Miosorex grivensis ( Depéret, 1892 )

Rzebik-Kowalska, Barbara & Rekovets, Leonid I., 2016, New data on Eulipotyphla (Insectivora, Mammalia) from the Late Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene of Ukraine, Palaeontologia Electronica 12 (1), pp. 1-31 : 14

Miosorex grivensis ( Depéret, 1892)

Figure 7.2

Material. Popovo 3 ( MN 11), right fragment of mandible with m2 and paraconid and protoconid of m3. MNI = 1. Catalogue number 29/III/7.

Description. The m2 ( Figure 7.2 ) has a trigonid and talonid similar in size. The protoconid is the highest cusp, the entoconid crest is high and the entostylid is present. The buccal re-entrant valley opens at some distance above the buccal cingulid. The tooth is surrounded by a broad cingulid, and the anterior cingulid is well pronounced.

Measurements. See Table 5.

Systematic Position and Distribution. The size of m2 from Popovo 3 corresponds with the m2 of Miosorex aff. grivensis ( Depéret, 1892) from the Middle Miocene (MN9) Spanish locality Pedregueras 2A ( de Jong, 1988) which was cited later by van den Hoek Ostende and Furió (2005) as M. grivensis . According to de Jong’s (1988) description, specimens from Pedregueras 2A are characterized by low entoconid crests and the lack of lingual cingulids in lower molars while the m2 from Popovo 3 has a rather high entoconid crest and lingual cingulid present. However, Figure 7 (plate 5, de Jong, 1988) shows the lingual side of Miosorex aff. grivensis m1-m3 where high entoconid crests and clear lingual cingulids are visible. In this situation the identical mandible from Popovo 3 is classified as M. grivensis . The species was described in France at locality La Grive dated to MN7+8. During the Miocene (MN4–MN10) it was extremely common in the Iberian Peninsula ( van den Hoek Ostende and Furió, 2005; Furió et al., 2011). It was also found in Germany (MN4–MN7+8) and in Hungary (MN9) neighboring to Ukraine ( Mészáros, 2000; Ziegler et al., 2005).

Figures

FIGURE 7. 1, cf. Miosorex sp. from Verkhnya Krynitsa 2, right I1, buccal view (c.n. 29/2/6/1). 2, Miosorex grivensis from Popovo 3, fragment of right mandible with m2 and trigonid of m3, buccal view (c.n. 29/III/7/1).