Myoxus vallesiensis (Agustí, 1981)

Hír, János & Kókay, József, 2010, A systematic study of the middle-late Miocene rodents and lagomorphs (Mammalia) of Felsőtárkány 3 / 8 and 3 / 10 (Northern Hungary) with stratigraphical relations, Geodiversitas 32 (2), pp. 307-329 : 316

Myoxus vallesiensis (Agustí, 1981)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — See Table 9 for data and measurements.

DESCRIPTION

The flat and rectangular occlusal surface of the molar 2007.121 displays four main ridges (anterolophid, metalophid, mesolophid, posterolophid).Anterolo- phid and metalophid are lingually connected. There are three – slightly less developed – secondary ridges (anterior extra ridge, centrolophid, posterior extra ridge). Th e anterior extra ridge and centrolophid are centrally positioned and not connected with the lateral margins. The posterior extra ridge is situated at the lingual margin of the occlusal surface.

COMMENTS

Beyond the original description (Agustí 1981), the characters noted here above recall those of the middle and late Miocene Myoxus remains described by Kowalski (1997) and Daxner-Höck (2005).

The large dimensions of this molar are noticeable. They are greater than those of the type material from Seu d’Urgell. Myoxus vallesiensis is regarded as a typical early Vallesian faunal element. The Vallesian faunas of eastern Central Europe includes two Myoxus species: the smaller M. minor Kowalski, 1963 and the larger M. vallesiensis . Myoxus minor occurs at Rudabánya (MN 9), Richardhof Golfplatz (MN 9), Richardhof Wald (MN 10) and Götzendorf (MN 9) (Daxner-Höck 2005). Myoxus vallesiensis occurs at Belchatow A (MN 9; Kowalski 1997) and Grytsev (MN 9; Nesin & Kowalski 1997).