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

Abstract

The families Erinaceidae and Dimylidae are represented in the late Miocene localities of Slovakia (Borský Svätý Jur, Krásno, Pezinok, Šalgovce, Studienka, and Triblavina) by at least six hedgehog species—‘Schizogalerix’ voesendorfensis (Rabeder, 1973); Schizogalerix cf. S. moedlingensis (Rabeder, 1973); Lantanotherium sanmigueli Villalta and Crusafont, 1944; Atelerix cf. A. depereti Mein and Ginsburg, 2002; Atelerix aff. A. depereti, cf. Postpalerinaceus sp. indet., and Erinaceinae gen. indet. sp. indet.—and two dimylid species—Plesiodimylus chantrei Gaillard, 1897; and Metacordylodon aff. M. schlosseri (Andreae, 1904). Material of L. sanmigueli from the western Carpathians was investigated, revealing broad variability in all samples. Additionally, the deciduous premolars of Lantanotherium Filhol, 1888 are described here for the first time. Erinaceid species are frequent in the Vallesian but their abundance strongly declined afterward. As an exception, Schizogalerix Engesser, 1980 re-entered the Danube and Vienna basins during MN11, likely from eastern Europe. Members of Erinaceinae display low diversity during the late Miocene of central Europe, which tends to support a pan-European diversity phenomenon. The humidity-dependent Dimylidae spp. were abundant during the late Vallesian. Rare finds of Plesiodimylus Gaillard, 1897 confirm the survival of this family into the early MN11 in the Pannonian region.

The Late Miocene Talpidae (Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) from the Pannonian Region, Slovakia

“…The studied material derives from six Late Miocene localities: Borský Svätý Jur (MN9), Studienka A and E (MN9), Pezinok (MN10), Triblavina (MN11), Krásno (MN11), and Šalgovce 4 and 5 (MN12) (ages according to Joniak, 2005Joniak, , 2016Šujan et al, 2016;Sabol et al, 2021;Cailleux et al, 2023). The geological setting has been summarized by Cailleux et al (2023).…”

“…The Late Miocene localities of Slovakia have yielded abundant material of Eulipotyphla, of which the Erinaceidae and Dimylidae recently have been described (Cailleux et al, 2023). As a second step, the present paper aims to investigate the diversity of Talpidae from the Slovak part of the Vienna and Danube basins, and their relationship to the talpid assemblages of adjacent regions.…”