Although the first ten million years of whale evolution are documented by a remarkable series of fossil skeletons, the link to the ancestor of cetaceans has been missing. It was known that whales are related to even-toed ungulates (artiodactyls), but…
The origin of whales (order Cetacea) from a four-footed land animal is one of the best understood examples of macroevolutionary change. This evolutionary transition has been substantially elucidated by fossil finds from the Indian subcontinent in the…
The origin and early evolution of Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) is one of the best examples of macroevolution as documented by fossils. Early whales are divided into six families that differ greatly in their habitats, which varied from…
A premaxillary fragment of Sivapithecus parvada preserving the germs of the right central and lateral incisors is described. The specimen was recovered in situ during excavation at locality Y311 in the upper Nagri Formation (ca. 9.2 m.y.a.) of the…
Protocetid cetaceans were first described from the Eocene of India in 1975, but many more specimens have been discovered since then and are described here. All specimens are from District Kutch in the State of Gujarat and were recovered in deposits…
An upper molar tooth of a possibly new but unnamed prosimian primate (Mammalia, Primates) is described from the Middle Eocene, in the uppermost part of the Subathu Group exposed east of Babbian Gala near Kalakot (northwestern Outer Himalaya) in the…
Recent members of the order Cetacea (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) move in the water by vertical tail beats and cannot locomote on land. Their hindlimbs are not visible externally and the bones are reduced to one or a few splints that commonly…
Dental morphology changes dramatically across the artiodactyl-cetacean transition, and it is generally assumed that this reflects the evolutionary change from herbivory and omnivory to carnivory. To test hypotheses regarding tooth function and diet,…
The skulls and isolated tympanics are described for the earliest whales, pakicetids, from the H-GSP Locality 62 in the Ganda Kas area in Northern Pakistan. Currently three pakicetid genera are known: Pakicetus, Ichthyolestes, and Nalacetus.…
Anthracobunidae is an Eocene family of large mammals from south Asia that is commonly considered to be part of the radiation that gave rise to elephants (proboscideans) and sea cows (sirenians). We describe a new collection of anthracobunid fossils…
