Morphological analysis of Cricetodon aliveriensis (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the locality of Karydia (Rhodope, Northern Greece)

Abstract

Cricetodon is present in the early Miocene of Greece in six assemblages, Cricetodon aliveriensis Klein Hofmeijer and de Bruijn, 1988 in Aliveri and Karydia (both MN4) and Cricetodon meini Freudenthal, 1963 in the MN5 localities of Thymiana A and C, Antonios and Komotini. The two MN4 small mammal assemblages in Aliveri (Euboea island) and Karydia (Northern Greece) have several species in common and Cricetodon aliveriensis is one of them. The aim of this paper is to record and describe this species, the most abundant rodent in the Karydia assemblage, to compare the morphological variation and to discuss the differences in size between the material of Karydia and Aliveri. The results of this study indicate that we deal with one Cricetodon species in Karydia, although more advanced than Cricetodon aliveriensis from Aliveri. This study highlights the importance of a detailed morphological description to the size range of a species. The Karydia material shows a large range in length and width measurements that may indicate heterogeneity of samples. However, the morphological similarity and the normal distribution of the Cricetodon values support the assignment to only one species.