Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

A new species of glirid rodent Vasseuromys from the Aragonian (Miocene) of the Ebro Basin (north−eastern Spain)

Francisco J. Ruiz-Sánchez, Xabier Murelaga, Matthijs Freudenthal, Juan C. Larrasoaña, and Miguel Garcés

Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 57 (2), 2012: 225-239 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2010.0081

We describe a new species of Vasseuromys from the locality of Pico del Fraile 2 (PF2) in the Ebro Basin of northeastern Spain, which has yielded a fauna comprising several rodents and insectivores (Eumyarion cf. weinfurteri, Megacricetodon cf. primitivus, Democricetodon aff. hispanicus, Spermophilinus cf. besana, Microdyromys cf. legidensis, Galerix sp., and Lagomorpha indet.) indicative of Aragonian zones C or D. Vasseuromys cristinae sp. nov. differs from other Vasseuromys species in the constant presence of four extra ridges on the lower molars, one of them being connected to the posterolophid in the posterior valley, as well as three extra ridges on the upper molars, with none of them located outside the trigone. Morphological comparisons of this new taxon to other Vasseuromys species from the western Mediterranean area allow the reconstruction of their phylogenetic interrelationships during the Early and Middle Miocene of Europe, suggesting that V. cristinae sp. nov. is a descendant of V. autolensis.

Key words: Mammalia, Rodentia, Gliridae, Vasseuromys, systematics, Miocene, Ebro Basin, Spain.

Francisco J. Ruiz-Sánchez [francisco.ruiz@uv.es], Departament de Geologia, Universitat de València, 46100 Burjassot, Spain; Xabier Murelaga [xabier.murelaga@ehu.es], Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad del País Vasco, 48080 Bilbao; Matthijs Freudenthal [mfreuden@ugr.es], Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada and Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum (Leiden, The Netherlands), 18071 Granada, Spain; Juan C. Larrasoaña [jc.larra@igme.es], Área de Cambio Global, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Oficina de Proyectos, 50006 Zaragoza 50006, Spain; Miguel Garcés [mgarces@ub.edu], Grup de Geodinàmica y Anàlisi de Conques, Universitat de Barcelona, Zona Universitaria de Pedralbes, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.


This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (for details please see creativecommons.org), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.