Abstract

• The order Perissodactyla contains three distinct families, Equidae, Rhinocerotidae, Tapiridae, distributing in the tropical forest of Asia, North and South America and Savana of Africa. Extant species of this order are a remnant of the well-diversified group which probably originated during the Paleocene or early Eocene in Indian subcontinent. In Myanmar, fossil remains of this lineage have been documented in the Neogene sediments of central Myanmar representing Chalicotheriidae (Chalicotherium, cf. Nesterotherium and two indeterminate genera) Rhinoceritdae (“Diceratherium”, Brachypotherium, Rhinoceros, Dicerorhinus and one indeterminate genus) and Equidae (Hipparion and Equus). In contrast to the present day arid condition in central Myanmar, the occurrences of the forest dwelling perissodactyla such as chalicotherids, Dicerorhinus, Rhinoceros indicates the existence of the considerable forested condition in central Myanmar. Stable isotope results of the Hipparion and Brachypotherium also suggest the dominance of closed environment in central Myanmar until the Pliocene. The expansion of grassland in central Myanmar is probably later than or different from that of Siwaliks of northern Pakistan due to occurrences of forest dwelling mammals in the Pliocene or later periods