Podogymnura Mearns, 1905

Balete, Danilo S., Heaney, Lawrence R., Rickart, Eric A., Quidlat, Roselyn S., Rowsey, Dakota M. & Olson, Link E., 2023, A re-assessment of diversity among Philippine gymnures (Mammalia: Erinaceidae Podogymnura), with a new species from eastern Mindanao, Zootaxa 5228 (3), pp. 244-266 : 255

Podogymnura Mearns, 1905

Type species: Podogymnura truei Mearns, 1905: 436 .

Included species: The type species, plus P. aureospinula , P. intermedia n. sp., and P. minima (raised to species rank, below).

Distribution: Currently known from Bucas Grande Island, Dinagat Island, and the mountains of eastern (Mt. Hamiguitan and Kampalili) and central (Mts. Apo and Kitanglad) Mindanao Island ( Fig. 1 ).

Emended diagnosis: The genus Podogymnura is defined phylogenetically as the most recent common ancestor of P. aureospinula , P. truei , P. minima , and P. intermedia n. sp., and all of its descendants, and by the following combination of morphological characters. Small to medium-sized gymnures, HB from ca. 145 mm to 201 mm, CIL from ca. 39 to 52 mm ( Tables 1 and 2 ); dorsal pelage reddish- or grayish-brown to dark brown with variable levels of golden highlights, soft to bristly and variable in length; underfur of woolly hairs fine, soft, and wavy; most guard hairs long, straight, and tapering with golden-yellow or golden-brown tips of varied lengths; black guard hairs long, distally flattened, tapered, and slightly bent. Two to three supragenal vibrissae present. Snout long, slender, and pointed, blunt at tip; nostrils extending slightly laterally, somewhat tubular; ear size moderate, extending far beyond pelage, sparsely covered on both surfaces with short, inconspicuous hairs; tail short relative to head and body, covered with short hairs that emerge posterior to the conspicuous scales that cover the tail; hind feet fairly long and narrow, covered thickly dorsally and thinly ventrally with short hairs. Females with two pairs of small, inconspicuous mammae, one pair inguinal and one pair axial. Adult males with slight swelling in uro-genital area, sometimes with bare skin from base of tail to area around penile sheath; no scrotum is evident. Rostrum elongate and broad, postorbital processes absent, frontals slightly to strongly inflated; interorbital region moderately to strongly constricted; braincase inflated; sagittal crest inconspicuous to prominent, extending no further anterior than anterior tips of interparietals, except extending further anterior then spreading into low temporal crests in P. aureospinula ; nuchal crest of varying height that originates laterally as low projections from dorsal margin of each mastoid that meet mid-dorsally to form a broadly tapered arch with which the sagittal crest converges; incisive foramina cordate, moderately narrow, and short; anterior palatine foramina small and anterior to the maxilla/palatine suture; infraorbital canal dorsal or posterodorsal to the P4-M1 region; ante-orbital fossa present; posteroventral process of maxillary portion of zygoma present, small to prominent; ophthalmic foramen joined with or closely adjacent to the ethmoid foramen; lateral fossa absent from palatine anterodorsal to the post-palatal torus. Paired concavities in the basioccipital between the bullae, lateral to a medial ridge present in P. aureospinula and P. intermedia n. sp., absent in P. truei and P. minima . Upper molariform teeth with extreme anterior placement relative to orbit and infraorbital foramen; all incisors single-rooted; I2 and I3 similar in size, and both substantially smaller than I1; lower incisors spatulate and procumbent, i1 and i2 longer than i3; upper and lower canines double-rooted, flared laterally, and longest of all teeth. P1 and p1 absent; P2 single-rooted and small compared to other premolars, P3 larger antwo- or three-rooted, with lingual lobe small ( P. aureospinula and P. intermedia n. sp.) or absent (all others); P4 large, broad lingually, and nearly square-shaped; M1 and M2 square-shaped, each with a low but discernable metaconule; metacone present on M3; c1 significantly larger than p1; lower molars sometimes with small cusp at base of talonid notch between entoconid and metaconid. Mandible relatively long and thick, with angular process narrow and long, coronoid wide, and condyloid process long and robust, especially in P. aureospinula .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of Mindanao and adjacent islands showing some major topographic features; mountains where Podogymnura truei (Mt.Apo), P. minima (Mt. Kitanglad Range), P. aureospinula (Bucas Grande and Dinagat Islands), and P. intermedia n. sp. (Mt. Hamiguitan and Mt. Kampalili) occur, and other important peaks, are shown.