19.
Although Asia is thought to have played a critical role in the radiation of artiodactyls, the fossil record of stem selenodonts
(“dichobunoids”) remains dramatically poor in tropical Asian regions. In this study, we report a new dichobunid genus and
species
Cadutherium kyaukmagyii and a new basal ruminant genus and species
Irrawadymeryx pondaungi, from the late Middle Eocene Pondaung Formation, Central Myanmar. Although the scarcity of the present material prevents
any attempts to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of
Cadutherium with contemporaneous forms from other Holarctic landmasses, this new form shed new light on the diversity of these small
rabbit-like ungulates during a key period of their evolutionary history. Reexamination of the small-bodied artiodactyls from
Pondaung leads us to propose new identifications of certain published specimens and, in turn, to investigate the temporal
and geographic distribution of taxa recognized in the Pondaung Formation. Although fragmentary, these potential new taxa reveal
an unsuspected diversity of small forms among artiodactyls of Pondaung. This addition to the Eocene record of dichobunoids
and early ruminants provides further insight in the diversity of dental patterns among small artiodactyls from the Pondaung
Formation and attests to the antiquity of these groups in Southeast Asia.
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