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Journal articles on the topic 'Rodents, Fossil'

Author: Grafiati

Published: 4 June 2021

Last updated: 3 March 2023

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Rinderknecht, Andrés, and R. Ernesto Blanco. "The largest fossil rodent." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275, no. 1637 (2008): 923–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.1645.

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The discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved skull permits the description of the new South American fossil species of the rodent, Josephoartigasia monesi sp. nov. (family: Dinomyidae; Rodentia: Hystricognathi: Caviomorpha). This species with estimated body mass of nearly 1000 kg is the largest yet recorded. The skull sheds new light on the anatomy of the extinct giant rodents of the Dinomyidae, which are known mostly from isolated teeth and incomplete mandible remains. The fossil derives from San José Formation, Uruguay, usually assigned to the Pliocene–Pleistocene (4–2 Myr ago), and the proposed palaeoenvironment where this rodent lived was characterized as an estuarine or deltaic system with forest communities.

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FERREIRA, THAIS M. F., ADRIANA ITATI OLIVARES, LEONARDO KERBER, RODRIGO P. DUTRA, and LEONARDO S. AVILLA. "Late Pleistocene echimyid rodents (Rodentia, Hystricognathi) from northern Brazil." Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências 88, no. 2 (2016): 829–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765201620150288.

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ABSTRACT Echimyidae (spiny rats, tree rats and the coypu) is the most diverse family of extant South American hystricognath rodents (caviomorphs). Today, they live in tropical forests (Amazonian, coastal and Andean forests), occasionally in more open xeric habitats in the Cerrado and Caatinga of northern South America, and open areas across the southern portion of the continent (Myocastor). The Quaternary fossil record of this family remains poorly studied. Here, we describe the fossil echimyids found in karst deposits from southern Tocantins, northern Brazil. The analyzed specimens are assigned to Thrichomys sp., Makalata cf. didelphoides and Proechimys sp. This is the first time that a fossil of Makalata is reported. The Pleistocene record of echimyids from this area is represented by fragmentary remains, which hinders their determination at specific levels. The data reported here contributes to the understanding of the ancient diversity of rodents of this region, evidenced until now in other groups, such as the artiodactyls, cingulates, carnivores, marsupials, and squamate reptiles.

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Storch, G., B. Engesser, and M. Wuttke. "Oldest fossil record of gliding in rodents." Nature 379, no. 6564 (1996): 439–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/379439a0.

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Harvey, Virginia L., Victoria M. Egerton, Andrew T. Chamberlain, Phillip L. Manning, William I. Sellers, and Michael Buckley. "Interpreting the historical terrestrial vertebrate biodiversity of Cayman Brac (Greater Antilles, Caribbean) through collagen fingerprinting." Holocene 29, no. 4 (2019): 531–42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683618824793.

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Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) lies within the Caribbean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot, an epicenter of high biodiversity and endemism. However, all endemic terrestrial mammals on the Cayman Islands are now extinct, following post-1500 AD human colonization of the islands. Introduced rodents and domesticated mammals now exclusively represent this facet of terrestrial fauna on the Cayman Islands, and are a likely cause of endemic species loss on the islands. Cayman Brac has numerous caves and rock fissures that offer protection to a naturally accumulated ensemble of vertebrate sub-fossil bone remains, documenting modifications in island biodiversity through the Holocene. In this study, we showcase the first molecular faunal survey undertaken on sub-fossil remains from the Cayman Islands, using collagen fingerprinting for taxonomic identification of the cave skeletal deposits collected from a single cave system, Green Cave on Cayman Brac. Collagen type (I) extracts from 485 bone fragments were analyzed to determine faunal identity and assemblage composition. A total of 76% of the collagen fingerprint-yielding samples were mammalian in origin, 67% of which were identified as invasive murid rodents. Here, we present mass spectral biomarkers for the endemic terrestrial mammal fauna of Cayman Brac, including the extinct capromyid rodents, Capromys and Geocapromys (Rodentia: Capromyidae), alongside commentary on the composition of the sub-fossil bone assemblage between the five distinct depositional chambers that comprise Green Cave. Collagen (I) provides a key service in taxonomic identification and mapping of macroevolutionary trends, and these results suggest a pivotal role for murid rodents in the competition and extinction of terrestrial endemic mammals from the Cayman Islands.

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Gomez Cano, Ana R., Yuri Kimura, Fernando Blanco, Iris Menéndez, María A. Álvarez-Sierra, and Manuel Hernández Fernández. "Ecomorphological characterization of murines and non-arvicoline cricetids (Rodentia) from south-western Europe since the latest Middle Miocene to the Mio-Pliocene boundary (MN 7/8–MN13)." PeerJ 5 (September 25, 2017): e3646. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.3646.

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Rodents are the most speciose group of mammals and display a great ecological diversity. Despite the greater amount of ecomorphological information compiled for extant rodent species, studies usually lack of morphological data on dentition, which has led to difficulty in directly utilizing existing ecomorphological data of extant rodents for paleoecological reconstruction because teeth are the most common or often the only micromammal fossils. Here, we infer the environmental ranges of extinct rodent genera by extracting habitat information from extant relatives and linking it to extinct taxa based on the phenogram of the cluster analysis, in which variables are derived from the principal component analysis on outline shape of the upper first molars. This phenotypic “bracketing” approach is particularly useful in the study of the fossil record of small mammals, which is mostly represented by isolated teeth. As a case study, we utilize extinct genera of murines and non-arvicoline cricetids, ranging from the Iberoccitanian latest middle Miocene to the Mio-Pliocene boundary, and compare our results thoroughly with previous paleoecological reconstructions inferred by different methods. The resultant phenogram shows a predominance of ubiquitous genera among the Miocene taxa, and the presence of a few forest specialists in the two rodent groups (Murinae and Cricetidae), along with the absence of open environment specialists in either group of rodents. This appears to be related to the absence of enduring grassland biomes in the Iberian Peninsula during the late Miocene. High consistency between our result and previous studies suggests that this phenotypic “bracketing” approach is a very useful tool.

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Huchon, Dorothée, Pascale Chevret, Ursula Jordan, et al. "Multiple molecular evidences for a living mammalian fossil." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, no. 18 (2007): 7495–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0701289104.

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Laonastes aenigmamus is an enigmatic rodent first described in 2005. Molecular and morphological data suggested that it is the sole representative of a new mammalian family, the Laonastidae, and a member of the Hystricognathi. However, the validity of this family is controversial because fossil-based phylogenetic analyses suggest that Laonastes is a surviving member of the Diatomyidae, a family considered to have been extinct for 11 million years. According to these data, Laonastes and Diatomyidae are the sister clade of extant Ctenodactylidae (i.e., gundies) and do not belong to the Hystricognathi. To solve the phylogenetic position of Laonastes, we conducted a large-scale molecular phylogeny of rodents. The analysis includes representatives of all major rodent taxonomic groups and was based on 5.5 kb of sequence data from four nuclear and two mitochondrial genes. To further validate the obtained results, a short interspersed element insertion analysis including 11 informative loci was also performed. Our molecular data based on sequence and short interspersed element analyses unambiguously placed Laonastes as a sister clade of gundies. All alternative hypotheses were significantly rejected based on Shimodaira–Hasegawa tests, supporting the idea that Laonastes does not belong to the Hystricognathi. Molecular dating analysis also supports an ancient divergence, ≈44 Mya ago, between Ctenodactylidae and Laonastes. These combined analyses support the hypothesis that Laonastes is indeed a living fossil. Protection of this surviving species would conserve an ancient mammalian family.

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Marivaux, Laurent, and Myriam Boivin. "Emergence of hystricognathous rodents: Palaeogene fossil record, phylogeny, dental evolution and historical biogeography." Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187, no. 3 (2019): 929–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz048.

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AbstractAlthough phylogenetic trees imply Asia as the ancestral homeland of the Hystricognathi clade (Rodentia: Ctenohystrica), curiously the oldest known fossil occurrences of hystricognathous rodents are not from Asia, but from Africa and South America, where they appear suddenly in the fossil record of both landmasses by the Late Middle Eocene. Here we performed cladistic and Bayesian (standard and tip-dating analyses) assessments of the dental evidence documenting early ctenohystricans, including several Asian ‘ctenodactyloids’, virtually all Palaeogene Asian and African hystricognaths known thus far and two representatives of the earliest known South American hystricognaths. Our results provide a phylogenetic context of early hystricognaths (with implications on systematics) and suggest that some Eocene Asian ‘ctenodactyloids’ could be considered as stem hystricognaths and pre-hystricognaths, although they were not recognized as such originally. However, this view does not fill the gap of the Eocene Asian hystricognath record, as the proposed results imply many ghost lineages extending back to the Middle Eocene for several Asian and African taxa. They also imply a complex early historical biogeography of the group, involving multiple dispersal events from Asia to Africa (and possibly from Africa back to Asia) and then to South America sometime during the Middle Eocene. Based on these phylogenetic considerations, we discuss the emergence of hystricognathous rodents from a morpho-anatomical perspective by analysing the differentiation of their masticatory apparatus and chewing movements, notably through the evolution of their dental patterns.

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Fox, David L., Robert A. Martin, Elizabeth Roepke, et al. "Biotic and Abiotic Forcing During the Transition to Modern Grassland Ecosystems: Evolutionary and Ecological Responses of Small Mammal Communities Over the Last 5 Million Years." Paleontological Society Papers 21 (October 2015): 197–218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1089332600003016.

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Understanding the origin of modern communities is a fundamental goal of ecology, but reconstructing communities with durations of 103–106 years requires data from the fossil record. Early Pliocene to latest Pleistocene faunas and sediments in the Meade Basin and modern soils and rodents from the same area are used to examine the role of environmental change in the emergence of the modern community. Paleoenvironmental proxies measured on modern surface soils and paleosols are described, and faunal dynamics of fossil rodents are discussed. Mean annual precipitation (MAP) was estimated from elemental concentrations and magnetic properties, and warm-season temperature and δ18O of soil water was estimated using carbonate isotope paleothermometry on pedogenic nodules. MAP and temperature estimates from paleosols exhibit no short-term variability, no long-term trends, and generally bracket modern values. Estimated soil water δ18O values increased through time, suggesting aridification played a role in the evolution of the regional grassland ecosystem. Carbon isotope analyses of biomarkers are used to examine the abundance of C4 grasses, which suggest more C4 biomass and more variability in C4 biomass than carbonate proxies. Rodent species richness remained constant due to balanced rates of extinction and immigration, both of which show episodic spikes consistent with a balance between forcing mechanisms that result in equilibrium on long time scales. Overall, these results suggest that different mechanisms of faunal change may be acting at different time scales, although the stratigraphic resolution of paleoenvironmental proxies needs to be increased, and body size and dietary distributions of rodents need to be determined before which processes of change are most important can be decided.

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Bertrand, Ornella C., Farrah Amador-Mughal, and Mary T. Silcox. "Virtual endocasts of Eocene Paramys (Paramyinae): oldest endocranial record for Rodentia and early brain evolution in Euarchontoglires." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 283, no. 1823 (2016): 20152316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2015.2316.

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Understanding the pattern of brain evolution in early rodents is central to reconstructing the ancestral condition for Glires, and for other members of Euarchontoglires including Primates. We describe the oldest virtual endocasts known for fossil rodents, which pertain to Paramys copei (Early Eocene) and Paramys delicatus (Middle Eocene). Both specimens of Paramys have larger olfactory bulbs and smaller paraflocculi relative to total endocranial volume than later occurring rodents, which may be primitive traits for Rodentia. The encephalization quotients (EQs) of Pa. copei and Pa. delicatus are higher than that of later occurring (Oligocene) Ischyromys typus , which contradicts the hypothesis that EQ increases through time in all mammalian orders. However, both species of Paramys have a lower relative neocortical surface area than later rodents, suggesting neocorticalization occurred through time in this Order, although to a lesser degree than in Primates. Paramys has a higher EQ but a lower neocortical ratio than any stem primate. This result contrasts with the idea that primates were always exceptional in their degree of overall encephalization and shows that relative brain size and neocortical surface area do not necessarily covary through time. As such, these data contradict assumptions made about the pattern of brain evolution in Euarchontoglires.

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Arnal, Michelle, and M. Guiomar Vucetich. "First record of supernumerary teeth in South American fossil rodents." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 31, no. 4 (2011): 925–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2011.576732.

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Kimura, Yuri, Lawrence J. Flynn, and Louis L. Jacobs. "Early Late Miocene Murine Rodents from the Upper Part of the Nagri Formation, Siwalik Group, Pakistan, with a new fossil calibration point for the Tribe Apodemurini (Apodemus/Tokudaia)." Fossil Imprint 73, no. 1-2 (2017): 197–212. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/if-2017-0011.

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Abstract The early late Miocene is an interval of increased diversification for murine rodents. Whereas the genus Progonomys became widespread throughout Eurasia by 10 Ma, it appears from the known paleontological record that southern Asia is the arena of evolution and diversification at the base of the Murinae. The Siwalik fossil record of the Potwar Plateau in northern Pakistan preserves fossil evidence relevant to unraveling this history. Murine rodents are recorded there throughout the middle Miocene, and diversification began in Siwalik assemblages before 11 Ma. The well-established Progonomys and Karnimata lineages were already present between 11 and 10 Ma, and these represent extant murine crown groups. Here we document diversity in Siwalik murines dating to 10.5 to 10.1 Ma, and clarify their recognition by naming a new species of Karnimata and referring specimens of Progonomys from this interval to P. hussaini. In addition, we define at least two other uncommon murine species that coexist with them. One of these is an early record of Parapodemus, a fossil genus of Tribe Apodemurini, which constitutes a calibration point for the Apodemus/Tokudaia split. Together, these fossil taxa provide further evidence bearing on the major split among murines leading to the clades Murini and Arvicanthini.

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Patnaik, Rajeev. "Fossil murine rodents as ancient monsoon indicators of the Indian subcontinent." Quaternary International 229, no. 1-2 (2011): 94–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2010.04.005.

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Steadman, David W., Thomas W. Stafford, Douglas J. Donahue, and A. J. Jull. "Chronology of Holocene vertebrate extinction in the Galápagos Islands." Quaternary Research 36, no. 1 (1991): 126–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0033-5894(91)90021-v.

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AbstractEleven conventional and 15 AMS (accelerator mass spectrometer) radiocarbon dates establish chronologies for nine Holocene vertebrate fossil sites in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. A Holocene fossil record approaching 500,000 bones, more than 90% of which predate the arrival of people, shows that most or all cases of extinction or extirpation in the Galápagos occurred after first human contact in AD 1535. This is especially significant for two species of large rodents (Megaoryzomys spp.) that are known only from bones found in lava tubes. The highest rate of background (prehuman) extinction interpreted from the Galápagos fossil record is probably hundreds of times less than the modern rate of human-related extinction.

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Aghová, Tatiana, Yuri Kimura, Josef Bryja, Gauthier Dobigny, Laurent Granjon, and Gael J. Kergoat. "Fossils know it best: Using a new set of fossil calibrations to improve the temporal phylogenetic framework of murid rodents (Rodentia: Muridae)." Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 128 (November 2018): 98–111. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.07.017.

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Kimura, Yuri, Isaac Casanovas-Vilar, Olivier Maridet, Daniela C. Kalthoff, Thomas Mörs, and Yukimitsu Tomida. "The Eomyidae in Asia: Biogeography, diversity and dispersals." Fossil Imprint 76, no. 1 (2020): 181–200. http://dx.doi.org/10.37520/fi.2020.012.

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In Asia, the first find of an eomyid rodent was reported almost one century after the first studies of the family Eomyidae in North America and Europe. Since then, eomyid rodents have been increasingly found in Asia particularly over the past two decades. Here, we review the Asian record of this family at the genus level. Currently, 22 species within 14 genera were reported from Asia, including seven endemic genera and rare materials of apeomyine eomyids. Eomyids emphasize the palaeogeographic importance of Asia in considering intercontinental dispersal events of small mammals. With newly compiled data for Asian eomyids, we also compare genus-level diversity trends through time among North America, Europe, and Asia. Despite data standardizations limited with respect to potential biases in the fossil record, we found that the Asian eomyid diversity closely follows ecological shifts induced by climate changes. In general, Asian eomyid genera disappeared earlier than their European counterparts. We suggest that this pattern is not dictated by differences in the quality of the fossil record and is related to the expansion of drier habitats over large areas of Asia.

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Bhagat, Raj, Ornella C. Bertrand, and Mary T. Silcox. "Evolution of arboreality and fossoriality in squirrels and aplodontid rodents: Insights from the semicircular canals of fossil rodents." Journal of Anatomy 238, no. 1 (2020): 96–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joa.13296.

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Badgley, Catherine, and John A. Finarelli. "Diversity dynamics of mammals in relation to tectonic and climatic history: comparison of three Neogene records from North America." Paleobiology 39, no. 3 (2013): 373–99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/12024.

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In modern ecosystems, regions of topographic heterogeneity, when compared with nearby topographically homogeneous regions, support high species densities of mammals and other groups. This biogeographic pattern could be explained by either greater diversification rates or greater accommodation of species in topographically complex regions. In this context, we assess the hypothesis that changes in landscape history have stimulated diversification in mammals. Landscape history includes tectonic and climatic processes that influence topographic complexity at regional scales. We evaluated the influence of changes in topographic complexity and climate on origination and extinction rates of rodents, the most diverse clade of mammals.We compared the Neogene records of rodent diversity for three regions in North America. The Columbia Basin of the Pacific Northwest (Region 1) and the northern Rocky Mountains (Region 2) were tectonically active over much of the Cenozoic and are characterized by high topographic complexity today. The northern Great Plains (Region 3) have been tectonically quiescent, with low relief, throughout the Cenozoic. These three regions have distinctive geologic histories and substantial fossil records. All three regions showed significant changes in diversification and faunal composition over the Neogene. In the montane regions, originations and extinctions peaked at the onset and close, respectively, of the Miocene Climatic Optimum (17–14 Ma), with significant changes in faunal composition accompanying these episodes of diversification. In the Great Plains, rodents showed considerable turnover but infrequent diversification. Peak Neogene diversity in the Great Plains occurred during cooling after the Miocene Climatic Optimum. These histories suggest that climatic changes interacting with increasing topographic complexity intensify macroevolutionary processes. In addition, close tracking of diversity and fossil productivity with the stratigraphic record suggests either large-scale sampling biases or the mutual response of diversity and depositional processes to changes in landscape history.

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Williams, Jim, Peter Andrews, Sara García-Morato, Paola Villa, and Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo. "Hyena as a predator of small mammals? Taphonomic analysis from the site of Bois Roche, France." Paleobiology 44, no. 3 (2018): 511–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pab.2018.13.

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AbstractFeeding behaviors may differ between past and current predators due to differences in the environments inhabited by these species at different times. We provide an example of this behavioral variability in spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta), for which our analysis of a late Pleistocene micromammal assemblage indicates that hyenas preyed upon small rodents, a feeding habit that is rarely observed today among hyenas.The Bois Roche cave site is situated at the edge of a low bluff overlooking the floodplain of a small stream in Cherves-Richemont (Charente, France). The deposits are dated by electron spin resonance (ESR) to about 69.7 ± 4.1 Ka. Excavations at the site recovered fossil bones and teeth of large and small mammals, together with hyena coprolites. Water screening of the sediments produced large accumulations of rodent remains with low taxonomic diversity. Small mammal bones were recovered from hyena coprolites as well. Descriptions of small mammal bone modification, both from the sediments and coprolites, are reported here. The analysis yielded a distinct taphonomic pattern representative of large carnivores (over 30 kg), which differs from any other modern or fossil predator-accumulated microfaunal assemblage taphonomically analyzed to date. To our knowledge, previous studies of hyena diet have not recorded high concentrations of a single-rodent prey species. We conclude that the low species diversity of this small mammal assemblage most likely relates to a local abundance of the prey species due to an outbreak in the rodent population, rather than from specialist predator behavior and hunting technique.

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Stoetzel, Emmanuelle, Corentin Bochaton, Salvador Bailon, David Cochard, Monica Gala, and Véronique Laroulandie. "Multi-Taxa Neo-Taphonomic Analysis of Bone Remains from Barn Owl Pellets and Cross-Validation of Observations: A Case Study from Dominica (Lesser Antilles)." Quaternary 4, no. 4 (2021): 38. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/quat4040038.

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Paleo- and neo-taphonomic analyses of bone assemblages rarely consider all the occurring taxa in a single study and works concerning birds of prey as accumulators of microvertebrate bone remains mostly focus on small mammals such as rodents and soricomorphs. However, raptors often hunt and consume a large range of taxa, including vertebrates such as small mammals, fishes, amphibians, squamates and birds. Bone remains of all these taxonomic groups are numerous in many paleontological and archaeological records, especially in cave deposits. To better characterize the predators at the origin of fossil and sub-fossil microvertebrate accumulations and the taphonomic history of the deposit, it is thus mandatory to conduct global and multi-taxa taphonomic approaches. The aim of this study is to provide an example of such a global approach through the investigation of a modern bone assemblage from a sample of pellets produced by the Lesser Antillean Barn Owl (Tyto insularis) in the island of Dominica. We propose a new methodology that allows us to compare different taxa (rodents, bats, squamates and birds) and to experiment with a cross-validation process using two observers for each taxonomic group to test the reliability of the taphonomic observations.

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Korth, William W., Clint A. Boyd, and Jeff J. Person. "Whitneyan (Middle Oligocene) Rodents from Obritsch Ranch (Stark County, North Dakota) and a Review of Whitneyan Rodent Fossil Record." Annals of Carnegie Museum 85, no. 3 (2019): 249. http://dx.doi.org/10.2992/007.085.0304.

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Donovan, Stephen K., Daryl P. Domning, Frank A. Garcia, and Harold L. Dixon. "A bone bed in the Eocene of Jamaica." Journal of Paleontology 64, no. 4 (1990): 660–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000042700.

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Pre-pleistocene fossil vertebrates are rare fossils in the Antillean region. The majority of vertebrate deposits found in the West Indies are of Late Pleistocene age, usually, but not always (MacPhee et al., 1989), dating from after the last interglacial. These faunas are cave and fissure accumulations of disarticulated bones of small terrestrial vertebrates, particularly rodents, birds, and lizards. In contrast, pre-Quaternary vertebrates of the Caribbean islands are particularly poorly known. For example, Jamaica, which has one of the most extensively studied fossil records in the region, has hitherto produced only three Tertiary vertebrates, all aquatic and hitherto known only from unique specimens. These include: the late Early Eocene sirenian Prorastomus sirenoides Owen, 1855, originally described on the basis of the skull, mandible, and atlas vertebra (for a recent discussion of this species, see Savage, 1977); the lower jaw of the early Middle Eocene crocodilian Charactosuchus kugleri Berg, 1969; and a fragment of needlefish jaw from the Pliocene (Caldwell, 1966). It is therefore significant to report the discovery of an early Middle Eocene sequence in which bones are not uncommon, including a bone bed that has produced a moderate diversity of aquatic (marine?) taxa.

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Chan, Yvonne L., Eileen A. Lacey, Oliver P. Pearson, and Elizabeth A. Hadly. "Ancient DNA reveals Holocene loss of genetic diversity in a South American rodent." Biology Letters 1, no. 4 (2005): 423–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0354.

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Understanding how animal populations have evolved in response to palaeoenvironmental conditions is essential for predicting the impact of future environmental change on current biodiversity. Analyses of ancient DNA provide a unique opportunity to track population responses to prehistoric environments. We explored the effects of palaeoenvironmental change on the colonial tuco-tuco ( Ctenomys sociabilis ), a highly endemic species of Patagonian rodent that is currently listed as threatened by the IUCN. By combining surveys of modern genetic variation from throughout this species' current geographic range with analyses of DNA samples from fossil material dating back to 10 000 ybp, we demonstrate a striking decline in genetic diversity that is concordant with environmental events in the study region. Our results highlight the importance of non-anthropogenic factors in loss of diversity, including reductions in smaller mammals such as rodents.

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Pires, Carolina, Leonardo Avilla, and Marcelo Weksler. "Fossil Cricetid Rodents from the Quaternary of Northern Brazil and their Paleoenvironmental Significance." Ameghiniana 55, no. 2 (2018): 162. http://dx.doi.org/10.5710/amgh.14.11.2017.3094.

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Grimes, Stephen T., Margaret E. Collinson, Jerry J. Hooker, David P. Mattey, Nathalie V. Grassineau, and David Lowry. "Distinguishing the diets of coexisting fossil theridomyid and glirid rodents using carbon isotopes." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 208, no. 1-2 (2004): 103–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.031.

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Cole, Jeffry R., and J. C. Z. Woinarski. "Rodents of the arid Northern Territory: conservation status and distribution." Wildlife Research 27, no. 4 (2000): 437. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wr97053.

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At the time of European entry, 18 species of rodent occurred in the arid zone of the Northern Territory, including two endemic species, Zyzomys pedunculatus and Pseudomys johnsoni. The tally is somewhat inflated, as the arid Northern Territory is on the margins of the distribution for seven of these species. The historical record for this fauna is generally reasonably good, due to important collections around the end of the nineteenth century, some landmark studies (notably by H.H. Finlayson) earlier this century, documentation of Aboriginal knowledge, and the recent discovery and analysis of fossil and sub-fossil deposits. Notwithstanding this good historical baseline, recent research has added three native species to the fauna, and re-discovered one species, Z. pedunculatus, earlier feared extinct. Over the last 200 years, four species (Leporillus apicalis, Notomys amplus, N. longicaudatus and Pseudomys fieldi) have disappeared, and a further five species (N. cervinus, N. fuscus, P. australis, Rattus tunneyi and Z. pedunculatus) have declined considerably, with several of these perhaps no longer present in the area. The decline in this rodent fauna is matched, or indeed surpassed, by declines in the arid-zone bandicoots, small macropods and large dasyurids. But notably the small dasyurids have generally suffered few declines. There has been differential decline within the rodent fauna, with declines mainly affecting larger species, species with the most idiosyncratic diets, and species occurring mainly in tussock grasslands and gibber plains. The main conservation and management actions required to safeguard what is left of this fauna are carefully targetted studies examining the effect of threatening processes, complemented by landscape-wide amelioration of these threats. Additional autecological studies are also needed for some species, and some exceptionally poorly known areas should be surveyed. Current work examining the distribution, ecology and management requirements of the endangered Z. pedunculatus is a major priority.

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Lazzari, Vincent, Paul Tafforeau, Jean-Pierre Aguilar, and Jacques Michaux. "Topographic maps applied to comparative molar morphology: the case of murine and cricetine dental plans (Rodentia, Muroidea)." Paleobiology 34, no. 1 (2008): 46–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/06052.1.

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We developed a new method to generate topographic maps of tooth crowns from X-ray synchrotron microtomographic data. Maps are drawn after cervix-plane orientation of tooth image stacks, without the need for a geographic information system. Classical topographic maps with contour lines are complemented by slope maps and angularity maps. Cartography allows precise comparisons of cusps morphologies, and quantification of the directions of cusp axis elongation and slope. Application of this method to muroid rodents with cricetine and murine dental patterns reveals clear-cut differences in cusps morphology that are indicative of the direction of the chewing movement, in agreement with wear facet analyses. Rodents with a murine dental pattern were derived from ancestors with a cricetine pattern, and their origin is associated with important changes in cusp morphology and organization. In order to understand such evolutionary change, our investigation is applied to a sample of extant and fossil muroid rodents that are characterized by either a murine dental plan or a cricetine one, or a dental pattern intermediate between those of cricetines and murines.

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das Neves, Simone B., Ulyses F. J. Pardiñas, Patrícia Hadler, Elver L. Mayer, and Ana M. Ribeiro. "A new fossil cricetid (Rodentia, Sigmodontinae) from northeastern Brazil with remarks on small mammal extinctions in the tropical Quaternary." Journal of Mammalogy 101, no. 4 (2020): 1133–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaa066.

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Abstract The rare cricetid rodent Bibimys Massoia, 1980 contains three extant species that are distributed in the lowlands of eastern South America between 35°S and 20°S and distinguished mostly by subtle morphological and genetic features. Several fragmented jaws belonging to this genus were recovered from Late Quaternary deposits located in northeastern Brazil, forming part of a rich archaeological and paleontological small mammal assemblage that has been recovered from caves in the Serra da Capivara, state of Piauí. This material is described herein as belonging to a new species, the most hypsodont member of the genus. The specimens also represent an extralimital occurrence of this sigmodontine, as the nearest extant population of Bibimys is ~1,200 km to the south. Because there are few reliable records of extinct small mammals from the Pleistocene–Holocene transition on the South American continent, in describing this new sigmodontine we extend the records of past biodiversity preserved in the Quaternary deposits of tropical South America. This new species likewise highlights that the Serra da Capivara deposits are promising for understanding the evolutionary history of cricetid rodents.

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Heritage, Steven, David Fernández, Hesham M. Sallam, Drew T. Cronin, José Manuel Esara Echube, and Erik R. Seiffert. "Ancient phylogenetic divergence of the enigmatic African rodentZenkerellaand the origin of anomalurid gliding." PeerJ 4 (August 16, 2016): e2320. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2320.

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The “scaly-tailed squirrels” of the rodent family Anomaluridae have a long evolutionary history in Africa, and are now represented by two gliding genera (AnomalurusandIdiurus) and a rare and obscure genus (Zenkerella) that has never been observed alive by mammalogists.Zenkerellashows no anatomical adaptations for gliding, but has traditionally been grouped with the gliderIdiuruson the basis of craniodental similarities, implying that either theZenkerellalineage lost its gliding adaptations, or thatAnomalurusandIdiurusevolved theirs independently. Here we present the first nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences ofZenkerella, based on recently recovered whole-body specimens from Bioko Island (Equatorial Guinea), which show unambiguously thatZenkerellais the sister taxon ofAnomalurusandIdiurus. These data indicate that gliding likely evolved only once within Anomaluridae, and that there were no subsequent evolutionary reversals. We combine this new molecular evidence with morphological data from living and extinct anomaluromorph rodents and estimate that the lineage leading toZenkerellahas been evolving independently in Africa since the early Eocene, approximately 49 million years ago. Recently discovered fossils further attest to the antiquity of the lineage leading toZenkerella, which can now be recognized as a classic example of a “living fossil,” about which we know remarkably little. The osteological markers of gliding are estimated to have evolved along the stem lineage of theAnomalurus–Idiurusclade by the early Oligocene, potentially indicating that this adaptation evolved in response to climatic perturbations at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary (∼34 million years ago).

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Freudenthal, Matthijs, Antonio García-Alix, María Rios, Francisco Ruiz-Sánchez, Elvira Martín-Suárez, and Antonio Delgado Huertas. "Review of paleo-humidity parameters in fossil rodents (Mammalia): Isotopic vs. tooth morphology approach." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 395 (February 2014): 122–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2013.12.023.

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Lechner, Thomas Sebastian, and Madelaine Böhme. "Castor-like postcranial adaptation in an uppermost Miocene beaver from the Staniantsi Basin (NW Bulgaria)." Fossil Imprint 76, no. 1 (2020): 128–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.37520/fi.2020.009.

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The Staniantsi-Mazgoš Basin is one of several Neogene intramontane basins in NW Bulgaria. Recent fieldwork in the open pit coal mine yielded material of an exceptional diversity of vertebrates from the uppermost Miocene. In particular, skeletal remains of a large Castorinae are very numerous and well-preserved. Here we perform a comparative morphological description of the postcranium of the Staniantsi-beaver and compare it with the extant Castor fiber and closely related fossil taxa, noting an overall high degree of similarity in many cases. Analyses of the functional anatomy confirm similar locomotor adaptations of the large Staniantsi-beaver and the extant Castor fiber. It is shown that the hindlimb exhibits typical adaptations for swimming and the forelimb is modified for a primary fossorial movement. Further, the caudal vertebrae indicate a flattened tail. Minor osteological differences can be used in a future clarification of the taxonomic status of this fossil castorine. In conclusion, the large Staniantsi-beaver seems to be equivalent to the extant Castor fiber and several fossil castorids in his locomotor adaptations and fits perfectly into the assumed swampy to lacustrine palaeoenvironment of the Staniantsi-Mazgoš Basin. Our results highlight the importance of the postcranium for reconstructing the palaeobiology and elucidating the taxonomy of fossil rodents.

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Torres, Julio, Pablo Teta, Victor Filippi, Robert D. Owen, and Ulyses F. J. Pardiñas. "First Fossil Record of Sigmodontine Rodents (Mammalia: Cricetidae) for Paraguay: Taxonomy and Late Pleistocene Environments." Ameghiniana 52, no. 5 (2015): 574–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.5710/amgh.11.06.2015.2908.

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Korth, William W. "New material of fossil rodents (Mammalia) from the Eocene (Bridgerian-Uintan) Washakie Formation, southcentral Wyoming." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 133, no. 1 (2020): 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.2988/19-00011.

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Bertrand, Ornella C., Michael A. Schillaci, and Mary T. Silcox. "Cranial dimensions as estimators of body mass and locomotor habits in extant and fossil rodents." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36, no. 1 (2015): e1014905. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2015.1014905.

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Bertrand, Ornella C., and Mary T. Silcox. "First virtual endocasts of a fossil rodent:Ischyromys typus(Ischyromyidae, Oligocene) and brain evolution in rodents." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 36, no. 3 (2016): e1095762. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2016.1095762.

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Hír, János. "A detailed description of Cricetodon hungaricus (Kordos, 1986) (Rodentia, Mammalia) from Hasznos (N. Hungary, Nógrád County)." Fossil Imprint 73, no. 1-2 (2017): 155–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/if-2017-0008.

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Abstract The large-sized cricetid rodents (Tribe Cricetodontini) are of primary importance in the biostratigraphy of the Middle Miocene in Hungary. Cricetodon hungaricus is especially remarkable due to its original morphology and stratigraphic range. New excavations in the type locality of the species, namely Hasznos (Nógrád County, Hungary; Middle Badenian, MN 6) resulted in the acquisition of important new fossil material. The aim of this contribution in honor of Prof. O. Fejfar is to provide a detailed description, emended diagnosis and detailed comparison of the Cricetodon material with a taxonomical, biogeographical and paleoenvironmental context.

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Campbell, Kenneth E., Paul B. O’Sullivan, John G. Fleagle, Dorien de Vries, and Erik R. Seiffert. "An Early Oligocene age for the oldest known monkeys and rodents of South America." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118, no. 37 (2021): e2105956118. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2105956118.

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The Santa Rosa fossil locality in eastern Perú produced the first Paleogene vertebrate fauna from the Amazon Basin, including the oldest known monkeys from South America. This diverse paleofauna was originally assigned an Eocene age based largely on the stage of evolution of the site’s caviomorph rodents and marsupials. Here, we present detrital zircon dates that indicate that the maximum composite age of Santa Rosa is 29.6 ± 0.08 Ma (Lower Oligocene), although several zircons from Santa Rosa date to the Upper Oligocene. The first appearance datum for Caviomorpha in South America is purported to be the CTA-27 site in the Contamana region of Perú, which is hypothesized to be ∼41 Ma (Middle Eocene) in age. However, the presence of the same caviomorph species and/or genera at both CTA-27 and at Santa Rosa is now difficult to reconcile with a >11-My age difference. To further test the Middle Eocene age estimate for CTA-27, we ran multiple Bayesian tip-dating analyses of Caviomorpha, treating the ages of all Paleogene species from Perú as unknown. These analyses produced mean age estimates for Santa Rosa that closely approximate the maximum 29.6 ± 0.08 Ma composite date provided by detrital zircons, but predict that CTA-27 is much younger than currently thought (∼30 Ma). We conclude that the ∼41 Ma age proposed for CTA-27 is incorrect, and that there are currently no compelling Eocene records of either rodents or primates in the known fossil record of South America.

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Miszkiewicz, Justyna J., Julien Louys, Robin M. D. Beck, Patrick Mahoney, Ken Aplin, and Sue O’Connor. "Island rule and bone metabolism in fossil murines from Timor." Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 129, no. 3 (2020): 570–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blz197.

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Abstract Skeletal growth rates reconstructed from bone histology in extinct insular hippopotamids, elephants, bovids and sauropods have been used to infer dwarfism as a response to island conditions. Limited published records of osteocyte lacunae densities (Ot.Dn), a proxy for living osteocyte proliferation, have suggested a slower rate of bone metabolism in giant mammals. Here, we test whether insularity might have affected bone metabolism in a series of small to giant murine rodents from Timor. Ten adult femora were selected from a fossil assemblage dated to the Late Quaternary (~5000–18 000 years old). Femur morphometric data were used in computing phylogenetically informed body mass regressions, although the phylogenetic signal was very low (Pagel’s λ = 0.03). Estimates of body weight calculated from these femora ranged from 75 to 1188 g. Osteocyte lacunae densities from histological sections of the midshaft femur were evaluated against bone size and estimated body weight. Statistically significant (P &lt; 0.05) and strongly negative relationships between Ot.Dn, femur size and estimated weight were found. Larger specimens were characterized by lower Ot.Dn, indicating that giant murines from Timor might have had a relatively slow pace of bone metabolic activity, consistent with predictions made by the island rule.

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Korth, William W. "New rodents (Mammalia) from the late Barstovian (Miocene) Valentine Formation, Nebraska." Journal of Paleontology 61, no. 5 (1987): 1058–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000029401.

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Additional fossil material from the Valentine Formation in Knox and Brown Counties, Nebraska, has allowed for the recognition of three new species of rodents, a heteromyid (Perognathus brevidens), a geomyid (Parapliosaccomys annae), and a zapodid (Schaubeumys cartomylos). The specimens referred here to P. brevidens were previously identified as P. furlongi, those of S. cartomylos were identified as S. grangeri, and those of P. annae were previously recognized as Lignimus cf. L. hibbardi. It is evident that Lignimus Storer should be restricted to the type species L. montis, and the remainder of the species referred to this genus are referred to Parapliosaccomys Shotwell. Parapliosaccomys is recognized as the earliest member of the subfamily Geomyinae based on its dental morphology, which extends the range of this subfamily into the Barstovian. The fauna from Annie's Geese Cross Quarry (Knox County) is recognized as being late Barstovian based on comparison with the older Norden Bridge Quarry (Brown County).

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Scarpitti, Erica A., and Jonathan J. M. Calede. "Ecological correlates of the morphology of the auditory bulla in rodents: Application to the fossil record." Journal of Anatomy 240, no. 4 (2021): 647–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joa.13579.

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Usdin, K., P. Chevret, F. M. Catzeflis, R. Verona, and A. V. Furano. "L1 (LINE-1) retrotransposable elements provide a "fossil" record of the phylogenetic history of murid rodents." Molecular Biology and Evolution 12, no. 1 (1995): 73–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a040192.

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Sallam, H. M., E. R. Seiffert, M. E. Steiper, and E. L. Simons. "Fossil and molecular evidence constrain scenarios for the early evolutionary and biogeographic history of hystricognathous rodents." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106, no. 39 (2009): 16722–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0908702106.

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Barry, John C., Michèle E. Morgan, Lawrence J. Flynn, Louis L. Jacobs, and Everett H. Lindsay. "Patterns of faunal turnover and diversity in the Siwalik Neogene record in relation to regional and global events." Paleontological Society Special Publications 6 (1992): 18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s2475262200005785.

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The fluvial Neogene Siwalik formations of northern Pakistan contain one of the longest and richest sequences of terrestrial vertebrate faunas known. The complete sequence extends from ca. 18 Ma to 1 Ma, with the interval between 18 and 7 Ma being best sampled. Throughout this best known interval vertebrate remains are frequently abundant in channel fills and less common in large channel sands, levees, and paleosols. Although the abundance and quality of fossil preservation varies, all stratigraphic levels have some fossils and the record of most subintervals is good to excellent. As a consequence the patterns of faunal turnover and changes in diversity can be documented and analyzed for 0.5 my long subintervals.Thirteen orders of Siwalik mammals have been identified, with well sampled subintervals typically having 50 or more species. Despite the ordinal diversity, however, most Siwalik mammal species belong to just three orders: rodents, artiodactyls, and perissodactyls. Among the larger mammals, the bovids and equids are the most common and have the most species, while the murid and cricetid rodents dominate the small mammal assemblages. These Siwalik abundance and diversity patterns differ markedly from those of the Paleogene and are a result of Neogene radiations in these four families and extinction of Paleogene groups.Between 18 and 7 Ma species diversity varies considerably. Among artiodactyls and rodents the number of species first increases between 15 and 13 Ma and then falls after 12 Ma. Significant changes in relative abundance are also known, including an increase in the abundance of bovids between 16.5 and 15 Ma and a very abrupt increase of murids at 12 Ma.Data on stratigraphic ranges of rodents and artiodactyls show that faunal change in the Siwaliks was episodic, occurring as short intervals with high turnover, followed by longer periods with considerably less change. Maxima of first appearances occur at approximately 13.5 and 8.5 Ma, while maxima of last appearances come at 12.0, 9.5, and 8.0 Ma. It is thus apparent that in the Siwaliks increased extinction did not accompany or closely follow maxima of first appearances.Correlations of these faunal events to global climatic trends are ambiguous. However, it is apparent that the middle Miocene diversification of Siwalik faunas occurred during a period of global cooling, while the late Miocene decline in diversity preceded a second episode of cooling and increasing aridity.

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Mackness, BS, S. Wroe, C. Wilkinson, and D. Wilkinson. "Confirmation of Thylacinus from the Pliocene Chinchilla Local Fauna." Australian Mammalogy 24, no. 2 (2002): 237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/am02237.

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A variety of fossil mammals has been recovered from the freshwater, fluviatile sediments of the Chinchilla Sand (sensu Woods 1960) and is collectively known as the Chinchilla Local Fauna (Archer and Bartholomai 1978). Included in this exclusively Pliocene fauna are marsupial carnivores (Bartholomai 1962, 1976; Wroe and Mackness 1998; 2000a,b); bandicoots (Mackness et al. 2000); phascolarctomorphs (De Vis 1889, Archer 1977); diprotontontoids (De Vis 1887, 1891, 1895; Longman 1921); marsupial lions (Bartholomai 1962); macropodids (Bartholomai 1963, 1973, 1975); bats (Hand et al. 1999) and rodents (Godthelp 1990). In addition, there are several reports of thylacinids from the fauna (De Vis 1893, 1894; Ride 1964; Dawson 1982).

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Korth, William W., Jeffrey G. Eaton, and Robert F. Biek. "Age of a Pliocene basin fill along the Sevier River, southwestern Utah, U.S.A., based on fossil rodents." Rocky Mountain Geology 53, no. 2 (2018): 129–36. http://dx.doi.org/10.24872/rmgjournal.53.2.129.

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Rook, Lorenzo and Angelone, Chiara. "Just a few: rodents and lagomorphs in the Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of the Upper Valdarno Basin." Italian Journal of Geosciences, Vol. 132, N. 1 (February 19, 2013): 98–103. http://dx.doi.org/10.3301/ijg.2012.27.

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López-Torres, Sergi, Ornella C. Bertrand, Madlen M. Lang, Mary T. Silcox, and Łucja Fostowicz-Frelik. "Cranial endocast of the stem lagomorph Megalagus and brain structure of basal Euarchontoglires." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 287, no. 1929 (2020): 20200665. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.0665.

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Early lagomorphs are central to our understanding of how the brain evolved in Glires (rodents, lagomorphs and their kin) from basal members of Euarchontoglires (Glires + Euarchonta, the latter grouping primates, treeshrews, and colugos). Here, we report the first virtual endocast of the fossil lagomorph Megalagus turgidus , from the Orella Member of the Brule Formation, early Oligocene, Nebraska, USA. The specimen represents one of the oldest nearly complete lagomorph skulls known. Primitive aspects of the endocranial morphology in Megalagus include large olfactory bulbs, exposure of the midbrain, a small neocortex and a relatively low encephalization quotient. Overall, this suggests a brain morphology closer to that of other basal members of Euarchontoglires (e.g. plesiadapiforms and ischyromyid rodents) than to that of living lagomorphs. However, the well-developed petrosal lobules in Megalagus , comparable to the condition in modern lagomorphs, suggest early specialization in that order for the stabilization of eye movements necessary for accurate visual tracking. Our study sheds new light on the reconstructed morphology of the ancestral brain in Euarchontoglires and fills a critical gap in the understanding of palaeoneuroanatomy of this major group of placental mammals.

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Westgate, James W. "Uintan land mammals (excluding rodents) from an estuarine facies of the Laredo Formation (Middle Eocene, Claiborne Group) of Webb County, Texas." Journal of Paleontology 64, no. 3 (1990): 454–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022336000018709.

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A newly discovered vertebrate fossil assemblage, the Casa Blanca local fauna, comes from the Laredo Formation, Claiborne Group, of Webb County, Texas, and is the first reported Eocene land-mammal fauna from the coastal plain of North America. The mammalian fauna is correlated with the Serendipity and Candelaria local faunas of west Texas, the Uinta C faunas of the Rocky Mountains, the Santiago Formation local fauna of southern California, and the Swift Current Creek local fauna of Saskatchewan. The vertebrate-bearing deposit lies approximately 32 m above a horizon containing the marine gastropod Turritella cortezi, which ranges from east Texas to northeast Mexico in the lower half of the Cook Mountain and Laredo Formations and is a guide fossil for the Hurricane Lentil in the Cook Mountain Formation. Nannoplankton found in these middle Eocene formations belong to the upper half of Nannoplankton Zone 16 and allow correlation with European beds of late Lutetian to early Bartonian age.Over 700 specimens represent at least 30 species of 28 mammal genera. The Casa Blanca fauna is the southernmost and easternmost North American land-mammal fauna of definite Eocene age, and is the westernmost Paleogene vertebrate fauna from the Gulf Coastal Plain.

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Omelko, V. E., Y. V. Kuzmin, M. P. Tiunov, L. L. Voyta, and G. S. Burr. "Late Pleistocene and Holocene small mammal (Lipotyphla, Rodentia, Lagomorpha) remains from Medvezhyi Klyk Cave in the Southern Russian Far East." Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 324, no. 1 (2020): 124–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2020.324.1.124.

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Late Pleistocene-Holocene faunal complexes of small mammals (Lipotyphla, Rodentia, and Lagomorpha) from the Russian Far East are described for the first time. We used material from the Medvezhyi Klyk Cave, located in Southern Sikhote-Alin. The numerous fossil findings from the cave display a remarkable taxonomic diversity and high degree of preservation. AMS 14C dating used for determination of deposits age. The Holocene sediments were divided into three periods: Early, Middle, and Late. The Pleistocene deposits age was not exactly determined, but under approximately estimation it can reach 50–60 ka. Thirty-nine species were found, including one member of the extinct genus of arvicolins. There are six faunal complexes identified from the studied Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. In general, the faunal complexes characterized by the dominance of Craseomys rufocanus within rodents, Sorex caecutiens within lipotyphlans; and relatively stability composition of most number of the dominant, codominant and subdominant species. Accordingly, the faunal complexes were described by means of two determining criteria only: relative number of species; and presence or absence of certain species. The dominant species are eurytopic and so they cannot use for reconstruction of the paleoenvironment.

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Fraser, Danielle, and Jessica M. Theodor. "The use of gross dental wear in dietary studies of extinct lagomorphs." Journal of Paleontology 84, no. 4 (2010): 720–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s002233600005842x.

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Studies of paleoenvironments have commonly focused on large mammalian herbivores such as ungulates. Many localities, however, have yielded large numbers of small mammalian herbivores, including lagomorphs and rodents. These fossils represent an untapped paleoecological resource. However, the fossils are often in the form of isolated teeth, and microwear analysis cannot be used due to taphonomic alteration. As a result, we use ungulate gross dental wear as a model. The dental wear features of extant western Canadian lagomorphs are identified and used to create dietary categories that can be applied to make predictions about the diets of extinct forms. The Horse Local Fauna of the Cypress Hills Formation of Saskatchewan has yielded approximately 2,500 fossil specimens, of which nearly 300 are lagomorphs. Two leporid species (rabbits and hares) are present in the Horse Local Fauna, Palaeolagus temnodon and Megalagus brachyodon. Qualitative analysis of the gross dental wear of the lagomorphs of the Horse Local Fauna indicates that M. brachyodon was mainly folivorous and P. temnodon was primarily frugivorous, suggesting that the contemporaneous ecosystem was tree dominated. Gross dental wear analysis allows the use of small herbivores and isolated teeth in paleoecological studies. Studying the diets of small herbivorous mammals will allow more nearly complete reconstructions of past environments and will become increasingly important as more detailed reconstructions are required by paleontologists.

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Wyatt, Megan R., Samantha S. B. Hopkins, and Edward B. Davis. "Using 2D dental geometric morphometrics to identify modern Perognathus and Chaetodipus specimens (Rodentia, Heteromyidae)." Journal of Mammalogy 102, no. 4 (2021): 1087–100. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyab052.

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Abstract The Heteromyidae (pocket mice and kangaroo rats) are a group of extant small rodents abundant in western North America, as well as in fossil assemblages over the last 20 million years. Two genera of heteromyids, Chaetodipus and Perognathus, share similar tooth morphology and teeth are the primary fossil remains. Previous genetic studies show these extant sister genera likely diverged in the middle Miocene (~16 million years ago); however, the Chaetodipus fossil record starts in the Pleistocene (~2 million years ago). In this study, we asked whether two-dimensional geometric morphometrics on complete dentition and isolated premolars can accurately identify Chaetodipus and Perognathus specimens at the genus and species level. We landmarked the occlusal surface of the upper and lower tooth rows of modern Chaetodipus (n = 83) and Perognathus specimens (n = 80), including 12 of the 26 extant species across the two genera. We ran a canonical variates analysis to investigate whether principal component variation could predict known taxonomic identifications. The morphospace using complete dentition can identify specimens to genus with 90 – 92% accuracy and to species with more variable accuracy. We found an isolated premolar provides sufficient information for genus-level identification (69 – 84% accuracy), but not for species-level identification (26 – 56% accuracy). This morphospace of modern specimens can be used to identify the skeletal remains of Chaetodipus and Perognathus in museum collections, raptor pellets, or middens, to refine our existing knowledge of heteromyid evolutionary history.

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