Dataset Information

Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition, Laetoli, Tanzania, fossil specimen database 1998-2005.

ABSTRACT: The Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition (EPPE) Laetoli specimen database contains 13716 records of plant and animal fossils (ca. 28248 specimens) collected by EPPE field teams working at Laetoli, Tanzania between 1998 and 2005. This dataset is a digital version of the original hard-copy specimen catalog, and it documents the discovery, stratigraphic provenience and taxonomic diversity of Plio-Pleistocene fauna and flora in northern Tanzania between 4.4?Ma and >200 ka. Laetoli is renowned for the discovery of important hominin fossils, including the lectotype for Australopithecus afarensis, one of our early hominin ancestors, the first record of Paranthropus aethiopicus outside Kenya-Ethiopia, and an early record of our own species Homo sapiens. This database is one of the few publicly available palaeoanthropological fossil datasets and serves as an example for expanding open access to primary fossil occurrence data in palaeoanthropology. The taxonomic identifications appearing in this dataset are the original field identifications and are provisional. Any taxonomic analysis employing this dataset should refer to updated taxonomic identifications published by specialists.

SUBMITTER: Reed D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6890769 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition, Laetoli, Tanzania, fossil specimen database 1998-2005.

Reed Denné D Harrison Terry T Kwekason Amandus A

Scientific data 20191203 1

The Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition (EPPE) Laetoli specimen database contains 13716 records of plant and animal fossils (ca. 28248 specimens) collected by EPPE field teams working at Laetoli, Tanzania between 1998 and 2005. This dataset is a digital version of the original hard-copy specimen catalog, and it documents the discovery, stratigraphic provenience and taxonomic diversity of Plio-Pleistocene fauna and flora in northern Tanzania between 4.4 Ma and >200 ka. Laetoli is renowned fo ...[more]

PMID: 31796753

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Project description:This paper reports the fossil zokors (Myospalacinae) collected from the lower Pliocene (~4.4 Ma) of Zanda Basin, southwestern Tibet, which is the first record in the hinterland of Tibetan Plateau within the Himalayan Range. Materials include 29 isolated molars belonging to Prosiphneus eriksoni (Schlosser, 1924) by having characters including large size, highly fused roots, upper molars of orthomegodont type, m1 anterior cap small and centrally located, and first pair of m1 reentrants on opposing sides, high crowns, and high value of dentine tract parameters. Based on the cladistics analysis, all seven species of Prosiphneus and P. eriksoni of Zanda form a monophyletic clade. P. eriksoni from Zanda, on the other hand, is nearly the terminal taxon of this clade. The appearance of P. eriksoni in Zanda represents a significant dispersal in the early Pliocene from its center of origin in north China and Mongolian Plateau, possibly via the Hol Xil-Qiangtang hinterland in northern Tibet. The fast evolving zokors are highly adapted to open terrains at a time when regional climates had become increasingly drier in the desert zones north of Tibetan Plateau during the late Miocene to Pliocene. The occurrence of this zokor in Tibet thus suggests a rather open steppe environment. Based on fossils of large mammals, we have formulated an "out of Tibet" hypothesis that suggests earlier and more primitive large mammals from the Pliocene of Tibet giving rise to the Ice Age megafauna. However, fossil records for large mammals are still too poor to evaluate whether they have evolved from lineages endemic to the Tibetan Plateau or were immigrants from outside. The superior record of small mammals is in a better position to address this question. With relatively dense age intervals and numerous localities in much of northern Asia, fossil zokors provide the first example of an "into Tibet" scenario--earlier and more primitive taxa originated from outside of the Tibetan Plateau and the later the lineage became extinct in southwestern Tibet.

Dataset Information

Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition, Laetoli, Tanzania, fossil specimen database 1998-2005.

Publications

Eyasi Plateau Paleontological Expedition, Laetoli, Tanzania, fossil specimen database 1998-2005.

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