Arsinoitherium (Embrithopoda) and other large mammals and plants from the Oligocene of Tunisia

Pages	172-181
DOI	10.2478/if-2017-0009
Keywords	Tunisia, Africa, Oligocene, Arsinoitherium, biogeography, palaeobotany
Citation	PICKFORD, Martin. Arsinoitherium (Embrithopoda) and other large mammals and plants from the Oligocene of Tunisia. Fossil Imprint / Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B – Historia Naturalis. Prague: National Museum, 2017, 73(1-2), 172-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/if-2017-0009. ISSN 2533-4050 (tisk), 2533-4069 (online). Also available from: https://www.nm.cz/en/periodicals/fiamnpsbhn/73-1-2/arsinoitherium-embrithopoda-and-other-large-mammals-and-plants-from-the-oligocene-of-tunisia

Fossil Imprint / Acta Musei Nationalis Pragae, Series B – Historia Naturalis | 2017/73/1-2

Palaeogene large mammals are poorly represented in Tunisia, in contrast to Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, where abundant and diverse faunas are known. Oligocene proboscideans have been recorded from four localities in Tunisia (Djebel Bou Gobrine, Oued Bazina, Bled Mellaha and Djebel Touila) but little else from this period is known from the country. For this reason it is worth recording the discovery of an arsinoithere tooth fragment from the divide between Oued Cherichera and Oued Grigema, Central Tunisia. This discovery confirms the presence of continental Oligocene strata in the region, and the palaeodistribution of Arsinoitherium 1,300 km to the north-northwest of its previously established range. Arsinoitheres are now known to have been widespread throughout the Afro-Arabian continent. Although palaeoclimatic data for the Oligocene of Tunisia is still scarce, fossil plants suggest that, during the Oligocene, the country enjoyed a tropical to sub-tropical humid climate, in accordance with the presence of Arsinoitherium, Phiomia and an anthracothere, taxa that are also present in the classic Fayum faunas of Egypt and the Ashawq faunas of Oman. 

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