Abstract:

Homo erectus yuanmouensis is renowned as the earliest hominin discovered in China and has attracted global scholarly interest regarding its physical evolution and cultural aspects. Since its initial discovery, multiple excavations have been carried out by institutions such as the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Beijing Museum of Natural History. These efforts have yielded a rich diversity of vertebrate fossils at the Yuanmou Hominin site. The most recent excavation began in July 2023, led by the Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Across all excavation seasons, the fossil mammalian assemblage identified so far comprises 4 orders, 13 families, 26 genera, and 30 species. Among these, Homotherium crenatidens, Megaviverra pleistocaenica, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, and Tapirus sp. represent the first recorded occurrences at the Yuanmou Hominin site. Notably, the latter two are typical taxa of the Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna found in southern China. This study has analyzed the genus-level resemblance between the Yuanmou hominin site fauna and other early Pleistocene faunas from different locations and ages in China, aiming to discuss the zoogeographic pattern of Early Pleistocene large mammalian faunas in China. The results indicate that the Yuanmou hominin site fauna, being a mammalian fauna in the early stage of the Early Pleistocene in southern China, shows a higher degree of resemblance with faunas from southern China in general, compared to those from northern China, and a higher degree of resemblance with faunas in the early stage of the Early Pleistocene, compared to those in the late stage of the Early Pleistocene. This suggests that geographic location is a significant factor influencing the dispersal and exchange of large mammals, and that the composition of mammalian fauna would shift due to environmental events in critical periods. In the analysis of all the localities in this study, Tuozidong fauna in southern China had less similarity with Yuanmou hominin site fauna, in contrast, Gongwangling fauna in northern China had more similarity with Yuanmou hominin site fauna, which indicating that due to their special environments, exchange and co-residence of mammals from southern and northern China had occurred in these two localities. Based on the comparison of all the localities in this study, it is found that there was a higher proportion of shrubby grassland in the area around the Yuanmou hominin site, making the habitat of the fauna more open than those in other localities, which has led to the minor difference between the Yuanmou hominin site fauna and the typical mammalian faunas from Oriental realm in the Early Pleistocene.

Key words: Yuanmou hominin, Yuanmou fauna, paleoecology, paleozoogeography