Bulletin of the Mizunami Fossil Museum No. 4
On some new materials of Gomphotherium annectens (Matsumoto) from the Mizunami Group, Central Japan
- BMFM04-001Kamei et al., 1977（PDF 3.47MB）
Kamei et al. (1977) print-version
Published: 1977/12/25 Page: 1–8, pls. 1–2
Gomphotherium annectens (Matsumoto) (Proboscidea, Mammalia) is one of the important members in the Hiramaki Fauna which represents the Japanese Early Miocene mammalian fauna. This species has been known only from the Kani Basin, Gifu Prefecture, Central Japan. In this time, however, one fossil jaw bone of this species was newly found from the Toki Coal Bearing Formation of the Mizunami Basin which situates in the neighbourhood of the Kani Basin. The stratigraphical correlation of these two basins gives the estimation that this new locality is in the horizon lower than the fossil-yielded horizons ever known. In addition, the occurrence of a material of this species is confirmed in the Kani Basin. From the observations on those two materials, it is probable to say that they suggest larger size of this species. As this species has long been considered to be smaller one among the allies, the holotype specimen of this species, hereafter, should be treated to be rather smaller individual among the G. annectens population. In this article, the descriptions on those two new specimens are briefly given.