Quaternary mammal fossils from the seabed in East Asia : An outline and characteristics of localities and fossils, and comparisons with those in Europe

<p>The coastal sea area of East Asia including the Seto Inland Sea of Japan is one of the most representative areas yielding Quaternary mammal fossils from the seabed in the world. Almost all the fossils have been dredged by fishery operation from the seabed on the continental shelf with depths less than 200 m. This paper outlines fossil localities in the area and fossils collected from the localities, on the basis of data hitherto published. The localities in Japan outlined here mainly comprise those in the Nemuro Strait, off San-in in the Japan Sea, off the Atsumi Peninsula, in the Seto Inland Sea, in the Ariake Sea, and in the eastern marginal area of the East China Sea shelf. The localities outside Japan mainly comprise those in the Bohai Sea and the northern part of the Yellow Sea, in the western coastal sea area of the Taiwan Strait, and in the Penghu Channel. The fossils from the localities are attributed to terrestrial and marine mammals. This paper exclusively discusses the terrestrial ones, mainly because the marine ones are much fewer. The fossil assemblages of the localities are generally predominated by proboscideans and cervids (artiodactyls), whereas bovids (artiodactyls), perissodactyls, and carnivores are generally rare. The geological ages of the fossils are estimated by comparison with chronological distribution of mammal species (mainly proboscideans) in nearby land sections of the Quaternary as well as by direct dating of fossil material (radiocarbon method). Among the fossil localities, the fossils from the Seto Inland Sea are assigned to the Early, Middle, and Late Pleistocene, whereas those from other localities are mostly Late Pleistocene in age. The localities and their fossils in East Asia are compared with those in Flemish Bight of the North Sea, another world representative sea area yielding mammal fossils.</p>