The subfamily Rhizomyinae is known from the Late Oligocene up to the present. Today this group comprises six species, which live in southern Asia and eastern Africa. Despite the current moderate diversity of the rhizomyines, they had a greater diversification and wider distribution in the past: from Asia, their land of origin, to Africa, which they entered during the Early Miocene. So far 33 fossil species can be referred to this group. A cladistic analysis involving fossil and living species has been carried out. Prokanisamys spp. turned out to be the most basal taxa of the ingroup. This analysis calls into question the monophyly of several genera, and allows the proposal of a phylogenetic definition of the tribes Tachyoryctini and Rhizomyini. It also provides information about the origin of the African rhizomyines and allows inferring multiple dispersal phenomena from Asia to Africa in Early and Late Miocene times.

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Material of Hispanomys (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) is described from various localities at Batallones (MN10) (Madrid, Spain). All of it belongs to a single species, which differs from the other known species of the genus and a new taxon, Hispanomys moralesi sp. nov., is created for it. The samples from the various localities show differences interpreted as being the result of slight age disparities amongst the different sites. Although they were previously thought to be coeval, Batallones 10 is probably older than Batallones 1, which is possibly older than Batallones 3. Hispanomys moralesi sp. nov. is characterized by several morphological features such as the lack of cingula and mesolophs, the presence of well-developed ectolophs, four-or five-rooted M1, short or absent mesolophids, and reduced and simplified M3. Hispanomys moralesi sp. nov. is a relatively derived species, the evolutionary stage of which is comparable to those of other members of the genus from the Upper Vallesian.

Aim: Comprehensive, global information on species’ occurrences is an essential biodiversity variable and central to a range of applications in ecology, evolution, biogeography and conservation. Expert range maps often represent a species’ only available distributional information and play an increasing role in conservation assessments and macroecology. We provide global range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species harmonised to the taxonomy of the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) mobilised from two sources, the Handbook of the Mammals of the World (HMW) and the Illustrated Checklist of the Mammals of the World (CMW). Location: Global. Taxon: All extant mammal species. Methods: Range maps were digitally interpreted, georeferenced, error-checked and subsequently taxonomically aligned between the HMW (6253 species), the CMW (6431 species) and the MDD taxonomies (6362 species). Results: Range maps can be evaluated and visualised in an online map browser at Map of Life ( mol.org ) and accessed for individual or batch download for non-commercial use. Main conclusion: Expert maps of species’ global distributions are limited in their spatial detail and temporal specificity, but form a useful basis for broad-scale characterizations and model-based integration with other data. We provide georeferenced range maps for the native ranges of all extant mammal species as shapefiles, with species-level metadata and source information packaged together in geodatabase format. Across the three taxonomic sources our maps entail, there are 1784 taxonomic name differences compared to the maps currently available on the IUCN Red List website. The expert maps provided here are harmonised to the MDD taxonomic authority and linked to a community of online tools that will enable transparent future updates and version control.

The material of Hispanomys bijugatus (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) from La Grive-Saint Alban (Carrière Lechartier, fissure L3) is described for the first time and compared with all species of the genus known to date. As common in the Upper Aragonian populations of Hispanomys, this taxon evidences a low variability. Hispanomys bijugatus shows some progressive characters with respect to the remaining Aragonian congeneric species, such as the absence of labial and lingual cingula surrounding the upper and lower molar valleys respectively, the increase in the number of roots on the second lower molar, and the lost of mesolophs. This suggests that H. bijugatus, in spite of being one of the oldest species of the genus, is relatively derived with regard to the coeval congeneric species. Because H. bijugatus and H. decedens are believed to be closely related species within the same lineage, the fact that the former shows a more progressive dental morphology than the latter suggests that the unnamed fissure-filling from La Grive and La Grive M (with H. decedens only) are older than La Grive L3 (with H. bijugatus only). The coexistence of both species at locality L5 suggests an intermediate age. First detailed description of Hispanomys bijugatus Mein et Freudenthal, 1971 (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) from the Upper Aragonian of La Grive-Saint Alban (France): biostratigraphical implications Première description détaillée d'Hispanomys bijugatus Mein et Freudenthal, 1971 (Rodentia, Cricetodontinae) de de l'Aragonien supérieur de La Grive-Saint Alban (France) : implications biostratigraphiques

The family Thryonomyidae is known from the Eocene up to the present. Today, this group comprises just two closely related species, which are restricted to sub‐Saharan Africa. However, various thryonomyids have been recorded in strata of Miocene age, when the group spread out of Africa eastward to southern Asia (Pakistan). A systematic revision and a cladistic analysis shows that 20 species can be referred to this family: Thryonomys swinderianus (Temninck), T. gregorianus (Thomas), Paraphiomys pigotti Andrews, P. occidentalis Lavocat, P. simonsi Wood, P. hopwoodi Lavocat, P. shipmani Denys et Jaeger, P. australis Mein, Pickford et Senut, P. roessneri Mein, Pickford et Senut, P. afarensis Geraads, Paraphiomys sp. nov. from Saudi Arabia López‐Antoñanzas et Sen, P. renelavocati sp. nov., Neosciuromys africanus Stromer, Apodecter stromeri Hopwood, Paraulacodus indicus Hinton, Paraulacodus johanesi Jaeger, Michaux et Sabatier, Gaudeamus aegyptius Wood, Epiphiomys coryndoni Lavocat, Kochalia geespei (de Bruijn et Hussain), Paraphiomys sp. nov. from Saudi Arabia, and Paraphiomys orangeus Mein et Pickford. The unresolved basal position of Sacaresia moyaeponsi with respect to Metaphiomys schaubi and the clade comprising the above‐cited species, suggest that this taxon should not be allocated to the family Thryonomyidae. A phylogenetic definition of the family Thryonomyidae is proposed as an outcome of the phylogenetic analysis: Epiphiomys corindoni,  Thryonomys  swinderianus,  their  most  recent  common  ancestor  and  all  its  descendants  (node‐based taxon). © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2004, 142, 423–444.

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Potwarmus is recorded for the first time in Saudi Arabia. The material comes from the Middle Miocene of the Hofuf Formation at Al‐Jadidah. This species, Potwarmus flynni sp. nov., is described and compared with all species currently placed in the genera Potwarmus, Dakkamys, Paradakkamys, Vallaris, and some species of ‘Myocricetodon’ (i.e. the so‐called ‘primitive dendromurids’) as well as with two of the most primitive definitive murines (namely Antemus chinjiensis and Progonomys debruijni). Potwarmus flynni sp. nov. differs from the above‐mentioned species in having the anterior part of the m1 strongly reduced. A cladistic analysis provides evidence that this new Arabian taxon is close to Potwarmus primitivus and Potwarmus sp. nov. from Jebel Zelten (Libya), and also that this genus is unlikely to be the sister taxon to Antemus. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 156, 664–679.