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Filling a gap in the proboscidean fossil record: a new genus from the Lutetian of Senegal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2019

Rodolphe Tabuce
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France , , , ,
Raphaël Sarr
Affiliation:
Univ. Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276 Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement, F-69342 46 Allée d'Italie, Lyon, France
Sylvain Adnet
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France , , , ,
Renaud Lebrun
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France , , , ,
Fabrice Lihoreau
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France , , , ,
Jeremy E. Martin
Affiliation:
Univ. Lyon, ENS de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5276 Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon: Terre, Planètes, Environnement, F-69342 46 Allée d'Italie, Lyon, France
Bernard Sambou
Affiliation:
Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, B. P. 5005 Dakar, Sénégal , ,
Mustapha Thiam
Affiliation:
Département de Géologie, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, B. P. 5005 Dakar, Sénégal , ,
Lionel Hautier
Affiliation:
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, UMR5554, CNRS, IRD, EPHE, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France , , , ,

Abstract

A long hiatus encompassing most of the Eocene (end of the Ypresian to the early Priabonian) breaks up the proboscidean evolutionary history, which is otherwise documented by a rich fossil record. Only two post-Ypresian localities from West Africa (Mali and Senegal) have yielded scarce Moeritherium-like dental remains. Here, we study one of these remains from Senegal and name a new genus and species, Saloumia gorodiskii. This taxon, confidently mid-Lutetian in age, evokes Moeritherium and elephantiforms with its wrinkled enamel, lack of centrocrista, and strong lingual cingulum. However, due to its pronounced bunodonty, which departs from the bunolophodonty of both Moeritherium and elephantiforms, we cannot exclude the possibility that Saloumia documents an early experiment in dental diversity among Paleocene–Eocene proboscideans, without direct relationships with later proboscideans.

UUID: http://www.zoobank.org/0b6b83f8-817d-498c-a672-8ffa8f81a978

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2019, The Paleontological Society

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