First true mastodon from the Late Miocene of Iran

Abstract

A mammutid is described here for the first time from the Late Miocene (MN12 equivalent) deposits of Abkhareh village, Varzeghan region, in the North-Western part of Iran. It is identified as “Mammut” cf. obliquelophus and is represented by an isolated and moderately worn upper third molar with a zygodont crown pattern typical of mammutids. In addition, two upper incisors found associated with the molar and probably belonging to the same individual are assigned as Mammut. The studied material expands the geographic distribution of “Mammut” obliquelophus into Western Asia. There are some known localities bearing vertebrate fossil beds from Northwest of Iran like Maragheh (MN12, Mirzaie Ataabadi et al., 2013c), Ivand (MN12, Mirzaie Ataabadi et al, 2011a) and Kivi-1 (MN12, Jafarzadeh and Konidaris, 2020). However, some materials belonging to proboscideans were revealed from a village, Abkhareh (MN12), in Varzeghan area 150 km away from Maragheh. In this study, an upper third molar and a pair of upper tusks of an ancient elephant-like mammal were attributed to the mammutid “Mammut” cf. obliquelophus. This finding proves that this taxon inhabited Iran between 8–7.5 Ma, which falls in the Turolian stage of the Late Miocene. It marks the first record of this species in Iran and expands the known geographic distribution of “Mammut” obliquelophus into Western Asia.