Mid–Late Pleistocene cervids (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) from the Yumidong Site in Wushan County, Chongqing
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Abstract:
Yumidong is a Paleolithic cave site discovered in Miaoyu Basin of Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality, Southwest China. Comprehensive analysis of dating results and faunal comparison indicates a late Middle to Late Pleistocene age for the site, about 300 ka to 14 ka, corresponding to MIS 8~2. Many cervid fossils unearthed from this site provide very good material for the morphological comparisons of Cervidae in the Middle to Late Pleistocene of South China. Three species in three genera, including Muntiacus muntjak margae, Rusa unicolor and Cervus (Sika) grayi, have been recognized. Muntiacus muntjak margae, only found from the late Middle Pleistocene deposit at the Yumidong Site, has similar size to that of M. gigas but has a shorter main beam and a longer brow tine than the latter. Rusa unicolor is larger than C. (S.) grayi, and its antler is robust with well-developed longitudinal grooves and crests on the surface. The bifurcation angle between the brow tine and the main beam is acute. Cervus (Sika) grayi is somewhat slender, and the surface of its antler is ornamented with shallow longitudinal grooves. The bifurcation angle between the brow tine and the main beam is obtuse. Both M. m. margae and R. unicolor are the most common taxa in the Middle to Late Pleistocene mammalian faunas of South China. Cervus (Sika) grayi is known as a typical Middle Pleistocene species of North China, even though it was also found at some Late Pleistocene localities in East China and the Japanese archipelago. In terms of stratigraphic distributions, specimens of R. unicolor have been unearthed from most layers of the deposits in the Yumidong Site, but C. (S.) grayi has only been found from limited layers that can be correlated to MIS 2, MIS 6 and MIS 8. The presence of C. (S.) grayi indicates paleoenvironmental fluctuations during the late Middle to Late Pleistocene in the Three Gorges area
