Mammals from the Mesozoic of Mongolia
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Mammals from the Mesozoic of Mongolia Introduction and Simpson (1926) dcscrihed these as placental (eutherian) insectivores. 'l'he deltathcroids originally Mongolia produces one of the world's most extraordi- included with the insectivores, more recently have narily preserved assemblages of hlesozoic ma~nmals. t)een assigned to the Metatheria (Kielan-Jaworowska Unlike fossils at most Mesozoic sites, Inany of these and Nesov, 1990). For ahout 40 years these were the remains are skulls, and in some cases these are asso- only Mesozoic ~nanimalsknown from Mongolia. ciated with postcranial skeletons. Ry contrast, 'I'he next discoveries in Mongolia were made by the Mesozoic mammals at well-known sites in North Polish-Mongolian Palaeontological Expeditions America and other continents have produced less (1963-1971) initially led by Naydin Dovchin, then by complete material, usually incomplete jaws with den- Rinchen Barsbold on the Mongolian side, and Zofia titions, or isolated teeth. In addition to the rich Kielan-Jaworowska on the Polish side, Kazi~nierz samples of skulls and skeletons representing Late Koualski led the expedition in 1964. Late Cretaceous Cretaceous mam~nals,certain localities in Mongolia ma~nmalswere collected in three Gohi Desert regions: are also known for less well preserved, but important, Bayan Zag (Djadokhta Formation), Nenlegt and remains of Early Cretaceous mammals. The mammals Khulsan in the Nemegt Valley (Baruungoyot from hoth Early and Late Cretaceous intervals have Formation), and llcrmiin 'ISav, south-\vest of the increased our understanding of diversification and Neniegt Valley, in the Red beds of Hermiin 'rsav, morphologic variation in archaic mammals. which have heen regarded as a stratigraphic ecluivalent Potentially this new information has hearing on the of the Baruungoyot Formation (Gradzinslti r't crl., phylogenetic relationships among major branches of 1977). The mammal collection made by these expedi- ma~nmals. tions from all these sites contai~lsahout 1 70 specimens Simpson (192Sa) described the first Mesozoic representing ~nultituberculatesand therians (Kielan- mammal from Mongolia. This was a skull associated Jaworourska 1974, 1984~;Kielan-Jaworowska and with fragments of the postcranial skeleton of a multi- Carnbaryan, 1 Gambaryan and Kielan- tuherculate, Djnducht~~theriummntthewi, collected in Jaworowska, 199.5; Kielan-Jaworowska and Ilurum, 1923 at Bayan Zag (known also as Shabarakh Usu) in 1997, and references therein). the Gobi Desert, from rocks of the Upper Cretaceous In 6 thc Sotriet-klongolian Geological Djadokhta Formation (Figure 29.1). The specimen was Expedition found the skull of a n~ultituberculate, found by the Central Asiatic Expedition organized hy Hugi~zl/a/ztczrtm~z.rn1tninz.ri.r at Khaichin Uul in the the American Museum of Natural History in New Biigiin 'rsav region (referred to also as Rugin Cav), York (1921-1930), and led t)y Roy Chapman Andrews north-west of the Nernegt Basin (Kiclan-Jaworo\vska (see Chapter 12). Principal field participants included and Sochava, 196 Kielan--jaworowska, 107% Walter Granger who, with a snlall team, recovered 'I'rofimov, 1975). The heds at Khaichin Uul are eight additional mammal specimens in 1925. Ciregory referred to thc Upper C:retaceous and are equivalent 2. KIELAN-JAWOROWSKA etal. Figure 29.1. Diagrammatic map of mammal-bearing Mesozoic localities in Mongolia. (1) Bayan Zag, (2) Togrogiin Shiree, (3) Ukhaa Tolgod, (4) Khulsan, (5) Nemegt, (6) Hermiin Tsav 11, (7) Hermiin Tsav 1, (8) Biigiin Tsav, (9) Khaichin Uul, (10) Guriliin Tsav, (1 1) ~iidenSair, (12) HiiGvor. to the Nemegt Formation (Gradzinski et al., 1977). eutherian and multituberculate mammals, more rare Fossil mammals, however, were not found in the 'triconodonts' (now regarded as a polyphyletic group), Nemegt Formation in the Nemegt Basin. very rare 'eupantotheres' (a paraphyletic group), sym- From 1969 until 1996, the Soviet-Mongolian metrodonts and aegialodontids (Belyaeva et al., 1974; Palaeontological Expeditions (SMPE), led by Dashzeveg, 1975, 1979, 1994; Trofimov, 1978, 1980; Rinchen Barsbold and Demberlyin Dashzeveg on the Dashzeveg and Kielan-Jaworowska, 1984; Kielan- Mongolian side and by various Russian scientists, Jaworowska et al., 1987; Kielan-Jaworowska and principally Valerii Reshetov, worked in Mongolia. Dashzeveg, 1989, 1998; Sigogneau-Russell etal., 1992; They discovered an Early Cretaceous (Aptian or Wible et al., 1995). By contrast to Late Cretaceous Albian) mammal site at Hoovor (known also as mammals that were collected from the surface of out- Khovboor or Khoobur, and Guchin Us) in Guchinus crops and are represented by skulls, often associated Sum (county) in the Gobi Desert. This site, explored with postcranial skeletons, the fossils from Hoovor subsequently also by D. Dashzeveg (referred to further were collected using washing and screening tech- as D.D.) and the Mongolian Academy-American niques and consisted, by 1974, of about 500 isolated Museum Expeditions (see below) yielded numerous teeth and bones (Belyaeva etal., 1974). Mammals from the Mesozoic of Mongolia Another Early Cretaceous, though less rich, samples of Early Cretaceous mammals from Hiiiiviir. mammal locality was discovered by the SMPE at The quantities of Late Cretaceous manlrnals recov- Kha~narynUs (= Gashuuny Khudag). situated south- ered exceed in numbers the collections of all previous west of the city of Sainshand in southeastern expeditions. For example, Ukhaa 'l'olgod, a new local- Mongolia. Only one mammal remain, a fragment of a ity discovered in 1903, situated at the eastern part of dentary with m2 and m3 ('Triconodonta', possibly the Ne~negtBasin, east of Khulsan, has yielded over Arnphilestidae) has been described (Reshetov and 800 mammal specimens in an unusually good state of Trofimov, 1980) froin this site. preservation (Dashzeveg et nl., 1995; Rougier ct al., 'The SMPE also collected Late Cretaceous 1996a, b, 1997, 1998; Novacek etal., 1997). mammals at various sites. Most important among During September of 1095 a small ,Mongolian- these was the discovery at ~iidenSair, in beds corre- Polish team (Yo. Khand, H. Osm6lska, 'T. Maryariska sponding to the Baruungoyot Formation, of the skull and K. Sabath) collected fossils at various localities in and postcranial skeleton of the first Late Cretaceous the Gobi Desert, including Ukhaa Tolgod where they non-deltatheroid metatherian from Asia (Trofimov recoljered remains of nine multitubcrculates and one and Szalay, 1994; Szalay and Trofimov, 1996), and the placental (Kielan-Jaworowska and Hurum, 1997; skull of a large deltatheroidan in beds possibly equiva- Kielan-Jaworowska, 1998). lent to the Nenlegt Formation, at Guriliin Tsav It should also be noted that fossil ~narnrnalshave (=Gurlin Cav), north of the Nemegt Basin been reported, but not described from Bayan (.Anonymous, 1983; Kielan-Jaworowska and Nesov, Mandahu, a locality in northern China near the 1990; Szalay and Trofimov, 1996). Mongolian-Chinese border, and thought to be equiva- Finally, at the locality of Shar 'Teeg in the Trans- lent in age to the Djadokhta Formation Uerzykiewicz Altaian Gol~i,the SMPE found the first and only etal., 1993; Wang etal., 1995) :\bout 50 skulls, three or known Jurassic mammal from Mongolia, a single tooth four with incomplete skeletons, were tentatively of a docodont that was initially identified as a symmet- identified as taeniolabidoid multituberculates, rodont (Tatariuov, 1994). although one specimen was identitied as the eutherian These samples were augmented by additional Late Ken~ialstes. Cretaceous mammals collected by D.D. at 'Tiigriigiin Gradziriski et nl. (1977) refined the descriptions of Shiree (= Tugrugeen Shireh, 'l'ugrik) in beds equiva- three Upper Cretaceous Gobi Desert formations. lent to the Djadokhta Formation, and at other sites They suggested as 'best guesses' the following ages: (Kielan-Jaworowska and Dashzeveg, 1978). A few Djadokhta Formation =?upper Santonian and/or Cretaceous mammals were found by other expedi- ?lower Campanian; Baruunpoyot Formation =?middle tions including the Italian-French-Mongolian Campanian; Nemegt Formation =?upper Carnpanian Expedition in 1991 (Taquet, 1994) and by the and ?lower Maastrichtian (see, however, Fox, 1978; Japanese-Mongolian Expeditions in 1993-1996 Lillegraven and McKenna, 1986; Jerzykiewicz et nl., (Mahito Watabe, pers. comin. to Z.KJ.). 1993, and Chapters 14 and 15 for alternative age esti- The American Museum of Natural History and the mates). These assignments were based on fresh-water lnstitute of Geology of the Mongolian Academy of invertebrates and comparisons of dinosaurs and Sciences carried out ten palaeontological expeditions mainmals with those froin European and North (1990-1999), under the guidance of Demberlyin American assemblages, essentially above the generic Dashzeveg and Michael J. Novacek. This collabora- level. Unfortunatety, without a context provided by tion, known as the Mongolian Academy-American palaeomagnetic, radiometric, or marine tie-ins, such Museum Expeditions (MAE), has produced a spectac- correlations are tenuous at best. ular coltection of Late Cretaceous mammals tiom 'I'be stratigraphic scheme of Gradzinski etnl. (1977) previously known and new localities, as well as large has been questioned by members of the Mongolian .\cadem\.-.\mcrican hluseum Project. It appears from Campanian is 3 marine stage established in Europe preliminary identifications of the fauna collected at and divided on the I~asisof' ;lmrnonites