. MacPhee, Waqas Mirza, Corentin Noiret, Raman Patel, Abhishek Pratap Singh, and Thomas Steeman. Field work and research were supported by The Leakey Foundation, The Belgian Science Policy Office (research project BR/121/A3/PalEurAfrica and networking project BL/36/fwi05), and the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology. Previous fieldwork at Vastan Mine was supported by the National Geographic Society. The Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation facilitated excavations at Tadkeshwar. We thank the personnel of the Duke University SMIF for undertaking the micro-CT scans of the new fossils. B–F were made possible by NSF grant BCS 1440742 (to D. M. Boyer, G. F. Gunnell, and J. I. Bloch), NSF DDIG 0925793 and a grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation (to L. Lucas and L. Copes), MorphoSource, and MorphoMuseuM. In addition we thank D. Boyer and the NMNH for permission to use images of USNM V21815 and V21864. Finally, we are grateful to three anonymous reviewers, whose thoughtful comments led to improvements in the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujarat document the presence of two previously unknown early Eocene primate species from India. A new species of Asiadapis is named based on a jaw fragment preserving premolars similar in morphology to those of A. cambayensis but substantially larger. Also described is an exceptionally preserved edentulous dentary (designated cf. Asiadapis, unnamed sp. nov.) that is slightly larger and much more robust than previously known Cambay Shale primates. Its anatomy most closely resembles that of Eocene adapoids, and the dental formula is the same as in A. cambayensis. A femur and calcaneus are tentatively allocated to the same taxon. Although the dentition is unknown, exquisite preservation of the dentary of cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. enables an assessment of masticatory musculature, function, and gape adaptations, as well as comparison with an equally well-preserved dentary of the asiadapid Marcgodinotius indicus, also from Tadkeshwar. The new M. indicus specimen shows significant gape adaptations but was probably capable of only weak bite force, whereas cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. probably used relatively smaller gapes but could generate relatively greater bite forces.
AB - Several new fossil specimens from the Cambay Shale Formation at Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine in Gujarat document the presence of two previously unknown early Eocene primate species from India. A new species of Asiadapis is named based on a jaw fragment preserving premolars similar in morphology to those of A. cambayensis but substantially larger. Also described is an exceptionally preserved edentulous dentary (designated cf. Asiadapis, unnamed sp. nov.) that is slightly larger and much more robust than previously known Cambay Shale primates. Its anatomy most closely resembles that of Eocene adapoids, and the dental formula is the same as in A. cambayensis. A femur and calcaneus are tentatively allocated to the same taxon. Although the dentition is unknown, exquisite preservation of the dentary of cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. enables an assessment of masticatory musculature, function, and gape adaptations, as well as comparison with an equally well-preserved dentary of the asiadapid Marcgodinotius indicus, also from Tadkeshwar. The new M. indicus specimen shows significant gape adaptations but was probably capable of only weak bite force, whereas cf. Asiadapis sp. nov. probably used relatively smaller gapes but could generate relatively greater bite forces.
KW - Adapoid
KW - Asiadapis
KW - Marcgodinotius
KW - Masticatory function
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.05.006
DO - 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.05.006
M3 - Article
C2 - 29886006
AN - SCOPUS:85048570703
SN - 0047-2484
VL - 122
SP - 93
EP - 107
JO - Journal of Human Evolution
JF - Journal of Human Evolution
ER -