A small assemblage of early Oligocene rodents and insectivores from the Sivas basin, Turkey

Abstract

AbstractThe assemblage of small mammals from a site near Yeniköy (Anatolia) is described. The assemblage was collected by screen-washing a sample from a locality in the Selimye Formation (Sivas basin). The site has a magneto-stratigraphic calibrated age of 29 Ma (younger part of the early Oligocene). The murids dominate in this relatively small collection with Eucricetodon and Pseudocricetodon. In addition, a dipodid, an unidentified erinaceide and the new baluchimyin hystricognath genus and species Zorania milosi nov. gen. et nov. sp. are present. The study of Eucricetodon, Pseudocricetodon and Zorania nov. sp. includes an analysis of incisor enamel microstructure. The incisor microstructure of Eucricetodon shows that there are several parallel long-living lineages within the genus. The Anatolia-Balkans biogeography of the late Eocene-Oligocene is reviewed. Its rodent assemblages are characterised by dominance of murids and presence of taxa that are known from low-latitude Asia. The Paleogene Anatolia-Balkans biogeographic province, is therefore rather different from those of western European and the Indian subcontinent.