Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Early Eocene rodents (Mammalia) from the Subathu Formation of type area (Himachal Pradesh), NW sub-Himalaya, India: Palaeobiogeographic implications

  • Published:
Journal of Earth System Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on isolated upper cheek teeth, two new early Eocene rodents (Subathumys solanorius gen. et sp. nov. and Subathumys globulus gen. et sp. nov.) and three others (Birbalomys cf. sondaari, Birbalomys sp., cf. Chapattimys sp.) are recorded from the lower–middle part of the Subathu Formation of the type area in Himachal Pradesh, northwestern sub-Himalaya (India). The new rodents exhibit morphological features most similar to the unified ctenodactyloid family Chapattimyidae (including Yuomyidae), which is also represented in the assemblage from the upper part (middle Eocene) of the Subathu Formation. The associated lower cheek teeth are provisionally described as three indeterminate chapattimyid taxa. The new Subathu rodents are somewhat younger than the previously documented early Eocene assemblages from the Indian subcontinent, and are chronologically intermediate between the early Eocene ailuravines from Gujarat in the western peninsular India and the middle Eocene chapattimyids from northwestern India and Pakistan. They suggest that chapattimyids originated in the sub-Himalayan region during the Ypresian, which is earlier than previously believed. The absence of ailuravines in this as well as younger rodent assemblages from the subcontinent seems to suggest that ailuravines (Ischyromyidae), within a relatively short time after their appearance in the peninsular India in the early Eocene, may have been replaced by the indigenous chapattimyids. The co-occurrence in the early Eocene Subathu assemblage of three or more chapattimyids indicates their early radiation and dominance during the early and middle Eocene. This record of rodents opens the possibility of recovery of other small mammal remains in older levels of the Subathu Formation, which will be important for understanding linkage with early Eocene faunas from peninsular India, Europe and North America.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Averianov A 1996 Early Eocene Rodentia of Kyrgyzstan; Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. Paris Ser. 4 18C(4) 629–662.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajpai S and Gingerich P D 1998 A new Eocene archaeocete (Mammalia, Cetacea) from India and the time of origin of whales; Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 95 15,464–15,468.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bajpai S, Kapur V V, Das D P, Tiwari B N, Sarvanan N and Sharma R 2005 Early Eocene land mammals from Vastan lignite mine, District Surat (Gujarat), western India; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 50 101–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bajpai S, Das D P, Kapur V V, Tiwari B N and Srivastava S S 2007 Early Eocene rodents (Mammalia) from Vastan lignite mine, Gujarat, western India; Gond. Geol. Mag. 22 91–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowdich T E 1821 An analysis of the natural classification of mammals for the use of students and travellers; J Smith, Paris, 115p.

  • Boyer D M, Prasad G V R, Krause D W, Godinot M, Goswami A, Verma O and Flynn J J 2010 New postcrania of Deccanolestes from the late Cretaceous of India and their bearing on the evolutionary and biogeographic history of euarchontan mammals; Naturwissenschaften 97 365–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee S and Scotese C R 1999 The breakup of Gondwana and the evolution and biogeography of the Indian Plate; Proc. Indian Nat. Sci. Acad. 65A 397–425.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dashzeveg D and Meng J 1998 New Eocene ctenodactyloid rodents from the Eastern Gobi Desert of Mongolia and a phylogenetic analysis of ctenodactyloids based on dental features; Amer. Mus. Novitates 3246 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson M R 2003 Paleogene rodents of Eurasia; In: Distribution and migration of tertiary mammals in Eurasia; A volume in honour of Hans de Bruijn (eds) Reumer J W F and Wessels W, Deinsea 10 97–126.

  • Dawson M R and Beard C K 1996 New late Paleocene rodents (Mammalia) from Big Multi Quarry, Washakie Basin, Wyoming; Palaeovertebrata 25 301–321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson M R, Li C K and Qi T 1984 Eocene ctenodactyloid rodents (Mammalia) of eastern and central Asia; In: Papers in Vertebrate Paleontology honoring Robert Warren Wilson (ed.) Mengel R M, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, pp. 138–150.

  • De Bast E, Bernard S and Smith T 2012 Diversity of the adapisoriculid mammals from the early Palaeocene of Hainin, Belgium; Acta Palaeontol. Pol. 57 35–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bruijn H, Hussain S T and Leinders J M 1982 On some early Eocene rodent remains from Barbara Banda, Kohat, Pakistan and the early history of the Order Rodentia; Proc. Konink. Neder. Akad. van Wetensch. Ser. B 85 249–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Escarguel G 1999 Les rongeurs de l’Eocène inférieur et moyen d’Europe occidentale; Systématique, phylogénie, biochronologie et paleobiogéographie des niveaux repères MP 7 B MP 14; Palaeovertebrata 28 1–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flynn L J, Jacobs L L and Cheema I U 1986 Baluchimyinae, a new ctenodactyloid rodent subfamily from the Miocene of Baluchistan; Amer. Mus. Novitates 2841 1–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaetani M and Garzanti E 1991 Multicyclic history of the northern India continental margin (northwestern Himalaya); Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 75 (9) 1427–1446.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garg R, Khowaja-Ateequzzaman, P. V, Tripathi S K M, Singh I B, Jauhri A K and Bajpai S 2008 Age–diagnostic dinoflagellate cysts from lignite-bearing sediments of the Vastan lignite mine, Surat District, Gujarat, western India; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 53 99–105.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingerich P D, Wells N A, Russell D E and Shah S M I 1983 Origin of whales in epicontinental remnant seas: New evidence from the early Eocene of Pakistan; Science 220 403–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gingerich P D, Russell D E and Wells N A 1990 Astragalus of Anthracobune (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the early-middle Eocene of Kashmir; Contrib. Mus. Paleontol., Univ. Michigan 28 71–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gingerich P D, Abbas S G and Arif M 1997 Early Eocene Quettacyon parachai (Condylarthra) from the Ghazij Formation of Baluchistan (Pakistan): Oldest Cenozoic land mammal from South Asia; J. Vert. Paleontol. 17 (4) 629–637.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goswami A, Prasad G V R, Upchurch P, Boyer D M, Seiffert E R, Verma O, Gheerbrant E and Flynn J J 2011 A radiation of arboreal basal eutherian mammals beginning in the late Cretaceous of India; Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 108 16,333–16,338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartenberger J L 1982 A review of the Eocene rodents of Pakistan; Contrib. Mus. Paleontol., Univ. Michigan 26 19–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hussain S T, De Bruijn H and Leinders J M 1978 Middle Eocene rodents from the Kala Chitta Range (Punjab, Pakistan); Proc. Konink. Nederl. Akad. Wetensch. Ser. B 81 74–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iakovleva A I, Brinkhuis H and Cavagnetto C 2001 Late Palaeocene–Early Eocene dinoflagellate cysts from the Turgay Strait, Kazakhstan: Correlations across ancient seaways; Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 172 243–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan I H and Clyde W C 2013 Lower Paleogene tectonostratigraphy of Balochistan: Evidence for time-transgressive Late Paleocene–Early Eocene uplift; Geosciences 3 466–501.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korth W W 1988 The rodent Mytonomys from the Uintan and Duchesnean (Eocene) of Utah, and the content of Ailuravinae (Ischyromyidae, Rodentia); J. Vert. Paleontol. 8 290–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korth W W 1994 The tertiary record of rodents in North America; In: Topics in Geobiology (eds) Stehli F G and Jones D S, Plenum Press Publishers, 12 1–319.

  • Kumar K 1989 A report on the occurrence of microvertebrates in the Subathu Formation (Eocene), near Nilkanth, Garhwal Himalaya, Uttar Pradesh; Curr. Sci. 58 743–746.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K 1991 Anthracobune aijiensis nov. sp. (Mammalia: Proboscidea) from the Subathu Formation, Eocene from northwest Himalaya, India; Geobios. 24 221–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K 1992 Paratritemnodon indicus (Creodonta: Mammalia) from the early Middle Eocene Subathu Formation, northwest Himalaya, India and the Kalakot mammalian community structure; Palaontol. Zeitschrift 66 415–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K 2000 Correlation of continental Eocene vertebrate localities of the Indian subcontinent; Him. Geol. 21 63–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K and Jolly A 1986 Earliest artiodactyl (Diacodexis, Dichobunidae: Mammalia) from the Eocene of Kalakot, northwestern Himalaya, India; Indian Soc. Geosci. Bull. 2 20–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K and Loyal R S 1987 Eocene ichthyofauna from the Subathu Formation, northwestern Himalaya, India; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 32 60–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K and Loyal R S 2006 Excursion guide on sub-Himalayan Palaeogene succession of Shimla Hills (Subathu–Dagshai–Kasauli formations in Stratotype Area, Solan District, Himachal Pradesh); Unpublished, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, 61p.

  • Kumar K and Sahni A 1985 Eocene mammals from the Upper Subathu Group, Kashmir Himalaya, India; J. Vert. Paleontol. 5 153–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K, Loyal R S and Srivastava R 1997a Eocene rodents from new localities in Himachal Pradesh, northwest Himalaya, India: Biochronologic implications; J. Geol. Soc. India 50 461–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K, Srivastava R and Sahni A 1997b Middle Eocene rodents from the Subathu Group, northwest Himalaya; Palaeovertebrata 26 83–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar K, Rose K D, Rana R S, Singh L, Thierry S and Sahni A 2010 Early Eocene artiodactyls (Mammalia) from western India; J. Vert. Paleontol. 30 1245–1274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leinders J J M, Arif M, De Bruijn H, Hussain S T and Wessels W 1999 Tertiary continental deposits of northwestern Pakistan and remarks on the collision between the Indian and Asian plates; Deinsea 7 199–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li C K, Wilson R W, Dawson M R and Krishtalka L 1987 The origin of rodents and lagomorphs; In: Current Mammalogy 1 (ed.) Genoways H H, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 97–108.

  • Linnaeus (Linné) C 1758 Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis; Vol 1: Regnum animale. Editio decimal, reformata. Stockholm: Laurentii Salvii. [Facsimile reprinted in 1956 by the British Museum (Natural History).]

  • Marivaux L, Vianey-Liaud M and Jaeger J J 2004 High level phylogeny of early tertiary rodents: Dental evidence; Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 142 105–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marivaux L, Wecomme J -L, Vianey-Liaud M and Jaeger J J 2002 The role of Asia in the origin and diversification of hystricognathous rodents; Zoologica Scripta 31 225–239.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mathur N S and Juyal K P 2000 Atlas of early Palaeogene invertebrate fossils of the Himalayan foothills belt; Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Monograph series, Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, 257p.

  • Mayr G, Rana R S, Rose K D, Sahni A, Kumar K, Singh L and Smith T 2010 Quercypsitta -like birds from the early Eocene of India (Aves, ? Psittaciformes); J. Vert. Paleontol. 30 467–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenna M C and Bell S K (. 1997 Classification of mammals above the species level; Columbia University Press, New York.

  • Meng J and Li C K 2010 New rodents from the earliest Eocene of Nei Mongol, China; Vertebrata PalAsiatica 48 390–401.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaux J 1968 Les Paramyidae (Rodentia) de L’Eocène inférieur du Bassin de Paris; Palaeovertebrata 1 (4) 135–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphy W J, Eizirik E, Johnson W E, Zhang W P, Ryder O Y and O’Brien S J 2001 Molecular phylogenetics and the origins of placental mammals; Nature 409 614–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nanda A C and Kumar K 1999 Excursion guide on the Himalayan Foreland Basin (Jammu–Kalakot–Udhampur sector); Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Spec. Publ. 2 1–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peláez-Campomanes P and López-Martínez N 1996 Strange Eocene rodents from Spain; Palaeovertebrata 25 323–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peláez-Campomanes P, De la Peňa A and López Martínez N 1989 Primeras faunas de micromammíferos del Paleógeno de la Cuenca del Duero; Studia Geologica Salmanticensia 5 135–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pivnik D A and Wells N A 1996 The transition from Tethys to the Himalaya as recorded in northwest Pakistan; Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 108 1295–1313.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prasad G V R, Verma O, Gheerbrant E, Goswami A, Khosla A, Parmar V and Sahni A 2010 First mammal evidence from the late Cretaceous of India for biotic dispersal between India and Africa at the KT transition; C.R. Palevol. 9 63–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Punekar J and Saraswati P K 2010 Age of the Vastan lignite in context of some oldest Cenozoic fossil mammals from India; J. Geol. Soc. India 76 63–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quer R and Agustí J 2010 A new genus of rodents (Remyidae, Mammalia) from the Iberian Eocene; Palaeontology 53 53–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rana R S, Kumar K and Singh H 2004 Vertebrate fauna from the subsurface Cambay Shale (lower Eocene), Vastan lignite mine, Gujarat, India; Curr. Sci. 87 1726–1733.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rana R S, Kumar K, Escarguel G, Sahni A, Rose K D, Smith T, Singh H and Singh L 2008 An ailuravine rodent from the lower Eocene Cambay Formation at Vastan, western India, and its palaeobiogeographic implications; Acta Palaeontol. Polonica 53 1–14.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranga Rao A 1971 Discovery of bone and plant beds at the top of Subathu and its bearing on the Subathu-Murree/Dharamsala/Dagshai contact in the Himalayan foothills; Bull. ONGC 8 43–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranga Rao A and Mishra V N 1981 On the new Eocene mammal localities in the Himalayan foothills; Him. Geol. 11 422–428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rose K D 1981 The Clarkforkian land mammal age and mammalian faunal composition across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary; Papers on Paleontol., Mus. Paleontol., Univ. Michigan 26 1–197.

  • Rose K D, Rana R S, Sahni A, Kumar K, Missiaen P, Singh L and Smith T 2009a Early Eocene primates from Gujarat, India; J. Human Evol. 56 366–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose K D, Rana R S, Sahni A, Kumar K, Singh L and Smith T 2009b First tillodont mammal from India: Additional evidence for an early Eocene faunal connection between Europe and India? Acta Palaeontol. Polonica 54 351–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose K D, Kumar K, Rana R S, Sahni A and Smith T 2013 New hypsodont tillodont (Mammalia, Tillodontia) from the early Eocene of India; J. Paleontol. 87 842–853.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rose K D, Holbrook L T, Rana R S, Kumar K, Jones K E, Ahrens H E, Missiaen P, Sahni A and Smith T 2014 Early Eocene fossils suggest that the mammalian order Perissodactyla originated in India; Nat. Commun. 5 5570, doi: 10.1038/ncomms6570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A and Khare S K 1973 Additional Eocene mammals from the Subathu Formation of Jammu and Kashmir; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 17 31–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A and Kumar K 1980 Lower Eocene Sirenia, Ishatherium subathuensis, gen. et sp. nov. from the type area, Subathu Formation, Subathu, Simla Himalayas, H.P.; J. Palaeontol. Soc. India 23&24 132–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A and Srivastava V C 1976 Eocene rodents and associated reptiles from the Subathu Formation of northwestern India; J. Paleontol. 50 922–928.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A, Bhatia S B, Hartenberger J L, Jaeger J J, Kumar K, Sudre J and Vianey-Liaud M 1980a Vertebrates from the Subathu Formation and comments on the biogeography of Indian subcontinent during the early Palaeogene; Bull. Geol. Soc. France 23 689–695.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A, Kumar K and Tiwari B N 1980b Lower Eocene marine mammal (Sirenia) from Dharampur, Simla Himalaya, H.P.; Curr. Sci. 49 270–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahni A, Saraswati P K, Rana R S, Kumar K, Singh H, Alimohammadian H, Sahni N, Rose K D, Singh L and Smith T 2006 Temporal constraints and depositional palaeoenvironments of the Vastan lignite sequence, Gujarat: Analogy for the Cambay Shale hydrocarbon source rock; Indian J. Petrol. Geol. 15 1–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheveyreva N S 1972 New rodents from the Paleogene of Mongolia and Kazakhstan; Paleontologicheskii Zhurnal 3 134–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheveyreva N S 1976 Paleogene rodents of Asia (families Paramyidae, Sciuravidae, Ischyromyidae, Cylindrodontidae); Trudy Paleontologischeskogo Instituta Academii Nauk USSR 158 1–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh P 1980 The Subathu Group of India; Professional Paper 1, Nav Jyoti Scientific Publications, Lucknow, pp. 1–92.

  • Smith T, Rose K D and Gingerich P D 2006 Rapid Asia–Europe–North America geographic dispersal of earliest Eocene primate Teilhardina during the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum; Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 103 11,223–11,227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith T, Rana R S, Missiaen P, Rose K D, Sahni A, Singh H and Singh L 2007 High bat diversity in the early Eocene of India; Naturwissenschaften 94 1003–1009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith T, De Bast E and Bernard S 2010 Euarchontan affinity of Paleocene Afro-European adapisoriculid mammals and their origin in the late Cretaceous deccan traps of India; Naturwissenschaften 97 417– 422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava R and Kumar K 1996 Taphonomy and paleoenvironment of the middle Eocene rodent localities of northwestern Himalaya, India; Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 122 185– 211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thewissen J G M, Russell D E, Gingerich P D and Hussain S T 1983 A new dichobunid artiodactyl (Mammalia) from the Eocene of north-west Pakistan. Dentition and classification; Proc. Konink. Nederl. Akad. Wetensch. Ser. B 86 153–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thewissen J G M, Williams E M and Hussain S T 2001 Eocene mammal faunas from northern Indo-Pakistan; J. Vert. Paleontol. 21 347–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tullberg T 1899 Ueber das Systern der Nagethiere: eine phylegenetische Studie; Akademischen Buchdruckerei, Upsala, pp. 1–514.

  • Vianey-Liaud M, Schmidt-Kittler N and Peláez-Campomanes P 1994 Pairomys et Ectropomys: la fin d’une ambiguite; mise au point sur les Oltinomyinae et Remyinae (Rodentia, Theridomyidae); Palaeovertebrata 23 (1–4) 119–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang B 1994 The Ctenodactyloidea of Asia; In: Rodent and Lagomorph families of Asian origin and diversification (eds) Tomida Y, Li C and Setoguchi T, Natl. Sci. Mus. Monogr. Tokyo 8 35–47.

Download references

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to Ashok Sahni (Panjab University, Chandigarh), J-L Hartenberger, M Vianey-Liaud and Laurent Marivaux (University of Montpellier) and Giles Escarguel (University of Lyone 1) for commenting on the fossil material. They also thank the two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments and useful suggestions which improved the paper. Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun provided various facilities for this research. SEM micrographs were made at the WIHG.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 General Mahadeo Singh Road, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    Smita Gupta & Kishor Kumar

Authors
  1. Smita Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kishor Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kishor Kumar.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gupta, S., Kumar, K. Early Eocene rodents (Mammalia) from the Subathu Formation of type area (Himachal Pradesh), NW sub-Himalaya, India: Palaeobiogeographic implications. J Earth Syst Sci 124, 1201–1221 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0607-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0607-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation