國立臺灣博物館館藏長鼻目化石在演化上的意義

Study on the Proboscidea Fossils of the National Taiwan Museum

謝英宗(Y. T. Shieh) ； 張鈞翔(C. H. Chang)

《國立臺灣博物館學刊》 60卷1期 (2007/03) Pp. 33-44

摘要

臺灣的長鼻目化石除了發掘於臺南左鎮菜寮溪的中更新世化石外，另外就是打撈自臺灣海峽澎湖水道的晚更新世化石。本文針對國立臺灣博物館所典藏的三件代表性的長鼻目化石進行分析描述，分別是更新世中期臺南左鎮菜寮溪的曙光劍齒象（Stegodon aurorae）、草原猛瑪象（Mammuthus protomammonteus），以及更新世晚期臺灣海峽澎湖水道的淮河古菱齒象（Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis）。雖然臺灣地區的曙光劍齒象與草原猛瑪象與日本地區的相似，但是曙光劍齒象在臺灣地區出現的年代可能比日本地區要晚一些。而淮河古菱齒象則可能是在更新世晚期由中國大陸華北地區遷徙而來。臺灣地區三個主要象類群，各自代表三個不同的發展年代與起源，其相對應的古環境意義，值得進一步深入探討。

關鍵字

劍齒象 ； 猛獁象 ； 古菱齒象 ； 左鎮動物群 ； 澎湖水道動物群

並列摘要

Two major Pleistocene terrestrial mammal faunas relating to Proboscidean fossils have been recovered in the Taiwan region. One is the Cho-Chen fauna of Tainan County in southern Taiwan including Stegodon aurorae and Mammuthus protomammonteus The other Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis from the Late Pleistocene, whose fossils were obtained during trawling operations by commercial fisheries in the Penghu Channel between the Penghu and Taiwan islands. We examined the three main representative elephant fossils deposited at the National Taiwan Museum with characteristic description and morphological measurement. Based on a comparison of their fossil proboscidean taxa with those of China and Japan, we suggest that Stegodon aurorae and Mammuthus protomammonteus evolved in the Japanese islands and Taiwan during the Early Pleistocene and Middle Pleistocene, respectively. Palaeoloxodon huaihoensis may have migrated to Taiwan from northern China during the Late Pleistocene.

並列關鍵字

Stegodon ； Mammuthus Palaeoloxodon ； Cho-Chen fauna ； Penghu Channel fauna