Abstract
A new genus and species of erinaceomorphs, Zaraalestes russelli, is described from the middle Eocenelocalities of Tsagan Tsav and Mergen, southeastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia. This new taxon represents the earliest and most primitive known member of the erinaceid subfamily Tupaiodontinae Butler 1988. Tupaiodon? minutus Matthew & Granger, 1924 from the early Oligocene Hsanda Gol Formation, Mongolia, is included in the genus Zaraalestes and Ictopidium tatalgolensis Sulimski, 1970 is synonymized with minutus. Tupaiodontines show no particularly close relationship to European and North American Paleogene erinaceomorphs and are apparently confined to the middle Eocene — early Oligocene of Mongolia and China.
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