A herpetotheriid marsupial from the Oligocene of Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan

J.-Y. Crochet (1) , P.-O. Antoine (2) , Mouloud Benammi , N. Iqbal , Laurent Marivaux (1) , Grégoire Metais (3) , Jean-Loup Welcomme (1)

1 UMR ISEM - Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier
2 LMTG - Laboratoire des Mécanismes et Transfert en Géologie
3 Paléobiodiversité et paléoenvironnements

Didelphimorph marsupials were widely distributed in Asia during the Cenozoic, but their occurrence in the Indian subcontinent has not so far been demonstrated. Here, we describe a new herpetotheriid marsupial Asiddidelphis akbar-bugtii sp. nov. from the early Oligocene Bugti Member of the Chitarwata Formation, Bugti Hills, Pakistan. The discovery of the herpetotheriids in the Oligocene of Pakistan represents the most southern occurrence of the family, which was thought to have occurred only to the north of the Alpine-Himalayan Suture. Our data suggest that episodic faunal exchanges occurred between the Asian mainland and the Indian subcontinent during the late Paleogene, and that the southern Asian faunas were not as completely isolated by the Himalayan chain as formerly believed.

Mots clés: EOCENE; ASIA; DIDELPHIDAE; DISCOVERY; MAMMALIA

Domaines: Sciences de la Terre

J.-Y. Crochet, P.-O. Antoine, Mouloud Benammi, N. Iqbal, Laurent Marivaux, et al.. A herpetotheriid marsupial from the Oligocene of Bugti Hills, Balochistan, Pakistan. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 2007, 52 (3), pp.633-637. ⟨hal-00319692⟩