Pleistocene vertebrates from Celebes : IV. Archidiskodon celebensis nov. spec.

The fossil elephant remains recently discovered in S. Celebes by Mr. H. R. van Heekeren, and entrusted to me by Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers, Head of the Archaeological Survey of the Dutch East Indies, belong to a small form of the genus Archidiskodon. These specimens, described and figured in the present paper, give the first evidence of the existence of Proboscidea in the island of Celebes. As stated already in earlier notes on the fossils in Mr. Van Heekeren's collection (Hooijer, 1948a, 1948b, 1948c) this elephant is associated with a fauna containing a peculiar suid (Celebochoerus heekereni Hooijer), a babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa beruensis Hooijer), an anoa (Anoa depressicornis (Smith) subsp.), and a gigantic land-tortoise (Testudo margae Hooijer). None of the fossils has been found in situ, but one of the elephant molars was still embedded in the matrix, a note on which is given below because it may help to determine the exact stratigraphical position of the specimen when the geology of the site will have been studied. The matrix of the unworn right M2 or M3 from Sompoh near Tjabengè (Sopeng district), about 100 km N.E. of Macassar was kindly studied by Mr. L. J. Fick and is a river-laid sediment with volcanic material. The rock consists of detrital grains of lateritic sandstone, the interstices partly filled with amorphous limonitic silica and opaque components. There are some pieces of quartz and veins of rhombohedral calcite. The volcanic components consist for the greater part of diopside and a few crystals of alkaline felspar. Archidiskodon celebensis nov. spec. Diagnosis: Size small; about one-half as large as Archidiskodon plani-