Lakhuti 2 Main collection (Pleistocene of Tajikistan)

Also known as Lakhuti-2 main

Where: Tajikistan (38.3° N, 70.0° E: paleocoordinates 38.4° N, 69.9° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Kayrubak Member, Pleistocene (2.6 - 0.0 Ma)

• "the mammal remains originate from the silty inter-layers of the pebble-silty deposists of teh Kayrubak suite". At Lakhuti 2 main the bones are "associated with brown inter-layers of calcareous water-lain silts". "The pebble-silts of the Kayrubak formation are 13-14m thick here. They lie above the Jaramillo event and below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary" (ie. between 1.0-0.78Ma). Lenticular accumulations of bones are found from the waterline to 2m above it and can be traced 60-70m along the bank.

Environment/lithology: fluvial-lacustrinelenticular, brown, silty, calcareous

• Bones are found in the Kayrubak suite which unconformably overlies Lower Pliocene red sandstones and underlies thick Pleistocene loesses containing many fossil soil horizons.
• At Lakhuti 2 main the bones are "associated with brown inter-layers of calcareous water-lain silts, which replaces the grey-green silts of the preceding locality" (Lakhuti 2 point). "The pebble-silts of the Kayrubak formation are 13-14m thick here. They lie above the Jaramillo event and below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary" (ie. between 1.0-0.78Ma). The lenticular accumulations of bones are found from the waterline to 2m above it and can be traced 60-70m along the bank.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Collection methods: bulk,

• Fossils were discovered in the 1950s and excavated from 1968 onwards by the Physics Institute, the Geological Institute and the Palaeontological Institute, the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Zoology and Parasitology, the TajikSSR Academy of Sciences.

Primary reference: M. V. Sotnikova and I. A. Vislobokova. 1990. Pleistocene Mammals from Lakhuti, Southern Tadjikistan, U.S.S.R. Quatarpalaontologie, Berlin 8:237-244 [A. Behrensmeyer/H. O'Regan/H. O'Regan]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 34104: authorized by Alan Turner, entered by Hannah O'Regan on 18.08.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• "Among these mammalian remains, carnivores are abundant in species number and cervids are abundant in the quantity of their remains"
Mammalia
 Rodentia - Muridae
Meriones lakhutensis1 jird
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
 Rodentia - Cricetidae
Cricetulus sp.1 Milne-Edwards 1867 mouse
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
Microtus (Phaiomys) lakhutensis1 vole
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
"Clethrionomys sp." = Myodes1 Pallas 1811 vole
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
Allophaiomys ? sp.1 Kormos 1932 vole
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
 Theriamorpha - Soricidae
Crocidura sp.1 Wagler 1832 white-toothed shrew
not at this locality - see lakhuti 2 point.
 Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Rhinocerotidae indet.3 Gray 1821 rhinoceros
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
 Artiodactyla - Camelidae
Camelus cf. knoblochi Nehring 1901 camel
 Artiodactyla - Cervidae
Praemegaceros sp. Portis 1920 deer
Sinomegaceros sp. Chow et al. 1965 deer
very large
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Bovidae indet. Gray 1821 antelope
Gazellospira sp.1 Pilgrim and Schaub 1939 antelope
 Carnivora - Felidae
Homotherium sp. Fabrini 1890 cat
= Homotherium teilhardi-piveteaui in Forsten and Sharapov.
Panthera gombaszoegensis Kretzoi 1938 cat
 Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Pachycrocuta brevirostris Gervais 1850 brown hyaena
 Carnivora - Mustelidae
Meles ex gr. meles Linnaeus 1758 European badger
 Carnivora - Canidae
Xenocyon lycaonoides1 Kretzoi 1938 canine
Canis lupus1 Linnaeus 1758 gray wolf
 Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Palaeoloxodon cf. antiquus1 Falconer and Cautley 1847 elephant
Mammuthus sp.2 Brookes 1828 mammoth