Taxonomic revision of the holotype of Proboselaphus watasei Matsumoto, 1915 (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) from Chuanyu area, China

摘要: A taxonomic revision of Proboselaphus watasei Matsumoto, 1915 (Bovidae, Artiodactyla) from the Pleistocene of Chuanyu area, China demonstrates that this genus and species names are invalid. The holotype with a skull and mandibles was recently rediscovered in the fossil collection by Nobuo Naora, which is housed in the National Museum of Japanese History, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Proboselaphus watasei was described as a closely-related species to living nilgai, or Boselaphus tragocamelus, in South Asia, based on general characteristics of pecorans, such as small bony horn-cores and hypsodont cheek teeth. However, the cranial and dental morphologies re-examined in the present study clearly show that the holotype has cervid-specific characteristics: e.g., the fronto-parietal surface curving dorsally, the basioccipital with a triangular outline, and molars with isolated anterior and posterior lobes. The molars of the holotype are comparable to those of Cervus unicolor, in having strong accessary structures (or spurs, cingulums/cingulids, and styles/stylids), and are as large as those of Cervus cf. C. unicolor from the Pleistocene deposits in southern China. This taxonomic change suggests that any crown-boselaphins had not dispersed into East Asia since the Pleistocene.