A large Eomys antiquus (Aymard, 1853) (Mammalia, Rodentia) from the early Oligocene sedimentary deposits at Bouldnor Cliff (Isle of Wight, England, UK)
Bosma, Anneke; de Bruijn, Hans; Wessels, Wilma
(2023) Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, volume 103, issue 2, pp.
(Article)
Abstract
A collection of approx. 150 isolated cheek teeth of the eomyid rodent Eomys antiquus which was obtained from a very thin layer in the HamsteadMember of the Bouldnor Formation at Bouldnor Cliff (Isle ofWight, England, UK) is described. The material is post-Grande Coupure, and earliest Oligocene in age. Comparison is
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made with and new data are given on teeth of Eomys from localities of a similar age situated elsewhere in Europe: Eomys antiquus from Hoogbutsel (Belgium), andMöhren 13, 19, and 20 (Germany), and Eomys aff. antiquus from Montalbán 1D (Spain), and Kocayarma (Turkish Thrace, Turkey). Teeth from Bouldnor Cliff and Hoogbutsel (Mammal Paleogene zone 21) are morphologically close to those from Möhren 13 (Mammal Paleogene zone 22), but tend to be larger. Size decrease in the course of time is also suggested by the smaller size of the teeth from Montalbán 1D (Mammal Paleogene zone 23). The morphological differences observed between the English, Belgian, and German material at the one side, and the Spanish and Turkish material at the other, confirm that the species from Montalbán 1D and Kocayarma is a different, although closely related form. The taxonomic history of Eomys antiquus is reviewed. The species is the commoner of the two oldest European Eomyidae known. General knowledge on the ecology of the eomyids suggests that at the time of deposition of the Eomys-containing layer in the Hampshire Basin forest was close by.
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Keywords: Early Oligocene, Eomyidae, Eomys, Grande Coupure, Isle of Wight, Rodentia, Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Ecology, Geology, Palaeontology
ISSN: 1867-1594
Publisher: Springer
Note: Funding Information: Our sincere gratitude goes out to the late Richard L.E. Ford (Yarmouth, IOW, England), who collected the material from Bouldnor Cliff, and placed it at our disposal for scientific study. We dedicate this paper to his memory. Many thanks are due to Dr Gertrud Rössner (Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, München, Germany) for making the material from the Möhren localities available to us. Other material lent to us comes from the Department of Earth Sciences of the Natural History Museum (London, UK) and Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, The Netherlands). The SEM pictures were made with the help of Tilly Bouten, and Margot Stoete assisted with the preparation of the figures (both Department of Geosciences, Utrecht University). We are grateful to Dr Jerry Hooker (Natural History Museum, London, UK) for his information on the position of the Eomys bed in the Isle of Wight Paleogene succession. We thank both Jerry Hooker and the other, anonymous, reviewer of this paper for their constructive comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).
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