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The cranium and dentition of Khirtharia (Artiodactyla, Raoellidae): new data on a stem taxon to Cetacea

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Abstract

Raoellid mammals are small artiodactyls from the Eocene of Asia, hypothesized to be closely related to stem Cetacea. Knowledge of the cranial and dental morphology of Raoellidae comes mostly from one species, Indohyus indirae. Here we describe new material of another raoellid genus, Khirtharia, based on material retrieved from the Kalakot area, Jammu and Kashmir. This new material, comprising an almost complete, lightly deformed cranium and a partial snout with associated partial mandible, greatly adds to our knowledge of raoellid morphology. It highlights the similarity of cranial characters with Indohyus, such as a long snout with raptorial incisors, a thick and narrow supraorbital region, a strong postorbital constriction, a triangular shaped braincase, and a thickened medial wall to the auditory bulla (involucrum). The new specimen is similar to Indohyus cranially but differs dentally in being more bunodont. The presence of these traits in two different raoellid genera suggests they may be present more broadly across Raoellidae. These characters are also observed in early cetaceans, highlighting the need to investigate their phylogenetic impact. Some cranial features support aquatic habits of members of this family.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and in Online Resource 1.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Nathan Vallée Gillette (RBINS) for the delicate preparation of the specimens, Julien Lalanne (RBINS) for the optical focus stacking photographs, Camille Locatelli (RBINS) and Stijn Goolaerts (RBINS) for the CT-scanning of the specimens at the RBINS facility and Renaud Lebrun (ISEM) for the access of scanning facilities (MRI platform member of the national infrastructure France-BioImaging supported by the French National Research Agency [ANR-10-INBS-04, «Investments for the future»], the LabEx CEMEB [ANR-10-LABX-0004] and NUMEV [ANR-10-LABX-0020]). This work was supported by the FYSSEN foundation, the ISEM – projet au Sud funding, and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Mohd Waqas & Maeva J. Orliac

  2. Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, 246174, Uttarakhand, India

    Mohd Waqas & Rajendra Singh Rana

  3. Directorate Earth and History of Life, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 29 Rue Vautier, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    Thierry Smith

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  1. Mohd Waqas
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Contributions

M.W collected the specimens in the field, M.O and M.W wrote the main manuscript text, M.O and T.S prepared the figures, M.O performed the 3D segmentations. All authors reviewed and improved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Maeva J. Orliac.

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The research leading to these results received funding from the FYSSEN foundation, the Institut des Sciences de l’Evolution, Montpellier (ISEM, projet au sud), and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

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Waqas, M., Smith, T., Rana, R.S. et al. The cranium and dentition of Khirtharia (Artiodactyla, Raoellidae): new data on a stem taxon to Cetacea. J Mammal Evol 31, 24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-024-09720-9

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