New artiodactyl ruminant mammal from the Late Oligocene of Pakistan

Dental and postcranial material of the bovid−like ruminant Palaeohypsodontus zinensis sp. nov. is reported from the Oligocene of the Bugti Hills (Balochistan, Pakistan). This finding extends the geographic distribution of this dentally highly derived ruminant, which was previously restricted to the early Oligocene of Mongolia and China. The inclusion of Palaeohypsodontus within the Bovidae is disputed on the basis of astragalus characters, and the taxonomic status of the Oligo−Miocene Eurasian bovid−like ruminants is briefly discussed. It is concluded that the assignment of Palaeohypsodontus to the Bovidae would be premature. More dental and postcranial material of this genus as well as additional fossils of early bovids are necessary to shed new light on the phylogenetic relationships within the first representatives of that family in Eurasia