The paleoenvironment of Sivapithecus parvada

Remains of the hominoid Sivapithecus parvada and a diversity of mammalian t axa are preserved at locality Y311 (ca. 10 Ma) in the Siwalik Nagri Formati on of northern Pakistan. Bovids (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) are the most abunda nt mammals next to tragulids (Tragulidae, Artiodactyla) at locality Y311 an d provide a means for reconstructing the paleoenvironments that would have been available to Sivapithecus parvada. A functional model indicates a link age between habitat and several femoral characters among extant bovids. Bas ed on this model, we infer that forested habitats predominated at locality Y311 but that some less densely covered areas may also have been present. P aleoenvironments in the earlier Chinji Formation appear comparable to those at locality Y311, although the presence of a continuous canopy in the form er is more certain. Thus, adaptive changes in the bovid fauna from the Chin ji through the Nagri Formations appear to have preceded the shift to predom inantly C4 grasslands which, based on other lines of evidence, occurred loc ally (and possibly globally) between 8 and 6 Ma. The paleoenvironments of l ocality Y311 and the Chinji Formation localities appear different from the paleoenvironment of Kenyapithecus at Fort Ternan in Kenya, where the presen ce of continuous canopy is unlikely. The Fort Ternan fauna is dominated by two genera of bovids. One of these is adapted to light cover while the othe r appears better adapted to heavy cover. Sivapithecus and Kenyapithecus liv ed in different ecological settings probably characterized by varying degre es of vegetative cover. (C) 1999 Academic Press.