Review of Eocene Anthracobunidae (mammalia, Proboscidea) with a New Genus and Species, Jozaria Palustris, from the Kuldana Formation of Kohat (pakistan)

-Anthracobune and its primitive bunodont-bilophodont herbivorous allies from the Eocene of Indo-Pakistan are grouped together in a new family, Anthracobunidae. Anthracobunids are interpreted as basal "tethytheres" that are probably broadly ancestral to proboscideans, sirenians, and desmostylians. The family includes five genera and species: Anthracobune pinfoldi Pilgrim, 1940; Lammidhania wardi (Pilgrim, 1940); Pilgrimella pilgrimi Dehm and Oettingen-Spielberg, 1958; Ishatherium subathuensis Sahni and Kumar, 1980; and Jozaria palustris (new genus and species). Anthracobunidae may be ancestral to Moeritheriidae among primitive proboscideans and Prorastomidae/ Protosirenidae among primitive sirenians; they resemble both groups in size and general cheek tooth morphology, and they appear earlier in the fossil record. Anthracobunids are primitive in having four premolars and in lacking the tusks and specialized rostra seen in moeritheriids and protosirenids. Desmostylia may also be derived from Anthracobunidae. Jozaria appears to have fed on soft aquatic vegetation in brackish to freshwater marshes. Some Pilgrimella and Ishatherium specimens have been found in marine deposits. These observations are consistent with the postulated amphibious habits of moeritheres and the shallow-water littoral-marine habitats of sirenians and desmostylians.