| Abstract | |
In this work more than 830 glirid teeth and jaws from 42 Upper Eocene and Lower Oligocene fissure fillings from South Germany are described.
As there exist many opinions about the differences between the genera Glamys, Schizogliravus, Gliravus, Moissenetia and Bransatoglis, further genus definitions are given. The subfamily Bransatoglirinae is also redefined.
The oldest site Oppertshofen 2 (MP19) contained 5 species. Out of these Schizogliravus cf. meridionalis and Schizogliravus daamsi do not appear in the younger sites.
Glamys priscus has been determined from the fissure filling Oppertshofen 2. In the younger sites until the "zone" MP22 there have been found the similar Glamys cf. priscus and Glamys aff. priscus.
The first appearance of Schizogliravus cf. tenuis from Möhren 19 is in the "zone" MP21. The species is more frequent in the "zone" MP23. The tooth of Möhren 19 is the oldest record of this species.
From the site Möhren 13 the new species Moissenetia ziegleri n. sp. is defined. This species has been found in most fissure fillings of the "zones" MP21 and MP22. The species seems to be typical for the dry Alb-highland. Moissenetia paguerensis from Mallorca (MP23) is a younger descendant of this new species.
The most frequent species is Bransatoglis micio. The species has been found in nearly all fissure fillings from the "zone" MP19 up to the "zone" MP23. This species is suspected to have gradually developed to Bransatoglis planus.
The slightly bigger Bransatoglis cf. sjeni is similar to its Anatolian descendant Bransatoglis sjeni and has spread in South Germany from the "zone" MP19 up to the "zone" MP22. The species is obviously the ancestor of Bransatoglis adroveri from Mallorca (MP23) and from the big Miocene Bransatoglis species.
The more modern Bransatoglis misonnei first appears in Möhren 6 (MP19) and has been found up to the "zone" MP23. The morphology of this modern glirid is near by the genera Microdyromys, Peridyromys and Glirudinus. Probably Bransatoglis guerbuezi is a descendant of this species.
With 6 glirid species Möhren 19 (MP21) shows the greatest diversity. Oppertshofen 2 (MP19) and Möhren 13 (MP22) contained 5 species. In the "zone" MP23 only few sites with glirid teeth have been found. Schelklingen 1 contained 3 species. In the "zone" MP20 only some single teeth have been found.
Special information about the evolutionsmodi of glirid teeth is presented.
| Copyright © 2009 Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil |
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