Kunmunella is an extinct Raoellidae artiodactyl which inhabited what is now northern India during the middle-upper Eocene (Ypresian).
Discovery
The remains of
Kunmunella were first found by Ranga Rao, 1971. He found only a left mandible, and assigned it to a new species of
Indohyus,
I. kalakotensis, after the region in which he discovered the animal.
In the following year, an isolated upper third molar would be found by Sahni and Khare, which would be assigned to the new
genus Kunmunella.
This new
taxon would be named
K. rajouriensis, named after the
Rajouri district where the fossil was found.
In 1985, a right maxilla with its respective teeth was found and assigned to the new species
K. transversa.
Classification
External Classification
The first remains of
Kunmunella discovered were first assigned to
Indohyus.
When
Kunmunella was first named, it was assigned to
Helohyidae, which was at that time within
Dichobunidae, due to the morphology of its molar, which was at the time the only remains classified under the genus
Kunmunella.
In 1977,
Kunmunella was moved from Dichobunidae to Helohyidae. In the same year, Helohyidae was moved from
Dichobunoidea to Anthracotherioidea (now
Ancodonta) and by extension
Kunmunella was moved to Anthracotherioidea.
In 1981,
Kunmunella, along with
Raoella (now
Indohyus) and
Khirtharia, were found to all share various synapomorphies and were grouped together in the new family Raoellidae.
However, Thewissen et al. (1987) determined that
Kunmunella, along with
Raoella, were synonymous with
Indohyus.
[J. G. M. Thewissen, P. D. Gingerich, and D. E. Russell. 1987. Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla (Mammalia) from the early-middle Eocene Kuldana Formation of Kohat (Pakistan). Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan 27(11):247-274] This change was reverted by Thewissen, Williams & Hussain (2001), who found
Kunmunella to be a valid genus.
In 2011, Orliac and Ducrocq through a
Phylogenetics determined
Kunmunella to be the most basal raoellid.
In 2020, a study found that
Kunmunella was a junior synonym of
Indohyus, although this result was not widely reconginzed.
[Thewissen, J G M & Nanda, Chagya & Bajpai, Sunil. (2020). Indohyus, Endemic Radiation of Raoellid Artiodactyls in the Eocene of India and Pakistan. 10.1007/978-3-030-49753-8_14.]After the discovery of
Rajouria in 2021, Rana et al., through a phylogenetic analysis, determined that the newly found
Rajouria was the most basal member of Raoellidae, with
Kunmunella being the second most basal.
Internal Classification
The first species of
Kunmunella to be named was
K. rajouriensis, although the first remains of what is now known to be Kunmunella were found earlier and assigned to
I. kalakotensis.
In 1985, Kumar and Sahni found that
I. kalakotensis was a synonym of
K. rajouriensis and that
Kunmunella was a distinct species. Since older names have precedent in taxonomy, they changed the name of
K. rajouriensis to
K. kalakotensis. The same study found that there was another species of
Kunmunela, known only from a right maxilla:
K. transversa.
Rana et al. (2021) reaffirmed that the two species of
Kunmunella were most closely related to each other than to any other animal, and therefore formed a valid genus.
Description
Kunmunella has more transverse upper molars, a labially (towards the lips) shifted hypercone (a large cusp in the molars), a triangular third molar, and more prominent lingual (tongue side) enamel ridges.
The third molar has a large conical paracone (a type of cusp) connected to a smaller metacone by an enamel ridge.
The protocone is large and in the forward part of the molars while the hypocone, connected to the metacone by a ridge, is small.
Labial cingulum (enamel ridges) are larger than posterior cingulum.
Upper molars have bunolophodont cusps, the paracone is the largest cusp, and the mesocone is absent, while the
are non-molarized.
K. kalakotensis
Upper dentition
Kunmunella kalakotensis has
Canine tooth separated from
by a small space. The first premolar is very similar to the canines; it is single cusped (only has one, large bump) and is sharp. The second premolar is larger than the first and elongated but lingo-lingually compressed. There are two large ridges which descend from the highpoint of the tooth. The third molar is the largest. It has a posterior ridge which splits into two near the top of the tooth. It has transverse upper molars with conical cusps and large lophs. Cingula are prominent and present throughout the entirety of the molar.
K. kalakotensis also has an anterior ridge which is undivided. The lingual enamel ridges are larger than the labial ridges. The fourth premolar is similar to the previous teeth. The paracone is large and nearly twice the height of the protocone. The first molar is rectangular and wider than it is long. The paracone is the largest and tallest cusp. There are grooves of varying deepness between the four large cusps. The occlusal surface of the enamel is smooth, although the sides of the tooth are rugose. The cingulum are prominent throughout the entire tooth. The second molar is larger with more prominent cusps than the first molar. There is no metaconule on the second molar. The third molar is triangular. The paracone is high and conical, while the hypocone is reduced. Similar to the second molar, the cingulum are prominent.
Lower dentition
Kunmunella kalakotensis has lower dentition known only by the last two molars. The third molar is labio-lingualy compressed, similar to the second premolar of the upper dentition. The metaconid is the largest cusp, while the entoconid is the smallest and the paraconid is absent. There are ridges connecting the cusps. Anterior and lingual cingula are well developed.
K. transversa
The fourth premolar is high, transverse, and almost the same size as the first molar. As opposed to
K. kalakotensis which has elongated paracone,
K. transversa has a conical paracone. The first molar is rectangular and wider than it is long. It has a larger hypocone than the first molar in
K. kalakotensis. There is no metacone and cingula are prominent. The second molar is transverse. The protocone is displaced towards the lingual side of the tooth. The third molar is rectangular (unlike the triangular molar in
K. kalakotensis) and has a paracone displaced lingually. The posterior cingululm of the third molar forms a shelf-like structure.
Paleobiology
Being a raoellid,
Kunmunella likely had a similar lifestyle to
Indohyus.
Kunmunella was likely an
omnivore because related genus
Indohyus had teeth that allowed it to grasp and hold
Predation, while also having molars adapted to processing plant matter.
and other raoellids were almost certainly
semiaquatic.
This is due to higher
bone density than fully terrestrial
and auditory bulla, both of which were found in Indohyus.
