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First Apatemyid Mammal from Central Asia

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Abstract

Asiapator onchin gen. et sp. nov. is based on a dentary fragment from the middle Eocene (Irdinmanhan) Khaychin Formation at Khaychin Ula 3 locality, Mongolia. The preserved dentition includes di1 being replaced by i1, dp2 or p2, roots of dp4, and erupting p4. This is the first record of the Apatemyidae in Central Asia. The holotype of A. onchin provides the first direct evidence for dental replacement in the Apatemyidae, showing diphyodont first lower incisor and fourth lower premolar. Asiapator has only one lower incisor as in all apatemyids except Unuchinia from the Paleocene of North America. Asiapator is similar to Unuchinia and differs from more derived apatemyids in having a simple unmodified anterior premolar (dp2 or p2). Asiapator likely evolved from a North American immigrant.

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Abbreviations

PIN:

Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff of the Saint Petersburg State University Research Centre for X-ray Diffraction Studies (Saint Petersburg, Russia) for CT scanning of PIN 3403/306. We thank Mary Silcox and Kenneth Rose for reviewing the paper and useful suggestions. We thank the Willi Hennig Society for their sponsorship making TNT available for all researchers free of cost. AL was supported by Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences. AA was supported by Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences (project AAAA-A19-119032590102-7) and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 19-04-00057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsouznaya ul. 123, Moscow, Russia, 117647

    Alexey V. Lopatin

  2. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Universitetskaya nab. 1, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 199034

    Alexander O. Averianov

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  1. Alexey V. Lopatin
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  2. Alexander O. Averianov
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Correspondence to Alexander O. Averianov.

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This article is registered in ZooBank under urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:45011E51-8711-4C49-957E-66BF957640E6.

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Lopatin, A.V., Averianov, A.O. First Apatemyid Mammal from Central Asia. J Mammal Evol 29, 129–135 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09574-5

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