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Paleogene mammalian fauna exchanges and the paleogeographic pattern in Asia

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Abstract

Mammals are the most important elements in Cenozoic terrestrial ecosystem. The composition and the character of a mammalian fauna are controlled by evolution time and evolutionary rate. Here we took 50 Asian Paleogene mammalian faunas as representatives and applied Bayesian Tip-dating method to infer the relationships and divergence times among these faunas. Based on the results of Bayesian Tip-dating analyses, we discussed the correlation between the paleogeographic changes and the mammalian fauna turn-overs. Compared with the traditional fauna correlation and sorting, Bayesian Tip-dating analyses revealed more detailed similarities reflected via the divergence times among the 50 faunas. We discovered that the early Eocene mammalian fauna, which firstly appeared in India subcontinent, is similar to the faunas of the same age in other parts of Asia. It is likely that a passage for the mammalian dispersal was formed before early Eocene. Bayesian inferring suggests that the first appearance of the dispersal passage is during 64.8–61.3 Ma. This time window is close to the time estimation for the initial time of India-Asia collision. During 57.1–47.2 Ma, India subcontinent probably had a habitat different from the main part of Asia, as it was reflected from the composition of the mammalian faunas. It is probably correlated with the uplifted Gangdese Mountain and shallow seas and lowlands on both sides of the collision region. The very remote divergence time (64.8 Ma) estimated by Bayesian inferring reflects the mammalian fauna turnover during the Eocene-Oligocene transition, obviously affected by the global cooling. Till the end of Oligocene, the Arabic Peninsula and Asian mainland remained separated and the mammalian faunas did not show clear connection.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. XDA20070203, XDA19050100 & XDB26030300) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41472025 & 41625005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China

    Xijun Ni, Qiang Li, Chi Zhang, Limin Zhang, Yangheshan Yang & Wenxin Cao

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, 100044, China

    Xijun Ni, Qiang Li & Chi Zhang

  3. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, 100104, China

    Xijun Ni & Qiang Li

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408, China

    Xijun Ni & Qiang Li

  5. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100044, China

    Xijun Ni, Qiang Li, Chi Zhang, Limin Zhang, Yangheshan Yang & Wenxin Cao

  6. Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan

    Khizar Samiullah

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  1. Xijun Ni
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Ni, X., Li, Q., Zhang, C. et al. Paleogene mammalian fauna exchanges and the paleogeographic pattern in Asia. Sci. China Earth Sci. 63, 202–211 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-019-9479-1

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