1. A new interpretation of the Miocene rodent faunas from Comăneşti 1 and Tauţ (W-Romania)
- Author
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Hír, János, Prieto, Jérôme, and Ştiuca, Emanoil
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MIOCENE paleoecology , *RODENTS , *TAXONOMY , *BIOSTRATIGRAPHY , *COLD-blooded animals , *ANIMAL diversity , *MAMMALS - Abstract
Abstract: The rodent faunas from the Comăneşti 1 and Tauţ localities (Western Romania) are revised in light of the latest taxonomical, biostratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental information. The main systematic results show that the two cricetid rodents Megacricetodon crisiensis and Democricetodon iazygum are invalid, whereas Democricetodon zarandicus is retained. The original assigment of the cricetodontini remains from Tauţ to Hispanomys is emended, as a relationship to Byzantinia is more likely. While the geological evidence suggests that the localities are late Middle Miocene (Upper Volhynian-Bessarabian, late Sarmatian sensu stricto) in age, the association of Myoglis ucrainicus with Muscardinus hispanicus rather argues for an MN9 correlation for Tauţ. Indeed, uncertainties and discontinuities in the Central and East European mammalian biostratigraphy render any conclusion about the correlation of the localities to the MN “zonation” problematic. The high diversity of squirrels (five genera), as well as the presence of a pliopithecoid alongside, glirid and eomyid rodents, suggest a forest environment at the time of accumulation of the Tauţ fauna, which is in agreement with the indication of humid climate provided by ectothermic vertebrates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
- Published
- 2011
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