Penghu Channel: Late Pleistocene, Taiwan

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Reptilia - Testudines - Trionychidae
Tao 1986
Private collection in Tainan, Taiwan (syntype), a nearly complete cranium (Tao 1986, text figs. 1, 3, 5, 7 and figs. 2, 4, 6, 9); private collection in Chia-Yi, Taiwan (syntype), a hyohypoplastron (Tao 1986, text fig. 9 and figs. 8, 10–12).
Reptilia
Alligator sinensis Fauvel 1879
Shan et al. 2013
NMNS006394-F051722 (nearly complete skull occluded with the mandible)
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Palaeoloxodon sp. Matsumoto 1924
originally entered as "Paleoloxodon sp."
Tsai et al. 2012
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Mammalia - Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
Mammalia - Carnivora - Ursidae
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Equidae
Mammalia - Bovidae
Bubalus youngi Chow and Hsu 1957
Bubalus teilhardi Young 1932
Mammalia - Cervidae
Tsai et al. 2012
Elaphurus davidianus Milne Edwards 1866
Mammalia - Cetacea - Eschrichtiidae
Tsai et al. 2011 2 specimens
Tsai et al. 2014
Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenopteridae
Chang and Cheng 1998
Chang and Cheng 1998 1 specimen
Mammalia - Cetacea - Balaenidae
Tsai et al. 2012 2 specimens
Tsai and Chang 2019
NTUM-VP 190807
Mammalia - Cetacea - Delphinidae
1 individual
see common names

Geography
Country:Taiwan
Coordinates: 23.0° North, 120.0° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Altitude:-60
Geographic resolution:local area
Time
Period: Quaternary Epoch: Pleistocene
Stage: Late Pleistocene 10 m.y. bin: Cenozoic 6
Key time interval: Late Pleistocene
Age range of interval: 0.129 - 0.0117 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: Shan et al. 2013: Huang and Yu (2003) considered the Penghu Channel as a scour furrow formed by modern northward tidal currents, but the possibility of Penghu Channel being a river valley during the late Pleistocene could not be ruled out.
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology: not reported
Environment:marginal marine indet.
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Reason for describing collection:general faunal/floral analysis
Collection method comments: dredged from the sea floor by fishermen
Shan et al. 2013: The fossil material is a nearly complete skull occluded with the mandible (Fig. 2). It was collected from the Penghu Channel by fishermen when they were trawling and deposited in the National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan (NMNS006394-F051722).
Metadata
Also known as:Between Penghu Island and Taiwan
Database number:73686
Authorizer:M. Uhen, E. Vlachos, P. Mannion Enterer:M. Uhen, P. Mannion, E. Vlachos
Modifier:G. Varnham Research group:vertebrate
Created:2007-06-25 12:07:20 Last modified:2025-02-22 15:12:02
Access level:the public Released:2007-06-25 12:07:20
Creative Commons license:CC0
Reference information

Primary reference:
24700. C.-H. Chang. 1996. The first fossil record of a short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) from the Penghu Channel. Bulletin of the National Museum of Science (Taichung) 8:73-80 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]

Secondary references:

49904 C. H. Chang and Y. N. Cheng. 1998. Extraordinary fossil records of Cetacea from Pleistocene in Taiwan. In H. Otsuka and K. D. Rigakubu (eds.), The Ryukyu Islands: The arena of adaptive radiation and extinction of island fauna. Kagoshima University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences 85 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
50143 H.-Y. Shan, Y.-N. Cheng, and X.-C. Wu. 2013. The first fossil skull of Alligator sinensis from the Pleistocene, Taiwan, with a paleogeographic implication of the species. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 69:17-25 [P. Mannion/P. Mannion]
64300 H. Tao. 1986. Report of a new fossil soft-shelled turtle, Trionyx liupani from Taiwan, with comparative study to the living species, Trionyx sinensis(Wiegmann). Journal of the Taiwan Museum 39:21-41 [E. Vlachos/E. Vlachos]
49853 C. H. Tsai, C. H. Chang, and L. K. Lin. 2011. Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of gray whale-­‐like fossils from Taiwan. Chinese Bioscience 53:41 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
49854 C. H. Tsai, C. H. Chang, and L. K. Lin. 2012. Occurrence of fossil balaenids in Taiwan and its implications for climate change. Chinese Bioscience 54:60 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
49844 C. H. Tsai, R. E. Fordyce, C. H. Chang and L. K. Lin. 2013. A Review and Status of Fossil Cetacean Research in Taiwan. Taiwan Journal of Biodiversity 15(2):113-124 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
71318 C.-H. Tsai and C.-H. Chang. 2019. A right whale (Mysticeti, Balaenidae) from the Pleistocene of Taiwan. Zoological Letters 5(37) [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]
50861 C.-H. Tsai, R. E. Fordyce, C.-H. Chang and L.-K. Lin. 2014. Quaternary fossil gray whales from Taiwan. Paleontological Research 18(2):82-93 [M. Uhen/M. Uhen]