Sayimys, WOOD, 1937

Hartman, Julian, Van De Weerd, Andrew A., Bruijn, Hans De & Wessels, Wilma, 2019, An Exceptional Large Sample Of The Early Miocene Ctenodactyline Rodent Sayimys Giganteus, Specific Variation And Taxonomic Implications, Fossil Imprint 75 (3 - 4), pp. 359-382 : 371

Sayimys flynni ( BASKIN, 1996)

O r i g i n a l c o m b i n a t i o n. Prosayimys flynni

BASKIN, 1996.

H o l o t y p e. A left m3 no 295.

Ty p e l o c a l i t y. Z113 Zinda Pir dome, Pakistan; age of the site: late Oligocene, 23–26 Ma. See Lindsay and Flynn (2016) for correlation of this site to the GPTS scale.

P a r a t y p e s. 43 cheek teeth representing all tooth positions, unfortunately the dp4 is represented by two damaged and worn specimens only.

D i s c u s s i o n. These small teeth represent the oldest Sayimys species. The size ranges of dp4 and m3 are in Text-figs 12 , 13 . The badly worn and damaged dp4 figured in Baskin (1996) does not show a clear mesolophid, but it has been described as having one. All fifteen known lower molars have a well-developed mesolophid. The m1–2 shown by Baskin (1996: pl. 1, fig. D) has a cusp-shaped metaconid with a narrow connection to the protoconid, a feature seen as well in Sayimys hintoni n. sp. and S. chinjiensis (see below).

Figures

Text-fig. 12. Ranges of the length of the dp4 based on data from the literature. Vertical scale in Ma, the samples are from the Siwaliks (black) and Turkey, Greece and Arabia (red). Type localities of species are indicated with an asterisk. The Y and Z sites are from Baskin (1996), its size ranges are composed of data from several localities and the vertical arrowed broken line indicates the age range of these sites.

Text-fig. 13. Ranges of the length of the m3 based on data from the literature, see Text-fig. 12 for explanation.