New fossil mammalian assemblages and first record of ostrich from the Pinjore (Pinjor) formation (2.58–0.63 Ma) of Siwalik Hills near Chandigarh, northern India

Abstract

The Pinjore Formation of the Upper Siwalik subgroup, north of Chandigarh, provides one of the most extensive and continuous sequences of Quaternary deposits in northern India. Since the early 19th century, scholars have been involved with extensive surveys and comprehensive fossil collections from the region. However, most fossils were collected as surface finds. New palaeontological surveys were initiated in 2020 to identify in-situ fossil scatters to understand palaeoecological and palaeodietary shifts in fauna within the Pinjore deposits (2.58–0.63 Ma). As a result, six new palaeontological localities were discovered in the region, with 981 fossil specimens (dental, post-cranial and fossil eggshells). The post-cranial remains are fragmentary and undiagnosable, but dental remains can be identified to eight mammalian species of bovids, equids, proboscideans and rodents. More significantly, fossilised ratite eggshells were also discovered and collected from four separate scatters across the locality of Choti Badi Nangal and can be provisionally assigned to Struthio cf. S. camelus molybdophanes. This is also the first report of fossilised ratite eggshells from the Upper Siwalik Hills of India.