Systematic and morphometric data of late Miocene rodent assemblage from Triblavina (Danube Basin, Slovakia)

Abstract

The lower Turolian (MN11) assemblage of rodents collected from new temporal outcrop near Triblavina (Danube Basin, Western Slovakia) is described. Fossils were collected from at least 2.5 tons of sediment that was wet sieved on a set of stable sieves. The mesh size of the lower sieve was 0.5 mm and the residue was not treated with acids for the sake of preserving mollusk shells. Fossil remains were picked manually from residue under the stereo-microscope. More than 170 teeth of small mammals were recovered. The rodent assemblage consists of 87 identifiable teeth belonging to ten taxa: Apodemus lugdunensis, Kowalskia sp., Epimeriones austriacus, Eozapus intermedius, Spermophilinus sp., Myomimus dehmi, Vasseuromys pannonicus, Keramidomys ermannorum, Keramidomys sp. and Eomyops sp. Fauna of rodents from Triblavina is described in detail here and these data are associated with recent article [1].

The late Miocene Erinaceidae and Dimylidae (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) from the Pannonian region, Slovakia

“…This is well-documented in sediments including the MN11 locality of Triblavina (Fig. 1) where the Volkovce Formation represent a transition from poorly drained to well-drained floodplains (Joniak and Šujan, 2020).…”

“…At that time, the area was very humid, potentially due to orographic conditioned precipitation from the Alpine-Carpathian Arc (Utescher et al, 2017) and a system of shallow lakes and channels formed on the deltaic shelf. Consistently, the Beladice Formation is predominantly composed of coastal, lagoonal, and deltaic facies, ending with a heterogeneous southeastern progradation of the lake (Joniak and Šujan, 2020). This process was accompanied by the final decline of broadleaved evergreen vegetation in the northern part of the basin system (Utescher et al, 2017).…”

“…13.5 Ma, according to Magyar et al, 1999) until the middle–late Miocene transition when Lake Pannon emerged (ca. 12 Ma according to Magyar et al, 1999; Joniak and Šujan, 2020). The progressive retreat of the Pannonian lake during the late Miocene (after ca.…”

“…1). The first results on the rodents of these localities have already been published (e.g., Joniak, 2005, 2016; Joniak and Šujan, 2020). However, whereas the late Miocene Eulipotyphla and Chiroptera from the Austrian part of the Danube and Vienna basins (northwestern part of the PBS; Fig.…”

“…Slovakia, strategically situated in the northern part of the Pannonian Basins System (PBS; Fig. 1), has preserved several vertebrate sites of major importance that help to understand the faunal evolution of central Europe, because it was affected during the late Miocene by uplift of the western Carpathians and the regression of the megalake (Joniak et al, 2020).…”