A preliminary report on some fossil mammals (Equidae, Perissodactyla and Hyracoidea) from the Pliocene Udunga fauna, Transbaikalia, Russia

Abstract

The paleoenvironment of the middle Pliocene Udunga fauna has been estimated by many workers to date based on the composition of the mammalian fauna. In this short article we tried the paleoenvironmental analysis of the Udunga fauna using the mesowear method to equiids (Hipparion) cheek teeth. The result indicate the openland environment for the middle Pliocene Udunga. On the other hand, Postschizotherium of Udunga is likely differs from P. chardini, discovered from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene of Nihewan, Shanxi Province, China, suggesting the possibility of the new species for this specimen.