Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

First porcupine fossils (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the late Miocene of NW Iran, with notes on late Miocene–Pliocene dispersal of porcupines

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Paläontologische Zeitschrift Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper describes the first fossil porcupine remains from Iran. Four upper cheek teeth and two fragmentary lower incisors present sufficient characters for identification as Hystrix aryanensis, a species previously known from the late Miocene locality of Molayan (Afghanistan) estimated at ca. 7–8 Ma. The dental features of porcupines are discussed to show their systematic value and highlight evolutionary trends in late Miocene and Pliocene porcupines. This study also discusses the dispersal history of fossil porcupines in relation to paleobiogeographic provinces and environmental changes during late Miocene to late Pliocene time.

Kurzfassung

Diese Arbeit beschreibt die ersten Stachelschweinfossilfunde aus dem Iran. Vier Oberkieferzähne und zwei fragmentäre untere Frontzähne zeigen Merkmale, die zur Bestimmung von Hystrix aryanensis ausreichen, eine Art, die bisher aus dem jüngeren Miozän aus Molayan (Afghanistan) bekannt ist und auf ca. 7 bis 8 Ma geschätzt wird. Die Zahnmerkmale der Stachelschweine werden diskutiert, um deren systematische Aussagekraft hervorzuheben, und um die Evolutionstrends der Stachelschweine im jüngeren Miozän und Pliozän zu beleuchten. Diese Arbeit diskutiert auch die Entwicklung der Verteilung von fossilen Stachelschweinen in Verbindung mit den paläobiogeographischen Provinzen und Umweltveränderungen während des jüngeren Miozäns und Pliozäns.

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

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Argyropoulo, A.I. 1939. The remains of a beaver from the Pliocene of Pre-Caucasus. Doklady Akadamii Nauk SSSR 14: 638–640. (In Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Argyropoulo, A.I. 1941. Quaternary rodents and insectivores from Binagadov (Apsheronian). Priroda 3: 88–91. (In Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, J.C., M.E. Morgan, L.J. Flynn, D. Pilbeam, A.K. Behrensmeyer, S.M. Raza, I.A. Khan, C. Badgley, J. Hicks, and J. Kelley. 2002. Faunal and environmental change in the late miocene siwaliks of northern Pakistan. Paleobiology 28, Memoir 3: 1–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baryshnikov, G.F. 2003. Pleistocene small porcupine from the Ural mountains, Russia, with note on taxonomy of Hystrix vinogradovi (Rodentia, Hystricidae). Russian Journal of Theriology 2: 43–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernor, R.L., V.J. Fahlbusch, P. Andrews, H. de Bruijn, M. Fortelius, F. Rögl, F.F. Steininger, and L. Werdelin. 1996. The evolution of western Eurasian Neogene mammal faunas: A chronologic, systematic, biogeographic and paleoenvironmental sythesis. In The evolution of western Eurasian Neogene mammal faunas, ed. R.L. Bernor, V. Fahlbusch, and H.W. Mittmann, 449–469. New, York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colbert, E.H. 1933. Two new rodents from the lower siwaliks beds of India. American Museum Novitates 633: 1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bonis, L., G. Bouvrain, D. Geraads, and G. Koufos. 1992a. A skull of Hystrix primigenia from the late Miocene of Macedonia (Greece). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Monatschefte 2: 75–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Bonis, L., M. Brunet, E. Heintz, and S. Sen. 1992b. La province gréco-irano-afghane et la répartition des faunes mammaliennes au Miocène supérieur. Paleontologia i Evolucio, Barcelona 24–25: 103–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eftekhar Nezhad, A.J., M. Mehrparto, S Arshadi, and A. Zohrehbakhsh. 1991. Geological map 1/250 000 Tabriz-Poldasht sheet. Geological Survey of Iran, Pouya Printing Organization.

  • Fischer von Waldheim, G. 1817. Adversaria zoologica. Mémoires de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou 5: 368–428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortelius, M., J. Eronen, L. Liu, D. Pushkina, A. Tesakov, I. Vislobokova, and Z. Zhang. 2006. Late Miocene and Pliocene large land mammals and climatic changes in Eurasia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 238: 219–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopatin, A.V., A.S. Tesakov, and V.V. Titov. 2003. Late Miocene-early Pliocene porcupines (Rodentia, Hystricidae) from south European Russia. Russian Journal of Theriology 2: 26–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydekker, R. 1878. Notice of Siwalik mammals. Records of the Geological Survey of India 11: 64–104.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mirzaie Ataabadi, M., J. Mohammadalizadeh, Z. Zhang, M. Watabe, A. Kaakinen and M. Fortelius 2009. Large mammals from Ivand: A new late Miocene locality in nortwest Iran. Geodiversitas (in press).

  • Qi, G., W. Dong, L. Zheng, L. Zhao, F. Gao, L. Yue, and Y. Zhang. 2006. Taxonomy, age and environment status of the Yuanmou hominoids. Chinese Science Bulletin 51: 704–712.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qiu, Z., and Z. Qiu. 1995. Chronological sequence and subdivision of Chinese Neogene mammalian faunas. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 116: 41–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, S. 1999. Family Hystricidae. In The Miocene Land Mammals of Europe, ed. G.E. Rössner, and K. Heissig, 427–434. München: Verlag Dr. F. Pfeil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, S. 2001a. Rodents and insectivores from the Upper Miocene of Molayan, Afghanistan. Palaeontology 44: 913–932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sen, S. 2001b. Early Pliocene porcupine (Mammalia, Rodentia) from Perpignan, France: A new systematic study. Geodiversitas 23: 303–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shevyreva, N.S. 1986. The new porcupine (Hystricidae, Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Tadjikistan. Trudy Zoologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR 156: 118–133. (in Russian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tong, H. 2008. Quaternary Hystrix (Rodentia, Mammalia) from North China: Taxonomy, stratigraphy and zoogeography, with discussions on the distribution of Hystrix in palearctic Eurasia. Quaternary International 179: 126–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1976. Notes on Southeast Asian porcupines (Hystricidae, Rodentia) I. On the taxonomy of the genus Trichys Günther, 1877. Beaufortia 25: 15–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1977. Notes on Southeast Asian porcupines (Hystricidae, Rodentia) II. On the taxonomy of the genus Atherurus F. Cuvier, 1829. Beaufortia 26: 205–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1978. Notes on Southeast Asian porcupines (Hystricidae, Rodentia) III. On the taxonomy of the subgenus Thecurus Lyon, 1907 (genus Hystrix Linnaeus, 1758). Beaufortia 28: 17–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1979. Notes on Southeast Asian porcupines (Hystricidae, Rodentia) IV. On the taxonomy of the subgenus Acanthion Cuvier, 1823 with notes on the other taxa of the family. Beaufortia 29: 215–272.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1990. Dimensions and occlusal pattern in molars of Hystrix brachyura Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia, Rodentia) in a system of wear categories. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 60: 121–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1993. On the tooth morphology of the long-tailed porcupine Trichys fasciculata (Hystricidae: Rodentia), with notes on the genera Atherurus and Hystrix. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 41: 251–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 1994. The porcupine Hystrix refossa Gervais, 1852 from the Plio-Pleistocene of Europe, with notes on other fossil and extant species of the genus Hystrix. Scripta Geologica 106: 35–52. Leiden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. and P. Montoya. 1996. Taxonomy and stratigraphic record of the oldest European porcupine Hystrix parvae (Kretzoi, 1951). Proceedings of the Koniklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen B 99: 131–141.

  • Van Weers, D.J. 2003. The porcupine Hystrix brachyura Linnaeus, 1758 in the cave deposits of longgupo, China. Beaufortia 53: 61–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 2004. Comparison of Neogene low-crowned Hystrix species (Mammalia, porcupines, Rodentia) from Europe, West and Southeast Asia. Beaufortia 54(5): 75–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J. 2005. A taxonomic revision of the Pleistocene Hystrix (Hystricidae, Rodentia) from Eurasia with notes on the evolution of the family. Contributions to Zoology 74: 301–312.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J., and L. Rook. 2003. Turolian and Ruscinian porcupines (genus Hystrix, Rodentia) from Europe, Asia and North Africa. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 77: 95–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Weers, D.J., and Z. Zhang. 1999. Hystrix zhengi n. sp., a brachydont porcupine (Rodentia) from early Nihewanian stage, early Pleistocene of China. Beaufortia 49: 55–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, A. 1848. Urweltliche Saugetierreste aus Griechenland. Abhandlungen der Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Math.-Phys. Kl. 8: 109–158.

  • Wang, B.Y., and Z.X. Qiu. 2002. A porcupine from late Miocene of Linxia basin, Gansu, China. Vertebrata Palasiatica 40: 23–33.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to authorities of Tabriz University for financial support of excavations at Ivand and giving us access to the study of porcupine remains. The trip of S. Sen to Tabriz was granted by the Centre de Recherches sur Paléobiodiversité et Paléoenvironnements (CR2P of CNRS). Lawrence J. Flynn (Peabody Museum, Cambridge, MA) kindly revised the English and suggested many improvements for systematics and age of taxa. Figure 1 was redrawn by Agathe Cambreleng (MNHN, Paris). The abstract was translated into German by Thomas Servais (CNRS, Lille). We thank all of them.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherches sur Paléobiodiversité et Paléoenvironnements, UMR 7207 du CNRS, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 75005, Paris, France

    Sevket Sen

  2. Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Zeynalabedin Purabrishemi

Authors
  1. Sevket Sen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zeynalabedin Purabrishemi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sevket Sen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sen, S., Purabrishemi, Z. First porcupine fossils (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the late Miocene of NW Iran, with notes on late Miocene–Pliocene dispersal of porcupines. Paläontol Z 84, 239–248 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-009-0040-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-009-0040-6

Keywords

Schlüsselwörter

Search

Navigation