Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń, 1976

Rzebik-Kowalska, Barbara, 2014, Review of the Pliocene and Pleistocene Talpidae (Soricomorpha, Mammalia) of Poland, Palaeontologia Electronica (26 A) 26, pp. 1-26 : 2-7

Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń, 1976

Figures 1.1-5 , 2.1-2

1976 Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń ; Skoczeń, p. 295, figs. 3, 4.

1993 Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń ; Skoczeń, p. 134, figs. 5, 6.

1994 Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń ; Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 80, 86, 88.

2005 Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń ; Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 126, 127, 128.

2009 Condylura kowalskii Skoczeń ; Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 8, 19, 21, 22, 49, 86.

Material. Rębielice Królewskie 1A. Holotype - right humerus, no. MF/1006/16, left M1, left M2, right fragment of mandible with p1-p2, right fragment of mandible with m2, two left m1s, four left and two right m2s, as well as five right and seven left humeri. MNI = 7, catalogue number MF/1006. Rębielice Królewskie 2. Two right humeri. MNI = 2, catalogue number MF/1006b. Węże 1. Right M1, right fragment of mandible with m2, right and left humeri damaged in their proximal parts. MNI = 1, catalogue number MF/1005.

All material listed above and some postcranial bones (clavicle, ulna, radius, femur, astralagus, and calcaneus) not taken into account in this paper are listed and described in Skoczeń (1976) and are housed in the collection of the ISEAPAS in Kraków. One m1, four mandibular fragments with m2 and m3 and 23 humeri of this species were also collected in Węże 2 and described by Skoczeń in his paper of 1993. The material of Węże 2 is housed in the IPPAS, Warsaw, catalogue number ZPAL /M-1.

In comparison with the description of Skoczeń (1976) one M1, one m1, one mandibular process, FIGURE 2. Humeri. Condylura kowalskii from Rębielice Królewskie 1A, (1-2, catalogue number MF/1006/16), left humerus (holotype), 1- dorsal, 2 - ventral view; C. izabellae from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (3-4, catalogue number MF/ 1007/1), fragment of left humerus (holotype), 3 - dorsal, 4 - ventral view; Parascalops fossilis from Podlesice (5-6, catalogue number MF/1018/24), left humerus (holotype), 5 - dorsal, 6 - ventral view;? Scalopoides sp. from Kadzielnia 1 (7-8, catalogue number MF/1008/20), left humerus, 7 - dorsal, 8 - ventral view;? Neoritrichus polonicus from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (9-10, catalogue number MF/1015/1), right humerus, 9 - dorsal, 10 - ventral view; Quyania europaea n. sp. from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (11-12, catalogue number MF/1013/ 7), left humerus, 11 - dorsal, 12 - ventral view.

and one left humerus are lacking in the material. Furthermore in his paper of 1976, Skoczeń indicated a right humerus as the holotype of C. kowalskii (no. MF/1006/16) from Rębielice Krolewskie 1A, while in fact it is a left.

Description. A description of detailed morphology of teeth and postcranial bones as well as measurements can be found in Skoczeń (1976, 1993). Here only the most characteristic tooth and mandible features are accentuated.

The M1 has a long parastyle directed upwards and a high paracone and metacone. Its mesostyle is divided, and the ectoflexus and post-ectoflexus are deep. The lingual side of the tooth consists of a comparatively high protocon, and slightly lower paraconule and metaconule. They are separated by a shallow depression in the external and deeper depression in the internal sides of the crown. They form a continuous wall separated from the buccal part of the tooth by a deep valley. Cingula are lacking. The M2 is similar but its metastyle is shorter.

The p1 is laterally compressed and elongated. Its main cusp is situated in the anterior part of the crown. It is slightly convex on the buccal and flat on the lingual sides. Its anterocristid and posterocristid are rather blunt. A small parastylid is present. The posterior wall of the crown is slightly damaged. In general, the p2 is similar to the p1 but its parastylid is more distinct, the main cusp shorter and the talonid longer. Both teeth are devoid of cingula and they have two roots. In the mandible there is a space (diastema) between p1 and p2. It equals half of their (p1 and p2) length.

The m1 has a shorter and narrower trigonid than talonid. Its paraconid is usually rounded (in Figure 1.4 damaged), the hypoflexid very large and deep, and the crista obliqua ends near the tip of the metastylid, which is prominent. A big entostylid is also present. The m2 resembles m1 but its trigonid is longer and wider than the talonid and it has a parastylid. The teeth are devoid of cingula.

The mandible narrows in the anterior and posterior directions. It has a depression on the lingual side below p1 and p2. The mental foramen is situated below the anterior root of p2.

Systematic position and distribution. According to Skoczeń (1976) the remains listed above should be assigned to the genus Condylura Illiger, 1811 . All tooth and mandible characters agree with those of extant Condylura cristata ( Linnaeus, 1758) , the only genus and species of the tribe Condylurini Gill, 1875 and one of two tribes of the subfamily Scalopinae Gill, 1875 . The Recent species lives in marshy areas in the vicinity of the Great Lakes of the eastern United States and Canada.

On the other hand, 14 genera are included in the second tribe of this subfamily – Scalopini Gill, 1875 or directly to the Scalopinae . Recent forms include Scalopus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1803 , Scapanus Pomel, 1848 , Parascalops True, 1894 and Scapanulus Thomas, 1912 . All live in the New World ( Mexico, the USA, and Canada) with the exception of Scapanulus , which is known from China.

Teeth of Recent species of Scalopini differ from teeth of Recent and fossil Condylura by a single-rooted p1, while the p1 of Condylura has two roots. Moreover, the lower molars of Scalopus and Scapanus are devoid of metastylids, which are present in molars of Condylura .

The fossil genera of the Scalopini are represented by Proscapanus Gaillard, 1899 known from many European localities dated from the Middle to the Late Miocene (MN4-MN 11), Leptoscaptor Ziegler, 2003 described from the Middle Miocene of Germany and Hugueneya Van den Hoek Ostende, 1989 also described from Germany and known from other localities of that country dated to the Late Oligocene and early Middle Miocene (MP30 – MN2 and MN4). An Asiatic form, Yanshuella Storch and Qiu, 1983 , known from the terminal Late Miocene or Early Pliocene and Yunoscaptor Storch and Qiu, 1991 known from the Late Miocene, are both found in China. Scalopoides Wilson, 1960 was described from the Middle Miocene to the Middle Pliocene of the USA. It was also reported in several localities in Europe (MN6- MN10 and MN15 – MN17) but the taxonomic status of these specimens is rather unclear. Other fossil genera described from the New World encompass Proscalops Matthew, 1901 known from the Middle Oligocene to the late Early Miocene, Mydecodon Wilson, 1960 from the Early Miocene, Scapanoscapter Hutchison, 1968 from the Late Miocene and Domninoides Green, 1956 from the Early Pliocene. All of these are from the United States.

The most characteristic features of the dentition of fossil and Recent Scalopinae genera are presented in Table 1. This list shows that the set of characters of Condylura teeth cannot be mistaken for the remaining genera of the subfamily.

Two other moles often compared with Condylura , i.e., Scaptochirus Milne-Edwards, 1867 ( Talpinae , Talpini ) from China and Scaptonyx Milne-Edwards, 1872 ( Talpinae , Scaptonychini ) from China, Burma, and Vietnam have two-rooted p1s, but in both forms this tooth is enlarged, while in Condylura it is always small.

An especially characteristic feature of Condylura , so far unique among moles, is the arrangement of its canine and premolars. The spaces (diastemae) between these teeth in upper and lower jaws are very large and they equal, more or less, half of the length of p1 or p2. In the fossil specimen (in the fragment of mandible with p1-p2) of C. kowalskii the space between p1 and p2 is 0.39 mm while the L p1 = 0.81 mm and L p2 = 0.80 mm.

Unfortunately, the measurements given here do not agree with those of Skoczeń (1976). According to him the space (diastema) between p1 and p 2 in the same specimen equals 2.00 mm. However, this is completely impossible because the whole fragment of mandible in which teeth p1 and p2 are present equals 2.26 mm. In his paper of 1976 Skoczeń did not mention the length of these premolars but the length of lower molars given by him is 1.65 mm (n=2) for m1 and 1.60-1.73 mm (n=7) for m2, and premolars are always much smaller.

Nevertheless a space between antemolars (i3 – p4) of Condylura is unique among Scalopinae moles. The fragment of mandible with p1 - p2 found in the fossil material is identical to the mandible of Recent Condylura . It supports this identification and demonstrates that moles belonging to this genus lived in Europe during the Early Pliocene.

The differences in teeth between C. kowalskii and C. cristata are visible in m1 and m2, which are somewhat shorter and wider in fossil specimens and their m2 have parastylids ( Skoczeń, 1976).

The origin of Condylura is unknown. Hutchison (1968, 1984) suggested that it came from Achlyoscapter Hutchinson, 1968 ( Talpinae incertae sedis). Found in the Middle and Late Miocene of Oregon and the Late Miocene of Nebraska, it was generalized enough to be a possible ancestor of Condylura , especially of cf. Condylura sp. found in the Late Miocene or Pliocene sediments of Oregon. Its remains are so far the first evidence for condylurines in western North America and the oldest record of this mole genus at all.

It is unknown whether Condylura originated in North America and later dispersed to Europe or vice versa, it colonized North America from Europe

The Pliocene relatives of Condylura disappeared from Europe most probably because of competition with desmans ( Desmaninae ) which were larger, had stronger dentition and already lived in Europe at that time, and likely occupied the same ecological niche.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Condylura kowalskii from Węże 1 (1, catalogue number MF/1005/3) and Rębielice Królewskie 1A (2-5, catalogue numbers MF/1006/2, 4, 8, 12, respectively). 1- right M1, 2 - left M2 (occlusal view), 3 - fragment of right mandible with p1 and p2 (lingual view), 4 - left m1, 5 - right m2 (lingual view).

FIGURE 3.?Neurotrichus polonicus from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (1-2, catalogue numbers MF/1015/2, 5 respectively) and from Kadzielnia 1 (3-4, catalogue number MF/1016/1). 1 - right M1, 2 - right M2 (occlusal view), fragment of right mandible with p4-m2, 3 - buccal, 4 - lingual view.

FIGURE 4. Quyania europaea n. sp. from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (1-4, catalogue number MF/ 1013/ 1). Fragment of right mandible with m1 and alveoli of c-p4 and m2-m3, holotype, 1 - buccal, 2 - lingual, and 3 - occlusal view, 4 - the same m1 lingual view (enlarged).

FIGURE 5. Skoczenia copernici from Zamkowa Dolna Cave A (1-6, catalogue numbers MN/1010/3, 10, 18, 28, and 58 respectively) and from Kadzielnia 1 (7-8, catalogue number MF/1008/17). 1 - left P4, 2 - left M1, 3 - left M2 and 4 - left M3 (occlusal view), fragment of right mandible with p4-m1 (holotype), 5 - buccal, 6 - lingual view, fragment of right mandible with p4-m2, 7 - buccal, 8 - lingual view.