Two new Mammal Localities From Lower Cretaceous Siberia

Two new mammal localities within the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation of West Siberia, Russia

Authors:

Averianov et al

Abstract:

Two new mammal localities have been discovered in the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation of West Siberia, Russia, during a field work in 2014. The Smolenskii Yar locality in the Chebula District of Kemerovo Province produced an upper molariform tooth (M2) of a Gobiconodontidae indet. The Ust’-Kolba locality in the Tisul’ District of Kemerovo Province yielded a lower molar (m2) of the zhangheotherian Kiyatherium sp. These are the ninth and tenth Mesozoic mammal localities for Russia. The Kiyatherium-bearing vertebrate assemblage from the Shestakovo 3 and Ust’-Kolba localities is likely to be the youngest within the Ilek Formation, reflecting the time after the extinction of the Tritylodontidae.