Quyania europaea, Rzebik-Kowalska, 2014

Rzebik-Kowalska, Barbara, 2014, Review of the Pliocene and Pleistocene Talpidae (Soricomorpha, Mammalia) of Poland, Palaeontologia Electronica (26 A) 26, pp. 1-26 : 12-17

Quyania europaea n. sp.

Figures 2.11-12, 4.1-4

zoobank.org/ 1C4F95AD-A2B4-479E-A158-ED243D48E58D

1980 Scaptonyx dolichochir (Gaillard) ; Skoczeń, p. 422, pl. 5.

1994 Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir (Gaillard) ; Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 80, 83, 86, 89, 92.

2005 Urotrichus? dolichochir (?) (Gaillard); Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 123, 126, 127, 128, 129.

2009 Urotrichus sp. ; Rzebik-Kowalska, p. 16, 19, 22, 26, 52.

Etymology. The species name “ europaea ” was given because it is the first species of Quyania found in Europe.

Holotype. Left mandibular fragment with m1 and alveoli of c-p4 and m2-m3, broken (and stuck) between p3 and p2, no. MF/1013/1. It is housed in the collection of the ISEAPAS in Kraków.

Type locality. Rębielice Królewskie 1A, Late Pliocene, Early Villanyian, MN 16.

Studied localities. Podlesice, Early Pliocene (Early Ruscinian, MN 14), Węże 1, Early Pliocene (Late Ruscinian, MN 15), Kadzielnia 1, Early Pleistocene (Late Villanyan, MN 17), or Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary.

Material. Podlesice. One left humerus damaged in its proximal part. MNI = 1, catalogue number MF/ 1011. Węże 1. Two fragments of left mandibles with m2-m3 and m1- m2. MNI = 2, catalogue number MF/1012. Rębielice Królewskie 1A. Three fragments of left mandibles with m1 and m2, two fragments of right mandibles with m1 and m2 and six (three left, three right) humeri, four fragmentary and two almost complete. MNI = 3, catalogue number MF/1013. Kadzielnia 1. One fragment of right mandible with m1-m2. MNI = 1, catalogue number MF/1014. All material is housed in the collection of the ISEAPAS in Kraków.

In comparison to the material of Skoczeń (1980), one isolated M2 from Rębielice Królewskie 1A and one m2 from Kadzielnia 1 are lacking. The mandible no. MF/1013/1 from Rębielice Królewskie 1A has 7 alveoli, not 8 as mentioned by Skoczeń (1980).

Diagnosis. A very small shrew-mole. Its mandible is tapered anteriorly. The first mental foramen is situated below p2. Lower molars are relatively high. Their crista obliqua terminates rather labially and is separated by a notch from the posterior wall of the trigonid. The mesoconid in m1 is present and metastylids on lower molars are lacking. Their talonid valley is closed by a well-developed ridge connecting the metaconid with the entoconid.

Differential diagnosis. Q. europaea differs from Q. chowi by a more slender shaft of the humerus, more delicate “scalopine ridge” as well as by a narrower precingulid in m1 and talonids of m1 and m2 closed by a well-developed ridge connecting the metaconid with the entoconid.

Description of the material. The description of the specimens cited as Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir are given in Skoczeń (1980). However, considering the description of a new species, the specimens mentioned above were measured once more.

Skoczeń (1980) did not mention that the mesoconids are present in all m1s and that small notches which separate crista obliqua from the posterior wall of trigonids occur on the lower molars. He also did not mention the “scalopine ridge” present in one humerus from Rębielice Królewskie 1A. The ridge is slightly damaged, but very clear. It is less visible in the second humerus from the same locality because this area of the specimen is destroyed. The remaining 11 humeri are incomplete, and the presence or absence of the “scalopine ridge” cannot be documented.

Measurements. See Table 2. Holotype: m1 – L=1.51 mm, W=0.92 mm.

Systematic position and distribution. The remains cited above were assigned by Skoczeń (1980) to Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir ( Gaillard, 1899) , a species originally described on the basis of a humerus from La Grive Saint Alban in France and dated to the Middle Miocene (MN7+8).

Because of the striking resemblance of the Scaptonyx dolichochir holotype (humerus) to the Recent forms, Urotrichus talpoides Temminck, 1841 from Japan, Hutchison (1974) tentatively transferred the species “ dolichochir ” to the genus Urotrichus Temminck, 1841 .

Storch and Qiu (1983) called in question the assignment of the fossil Polish mole Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir to Scaptonyx because in comparison with the Recent form ( S. fusicaudatus Milne-Edwards, 1872 ) from Asia, the Polish specimens lack metastylids on the lower molars and the crista obliqua (in its m2 and m3) terminates more buccally than in Recent species. Storch and Qiu (1983, p. 105) wrote: “as long as there are no dentitions of the Miocene species dolichochir available we consider the inclusion of the Polish Pliocene form by Skoczeń as questionable.” Taking the above statement under consideration, Rzebik-Kowalska (2009) listed these specimens as Urotrichus sp.

However, after detailed revision of the material its association to the genus Urotrichus seems questionable. It is generally known that the mandible of Urotrichus is not tapered anteriorly, and its first mental foramen is situated below p3. On the other hand, mandibles from Poland tapered to the front, and the first mental foramen is situated below the posterior root of p2. Moreover, Recent Urotrichus has eight ( U. talpoides ) or nine ( U. pilirostris True, 1886 ) teeth in half of the mandible, and among antemolars only p4 is two-rooted. In this situation, U. talpoides has 12 alveoli and six before m1, and U. pilirostris has 13 and seven before m1 ( Abe, 1967; Storch and Qiu, 1983). One mandible (no. MF/1013/1) from Rębielice Królewskie 1A has seven alveoli preserved before m1 but it is broken in its anterior part and is visibly incomplete. It is thus quite clear that more alveoli were present in its broken anterior part, more than in both Recent species of Urotrichus ( U. talpoides and U. pilirostris ) and in Neurotrichus gibbsii .

According to Storch and Qiu, 1983 nine teeth (3i, 1c, 2p, 3m) and 14 alveoli (eight in antemolars in which p3 and p4 are double-rooted) are present in the Recent species N. gibbsii ( Baird, 1858). This is only one more than in the mandible from Rębielice Królewskie 1A (no. MF/1013/1), which must have been longer and thus must have also had more alveoli in its anterior part.

Taking these facts under consideration, specimen no. 1 from Rębielice Królewskie 1A could belong to Quyania , the mandible of which has 10 teeth (3i, 1c, 3p, 3m) and 16 alveoli (10 before m1) in its row. Although mandibles of Q uyania and Neurotrichus taper anteriorly, Quyania has more teeth (and alveoli) before m1 and its first mental foramen is situated below p2, not below p3 as in the mandible of Neurotrichus . Moreover, two other characteristic features distinguish Quyania from Neurotrichus . The m1 of Quyania is characterized by a clear mesoconid. This character was not mentioned by Skoczeń (1980) or by Storch and Qiu (1983). It is, however, very well visible in the m1 of Quyania in the paper of Storch and Qiu (1983, table 1, no. 12) and in all (five) m1 present in the Polish material assigned by Skoczeń (1980) to Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir . Also the crista obliqua on the m1 as well as on the remaining lower molars from Poland [ascribed previously to Scaptonyx (?) dolichochir ] is separated from the posterior wall of trigonid by a small but clear notch that is also characteristic of the Quyania molars (and rather not of Neurotrichus ).

The remaining characters of the mandible, teeth, and humerus [e.g., presence of the “scalopine ridge” not mentioned by Skoczeń (1980)] as well as their size also agree with the description and size given by Storch and Qiu (1983) for Quyania . In this situation the remains from Polish localities described by Skoczeń (1980) as S. (?) dolichochir are now included into the genus Quyania Storch and Qiu, 1983 .

Unfortunately the species name “ dolichochir ” discussed by Storch and Qiu (1983) cannot be used in the case of the specimens (especially teeth) from Poland (see above). Because they slightly differ from those of Quyania chowi (see differential diagnosis) and there is a large gap in time and ranges between both forms, Quyania from Poland cannot be ascribed to Q. chowi . It is thus recognized as belonging to a new species and named Q. europaea .

Popov (2004) described Quyania aff. polonica ( Skoczeń, 1980) from the Early Pleistocene (previously Late Pliocene, MN17) locality at Varshets in Bulgaria based on the description of? Neurotrichus polonicus from Poland ( Skoczeń, 1980). He also decided that Polish specimens are more similar to Quyania than to Neurotrichus and their characters “speak in favor of its inclusion in Quyania . ”

However, specimens from Varshets are larger ( Table 2) than the specimens of Q. chowi and Q. europaea and in opposite to these two species, its first mental foramen is placed under p3 (in Quyania under p2) and its lower molars are devoid of mesoconids, which are present in the molars of Quyania . Thus, these size and morphological differences make the species designation of the Varshets specimens to Quyania problematic.