A new species of bush rat from the Early Pliocene Upper Siwaliks of Mohand (Uttar Pradesh, India) with implications for a South Asian origin of the genus Golunda.

The Indian bush rat (Golunda ellioti) is the only extant representative of the genus Golunda. The genus, however, was much more diverse and widely distributed in the past, with fossil specimens recovered in West Asia, East Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. In this study, we report a new species of Golunda from Mohand (ML1), Saharanpur District of Uttar Pradesh, India. We describe morphological differences in the dentition between this new species and other members of the genus, and discuss the implications of its evolutionary history. The new species is characterized by comparatively small molars, with less elongated and moderately inclined cusps. The fossils come from the upper part of the section at the level of 1760 m, which corresponds to the time frame between the chrons C3n.3r and C3n.3n, about 4.9 Ma depending on the paleomagnetic time scale. Therefore, the fossil locality falls in the pre-Pinjor Upper Siwaliks of India, suggesting an Early Pliocene age rather than the Late Miocene age as inferred by earlier workers. The newly discovered species of Golunda predates fossil African species of the genus, supporting the hypothesis that Golunda may have originated in the Indian subcontinent rather than in Africa.