A NEW SPECIES OF ARFIA (HYAENODONTIDAE, CREODONTA) FROM THE BASAL EOCENE OF MONGOLIA

Abstract

A lower jaw fragment of the creodont Arfia langebadreae sp. nov. (Hyaenodontidae, Proviverrinae) from the Lower Eocene Bumban Member of the Naran Bulak Formation of the Tsagan-Khushu locality (Mongolia) is described. This is the first record of this genus in Asia, which suggests a pan-Holarctic range of Arfia in the Early Eocene. The new species is similar to A. zele Gingerich et Deutsch and is more specialized than A. junnei Gingerich and A. gingerichi Smith et Smith. A rapid migration of Arfia from Asia through North America to Europe at the Paleocene-Eocene transition is reconstructed. In addition to A. langebadreae, the Bumbanian Faunal Assemblage from Tsagan-Khushu includes the creodont ? Prototomus sp.