Abstract
New material of a chalicothere was recently found from Tsaidam Basin, the only late Tertiary locality within the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau established byBirger Bohlin during the Sino-Swedish Expeditions in 1927–33. A partial lower jaw with two molars helps to identify it asChalicotherium cf.C. brevirostris (Colbert), a species found in Chinese Tunggurian age (middle Miocene).
Occurrence ofChalicotherium in the Tsaidam Basin indicates the presence of a wooded environment along freshwater streams, a condition much milder than the desert environment at the present time. The Tsaidam fauna thus provides a reference point in the current debate on the timing of environmental deterioration during the uplift of Tibetan Plateau.
Zusammenfassung
Neufund vonChalicotherium aus dem späten Miozän des Tsaidam-Beckens, nördliches Qinghai-Tibet-Plateau, China. Der Neufund einesChalicotherium stammt aus dem Tsaidam-Becken, der einzigen jungtertiären Fundstelle vom nördlichen Qinghai-Tibet-Plateau, entdeckt vonBirger Bohlin während der Chinesisch-Schwedischen Expeditionen 1927–33. Ein fragmentarischer Unterkiefer mit 2 Molaren ermöglicht die Bestimmung alsChalicotherium cf.Ch. brevirostris (Colbert), einer Art, die aus dem chinesischen Tunggurium (Mittel-Miozän) bekannt war.
Das Vorkommen vonChalicotherium im Tsaidam-Becken bezeugt eine bewaldete Umwelt entlang von Flüssen und somit viel mildere Verhältnisse als die heutigen Wüsten. Die Tsaidam-Fauna stellt daher einen Bezugspunkt in der derzeitigen Diskussion dar über den zeitlichen Rahmen von Umweltverschlechterungen während der Hebung des Tibetischen Plateaus.
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Abbreviations
- AMNH:
-
Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York
- DKO:
-
Dytiko locality of Université de Thessaloniki
- GSP:
-
Geological Survey of Pakistan Museum, Quetta
- HSB:
-
Heimatmuseum Stegersbach im Burgenland, Austria
- IVPP:
-
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
- NMB:
-
Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel
- NMV:
-
Naturhistorischen Museums, Vienna
- PIUU:
-
Palaeontological Institute, Uppsala University, Uppsala
- XBDD:
-
Department of Geology, Northwest University (Xibei Daxue), Xi’an
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Wang, X., Wang, B. New material ofChalicotherium from the Tsaidam Basin in the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China. Paläontol Z 75, 219–226 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02988015
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02988015