Abstract
We review the systematics and key features of the fossil beavers of Yushe Basin, which encompass much of the taxonomic diversity of Late Neogene Castoridae in China. Larger samples now available reduce some of the diversity that was apparent previously. For example, the North American genus Eucastor is no longer recognized in the Yushe Group; specimens previously considered to represent that genus are attributed to Trogontherium and Sinocastor. Modern fieldwork improves our understanding of provenance and allows discernment of biostratigraphic patterns. The Yushe Basin deposits are characterized by long lineages of the aquatic beavers Dipoides and Sinocastor, the latter being very close to living beavers and considered a subgenus of Castor herein. The older (late Miocene) levels of Yushe Basin contain a species of Dipoides that can be distinguished from the form that characterizes Pliocene age deposits. Castor (Sinocastor) shows a different pattern; there are perhaps two Miocene representatives, with one persisting through the Pliocene as a long lived lineage. The large castoroidine Trogontherium appears in the Pleistocene Haiyan Formation, late in the record of Yushe Basin.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Chuan-Kui Li and Zhan-Xiang Qiu for guidance, advice, and access to unpublished fossils. Louis Jacobs and Dick Tedford supplied information and encouragement at many stages of the research. Dale Winkler kindly provided copies of the tables from the first author’s dissertation, and Ms. Jin Chen updated fossil curation with care. Wen-Yu Wu carefully read the manuscript, correcting several details, and reviewers Bill Korth, Louis Jacobs, and Natalia Rybczynski helped immensely to improve the presentation and discussion.
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Xu, X., Li, Q., Flynn, L.J. (2017). The Beavers (Castoridae) of Yushe Basin. In: J. Flynn, L., Wu, WY. (eds) Late Cenozoic Yushe Basin, Shanxi Province, China: Geology and Fossil Mammals. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1050-1_6
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