Micromammals from the late early Miocene of Çapak (western Anatolia) herald a time of change. (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bilgin, Melike; Joniak, Peter; Mayda, Serdar; Göktaş, Fikret; Peláez-Campomanes, Pablo; van den Hoek Ostende, Lars W.
• Is Part Of: Journal of paleontology. Volume 95:Number 5(2021)
• Page Start: 1079
• Page End: 1096
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Fossils -- Classification -- Periodicals; Paleontology -- Periodicals; Paléontologie -- Périodiques; Fossils -- Classification; Paleontology; Paleontologie; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 560.5
• DOI: 10.1017/jpa.2021.27
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-3360

Abstract

Abstract: The new fossil micromammal assemblage of Çapak represents a mixture of both Anatolian and European faunal elements. The locality is very important for understanding faunal evolution in the less well-known time interval at the end of the early Miocene of western Anatolia. In Çapak, nine species of rodents and one species of ochotonid were encountered: the hamsters Democricetodon gracilis, Megacricetodon primitivus, Eumyarion aff. E . montanus, Cricetodon cf. C . aliveriensis, Cricetodon sp., and Karydomys cf. K . strati, the mole-rat Debruijnia sp., the squirrel Aliveria luteyni, the dormouse Myomimus tanjuae n. sp., and the pika Albertona balkanica . The assemblage is referable to Anatolian local zone E or MN unit 4. The relative abundance of the various genera is markedly different from that of the older early Miocene assemblages, suggesting that the environment in Anatolia became drier and had a more open landscape. UUID: http://zoobank.org/75f3276c-dcd8-4090-b2f6-d8fc8d3c3f7c