New findings of the teeth of the southern elephant archidiskodon meridionalis gromovi in the lower reaches of the Ural river (Zhaiyk)

Abstract

Molars of the southern elephant Archidiskodon meridionalis gromovi were found in alluvial deposits near Uralsk (West Kazakhstan region, Republic of Kazakhstan). In this work, were applied generally accepted paleontological methods of field and cameral research: standard methods of working with paleontological material for extraction of samples from the host rock; morphometrically morphological analysis of fossil remains in the species diagnosis. Have been studied a series of teeth of M3/m3 shifts of chronologically successive subspecies of Archidiskodon meridionalis from paleopleistocene (middle villafrancian) localities in Western Kazakhstan. Analysis of the characteristics of teeth (frequency of plates, length of one plate, number of plates, enamel thickness, hypsodont index, crown proportion index) showed that the studied indicators are close to those characteristic of Archidiskodon [Elaphas] meridionalis gromovi. For the studied tooth changes, the parameter of the length of one plate turned out to be very diagnostic. The limits of variation in the size of the crown of teeth in different subspecies largely coincide.