Miocene vertebrates from the Siwalik group, western Nepal

• Published in: Journal of vertebrate paleontology 1991-03, Vol.11 (1), p.108-129
• Main Authors: West, Robert M., Hutchison, J. Howard, Munthe, Jens
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Fauna; Fossils; Genera; Geology; Paleoclimatology; Ribs; Taxa; Teeth; Vertebrate paleontology; Vertebrates
• ISSN: 0272-4634; 1937-2809
• DOI: 10.1080/02724634.1991.10011378

At least 33 vertebrate taxa from the lower and middle Siwalik Group (middle and late Miocene) of southern and western Nepal compare well with assemblages from the lower and middle Siwaliks of Pakistan and India. Localities low in the Nepal section contain the suid Conohyus, the hominoid Sivapithecus, the rhinocerotid Brachypotherium, and typical lower Siwalik artiodactyls, carnivorans, and proboscideans. Several stratigraphically higher localities yield Hipparion, as well as artiodactyls characteristic of the middle Siwaliks. The Nepal fossils were found in rocks deposited under apparently relatively moist climatic conditions, primarily marl, siltstone and fine sandstone without prominent multistoried channel sandstone sequences. Abundant remains of fish, chelonians, and crocodilians in the Nepal fauna corroborate this sedimentological interpretation. The structural development of the Himalaya had an effect on the paleoclimate of South Asia. A pattern of increasing dryness westward along the mountain front probably had developed by the Miocene. The mountains and the Tibetan Plateau to the north, however, did not achieve their present great elevations until the Pliocene and Pleistocene.