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A New Assemblage of Mid-Pliocene Proboscideans from the Woranso-Mille Area, Afar Region, Ethiopia: Taxonomic, Evolutionary, and Paleoecological Considerations

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Abstract

Recent fieldwork at Woranso-Mille, Ethiopia led to the recovery of an abundant, diverse mammalian fauna that includes remains of the early hominid Australopithecus afarensis. Proboscideans are among the taxa well sampled at the site, primarily by gnathodental specimens, dated to the mid-Pliocene interval of 3.8–3.6 Ma. These fossils document traces of the last anancine gomphotheres (Anancus ultimus) in eastern Africa and several elephant taxa. Comparative study of the elephant fossils indicates the presence of cf. Mammuthus sp. “Hadar-type,” cf. Elephas ekorensis, E. recki brumpti, and cf. Loxodonta adaurora adaurora. Proboscidean evolution in the mid-Pliocene is interesting because during this time archaic elephants were completely replaced by basal members of crown elephant lineages, taxonomic diversity was high (multiple elephant species, anancine gomphotheres, stegodonts, and deinotheres), and elephants were undergoing substantial reorganization of the craniodental masticatory apparatus, presumably in response to the spread of more open habitats and greater competition for grazing resources. The Woranso-Mille sample is important because this interval is only represented elsewhere in eastern Africa by a small number of sites, and because adaptive diversification among early crown elephants requires greater clarification. Morphometric contrasts among the fossil dentition from Woranso-Mille presage the differential success of elephant lineages in eastern Africa during the Pleistocene, providing hints about the beginnings of competitive displacement. Differences between E. recki brumpti from Woranso-Mille and the slightly younger Sidi Hakoma Member of the Hadar Formation reveal the beginnings of continuous, directional morphometric change that characterized the lineage. Reconsideration of E. recki subspecies indicates that they are arbitrary lineage divisions tied to geochronological boundaries (with utility for biochronological correlation at well sampled sites) rather than real phylogenetic entities, but does not reject monophyly or anagenetic evolution of the lineage.

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Acknowledgements

WJS is particularly grateful to YHS for his generous invitation to participate in the study of fossil proboscideans from Woranso-Mille. We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the National Museum of Ethiopia of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for field and laboratory permissions and access to facilities. We also thank the Afar Regional Government, its local administrative units, and the Afar people of Mille District for facilitating and participating in our research endeavors. We are grateful to the following individuals and institutions for access to fossil specimens in their care: Jerry Hooker (The Natural History Museum, London), Meave Leakey and Emma Mbua (Kenya National Museums, Nairobi), Graham and Margaret Avery (Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town), Michael Mbago and Amandus Kweka (Tanzanian National Museums, Dar es Salaam), Ezra Musiime (Ugandan Museum, Kampala), Mamitu Yilma (National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa), Léonard Ginsburg (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris), and William Kimbel (Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University). Figures 2–11 were composed with the expert assistance of Bonnie Miljour. We appreciate the suggestions of two anonymous reviewers and the editor to help improve the manuscript. This work was supported by grants BCS-0234320, BCS-0542037, and BCS-0321893 from the National Science Foundation, and by grants from the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the National Geographic Society (to YHS), and by several Turner Grant awards from the Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Michigan (to WJS).

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  1. Museum of Paleontology, The University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    William J. Sanders

  2. Department of Anthropology, The University of Michigan, 1085 South University Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    William J. Sanders

  3. Department of Physical Anthropology, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Yohannes Haile-Selassie

  4. Departments of Anthropology, Cognitive Sciences, and Anatomy, Institute for the Science of Origins, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 44106, USA

    Yohannes Haile-Selassie

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Sanders, W.J., Haile-Selassie, Y. A New Assemblage of Mid-Pliocene Proboscideans from the Woranso-Mille Area, Afar Region, Ethiopia: Taxonomic, Evolutionary, and Paleoecological Considerations. J Mammal Evol 19, 105–128 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-011-9181-y

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