An Nafud desert, Locality 3 (Pleistocene of Saudi Arabia)

Also known as An Nafoud

Where: Saudi Arabia (28.1° N, 39.1° E: paleocoordinates 27.9° N, 39.0° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Pleistocene (2.6 - 0.0 Ma)

• The faunal remains come from lacustrine deposits which overlie an ancient dune system and the Middle Miocene Ajfar Formation.

Environment/lithology: lacustrine

• The lacustrine deposits fill concave depressions on top of the old white eolian sand and are commonly covered laterally by the present dune system; this indicates that they were formed in several isolated lakes which were probably not synchronous.
• The bones from locality 3 come from white coarse-grained sand overlain by white siltstone interbedded with coarse-grained sand. This succession is overlain and laterally covered by the present sand-dunes.

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: Locality 3 was discovered in 1998. A total of 'a few hundred specimens' have been recovered from the three localities together.

Primary reference: H. Thomas, D. Geraads, D. Janjou, D. Vaslet, A. Mesmesh, D. Billiou, H. Bocherens, G. Dobigny, V. Eisenmann, M. Gayet, F. Lapparent Broin, G. Petter, and M. Halawani. 1998. First Pleistocene faunas from the Arabian Peninsula: An Nafud desert, Saudi Arabia. Comptes Rendus Academie des Sciences, Paris, Sciences de la terre et des planetes 326:145-152 [A. Turner/H. O'Regan/M. Carrano]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 48859: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 01.04.2005

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Mammalia
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
"cf. Elephas recki" = Palaeoloxodon recki
"cf. Elephas recki" = Palaeoloxodon recki Dietrich 1915 elephant
Elephantidae gen. and sp. indet. (cf. Elephas recki). 1 incomplete molar plate, several carpals and tarsals. Definitely not Loxodonta, E. recki suggested on basis of size..
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Crocuta crocuta
Crocuta crocuta Erxleben 1777 spotted hyaena
1 left mandible with P2-M1 (ANA 2)
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Pelorovis cf. oldowayensis
Pelorovis cf. oldowayensis Reck 1928 antelope