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New Specimens of Frugivastodon (Mammalia: Apatotheria) from the Early Eocene of India Confirm Its Apatemyid Status and Elucidate Dispersal of Apatemyidae

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Biological Consequences of Plate Tectonics

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Abstract

We here describe 18 new specimens of the sole apatemyid mammal known outside North America and Europe: Frugivastodon cristatus from the early Eocene Cambay Shale Formation of Vastan Lignite Mine, Gujarat, India. This mammal was previously represented by a single isolated lower molar, which hindered the establishment of its relationships among Apatemyidae. The new fossils show that the Indian apatemyid is unique and represents a new morphotype among this family. It is notably characterized by mesiodistally elongated lower molars with a reduced m3, a small hypocone on the upper molars, and a transversely wider M1 than in other apatemyids. The new data supports the inclusion of the enigmatic Uintan Aethomylos within Apatemyidae. The Indian Frugivastodon and the North American Aethomylos might represent a distinct clade of Apatemyidae that originated around the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. A paleobiogeographic analysis suggests that Frugivastodon dispersed from Europe into India during the early Ypresian. We also review the dispersal events that characterized the history of Apatemyidae.

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Acknowledgements

It is an honor to dedicate this paper to Ashok Sahni, in recognition of his unequalled contributions to the field of vertebrate paleontology in India, and his integral role in establishing our project on the early Eocene vertebrates of Gujarat. We are grateful to G. V. R. Prasad and Rajeev Patniak for inviting us to contribute to this volume honoring Prof. Sahni. We thank other members of our field team who participated in the paleontological expeditions at the Vastan lignite mine , including H. E. Ahrens, R. H. Dunn, A. Folie, F. D. H. Gould, P. Missiaen, H. Singh, L. Singh, and G. McKusick Voegele, and the personnel of the Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd. for facilitating our excavations. At the RBINS, Julien Cillis assisted during the production of SEM images. We are grateful to Richard Smith for access to his cast collection, and to G. Billet and K. Le Verger (MNHN) for the picture of the specimen MNHN.F.MU115-L. We are also grateful to M. Novacek for allowing us to reproduce his illustrations of Aethomylos simplicidens , A. Henrici for information concerning the Carnegie Museum Powder Wash specimens referred to Aethomylos, and R. Stucky for information on occurrence of Aethomylos. Field work and research was supported by the National Geographic Society (grants 6868-00, 7938-05, 8356-07, 8710-09, 8958-11, and 9240-12 to KDR); the Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun , India (to KK); and the Federal Science Policy Office of Belgium (BELSPO BR/121/A3/PalEurAfrica to T.S.). In this endeavor, a networking project (BELSPO BL/36/fwi05 to T.S.) funded travels of two Belgian and three Indian researchers to India and Belgium, respectively, to exchange their scientific expertise. Finally, we thank Philip Gingerich, Jerry Hooker, and Mary Silcox for their insightful reviews, which led to significant improvements in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Directorate Earth and History of Life, Paleobiosphere Evolution, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, B-1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Floréal Solé, Eric De Bast & Thierry Smith

  2. Institut Polytechnique LaSalle-Beauvais, Beauvais, France

    Hélène Legendre

  3. Department of Geology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar, 246175, Uttarakhand, India

    Rajendra S. Rana

  4. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, 248001, Uttarakhand, India

    Kishor Kumar

  5. Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kenneth D. Rose

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  1. Department of Geology, Center for Advanced Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Guntupalli V.R. Prasad

  2. Center of Advanced Study in Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India

    Rajeev Patnaik

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Solé, F. et al. (2020). New Specimens of Frugivastodon (Mammalia: Apatotheria) from the Early Eocene of India Confirm Its Apatemyid Status and Elucidate Dispersal of Apatemyidae. In: Prasad, G.V., Patnaik, R. (eds) Biological Consequences of Plate Tectonics. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49753-8_12

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