Résumé
Raoellidae are an iconic family of artiodactyls mainly known from the middle Eocene of the Indian subcontinent. They are of particular interest in understanding the evolutionary history of Artiodactyla, as they seem to be closely related to stem Cetacea. New material of the small raoellid Metkatius kashmiriensis is reported from the middle Eocene of the Upper Subathu Formation in the Kalakot area, northwest Himalaya, India. The fossil material consists of numerous mandibular and maxillary fragments and isolated teeth, mainly belonging to juvenile specimens. It documents the poorly known dental morphology of M. kashmiriensis and provides an overview of its intraspecific variation, allowing to redefine its diagnosis. M. kashmiriensis is characterized by a particularly small size compared with other raoellid species, and by bunodont molars with moderately marked transverse lophs. The M/1-2 are much longer than wide and display characters similar to those of Rajouria gunnelli, such as the presence of a small paraconid and a mesial mesiostylid. The P/4 bears distally a small hypoconid, which appears to be unique in Raoellidae. The description of the new material also allows to document the poorly known morphology of the deciduous teeth of raoellids. The DP2/ is reported for the first time, and the DP/4 of M. kashmiriensis shows a morphology different from that of Indohyus, with the absence of mesial basin anterior to the paraconid and the primoconid. These results confirm that M. kashmiriensis is a valid species and not a synonym of Indohyus indirae (contrary to what has recently been proposed), and highlight the great morphological diversity present within the Raoellidae during the middle Eocene in the Indian subcontinent. They illustrate the evolutionary success of the Raoellidae, which coincided with that of the first stem cetaceans, and allow discussion of the relationships of M. kashmiriensis with the other raoellid taxa.