Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology

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First Neogene from China

Gerhard Storch & Zhuding Qiu

To cite this article: Gerhard Storch & Zhuding Qiu (2002) First Neogene marsupial from China, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 22:1, 179-181

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2002)022[0179:FNMFC]2.0.CO;2

Published online: 24 Aug 2010.

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Download by: [National Science Library] Date: 03 April 2016, At: 02:44 Journal of VertebratePaleontology 22(1):179-181, March 2002 C 2002 by the Society of VertebratePaleontology

NOTE

FIRST NEOGENE MARSUPIAL FROM CHINA

GERHARD STORCH' and ZHUDING QIU2, Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Senckenberg-Anlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, [email protected]; 2Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica, PO. Box 643, Beijing 100044, China

The fossil record of in Asia and our understanding of their gulum are highly unusual for any Cenozoic didelphid, however, and relationships are extremely poor. The extant fauna of Asia does warrant the description of a new genus and species. The alleged Eu- not include marsupials and not a single Cenozoic fossil was known from ropean Paleocene peradectine marandati was re-identified this continent until 1984. Only a dozen cheek teeth, discovered during as an adapisoriculid eutherian by Gheerbrant (1991). The new Chinese the last two decades and coming from only a handful of widely scattered marsupial differs from eutherian groups that have marsupial-like molars fossil localities, represent Cenozoic marsupials on the vast Asian con- such as adapisoriculids in the transversely less expanded lingual region tinent (Fig. 1). We here describe the first fossil marsupial from China (protocone lobe), reduction of the paracone, relatively shorter prepara- and from East Asia as a whole. The new find expands the known geo- crista lacking a carnassial notch, and reduced conules. graphical range of the taxon considerably and together with Siamoper- adectes from Thailand represent the only known Neogene marsupials SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY from Asia. The retention of dental unknown plesiomorphic characters, Order DIDELPHIMORPHIA Gill, 1872 from Tertiary North American and an European marsupials, suggests DIDELPHIDAE Gray, 1821 of the Chinese taxon from late Cretaceous North American Family origin stock, PERADECTINAE Crochet, 1979 and thus the existence of its in in East Asia Subfamily lineage obscurity through SINOPERADECTES, gen. nov. the Paleogene. (Fig. 2) The first discovery of a Cenozoic Asian marsupial, an upper molar, was from the late Eocene of the Zaysan Basin, Kazakhstan (Gabunia et Type Species-Sinoperadectes clandestinus, sp. nov. al., 1984, 1985; Benton, 1985). Together with an additional upper molar Etymology-In allusion to the provenance of the fossil and to its from the same geological formation, it was later described as the new systematic affinities. taxon Asiadidelphis zaissanense (Gabunia et al., 1990). A second spe- Diagnosis-Small-sized (length of M2 = 1.48 mm, width = 1.80 cies, Asiadidelphis tjutkovae, was described from somewhat younger, mm). Sinoperadectes differs from all other peradectines in the presence early Oligocene strata of the Zaysan Basin on the basis of three asso- of anterior and posterior cingula along the protocone. It differs from ciated upper molars and Asiadidelphis was referred to the subfamily Peradectes, Nanodelphys, Mimoperadectes, and Armintodelphys in the Herpetotheriinae of the family Didelphidae (Emry et al., 1995). An presence of a distal metacingulum along the base of the metacone and Asiadidelphis-like , represented by more than 10 cheek teeth, in having the metacone of M2 distinctly larger and higher than the was listed among the from the middle Eocene Shanghuang paracone. It shares with Siamoperadectes derived features such as fauna of Liyang County, Jiangsu Province, China (Qi et al., 1991, strong reduction of conules (virtually absent in Sinoperadectes) and 1996). An upper molar from the middle Miocene of Li Basin, northern stylar cusps (cusp C discrete in both taxa), presence of a wide and Thailand, was described as Siamoperadectes minutus, a new taxon of shallow ectoflexus, and lack of an anteriorly protruding parastylar the didelphid subfamily Peradectinae (Ducrocq et al., 1992). Mein and flange. It shares with Siamoperadectes the plesiomorphic character of a The is small in Ginsburg (1987) described a second upper molar from the same locality. posterior metacingulum. metacingulum very Siamoper- but shelf-like and in dif- A new, still unnamed, herpetotheriine didelphid, represented by four adectes, flaring Sinoperadectes. Asiadidelphis fers from in the of full distinct Downloaded by [National Science Library] at 02:44 03 April 2016 isolated and partly fragmentary upper and lower molars from the early- Sinoperadectes presence dilambdodonty, and to-middle Eocene Kartal Formation near Ankara, Turkey, was an- conules, prominent stylar cusps. nounced in 1996 (Kappelman et al., 1996). The same formation also SINOPERADECTES CLANDESTINUS, sp. nov. produced an upper molar of peculiar morphology which was provision- molar Collection of the ally regarded as belonging to a marsupial (Maas et al., 1998). Holotype-A second right upper (Fig. 2). Institute of Vertebrate and Fossil sites 20 km southwest of Hongzhehu Lake, Sihong County, Paleontology Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Chinese of V12564. Jiangsu Province, eastern China (Fig. 1), have yielded a diverse mam- Academy Sciences, Beijing, and malian fauna, the Sihong Local Fauna, that includes about 50 species Type Locality Horizon-Songlinzhuang, Sihong County, Jiang- su eastern China. Miocene MN4 of insectivores, bats, rodents, lagomorphs, carnivores, proboscideans, Province, Early (Early Shanwangian, perissodactyls, artiodactyls, cetaceans, and primates (Qiu and Qiu, equivalent). for 1995). Biochronologic evidence, mainly from rodents, places the Sihong Diagnosis-As genus. (Latin) = clandestine, in allusion to the Local Fauna in the Shanwangian East Asian Land Mammal Age and Etymology-clandestinus scarce record of a most correlative with European land mammal zone MN 4 (late Mio- extremely likely very long evolutionary history early of in East Asia. cene). The new marsupial fossil, an isolated second upper molar, was peradectines found at the Songlinzhuang locality of the The lacus- Sihong complex. DISCUSSION trine beds at Songlinzhuang are rich in large and small mammals in- dicative of a forested, well-watered paleoenvironment (Li et al., 1983). Pouched mammals today are restricted to the Australian region and The sciurids, for example, include various species of flying squirrels, the Americas. Fossil evidence from the Late Cretaceous strongly sup- tree squirrels, and chipmunks (Qiu and Liu, 1986). ports a North American origin of the Marsupialia (Cifelli, 1993; Eaton, Marsupial characters of the molar (Fig. 2) include a broad, cuspate 1993). During the Tertiary, marsupials dispersed to all major land mas- stylar shelf, an enlarged metacone well separated from the smaller para- ses yet vanished from the northern continents during the Miocene; the cone, and a relatively low width to length ratio. The combination of a extant North American opossum being a Pleistocene re-invader from linear centrocrista, weak development of stylar cusps, and the lack of South America (McKenna and Bell, 1997). Before the general accep- conules strongly supports its allocation to the didelphid subfamily Per- tance of plate tectonics, the alleged absence of fossil marsupials from adectinae. The presence of protoconal cingula and a wide posterior cin- Asia seriously hampered the reconstruction of dispersal routes. Since

179 180 JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY, VOL. 22, NO. 1, 2002

J ihonJiangsuHonghze Lake son 2 2O Nanpang

Anhui l

' Nanjing

FIGURE 1. Map showing localities in Asia where Tertiary fossil mar- supials have been found. Circles: occurrences of Neogene peradectines (1, Sinoperadectes, early Miocene; 2, Siamoperadectes, middle Mio- cene). Triangles: occurrences of Paleogene herpetotheriines (3, unnamed taxon, early-to-middle Eocene; 4, Asiadidelphis, late Eocene and early Oligocene; 5, Asiadidelphis-like taxon, middle Eocene).

the recognition of the "mobilistic" scenario of continental drift and the discovery of the first true Asian marsupials, their origin and affinities are still not well understood. The western Asian Asiadidelphis is thought FIGURE 2. Second right upper molar (holotype, IVPP V12564) of to have dispersed either from Europe (Gabunia et al., 1985; Marshall Sinoperadectes clandestinus, gen. et sp. nov. in occlusal (A), labial (B), et al., 1990; Averianov and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1999) or North Amer- anterior (C), and posterior (D) views. ica (Emry et al., 1995). The Anatolian herpetotheriines are said to show affinities to both European and African groups (Maas et al., 1998) or perhaps represent an endemic center of evolution (Kappelman et al., 1996). Siamoperadectes is assumed to be related to Paleogene North adectes A continuous with B into American or et or even with (cusp precingulum, cusp merged slop- European peradectines (Ducrocq al., 1992), D and E reduced) and of and taxa known from the of Australia and Kielan-Ja- ing preparacrista, cusps Siamoperadectes Tertiary (Averianov is consistently present in Late Cretaceous alphadontines (Cifelli, 1993); worowska, 1999). C is reduced, however, in and most North American Recent work has the of in the Creta- cusp European suggested presence marsupials Paleogene peradectines (Crochet, 1980; Krishtalka and Stucky, 1983). ceous of Asia, best known Asiatherium from the of being Campanian Most current classifications recognize Alphadontinae as the plesio- and 1994; and Trofimov, 1996; Ci- Mongolia (Trofimov Szalay, Szalay morphic sister taxon of Peradectinae and we consider the above char- felli and de Muizon, Asiatherium is unlike 1997). quite marsupials acter states in Sinoperadectes as primitive and retained from a Late known from the North American Cretaceous and North American, Eu- Downloaded by [National Science Library] at 02:44 03 April 2016 Cretaceous North American stock. A taxon such as the and Asian The trenchant small alphadontine ropean, Paleogene. strongly protocone Late Cretaceous sahnii is morphologically similar to Sino- with almost vertical and reduced shelf, pre- postprotocrista, stylar hy- peradectes in the of a wide an and and presence lingual cingula, metacingulum, pertrophied lingual pre- postcingulum, robustly developed, C, and somewhat inflated main conules to be of the mo- anteroposteriorly elongate cusp cusps strongly winged appear autapomorphies upper (Cifelli, 1990). An African origin of Eurasian peradectines cannot be lars of Asiatherium and de Muizon, It is thus (Cifelli 1997). unlikely totally dismissed, but dental evidence from known Afro-Arabian fossils that branched off from an Asiatherium-like Asian clade. A peradectines does not support this hypothesis (Crochet et al., 1992). Minute members second Asian Marsasia from the Coniacian of Uzbekistan, would genus, of primitive peradectine thus existed in East and South Asia require a rather early dispersal between North America and Asia. The for more than 40 Ma without at is based on some edentulous dentaries and a lower molar showing major evolutionary changes, genus single least in their upper cheek teeth, and without having a fossil occurrence (Averianov and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1999) and evidence for its assign- before Miocene time. ment to is not An unnamed mammal, marsupials absolutely compelling. Acknowledgments-Drs. W. A. Clemens, R. L. Cifelli, and R. C. represented by the Gurlin Tsav specimen from the Maastrichtian of Hulbert Jr. comments on an earlier version of the man- is not described in detail. From known evidence provided helpful Mongolia, yet (Kielan- uscript. The figures were prepared by T. Dahlmann and S. Traenkner. Jaworowska and Nessov, 1990) a wide departure of dental morphology from can be assumed. peradectine-like marsupials LITERATURE CITED The unique character of Sinoperadectes among Peradectinae, pre- and postcingula along the protocone, is variably present in some Late Cre- Averianov, A., and Z. Kielan-Jaworowska. 1999. Marsupials from the taceous North American marsupials of the didelphid subfamily Alpha- late Cretaceous of Uzbekistan. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 44: dontinae (Clemens, 1966; Lillegraven and McKenna, 1986; Cifelli, 71-81. 1990; Szalay and Trofimov, 1996, Cifelli and Muizon, 1997). The pres- Benton, M. J. 1985. First marsupial fossil from Asia. Nature 318:313. ence of a metacingulum in Sinoperadectes and Siamoperadectes is Cifelli, R. L. 1990. Cretaceous mammals of southern Utah. I. Marsu- unique among Cenozoic peradectines, but is typical of North American pials from the Kaiparowits Formation (Judithian). Journal of Ver- Late Cretaceous alphadontines (Eaton, 1993; Cifelli and Muizon, 1997). tebrate Paleontology 10:295-319. Stylar cusp C is the only distinct cusp along the ectoflexus of Sinoper- 1993. Early Cretaceous mammal from North America and the NOTES 181

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