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New late Paleocene (late middle Tiffanian) mammals from the Roche Percée local fauna, south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada

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posted on 2017-03-28, 12:25 authored by Brian D. Rankin

An exceptionally large and diverse assemblage of mammals from the early late Paleocene (about 58 million years ago) has been collected from the Ravenscrag Formation near Roche Percée, south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. Previous research of the Roche Percée local fauna has examined only a small portion of the mammals, with the vast majority of taxa remaining unstudied. Identification and descriptions of these latter taxa are provided here. With these new additions, the assemblage is now known to include 44 mammalian species. Notable among these findings is the substantial collection of the erinaceomorph lipotyphlan Litocherus lacunatus, the remarkable diversity of viverravid carnivorans, and the recovery of some of the first known elements of the upper dentition of the pantolestid Besseocetor pilodontus. A complete description of the mammalian fauna supports previous assignments of a late middle Tiffanian North American Land Mammal Age (Ti4 lineage zone) to the Roche Percée local fauna. Faunal comparisons further suggest a close similarity of the Roche Percée assemblage to the near contemporaneous Divide Quarry local fauna from the Bighorn Basin, northern Wyoming, but also reveal some similarities to slightly older middle Tiffanian local faunas (Ti3 lineage zone) at localities in the Paskapoo Formation of central Alberta. The specimens from the Roche Percée local fauna represent the largest and most taxonomically diverse assemblage of late middle Tiffanian mammals yet known, offering a unique perspective on mammalian evolution and diversity in North America during this time interval.

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    Journal of Systematic Palaeontology

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