Abstract
The present publication reports new discoveries of Oligocene and early Miocene aplodontid rodents from the Taatsiin Gol area (Valley of Lakes) in Mongolia. The fossil aplodontids recovered in this area are mainly composed of dental remains, some fragmentary jaws plus one partially preserved skull. Aplodontid rodents have been found from the early Oligocene (local biozone A) to the early middle Miocene (local biozone D). Altogether, eight taxa belonging to five genera have been identified in the investigated deposits: Ninamys arboraptus, Ninamys kazimierzi, Promeniscomys cf. sinensis, Prosciurus? mongoliensis and Prosciurus? sp. nov. in the early Oligocene; N. arboraptus, Proansomys badamae sp. nov. and Ansomyinae indet. in the late Oligocene; and Ansomys sp.1 in the early Miocene. In addition, although outside of the topic of the present special issue, one additional taxon, Ansomys sp.2, is reported from the ?middle Miocene. The material of aplodontids is usually relatively scarce in Asian localities. For the first time, with a sample size of 81 specimens, the material from Central Mongolia (mainly from the Oligocene) now allows a more accurate description of the morphological and size variability and resolves some systematic problems. The study of these aplodontids reveals that they are more abundant and diverse in the early Oligocene and that the diversity decreases during the late Oligocene and Miocene. One hypothesis, to explain the opposite diversity trend observed previously for sciurids in the same region, is that both Sciuromorpha families might have competed for the same resources from the early Oligocene to the middle Miocene in Central Mongolia.
Highlights
Since 1995, three successive joint Austrian-Mongolian projects have been carried out in the Taatsiin Gol area in Mongolia, including eight field missions
A part of the mammalian fossil record has already been studied in detail including the Ruminantia (Vislobokova and Daxner-Höck 2002); Rhinocerotidae (Heissig 2007); Proboscidea (Göhlich 2007); Marsupialia, Erinaceomorpha and Soricomorpha (Ziegler et al 2007); and most of Rodentia (e.g. Daxner-Höck 2000, 2001; DaxnerHöck and Wu 2003; Schmidt-Kittler et al 2007; DaxnerHöck et al 2014, 2015; Maridet et al 2014a, b, 2015; Wessels et al 2014; López-Guerrero et al 2015)
Aplodontid rodents have been found in the studied area/ deposits from the early Oligocene to the early middle Miocene
Summary
Since 1995, three successive joint Austrian-Mongolian projects have been carried out in the Taatsiin Gol area in Mongolia (see Daxner-Höck et al 2017, fig. 3, for an introduction and a map with the location of each locality), including eight field missions. 3, for an introduction and a map with the location of each locality), including eight field missions During these missions, an extensive sampling has been undertaken, comprised of surface sampling and screen-washing of almost a hundred tons of sediment from more than 40 localities and sections spanning a time range from the early Oligocene to the late Miocene. An extensive sampling has been undertaken, comprised of surface sampling and screen-washing of almost a hundred tons of sediment from more than 40 localities and sections spanning a time range from the early Oligocene to the late Miocene This continental sequence has allowed a precise stratigraphic adjustment based on Palaeobio Palaeoenv (2017) 97:25–49 the evolution of mammals and age determination of basalts as elaborated by Daxner-Höck et al (1997) and Höck et al (1999). Preliminary results are available for Didymoconidae, Creodonta and Carnivora (e.g. Nagel and Morlo 2003; Morlo and Nagel 2006, 2007) and Lagomorpha (e.g. Erbajeva 2007; Erbajeva and Daxner-Höck 2014).
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