TY - JOUR
T1 - Fossil Suidae (Mammalia, Artiodactyla) from Lee Adoyta, Ledi-Geraru, lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia
T2 - Implications for late Pliocene turnover and paleoecology
AU - Lazagabaster, Ignacio A.
AU - Souron, Antoine
AU - Rowan, John
AU - Robinson, Joshua R.
AU - Campisano, Christopher
AU - Reed, Kaye
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the curators and staff of the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for access to fossil collections in their care. We thank the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the ARCCH, and the Afar Regional Government for facilitating field and/or lab work by the Ledi-Geraru Research Project. Erin DiMaggio kindly provided the maps shown in Fig. 1 . We give special thanks to Tim White, for feedback and suggestions on the Lee Adoyta suids. We thank Jean-Renaud Boisserie, Yohannes Haile-Selassie, and Scott Simpson, for discussion and advice on suid evolution. Field and lab work by the Ledi-Geraru Research Project was made possible by National Science Foundation (NSF BCS-1157351) a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. I.A. Lazagabaster was partially supported by Obra Social La Caixa Graduate Fellowship during the completion of this work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/9/1
Y1 - 2018/9/1
N2 - The fossiliferous late Pliocene deposits of the Lee Adoyta sub-basin, lower Awash Valley (LAV), Ethiopia, sample a poorly-known time interval in this region (~2.82 to <2.5 Ma). Recent fieldwork in Lee Adoyta by the Ledi-Geraru Research Project has produced a rich mammalian fauna, including the earliest specimen of the genus Homo. Here, we describe the fossil Suidae (pigs) and provide taxonomic and paleoecological comparisons with other sites in the LAV (e.g., Hadar, Woranso-Mille). The Lee Adoyta suid fossils document the presence of at least three species, including Notochoerus cf. No. capensis, Kolpochoerus phillipi, and Metridiochoerus andrewsi, all of which are absent from the older deposits in the LAV (>2.95 Ma). However, two of these species (No. cf. No. capensis and K. phillipi) have likely ancestors known from the Hadar Formation (No. euilus and K. afarensis), implying a continuity of suid lineages through the Pliocene LAV. A compilation of stable carbon isotope (δ13C) data show a trend from C3-C4 mixed diets at Hadar to C4-dominated diets by ~2.82 Ma at Lee Adoyta, most likely C4 grasses. Suids decline in abundance almost linearly from ~3.76 to <2.5 Ma in the LAV, which we propose is related to the expansion of open, grassier habitats during this time.
AB - The fossiliferous late Pliocene deposits of the Lee Adoyta sub-basin, lower Awash Valley (LAV), Ethiopia, sample a poorly-known time interval in this region (~2.82 to <2.5 Ma). Recent fieldwork in Lee Adoyta by the Ledi-Geraru Research Project has produced a rich mammalian fauna, including the earliest specimen of the genus Homo. Here, we describe the fossil Suidae (pigs) and provide taxonomic and paleoecological comparisons with other sites in the LAV (e.g., Hadar, Woranso-Mille). The Lee Adoyta suid fossils document the presence of at least three species, including Notochoerus cf. No. capensis, Kolpochoerus phillipi, and Metridiochoerus andrewsi, all of which are absent from the older deposits in the LAV (>2.95 Ma). However, two of these species (No. cf. No. capensis and K. phillipi) have likely ancestors known from the Hadar Formation (No. euilus and K. afarensis), implying a continuity of suid lineages through the Pliocene LAV. A compilation of stable carbon isotope (δ13C) data show a trend from C3-C4 mixed diets at Hadar to C4-dominated diets by ~2.82 Ma at Lee Adoyta, most likely C4 grasses. Suids decline in abundance almost linearly from ~3.76 to <2.5 Ma in the LAV, which we propose is related to the expansion of open, grassier habitats during this time.
KW - Eastern Africa
KW - Hominin environments
KW - Mammal evolution
KW - Stable carbon isotopes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047615038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85047615038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.05.029
DO - 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.05.029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85047615038
SN - 0031-0182
VL - 504
SP - 186
EP - 200
JO - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
JF - Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
ER -