Stephanocemas undetermined

Wang, Xiaoming, Xie, Guangpu & Dong, Wei, 2009, A new species of crown-antlered deer Stephanocemas (Artiodactyla, Cervidae) from the middle Miocene of Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau, China, and a preliminary evaluation of its phylogeny, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 156 (3), pp. 680-695 : 688-690

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00491.x

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/824DC10F-D345-FE2F-FC61-AAA1B4C9FBBE

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Stephanocemas undetermined
status

 

STEPHANOCEMAS SP. ( FIGS 7 View Figure 7 , 8 View Figure 8 )

Referred materials: IVPP V15725 View Materials ( Fig. 7 View Figure 7 ), a partial antler from IVPP CD9818 View Materials (N37° 14′ 12.6″ E96° 44′ 49.8″), in the north limb of the Keluke anticline of the eastern Qaidam Basin, collected by Feng Wenqing on 8 July 1998 GoogleMaps ; IVPP V15726 View Materials ( Fig. 8 View Figure 8 ), an antler fragment from IVPP CD0406 View Materials (N36° 58′ 54.5″ E97° 23′ 29.3″), in the Bayin Mountain section of the eastern Qaidam Basin, collected by Ni Xijun on 3 September 2004 GoogleMaps .

Geological age: IVPP locality CD9818 is in the upper range of the Olongbuluk Fauna ( Wang et al., 2007) and has been palaeomagnetically estimated to be between 12–13 Mya ( Fang et al., 2007). This locality also produced an antler fragment of Lagomeryx , another early cervid frequently associated with Stephanocemas . The Bayin Mountain exposures, to the east of the fossiliferous Naoge area, have yielded few vertebrates, and IVPP CD0406 is one of a handful that produced identifiable materials. CD0406 has been correlated with the Olongbuluk Fauna as well, based on section measurements and biostratigraphical comparisons ( Wang et al., 2007). Lithologically, CD0406 and CD9818 are both in the predominantly greenish sandstones. Vertebrate fossils in the Olongbuluk Fauna in both sections (Huaitoutala and Bayin Mountain) are relatively rare, and a precise correlation of the two localities, separated by a distance of 65 km, is not possible at this moment. It is likely, however, that both CD0406 and CD9818 are stratigraphically lower than beds that produced S. palmatus in Barun Yawula, and that all Stephanocemas -producing localities in the Qaidam Basin are middle Miocene in age (see further discussion in ‘Geology and age’ under S. palmatus ).

Description and comparison: Both IVPP V15725 View Materials and V15726 View Materials are of similarly small sizes, but lack of additional materials from their respective localities makes it difficult to judge if they belong to juvenile individuals. Although their tips are mostly missing, V15725 View Materials has at least six tines, and those for V15726 View Materials are not clear because only the posterior half the palm is preserved. The presumed posterior tine on V15725 View Materials is short, broad-tipped, and vaguely suggestive of a branched tip. If the latter is not an artefact of weathering, it recalls the condition in S. palmatus . The pedicel is partially preserved in V15725 View Materials , suggesting that this antler was not shed during life. In contrast, V15726 View Materials has a distinct burr, as seen in most materials of Stephanocemas . Both specimens display a relatively flat palm portion of the antler, and even a relatively mediolaterally expanded palm. They also possess a distinct dorsal ridge connecting the anterior and posterior tines.

The latter two features are perhaps the most revealing about phylogenetic relationships. Whereas a flat and laterally expanded palm may indicate affinity with S. palmatus , the dorsal ridge, however, seems to imply a more primitive status as seen in species of Paradicrocerus and possibly in S. actauensis [the illustration in Tleuberdina et al. (1993: pl. XI, fig. 2a, b) is not clear enough to be sure of this feature]. Future discoveries may prove that IVPP V15725 View Materials and V15726 View Materials belong to a distinct species of their own if such a unique combination of primitive and derived characters is confirmed, but because of the poor state of preservations we refrain from naming a new species.

IVPP

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology

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