A cane rat of African affinity from the Middle Miocene ape locality of Ramnagar (J&K), India

Establishing a precise geochronological framework for Miocene fossil localities in South Asia remains challenging due to the absence of interbedded volcanic horizons suitable for radiometric dating. In this context, rodent biochronology plays a pivotal role in correlating and temporally constraining fossiliferous terrestrial deposits. We report the discovery of a mandibular fragment diagnostic of the short-ranging Middle Miocene cane rat Paraulacodus indicus, bearing a dP₄ and M₁, from the Sivapithecus indicus locality of Rashole in the Ramnagar Member of the Lower Siwaliks (Jammu and Kashmir, India). Paraulacodus indicus is previously known only from the Potwar Plateau of Pakistan, where its stratigraphic range is measured between ~13.1 and 12.7 Ma based on integrated magnetostratigraphy and radiometric dates. The current discovery thus provides an important biochronologically constricted age estimate for Rashole and the Ramnagar sequence, more broadly. Because the nearby site of Sunetar-2 (~5 km west) lies within the same lithostratigraphic unit as Rashole, this estimated age range also likely applies to the hylobatid Kapi ramnagarensis and the sivaladapid Ramadapis sahnii. Accordingly, these primates can now be placed within a refined temporal window of about 13 Ma, congruent with the first appearance datum of Sivapithecus in the Potwar Plateau. The presence of P. indicus at Ramnagar not only improves temporal resolution within the poorly dated Lower Siwalik sequences of India but also enhances our understanding of Miocene faunal exchange and ecosystem evolution in the Indian subcontinent during a critical period in hominoid evolution.