Search

Semigenetta Helbing, 1927 is a small genet-like carnivoran in the family Viverridae Gray, 1821. The genus has a modest diversity in the Miocene of Eurasia. With its first documentation going back to 1850s, the European records are relatively continuous with five currently recognized species. Asian records have a much shorter history of studies with its first record, S. huaiheensis Qiu & Gu, being published in 1986. In the present paper, we review the Asian records of Semigenetta from China and Thailand, which so far are represented by three species based on fragmentary jaws and teeth. We recognize two new species, S. qiae n. sp. from the late Miocene (c. 6.2-6.9 Ma) of Lufeng Basin in central Yunnan Province, South China and S. thailandica n. sp. from the middle Miocene (13.4-13.2 Ma) of Mae Moh Basin in Lampang Province, northern Thailand. Zoogeographically, both S. huaiheensis and S. thailandica n. sp. seem traceable to their European ancestors, as independent immigration events. Semigenetta thailandica n. sp. may have given rise to S. qiae n. sp., i.e., S. thailandica n. sp. and S. qiae n. sp., both recovered from lignitic sediments, potentially form a southeast Asian clade. All Asian Semigenetta occur within the Oriental zoogeographic province, and like their European counterparts, presumably prefer warm, humid, and wooded environments. Their relatively conservative morphology and low diversity seem also indicative of a stable environment in subtropical refugia. Semigenetta qiae n. sp. from Lufeng is the last survivor of the genus in Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report here new craniodental remains from the late Eocene Krabi coal mine in Thailand that can be attributed to the suoid Siamochoerus banmarkensis Ducrocq, Chaimanee, Suteethorn & Jaeger, 1998. This material that includes the complete lower dentition and isolated upper molars provides new information on the dental morphology of this species and makes S. banmarkensis, together with Egatochoerus jaegeri Ducrocq, 1994 from Krabi, the second best documented early suoid in the Eocene of Asia. A few dental features that can be observed on these new remains suggest that S. banmarkensis might be more closely related to Suidae Gray, 1821, but it also illustrates the difficulty to attribute a precise taxonomic position to Eocene taxa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An isolated first costal turtle plate from the Early Cretaceous of Kut Island, Gulf of Thailand, is reported and assigned to Trionychoidae gen. et sp. indet. The morphology of the plate and comparison with turtle assemblages of the Khorat Group support the correlation of the vertebrates-bearing beds of Kut Island with the Sao Khua Formation, as already suggested by the studies on sharks and dinosaurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract We describe two entelodontid upper premolars that were recovered from the late Eocene of the Krabi coal mine in southern Thailand. The size and morphology of the material suggest that it can be referred to Entelodon aff. E. gobiensis , a species known from the late Eocene to the early Oligocene of northern Asia and southern China. The Thai material documents for the first time the southernmost occurrence of entelodontids in Asia during the Paleogene and also suggests that Eocene Southeast Asian mammal localities might potentially yield further entelodontid remains mostly associated with selenodont ungulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic populations of the two main sandflies genera present in Thailand were studied for species and population identification. Size and shape of Phlebotomus stantoni and Sergentomyia hodgsoni from different island and mainland locations were examined by landmark-based geometric morphometrics. Intraspecific and interspecific wing comparison was carried out based on 12 anatomical landmarks. The wing centroid size of P. stantoni was generally larger than that of S. hodgsoni . Within both species, wings from the continent were significantly larger than those from island populations. Size variation could be significant between geographic locations, but could also overlap between genera. The wing venation geometry showed non-overlapping differences between two species. The within-species variation of geometric shape between different geographical locations was highly significant, but it could not interfere with the interspecies difference. The lack of species overlapping in shape, and the high discrimination between geographic populations, make geometric shape a promising character for future taxonomic and epidemiological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: While a series of new discoveries in India or China seem to demonstrate a much older human presence during the Early Pleistocene, information concerning the demographic expansion of human groups into continental Southeast Asia is generally lacking – although osteological evidence does exist for an early human presence in Indonesia. Recent excavations in northern Thailand have produced a series of stone tools which present an ideal opportunity for reconsidering the archaeological record of the Early Pleistocene in this region. Here we provide a preliminary description of the geomorphological context and an initial technological analysis of the stone tools from the Early Pleistocene site of Sao Din in northern Thailand. Technologically, the lithic assemblage presents the most similarities with southern Chinese assemblages dated to between 1Ma and 0.5Ma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two contrasting parallel tectonic sutures can be recognised through the Yunnan–Thailand region of mainland Southeast Asia; they are sutures of the Devonian–Triassic Palaeo-Tethys Ocean and a Permian back-arc basin. The Changning–Menglian and Inthanon suture zones are regarded as the Palaeo-Tethys Suture Zone. The Jinghong–Nan–Sra Kaeo suture is regarded as a closed back-arc basin. The Sukhothai Zone is no longer treated as a part of the Sibumasu Terrane, but is defined as the core part of the Permian island-arc system developed on the western margin of the Indochina Terrane. Two tectonic events are interpreted from the parallel sutures; a Late Permian collapse of the back-arc basin and a mid-Triassic collision of Sibumasu to the Sukhothai Arc of Indochina (=closure of the Palaeo-Tethys). The Early–early Middle Triassic thermotectonism of Vietnam as linked to the Indosinian orogeny by some authors is incompatible with the suggested timing of Sibumasu collision, but instead it is temporally closer to the back-arc compression of western Indochina. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present the first known occurrence of a Mesozoic fossil bird from Thailand. The new specimen is the distal end of a left humerus, from the Early Cretaceous Sao Khua Formation in the Northeast of the country, and testifies to the presence of a medium-sized avian in these non-marine strata. This is also the first Mesozoic bird known from the whole of Southeast Asia. To cite this article: E. Buffetaut et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Discovery of a Stegodon–Ailuropoda assemblage in a cave of northern Thailand (Ban Fa Suai, Chiang Dao). The Cave of the Monk from the village of Ban Fa Suai is an original site discovered by the Thai French Palaeosurvey during one of its field campaign looking for the remains of the first humans in northern Thailand. Preliminary data from geological, palaeontological and technolithic domains of this site are presented in this paper. Focusing on taphonomy it is an opportunity to describe evidence of a Stegodon-Ailuropoda fauna in a karstic context and the occurrence of Hoabinhian stone tools assemblages in a stacked overlain fossil gallery. The Cave of the Monk is a typical sample for several areas of South-East Asia. Sixteen families, 25 genus and 38 species of Mammals have been identified among the dental remains collected by procupines. The technological analysis shows that the lithic tools are similar to those originating from Indonesia. To cite this article: V. Zeitoun et al., C. R. Palevol 4 (2005) . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The age of the recently created hominoid species from Thailand, cf. Lufengpithecus chiangmuanensis Chaimanee et al., 2003 , was originally estimated to be ca 13–13.5 Ma, based on faunal and palaeomagnetic correlations. Previous studies of the Chiang Muan fauna (including hominoids) and palaeomagnetism suggest that the deposits are appreciably younger than this, being closer in age to Xiaolongtan (China) (ca 12–11 Ma) rather than to the Chinji fauna of Pakistan. The similarities between hominoids from the Thai and Chinese localities are clear, and we conclude that cf. L. chiangmuanensis should be treated as a synonym of ?Lufengpithecus keiyuanensis Wu, 1957. To cite this article: M. Pickford et al., C. R. Palevol 3 (2004). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ichnological assemblage of the Phra Wihan Formation (early Early Cretaceous of northeastern Thailand) includes the first sauropod tracks ever found in Thailand. It is reminiscent of the fauna of the underlying Jurassic Phu Kradung Formation with theropods, small ornithischians of uncertain affinities (possibly Hypsilophodon-like ornithopods) and sauropods. It suggests that, in southeastern Asia, an important faunal change occurred in the Early Cretaceous among continental vertebrates, whereas little happened at the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]