Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2015, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (03): 338-352.

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Pleistocene Bos (Bibos) gaurus from Bailong Cave in Yunxi County, Hubei, China

WANG Xiaomin, XU Chunhua, TONG Haowen   

  • Online:2015-09-15 Published:2015-09-15

Abstract: Bovine is very common in Quaternary hominid sites in China with abundant fossil specimens. But there are still many controversies of the identification and classification. Isolated teeth are the most very often finds at cave sites in South China, so the problems about the identification of Bovine are particularly acute. The present paper describes the fossil Bovine from Bailong Cave in Hubei Province. There are a large quantity of isolated teeth, broken crania, horn-cores, mandibles and post cranial bones. The remarkable characters of these fossils are as follows: horn-cores short and strong, dorsoventrally elliptical in cross-section; frontals arched and rised between the horn-cores; parietals retreat from face frontails; occipitals round and relatively high; postcornual constriction is quite narrow and the temporal fossae have strong depressions; the angle of mandible is over 90°and the mandibular ramus leans backward; morphological complexity of p2 is between that of Bubalus and Bos (Bos) taurustaurus. Based on the morphological characters and dimensions, these fossils are referred to Bos (Bibos) gaurus. Bailong Cave has the most abundant specimens of Bos (Bibos) gaurus in China, which offer the important evidences to distinguish the Bovine fossils from Cave sites in South China.

Key words: Bos (Bibos) gaurus; Morphologies of frontal, parietal and occipital; p2; Bailong Cave; Pleistocene